Questions about switching to EE

[flavione]

The contract with my current ISP is due to end in about two weeks, so I'm looking around for other options (especially better customer service), and EE is among them, thanks to a good price I would get through PerksAtWork (£24.50/month for Fibre Plus FTTC).

And I would have my own equipment, on an ECI cabinet, so I shouldn't be affected by the reboot issues of the Smart Hub.

I have few questions regarding the service though...

When checking the available speed, I would get this min guaranteed speed

• 63 Mb/s minimum guaranteed speed

but down in the notes they say "We predict the minimum guaranteed download speed on your line is 7.2Mb/s. This minimum guaranteed speed is the slowest speed we think your line will run at in any given scenario."

So which one is the minimum speed?

I know that in case of a line fault, you can send a text to 60071 to start an automatic line test. IIRC that doesn't work if you have broadband-only (i.e. no landline number), unless it has been improved. Is there any way to run a line test (and if needed, book for an engineer) from your EE account, as it can be done e.g. from TalkTalk or Sky accounts?

How easy is it to get the PPPoE credentials? Can the customer service provide them *before* the switch to EE?

Out of curiosity, can any of you click on these links and paste the result? Just remove your IP address...

https://redirector.googlevideo.com/report_mapping?di=no

https://api.fast.com/netflix/speedtest/v2?https=true&token=YXNkZmFzZGxmbnNkYWZoYXNkZmhrYWxm&urlCount...

These are internal links used by Google Video and Netflix API, and give you a list of cache servers, based on the IP address.

I'm curious to see if EE broadband customers have access to any CDN cache. I can't see any when I connect with my EE mobile (traffic goes straight to Google/Netflix servers at peering points).

thanks a lot!

[XRaySpeX]

1. Dunno why that speed discrepancy under your MyEE for BB. The 1st speed should be the correct 1. What does BT Wholesale Broadband Availability Checker estimate for your phone number? Post just the whole table and the line above it, blanking out your phone number. If it doesn't recognise your phone number or you don't have one, use the Address Checker.
2. No, w/out a landline no. you cannot auto order a line check w/out making a phone call.
3. You can easily see & work out your BB PPPoE Username & pwd from your EE router, even if you are not told them by email.
4. Your link reports, redacted of my IP:
   1. 2.28.x.y => bt-lhr33 (2.28.x.128/25)
   2. {"client":{"ip":"2.28.x.y","asn":"12576","isp":"EE","location":{"city":"Somewhere","country":"GB"}},"targets":[{"name":"https://ipv4-c016-lhr006-bt-isp.1.oca.nflxvideo.net/speedtest?c=gb&n=12576&v=54&e=1655143176&t=Ne-LG...","url":"https://ipv4-c016-lhr006-bt-isp.1.oca.nflxvideo.net/speedtest?c=gb&n=12576&v=54&e=1655143176&t=Ne-LG...","location":{"city":"Somewhere bigger","country":"GB"}},{"name":"https://ipv4-c030-lhr005-bt-isp.1.oca.nflxvideo.net/speedtest?c=gb&n=12576&v=25&e=1655143176&t=D5ekD...","url":"https://ipv4-c030-lhr005-bt-isp.1.oca.nflxvideo.net/speedtest?c=gb&n=12576&v=25&e=1655143176&t=D5ekD...","location":{"city":"Somewhere yet bigger","country":"GB"}},{"name":"https://ipv4-c025-lhr004-bt-isp.1.oca.nflxvideo.net/speedtest?c=gb&n=12576&v=89&e=1655143176&t=U6hoe...","url":"https://ipv4-c025-lhr004-bt-isp.1.oca.nflxvideo.net/speedtest?c=gb&n=12576&v=89&e=1655143176&t=U6hoe...","location":{"city":"Somewhere yet bigger","country":"GB"}},{"name":"https://ipv4-c066-lhr005-ix.1.oca.nflxvideo.net/speedtest?c=gb&n=12576&v=47&e=1655143176&t=1p5EeJzHN...","url":"https://ipv4-c066-lhr005-ix.1.oca.nflxvideo.net/speedtest?c=gb&n=12576&v=47&e=1655143176&t=1p5EeJzHN...","location":{"city":"Somewhere bigger","country":"GB"}},{"name":"https://ipv4-c047-lhr005-ix.1.oca.nflxvideo.net/speedtest?c=gb&n=12576&v=97&e=1655143176&t=pxS9Lv10v...","url":"https://ipv4-c047-lhr005-ix.1.oca.nflxvideo.net/speedtest?c=gb&n=12576&v=97&e=1655143176&t=pxS9Lv10v...","location":{"city":"Somewhere bigger","country":"GB"}}]}

I am not on EE's DNS.

[flavione]

@XRaySpeX 

thanks a lot for your time to answer to my questions.

1) I think it's probably something wrong in the page text - I tried different post codes and I always get 7.2 Mbit with FTTC coverage - with FTTP, the min guaranteed speed comes back 0 Mbit, which is clearly wrong

4) Google and Netflix cache work differently from Akamai, so even if you are not using EE DNS, you are still redirected to the closest cache, based on your IP address - in your case you would get your streaming from a server located in some BT data centre in London (they use airport codes for locations in the server names, so London can be LHR or LCY).

[XRaySpeX]

1. What page text? You don't try post codes with your MyEE. So you must be referring to something else. What? Have you done my BTw Checker & what's it say?

EDIT: OIC, you not on EE yet & are referring to EE's Availability Checker. The BTw Checker is the only way to go & is the basis of all ISPs Availability Checkers.

4. I was just warning you about my DNS in case it made a diff to your results, which I don't comprehend. 

[flavione]

Sorry, I read the legal bits again (where it says "Broadband from EE - Offers & Legals"), and those 7.2 Mbit/s are meant to be the min speed for ADSL, my mistake 🙂

The problem is that it is written in a separate paragraph and it seems a bit misleading.

Also in the paragraph after that it reads "All plans have 18 month minimum terms" which is no longer true.

It just needs some housekeeping 🙂 

[Mustrum]

Hi @flavione I was curious, so here are the results from your links:

1. 

2.28.x.yy => bt-brs1 (2.28.x.0/25)

2. 

{"client":{"ip":"2.28.x.yy","asn":"12576","isp":"EE","location":{"city":"Here","country":"GB"}},"targets":[{"name":"https://ipv4-c004-brs001-bt-isp.1.oca.nflxvideo.net/speedtest?c=gb&n=12576&v=97&e=1655156023&t=xEDAdn8RpTlkQOJlIg92nx0HkJprf9ZxlSFKHw","url":"https://ipv4-c004-brs001-bt-isp.1.oca.nflxvideo.net/speedtest?c=gb&n=12576&v=97&e=1655156023&t=xEDAdn8RpTlkQOJlIg92nx0HkJprf9ZxlSFKHw","location":{"city":"Bristol","country":"GB"}},{"name":"https://ipv4-c012-lhr004-bt-isp.1.oca.nflxvideo.net/speedtest?c=gb&n=12576&v=98&e=1655156023&t=I9_1XSeYMoTMaLU_Kl2sS6FcMXZEq1hw9i4Wng","url":"https://ipv4-c012-lhr004-bt-isp.1.oca.nflxvideo.net/speedtest?c=gb&n=12576&v=98&e=1655156023&t=I9_1XSeYMoTMaLU_Kl2sS6FcMXZEq1hw9i4Wng","location":{"city":"London","country":"GB"}},{"name":"https://ipv4-c021-lhr003-bt-isp.1.oca.nflxvideo.net/speedtest?c=gb&n=12576&v=97&e=1655156023&t=7Vm1VrOuAwiJfx5Pilb8y07JoB63XyDUp8W-sw","url":"https://ipv4-c021-lhr003-bt-isp.1.oca.nflxvideo.net/speedtest?c=gb&n=12576&v=97&e=1655156023&t=7Vm1VrOuAwiJfx5Pilb8y07JoB63XyDUp8W-sw","location":{"city":"London","country":"GB"}},{"name":"https://ipv4-c053-lhr005-ix.1.oca.nflxvideo.net/speedtest?c=gb&n=12576&v=97&e=1655156023&t=GpRsnQiKNuZ4Fyf2wdI9y5nHv3P-76tqsggWEA","url":"https://ipv4-c053-lhr005-ix.1.oca.nflxvideo.net/speedtest?c=gb&n=12576&v=97&e=1655156023&t=GpRsnQiKNuZ4Fyf2wdI9y5nHv3P-76tqsggWEA","location":{"city":"Slough","country":"GB"}},{"name":"https://ipv4-c083-lhr004-ix.1.oca.nflxvideo.net/speedtest?c=gb&n=12576&v=98&e=1655156023&t=PpoaQHVDahLhTossGs_uZRu1b2YcaN_jh37UWw","url":"https://ipv4-c083-lhr004-ix.1.oca.nflxvideo.net/speedtest?c=gb&n=12576&v=98&e=1655156023&t=PpoaQHVDahLhTossGs_uZRu1b2YcaN_jh37UWw","location":{"city":"London","country":"GB"}}]}

 HTH.

[flavione]

So yes, you get streaming with preference from the Netflix cache hosted by BT in their data centre in Bristol (BRS), as well as from London.

You might get better performance, although it's mostly BT saving bandwidth between Bristol and their London core nodes, because you get your episodes from the local cache rather than getting data from Netflix in London.

[Mustrum]

OK, thanks, makes sense, I am in the middle of the two on the south coast.

That said, I don't have a Netflix account!