Internet ‘Congestion’

Dear Editor – Further to comments on this site about internet availability in Thame I have learned from my provider, Tesco, that what caused my link to the service to cut out between 8pm and 9pm ? and stay out for hours – for most of last week and some of the week before, is ?congestion?. It was also pretty bad during the afternoons towards the end of the school holidays.

I had the clear impression from the adviser to whom I spoke that nothing can be done about it (rather like the weather or an act of God). What I would like to know is: are subscribers to other ISPs having the same problem? If they are then we should all be making a fuss. If they are not, then why are Tesco users having problems?

Again, from my telephone conversations with Tesco, I learn that the problems are in ?the exchange? and this is because different technologies are in play in it. I am totally out of my depth now. Do all the providers have different little gizmos in the exchange? Do BT subscribers have similar problems, I wonder?

Because my service seemed to be getting slower, some months ago I upgraded my Tesco?s broadband subcription to a faster version of?Anytime?. That?s not happening at the moment. It would be useful to know other people?s experiences.

I can?t believe that if there?s the will, technology will not find a way to deal with this.

Norman Brand
Fanshawe Road