Tiscali MAX Unlimited Questions

What is Tisacli MAX Unlimited Broadband?
What is the stabilisation period?
What are the benefits of Tiscali MAX Unlimited Broadband?
What speed can I expect on Tiscali MAX Broadband? Will it be 8Mb?
What's the difference between "line rate" and "throughput"?
After I enter my phone number into the availability checker when I register to Tiscali MAX Unlimted is see 'estimated maximum speed my line can support' what is this?
My download speed is only around 2Mb and I am paying for Tiscali MAX Unlimited. Can I downgrade to the 2Mb product?
If I downgrade from Tiscali MAX Unlimited to Tiscali 2Mb Unlimited can I upgrade back to Tiscali MAX Unlimited?
Will Tiscali MAX Unlimited run at its maximum speed all the time?
What does Tiscali MAX Unlimited Cost?
Can I use my existing modem?
My ring tone has changed on my home telephone?
Why is my neighbours' broadband faster than mine?
What is the upload speed of Tiscali MAX Unlimited?
Is there anything I can do to improve my download speed at home?

Click here to return to Broadband FAQs.

What is Tiscali MAX Unlimited Broadband?
Tiscali MAX Unlimited is a new higher speed broadband service. Speeds will range from 2Mb to 8Mb. Using new technology, the service will automatically provide you with the fastest broadband speed your phone line can physically support, up to a maximum of 8Mb (or 8 megabits per second) - this is 160 times faster than a standard dial-up connection.

What is the stabilisation period?
This is a 10 day period from when you first connect to Tiscali MAX Unlimited, i.e. login and use the internet for a period of more than 15 minutes. During this period your line is automatically attempting to establish its maximum stable rate. You may notice some variations in speed and your connection may be intermittent at times whilst your maximum line rate is established. During this stabilisation period we recommend disconnecting and reconnecting if your line is unstable. This will ensure your line rate is set at its optimum level.

What are the benefits of Tiscali MAX Unlimited Broadband?
You will notice a greater quality and reliability when running multiple tasks and faster speeds when downloading files, streaming music or video, sending and receiving large emails and when there are multiple users on the one connection. Tiscali MAX Unlimited also acts as a springboard for the emerging high bandwidth applications such as web conference and video on demand.

Note on line filters

To obtain optimum speed it is imperative that you have a broadband filter on every BT phone socket including Sky box, alarm and fax device. The installation pack we supply includes 2 broadband filters. If you need additional filters please go to http://www.tiscali.dslshop.co.uk/ where you can purchase as many as you require.

What speed can I expect on Tiscali MAX Broadband? Will it be 8Mb?
Tiscali MAX Unlimited uses new technology to automatically provide the fastest speed your phone line can physically support up to 8Mb. The actual speed you will receive depends on a number of factors:

• Principally how close you live to your phone exchange (the nearer you are the faster the speed you can expect).
• Quality of the actual copper phone line

There are also other things that can affect your connection speed - such as the length and quality of any phone wiring extensions in your home, the age and type of your modem, the speed of your computer, and whether the broadband microfilters you have are correctly installed.

The following guide shows the approximate proportion of lines that get what speeds.

Maximum Line Speed	Percentage of customers able to receive
Above 6Mb	42%
Above 4Mb	78%
Above 2Mb	93%
Source: BT Wholesale

For an estimate on your maximum line speed please go to the availability checker by clicking here and enter your phone number.

What's the difference between "line rate" and "throughput"?
Line rate is the maximum rate your telephone line will physically support. It is determined by a number of factors:

• how near you live to the exchange (i.e. line length)
• the quality and length of any telephone extension cables in your home
• the speed and quality of your router or modem
• the speed of your computer
• whether all broadband micro filters are correctly installed

Once set, your line speed remains largely stable, only changing if one of the above factors changes significantly. By contrast, Throughput is the speed of data flowing through your broadband connection at any one time. It is determined by:

• the speed of the Internet and of websites you are visiting
• general internet congestion
• whether you're sharing your broadband connection with others in your home
• whether you have spyware or adware slowing down your computer's speed

Throughput speed is limited by the physical maximum speed of your phone line (line rate) and varies throughout the day, typically reducing during peak periods (6 - 11pm)

After I enter my phone number into the availability checker when I register to Tiscali MAX Unlimted is see 'estimated maximum speed my line can support' what is this?
This is an estimate of your maximum line rate and is based predominantly on the distance your line is from your exchange. There are many other factors that can affect your line rate. These are detailed above. Your actual line rate and throughput may vary from this estimate.

My download speed is only around 2Mb and I am paying for Tiscali MAX Unlimited. Can I downgrade to the 2Mb product?
Yes. As mentioned above there are several factors that may cause your download speed to vary. If you are not satisfied that you are getting an adequate speed to justify paying more you can downgrade to the Tiscali 2Mb product free of charge.

If I downgrade from Tiscali MAX Unlimited to Tiscali 2Mb Unlimited can I upgrade back to Tiscali MAX Unlimited?
If you registered on Tiscali MAX Unlimited as a new customer and downgraded to Tiscali 2Mb, you can upgrade back to Tiscali MAX Unlimited within the upgrade area in My Account.

Will Tiscali MAX Unlimited run at its maximum speed all the time?
Your speed may change througout the day. It will slow down during peak times or when other broadband users connected to the same exchange as you.

What does Tiscali MAX Unlimited Cost?
Full details on all our products are available here.

Can I use my existing modem?
Yes. Your existing broadband modem will work with Tiscali MAX Unlimited. To get the most out of Tiscali MAX Unlimited you should us an Ethernet or wireless Ethernet modem/router as these are designed to support the higher speeds.

My ring tone has changed on my home telephone?
On some occasions once your line becomes enabled your ring tone on your home telephone may change slightly. This is nothing to be concerned about and your phone will continue to operate normally.

Why is my neighbours' broadband faster than mine?
Although your neighbour may be on the same telephone exchange and a similar distance from the exchange there are several other reasons why the line rate may be different. As outlined above these reasons may include internal wiring, quality of copper, speed of computer and modem.

What is the upload speed of Tiscali MAX Unlimited?
Again upload speed may vary according to line rate. It will typically be up to 448kbps.

Is there anything I can do to improve my download speed at home?
There are several ways you can improve your line speed:

• To obtain optimum speed it is imperative that you have a broadband filter on every BT phone socket including Sky box, alarm and fax device.
• Minimise the phone extension cabling in your household.
• Ethernet routers tend to perform better USB so it may be beneficial to upgrade to a router.
• Restart your modem/router when experiencing performance issues.

Speeds will vary through out the day. They are likely to slow in the evenings.

Find out what those error codes mean.

Broadband Errors Error 619 Error 629 Error 631 Error 633 Error 645 Error 651 Error 678 Error 680 Error 691 Error 797 Outlook Error codes Error 0x800420CB Error 0x800ccc0E Error 0x800ccc0F Error 0x800ccc79 Error 0x800ccc90 Error 0x800ccc91 Error 0x800ccc92 Error 800ccc0131 Dialup Error codes Error 691 Error 680 Error 645 Error 718 Error 721 Intermittent disconnection

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