Talktalk youview - anyone else had problems?

[minxthemanx]

We've had talktalk broadband and phone for years, have just upgraded to the tv part of the package. They sent a youview box, two powerline adaptors, and I set it all up according to instructions. Modem is very new, too. Ten days on, I'm not impressed! The remote control sometimes doesn't seem to connect with the youview box, suddenly you can't change channel/none of the buttons work. I have to turn off the youview box, hold down start for 8 seconds and reset!! Also, the on demand part is very intermittent - sometimes it works, sometimes it says sorry we cannot connect to your router. Again, have to turn everything off and reset it all. Pain in the arse. I phoned talktalk today (not for the feint-hearted), and was told to unplug everything else connected to tv (PS3, DVD player), and remove their remote controls from the room. Apparently they are interfering with the signal from the router (?!). So each time we want to watch on demand, we have to unplug everything else and take the remote controls out? Really?

Would be interested to know if anyone else has had problems with talktalk youview. Wish I'd ;paid more and gone to BT!!

[AngeleDei]

Hi.

Talk talk are talking nonsense. There is no way a remote that isn't being used would affect your router. More to the point, remotes use infrared and not 2.4ghz used by a wireless router. Things plugged into your TV do also not affect signal strength.

What will affect that is proximity of the router to the box and anything like mobile phones near the router.

However...neither cause boxes to freeze. That is an overheating or a software issue.

I've 27 years in this field and I'm a chartered engineer... unlike the help desk person you spoke to.

You need a new box. Also try connecting the router to the box by Ethernet cable.

Talk talk are " not very good" in my personal opinion and would not recommend them.

[minxthemanx]

Thanks, I did think it sounded ridiculous. On demand has worked ok for the last couple of days, so just waiting for the next blip and i'll be straight back on the phone. Our router is not in the same room as the tv/youview which is why we have the powerline adaptors. Ho hum.

[AngeleDei]

If its worked fine, then it is nothing at all to do with your infrastructure and everything to do with TalkTalk. In my experience, their network is unable to cope with demand a lot of the time.

Might be worth buying a long ethernet cable that you can connect from the router to the box any times you are having problems. They cost about £10 and will give a much higher data throughput than a powerline adaptor.

The "lock out" that is fixed by a reboot of your on demand box is the on demand box locking up... screw all to do with anything external. Sadly, the people on the call centres read a script and are not paid to think. For that you have to ask to speak to a manager or their 3rd line support.

Good luck.

[niceguy2]

I've recently got the Youview box. In all honesty it's a pile of poop.

It is incredibly sluggish. Pressing the Talktalk button on the remote and it springs into life like a sleepy snail. It does load....eventually.

The on demand stuff is only really useful if you have a decent broadband speed and noone else is using the connection. I get 4.5Mbps at home and often DW is trying to watch catchup, DS is watching YouTube, and DD & I are trying to surf. It's simply not enough.

The remote isn't the best. If you aim the remote directly at the unit then it's not so bad. But if you don't then it is a bit hit & miss.

As for not being able to connect to the router, as suggested above, try a long cable for a bit to see if that solves the issue or not.

[minxthemanx]

Well what a surprise, on demand didn't work last night. Nobody else on internet and no mobiles near the router. According to the 'settings' on the you view box, it was connected to internet, so no idea why it wouldn't work. Message said to try again later. No thanks. Will ring talktalk tomorrow and waste another morning....am I within my rights to say I don't, want it? And send it back, without being charged?

[AngeleDei]

Personally, I would say that it falls under the " not fit for purpose" part of the sale of goods act, so you would be able to.

It probably didn't work because your internet speed sucked. Check with speedtest.net to see what sorted you're getting. You need a min of 4 MB to do video on demand. Also get "Wi-Fi analyzer" for your phone and you can see if the signal strength near your box sucks or if you are getting interference from anything.

[minxthemanx]

Thanks I'll check our broadband speed. Tho shouldn't talktalk know this, as the provider? Pain in the neck, I have not got time for this.

[minxthemanx]

According to speedtest.net our broadband download speed is 3.39. Upload is 0.67. Presumably this isn't enough for youview on demand, so am wondering what the point is....

[minxthemanx]

Today's top tip from Talktalk...... the problem may be because our powerline adaptors were plugged into an extension lead, not the wall socket. ??? I tried to explain that the extension leads are working, so surely the electricity is flowing through them, but no, I had to unplug everything from the extension leads/wall sockets, rearrange everything and make sure the powerline adaptors are in the wall sockets, not the extension leads. The On Demand is working now, but I am not convinced it will stay that way.......

[wannabedomesticgoddess]

That bit about the adaptors having to be in the socket is true as far as I can tell.

The rest of it...well, they aren't great. We have problems with ondemand on the hour every hour from 7pm - 10pm because they are obviously throttling our unlimited internet.

[niceguy2]

The adapter's do work better in sockets rather than extension leads. That said your problem seems to be the fact you can only download at around 3.4Mbps which is pretty slow by modern standards and touch & go for on demand. Especially during peak hours.

I get just shy of 5Mbps and we struggle sometimes. I just can't wait until fibre gets rolled out on our exchange which is anytime now.

[AngeleDei]

As I said previously get an Ethernet cable and use it. Powerline adapters are good for surfing, but not really for streaming live TV. I had the same problem myself.

However less than 4 MB is not enough for streaming TV and talk talk are a very bad company from that respect. Plus net or bt are the current best isps, or virgin if you're in their area. As an example, my dl speed with plus net is 16 MB over copper cable, my father is literally over the road and on talk talk and getting less than 5.

[niceguy2]

Angele.

What speed do others in your area get? It would be v. strange for you to get 16Mbps and your dad across the road to get only 5Mbps unless he's connected to a different exchange than you are.

The speed is determined by line quality and distance from exchange. Neither of which TalkTalk can really do much about.

If everyone else is getting around 16Mbps, even his neighbours and he is only getting 5 then I'd press TalkTalk to get an engineer out.

A while back when I had problems with my line speed it took a while but eventually I got an openreach engineer out. They moved my copper wire which did give me a bit of a boost in speed.