Author Topic: Your internet BB speed ?  (Read 123438 times)

Mrs Pingu

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Re: Your internet BB speed ?
« Reply #50 on: 19 November, 2010, 03:33:32 pm »


That was a bit of surprise. I tried it the other night and it was ~3annabit I think. Most we ever had from shiTiscali was about 2, so I was a bit startled to see over 6!
Do not clench. It only makes it worse.

Re: Your internet BB speed ?
« Reply #51 on: 19 November, 2010, 06:06:00 pm »


I suppose it is supposed to be asymmetric!

S
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andygates

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Re: Your internet BB speed ?
« Reply #52 on: 19 November, 2010, 06:14:32 pm »
 :o



BT in the boonies.
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Re: Your internet BB speed ?
« Reply #53 on: 19 November, 2010, 06:18:08 pm »
:o


BT in the boonies.
Nah...Crediton's the centre of civilisation, mate!

((Not jealous, not at all...  >:( ))
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hellymedic

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Re: Your internet BB speed ?
« Reply #54 on: 19 November, 2010, 06:31:07 pm »


I suppose it is supposed to be asymmetric!

S

 ;D ;D ;D

hellymedic

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Re: Your internet BB speed ?
« Reply #55 on: 19 November, 2010, 06:40:13 pm »
Apart from Chris S and Hugo,
I HATE YOU ALL!
I'M GOING TO THKWEAM AND THKWEAM AND MAKE MYTHELF THICK!

IT'TH NOT FAIR!

I had the same issue with BT. Very slow. The contention ratio is too high (too many people trying to use the same bandwidth at the same time. If you can get O2 (Be Broadband) at your exchange then consider changing to them. They use ADSL2+ which offers faster upload and download speeds. They're also very good at customer service. A lot better than BT ever were with me.

I'm not convinced that contention is the issue. My connection speed is not significantly faster at 2-3 am (my partner's keen on astronomy so I may be at my pooter at silly o'clock.)

BT give me a good landline deal and are supposedly installing fibre by March 2011. I'm on a rolling contract so they have me somewhat captive. I'll see how things go in the spring and march if there's no improvement.

Re: Your internet BB speed ?
« Reply #56 on: 19 November, 2010, 06:42:52 pm »



Chester

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Pingu

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Re: Your internet BB speed ?
« Reply #57 on: 19 November, 2010, 06:43:35 pm »


That was a bit of surprise. I tried it the other night and it was ~3annabit I think. Most we ever had from shiTiscali was about 2, so I was a bit startled to see over 6!

Back to reality:


Re: Your internet BB speed ?
« Reply #58 on: 19 November, 2010, 07:05:23 pm »
O2 are weasels with a download limit that isn't in their paperwork or selling material. This on a premium account that was costing way more than the base level one.

Singularly unhelpful too.

And the f'wits still send me survey links asking me to rate their broadband service.

That's not really an O2 limit, that's a BT limit being passed on down the line to you.

If you are connected directly to O2 equipment at an unbundled phone exchange, then O2 don't enforce any kind of download limit. I'm sure they must have a "fair use" clause written in somewhere, but it's not applied. I can download literally hundreds of giabytes a month without so much as a murmur from O2, and this is on a base £12 a month package (used to be £10!).

Where a customer is not within range of an O2 unbundled exchange, all O2 can do is rebrand and re-sell the same woeful BT wholesale based offering that so many isp's are stuck with, hence the crap prices and crap download limits (that product is called O2 Home Access). In those circumstances the O2 offering is nothing special at all, being essentially a generic BT bundle.

But, if you can get the true O2 network offering, their value/performance is head and shoulders above anything else I've seen.


Kim

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Re: Your internet BB speed ?
« Reply #59 on: 19 November, 2010, 07:39:40 pm »
I'm not convinced that contention is the issue. My connection speed is not significantly faster at 2-3 am (my partner's keen on astronomy so I may be at my pooter at silly o'clock.)

AAISP's monitoring can (amongst other things) detect exchange contention on the BT wholesale lines.  It does happen from time to time, but at a fairly low level and not usually for very long (it tends to be the result of a fault).  The vast majority of exchanges don't have contention issues.

More likely is contention on the backhaul from the BT network to the ISP's systems.  If the ISP isn't buying enough capacity in advance (BT requires them to do it in advance), that can make things go nasty fairly quickly.  However, I suspect the sort of ISPs who are likely to be stingy with capacity are also likely to be using aggressive traffic shaping, and capable of managing the issue that way.

In my experience contention is usually only an issue on cable connections, where the design of the network is such that contention happens on a much more local level.  Recipe for doom if you're on a street inhabited by students or young professionals, who tend to be high bandwidth users at roughly the same times of day.

Jaded

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Re: Your internet BB speed ?
« Reply #60 on: 19 November, 2010, 07:45:51 pm »
If you are connected directly to O2 equipment at an unbundled phone exchange, then O2 don't enforce any kind of download limit.

Unbundling is, like Broadband was originally, being rolled out in places where there are already things like Cable - it is far better to provide competing fast internet in two or three varieties in a few places than to look at overall coverage across the country, isn't it.

We are apparently slated for unbundling in December next year.
It is simpler than it looks.

Kim

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Re: Your internet BB speed ?
« Reply #61 on: 19 November, 2010, 07:49:00 pm »
Unbundling is, like Broadband was originally, being rolled out in places where there are already things like Cable - it is far better to provide competing fast internet in two or three varieties in a few places than to look at overall coverage across the country, isn't it.

See also: Fibre To The Cabinet.  Could make all the difference in bandwidth-starved rural areas, but they're rolling it out in the more profitable well-served areas first.   :facepalm:

Re: Your internet BB speed ?
« Reply #62 on: 19 November, 2010, 09:34:32 pm »


Two hours later and the speed had dropped by more than half :-\

Re: Your internet BB speed ?
« Reply #63 on: 19 November, 2010, 11:36:54 pm »

o2 home broadband standard, twelve and a half quid a month. I thought it would show more speed than that, perhaps it will at another time of day.

hellymedic

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Re: Your internet BB speed ?
« Reply #64 on: 20 November, 2010, 11:04:59 am »
Since our router is currently in Himself's study upstairs, where there are several old bits of kit best of with ethernet cabling, it would make sense for any new hub also to be situated there and hard wired.
Our master socket is in the hall, which contains a hatstand, bicycle, numerous bags and materials awaiting recycling. There's little space for computer kit there.
I think BT have offered to fit most of this free as I'm a mug Loyal Customer.
We don't do TV or games but a little more speed and stability would be welcome, just for YouTube and news videos and Facebook...

hellymedic

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Re: Your internet BB speed ?
« Reply #65 on: 20 November, 2010, 11:09:41 am »
Well, it's consistent...

Re: Your internet BB speed ?
« Reply #66 on: 20 November, 2010, 11:14:33 am »
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Re: Your internet BB speed ?
« Reply #67 on: 20 November, 2010, 11:20:24 am »


No real choice of supplier here the exchange has not been upgraded for high speed BB

Re: Your internet BB speed ?
« Reply #68 on: 20 November, 2010, 11:20:44 am »
What's with the Carphone Warehouse thing? ???


Re: Your internet BB speed ?
« Reply #69 on: 20 November, 2010, 12:34:48 pm »
Pretty rubbish seeing as I'm no more than about 400 metres from the exchange as the telephone line flies.



So if I go for BT Infinity (which I believe I can get) does this mean I can't connect wirelessly with my laptop or that it will just be a bit shit? Other PCs in the house are wired up, so that's not a problem.
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FatBloke

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Re: Your internet BB speed ?
« Reply #70 on: 20 November, 2010, 01:23:51 pm »


Well that's cheered me up!  :)
This isn't just a thousand to one shot. This is a professional blood sport. It can happen to you. And it can happen again.

Re: Your internet BB speed ?
« Reply #71 on: 20 November, 2010, 03:03:54 pm »
No you can connect wirelessly it's just that they are saying that the whole thing is dragged down to the wireless connection speed and that if two or more computers connect wirelessly the link is in effect shared. As I understand it one computer connected wirelessly should broad brush be the same as a wired connection.

AndyC

Ta. It will be interesting to do the test if I go ahead and get it....
Those wonderful norks are never far from my thoughts, oh yeah!

Kim

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Re: Your internet BB speed ?
« Reply #72 on: 20 November, 2010, 03:21:47 pm »
To those of you considering BT Infinity, please be aware that, as with ADSL, you can get the same wholesale fibre-to-the-cabinet product via other, more competent, ISPs than BT retail.

Re: Your internet BB speed ?
« Reply #73 on: 20 November, 2010, 05:19:31 pm »

o2 home broadband standard, twelve and a half quid a month. I thought it would show more speed than that, perhaps it will at another time of day.


I got that result last night and got a slightly faster one this afternoon


I also did the ping test this afternoon, it recons my line quality is very good.



Re: Your internet BB speed ?
« Reply #74 on: 20 November, 2010, 05:41:46 pm »
The broadband availability checker at Sam Knows is a very good place to get info about what's available to you at your exchange:

http://www.samknows.com/broadband/broadband_checker

You can also use their exchange mapper to locate your phone exchange exactly and check your distance to it etc.