Author Topic: Your internet BB speed ?  (Read 123407 times)

ian

Re: Your internet BB speed ?
« Reply #625 on: 03 July, 2018, 06:11:08 pm »
I don't notice anything being slow at 70ish Mb/s – Netflix streams 4k without dropping a frame, webpages appear without pause (and when they don't, I expect the restriction is server-side). Even my epic bouts of thought leadership presenteering (and I laugh at presentations smaller than a 100MB) upload to the server quite quickly (and it's not really a process that I benefit from watching). Dropbox and Creative Cloud syncs just happen, I've never noticed a significant delay. There might be some benefit if I was pushing HD video to the server, but it most production quality static graphics which rarely top several MB.

Plus, tbh, I doubt my wifi is really running at 70Mb/s anyway. I think the powerline adaptors run at about 150 Mb/s.

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Your internet BB speed ?
« Reply #626 on: 07 August, 2018, 06:10:54 pm »
The Openreach engineer also tried to investigate the new cabinet that has been installed about 200m from our home to see if it is online yet. He couldn't even open it! But a call to the control centre managed to ascertain that it is not yet online. No indication of when it will be operational - it was installed before Christmas, so god knows what they are waiting for.

Oh well, we've been waiting for a decent internet connection for so long that another few months won't make much difference. Very frustrating though.

I just uploaded a big bunch of pictures to a shared Google drive and since they're all in the order of 4MB each, I was expecting it to take several hours. In fact, it took a few seconds... WTAF?

So I did a speed test and while our download speed is unchanged, upload speed has jumped to around 8Mbps - previously we've been getting 0.5Mbps on a good day, and we don't get many good days.

I have a feeling this means the new cabinet is now online. Yay!

Now we just need to get Sky to tweak our account so we can take advantage of the faster download speeds as well, and before long, who knows? Our internet connection might even begin to resemble something belonging to the 21st century.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Your internet BB speed ?
« Reply #627 on: 08 August, 2018, 10:23:46 am »
Did another speed test this morning - looks like our connection is already taking advantage of the new fibrous goodness...



This is nothing short of life-changing - seriously, because as I may have mentioned, I work from home and rely on my internet connection for communication and sharing of files.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Your internet BB speed ?
« Reply #628 on: 08 August, 2018, 10:31:22 am »
Anyway, that's a red herring.  Once you've got enough downstream for n video streams, the main reason people are likely to need faster broadband is because the upstream speeds are stingy on most technologies, and they're wanting to do something upload-intensive (eg. cloud storage, offsite backups, publishing media).

Or they work with a lazy designer who refuses to spend a little bit of time resizing 250MB+ Photoshop files to a perfectly serviceable cropped, flattened, downsampled jpeg of 10-15MB.  :facepalm:
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Re: Your internet BB speed ?
« Reply #629 on: 08 August, 2018, 10:34:40 am »
But that's Sod's Law isn't it.

If you just want a downsampled jpeg of 10-15MB you'll get the 250MB+ Photoshop file.

If you need the original 250MB+ Photoshop file they'll send you a downsampled jpeg and then set their out of office...
"Yes please" said Squirrel "biscuits are our favourite things."

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Your internet BB speed ?
« Reply #630 on: 08 August, 2018, 10:50:10 am »
If you need the original 250MB+ Photoshop file they'll send you a downsampled jpeg and then set their out of office...

I can't imagine the circumstances when I am likely to need the original 250MB Photoshop file. In any case, if I did, it should exist somewhere else on our shared Drive, in an archive folder, not in the live project folder that I need to have synced to my desktop.

(I need to have it synced because when creating press PDFs from Indesign files, it's best to have the linked high-res images stored locally, otherwise you have to download them ad hoc, which just slows down the process. And it's not just the internet connection that makes those file sizes a problem - my work computer doesn't have unlimited memory...)
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Your internet BB speed ?
« Reply #631 on: 08 October, 2018, 05:31:03 pm »
Email from ISP today...

Quote
Great news! We're upgrading our network, area by area, to bring you Fibre Max with faster average speeds of 63Mbps at no extra monthly cost.
 
What happens next?
 
These upgrades start in December and run through to spring. During this time, you will be moved automatically from Fibre Unlimited with an average download speed of 36Mbps, to Fibre Max with an average speed of 63Mbps. That's 75% faster and you don't need to do anything.

 :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

It'll almost be like living in the 21st century.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Phil W

Re: Your internet BB speed ?
« Reply #632 on: 08 October, 2018, 08:11:28 pm »
Currently at 50 downstream and 20 upstream.

ian

Re: Your internet BB speed ?
« Reply #633 on: 08 October, 2018, 10:05:33 pm »
There's now a forest of green boxes at the bottom of our road – possibly the newest one is related to direct fibre which is apparently on offer. I feel I should avail myself of it (because I don't pay the bills) but I'm hard pressed to know what I'd do with an upgrade on the 60-70Mbps I get via Infinity 2. Am I missing something?

Re: Your internet BB speed ?
« Reply #634 on: 08 October, 2018, 10:09:33 pm »
There's now a forest of green boxes at the bottom of our road – possibly the newest one is related to direct fibre which is apparently on offer. I feel I should avail myself of it (because I don't pay the bills) but I'm hard pressed to know what I'd do with an upgrade on the 60-70Mbps I get via Infinity 2. Am I missing something?

You're missing several more people in the house who all want to watch different 4K Netflix streams simultaneously (each 4K stream is about 25Mbps).

A faster upload speed is more important for me with some of my work. I'd rather have 50/50 than 80/20.
"Yes please" said Squirrel "biscuits are our favourite things."

Re: Your internet BB speed ?
« Reply #635 on: 09 May, 2019, 08:48:26 pm »
We've just upgraded to fibre: 36Mbps DL / 9.5Mbps UL.  We were on ~8/0.8, for more money, and wifi that didn't reach to all rooms in aoxon towers.  Nice to have reasonable UL speed now, though DL speed was only really an issue when 3 devices were streaming at once.
Cycle and recycle.   SS Wilson

Re: Your internet BB speed ?
« Reply #636 on: 18 May, 2019, 08:15:49 pm »
The joys of the bit of copper in a linear village. Afternoons it’s 55/30, evenings it’s 30/13!
We are making a New World (Paul Nash, 1918)

Re: Your internet BB speed ?
« Reply #637 on: 15 June, 2019, 03:38:39 pm »
We are3 on that world called frustration.

We are to be FTTP "soon" or so we were told last year, then this year with the poles festooned in coils of fibre it came to light that the cable still had to be installed between us and the cabinet some 2 miles away on the other side of a pretty steep hill.

Cable is now installed and still nothing is happening. *silent scream* Even our MP cannot get answers from BT. What a bloody way to run a company and then to add insult to injury it seems we have to contract to them for a year initially if we want the fibre. Monopoly or what? TBH thought this sort of crap was now illegal.

PH
Bees do nothing invariably.

DaveJ

  • Happy days
Re: Your internet BB speed ?
« Reply #638 on: 25 September, 2019, 02:02:50 pm »


So that I can play with cloud backups.  It was the upload speed I was after.

Your internet BB speed ?
« Reply #639 on: 25 September, 2019, 03:37:38 pm »


So that I can play with cloud backups.  It was the upload speed I was after.

Limited by my WIFi performance. Almost 3 times that (both up and down) when cabled.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Your internet BB speed ?
« Reply #640 on: 31 March, 2020, 09:01:42 pm »
Neil the our-favourite-telco engineer re-graded our ADSL2+ to VDSL earlier, so after the requisite modem reconfiguration and kicking of pfsense, we now have about 56Mbit down and - more importantly - 20Mbit up.



Seeing about 50/18 on speed tests with the traffic shaping enabled.  That'll do.  :thumbsup:

Re: Your internet BB speed ?
« Reply #641 on: 03 April, 2020, 05:31:57 pm »
...
I am at home with 9 videos ready to upload to YouTube. The first one is 1'38" and took an unbelievable 13 hours to upload. How do I turn up my upload speed?

We were on 0.8 Mbps Up, which went to 9.5Mbps, but only once upgraded to Fibre.
Cycle and recycle.   SS Wilson

Re: Your internet BB speed ?
« Reply #642 on: 05 April, 2020, 09:05:00 am »


I am at home with 9 videos ready to upload to YouTube. The first one is 1'38" and took an unbelievable 13 hours to upload. How do I turn up my upload speed?

That looks like an ADSL connection. You cant get higher upload speeds I'm afraid that just the way it works. The A in ADSL stands for asymmetric.
To get faster uploads you would need SDSL (symmetric and not that commonly available), VDSL (fibre to the cabinet) or a true fibre connection. So basically it depends on what services are available in your area.
I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Your internet BB speed ?
« Reply #643 on: 05 April, 2020, 01:05:21 pm »
That looks like an ADSL connection. You cant get higher upload speeds I'm afraid that just the way it works. The A in ADSL stands for asymmetric.

Technically, there's Annex M, which devotes a greater proportion of the available bandwidth to upstream.  But not all ISPs offer it, and VDSL is probably cheaper.  Yes, it's talk to your ISP stuff.

Afasoas

Re: Your internet BB speed ?
« Reply #644 on: 04 May, 2020, 09:22:10 pm »
The second line proved to be insufficient for two of us working from home when Virgin Media got a case of the wobblies.
So now it's on vDSL through a TalkTalk reseller:



Hoping that upload improves as the line if profiled over the next few days. Even so, it is a welcome improvement.

The other line is allows a bit more throughput, although VMs peering is not the greatest:


Afasoas

Re: Your internet BB speed ?
« Reply #645 on: 04 May, 2020, 10:31:21 pm »
The second line proved to be insufficient for two of us working from home ...[/url]

I am jealous as even your poor 2nd line uploads 7 times faster than ours. We are both working from home. Mrs. road-runner now gives piano lessons via Whatsapp, Zoom and Skype. Today 3 of her 5 students had poor enough connections that they had to postpone the lessons.



That looks like aDSL. Is it time to make the switch?
Sub 1Mb/s upload is fine until you have two people video conferencing at the same time and everything falls apart because the upload bandwidth is saturated.

Full disclosure: one of the t'interweb connections is expensed by my employer. And the vDSL is cheaper than the aDSL that came before it.

Re: Your internet BB speed ?
« Reply #646 on: 04 May, 2020, 11:17:13 pm »
BT have been digging up the road near me to put in fibre. Given that this area is already served by FTTC I'm wondering if it could be the beginnings of their FTTP offering (https://www.bt.com/broadband/full-fibre) appearing the area. The availability checker says no for me, but I've registered my interest.

Some prices/details here: https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2020/03/isp-bt-prices-new-uk-gigabit-and-full-fibre-broadband-plans.html

Quote
    Full Fibre 100
    Average Download of 145Mbps / Upload of 30Mbps
    Upfront Fee: £9.99

    Price: £39.99 a month for 24 months (£47.99 thereafter)

    Full Fibre 500 (new)
    Average Download of 500Mbps / Upload of 73Mbps
    Upfront Fee: £9.99

    Price: £49.99 a month for 24 months (£57.99 thereafter)

    Full Fibre 1000 (new)
    Average Download of 900Mbps / Upload of 110Mbps
    Upfront Fee: £9.99

    Price: £59.99 a month for 24 months (£67.99 thereafter)

I'm already paying the equivalent of £40 a month for BT Infinity (I get 70Mbps/20Mbps) so another £20 a month for 6 times the speed would be awesome and it'd make certain work stuff much easier (I occasionally have to shunt around 2-4GB files between home/work).
"Yes please" said Squirrel "biscuits are our favourite things."

ian

Re: Your internet BB speed ?
« Reply #647 on: 05 May, 2020, 09:22:04 am »
Apparently we have fibre here. Not sure how it works, I presume someone needs to put optical string from the cabinet at the bottom of the road to replace the copper.

I do seem to be paying the better part for £60 for the 70Mbps BT service (includes the entirely unwanted phone line and package). Oddly, when I check the BT site it offers my current package as a cheaper upgrade.

C'est la BT.

I've not looked for ages, but it's all now that odd model where anyone can offer a service. Bob's Booze and Newz Superspeed Broadband.

Re: Your internet BB speed ?
« Reply #648 on: 05 May, 2020, 10:39:00 am »
The major factor in broadband speed is the length of the bit of copper that carries the broadband signal - so this is between the two bits of equipment at either end (your broadband modem/router and the DSLAM at the other end). The longer the cable the slower the speeds possible.

In days of old the wire went from your broadband router/modem all the way to a box at the exchange. This could be miles, and that means broadband speeds under 10Mbps.

FTTC is BT Infinity (now called BT Fibre 1 or BT Fibre 2) means that the broadband part (which goes over the same copper wire as the phone) is terminated (i.e. the broadband signal is yanked off the wire) at the cabinet (FTTC = Fibre to the Cabinet). This shortens the copper run significantly for the broadband signal (now often a few hundreds meters instead of a mile+) and broadband speeds are up to ~80Mbps. But BT had to move the broadband termination equipment (DSLAMs, etc) to the cabinet, which means the cabinets now needed to be powered (they didn't before), plus they needed to have fibre installed between the cabinet and the exchange to carry everyone's data, so lots of faff, planning permission for bigger cabinets and digging up roads.

To make the length of copper even shorter the plan is to shorten it to zero by bringing FTTP (fibre to the premises). This is the BT Full Fibre option. Speeds up to ~1Gbps. No "broadband" in traditional terms at all as your local Ethernet network will go out of the router on the fibre. You'll need an engineer to come and yank some fibre optic cable up alongside your existing copper pair(s) and then drill it through the wall as it can't be done over the existing copper cable. Fun.

Your phone signal still travels over the existing copper wire all the way to the exchange, at which point it is digitised by an 5ESS or equivalent.
"Yes please" said Squirrel "biscuits are our favourite things."

ian

Re: Your internet BB speed ?
« Reply #649 on: 05 May, 2020, 10:57:53 am »
But how does the fibre get from the cabinet to my house? They seem to claim that they offer FTTP. I assume it has to follow the path of the copper wire but they've not put any in.

I'm not convinced it is available, and to be honest, I don't need it (I have Fibre 2 and it's sufficient). But then I don't need a phone line either. Virgin also keep sending me fibre offers, but they have no cabling either. I assume they're trawling for demand.