Broadband reccomendations

[dieselboy]

Dont they generally say something like 'up to' 10Mb?

6Mb IS 'up to' 10Mb.

Weasel words I know, but if you're more than a km from your exchange, and on copper cable, you'll be very very lucky to hit 10Mb. I think all it means is the kit at the exchange is capable of 10Mb. The rest is down to the quality / length of the lines from there.

Apache is right.
virgin media use coaxial cable and fibre to deliver tv and internet. they actually provide internet capable of way more than the speed you are paying for (sometimes 20mb or 50mb) to the house. it is then rate limited to the bandwidth you are paying for so 2mb really is 2mb ~ 250kb/s and so on.
it seems to be just DSL that is effected by the length of the two wires you have from the exchange, and also the quality of the equipment the isp has installed in the exchange including if it uses BTs network or is an unbundled service.

another factor to consider is contention. when we had virgin, my experience was that our 2mbit line was getting 2mbit, but the street was so heavily contended that at odd times we were getting serious packet loss, that ALWAYS seemed to be rectified whilst i was on hold waiting to report it.

i was with tiscali once on a 2mbit service. the contention was so great there that i couldnt even use the internet at peak times. the speed was equivelant to dial up, but with less reliability!

[Scorpion]

I'm on 10mb and the above result is what I'm actually getting!

They then have the nerve to send a letter asking if I want to upgrade to 20mb. Cheeky blighters.

[24Seven]

O2 use ASDL2 technology I think, meaning twice as quick on a copper line compared to ADSL they also don't do any bandwidth shaping which a lot of providers now seem to do (BT)

[24Seven]

I'm on 10mb and the above result is what I'm actually getting!

They then have the nerve to send a letter asking if I want to upgrade to 20mb. Cheeky blighters.

As said if you're on cable should you not get what you pay for?? mine is an "upto 20" on a BT line so I cannot moan.

[MattF]

i have found reliability is worth more than faster speeds.

You get what you pay for. Simple as. If people will insist on finding the best deal, they cannot also expect to have the best quality and|or service. The two ne'er go hand in hand.

If reliability and suchlike is the primary concern, go for a business grade solution. If price is the primary concern, then go for domestic solutions.

[MattF]

As said if you're on cable should you not get what you pay for??

No figures any provider ever give are guaranteed. They are always best scenario figures.

[Albannach]

I'm on 10Mb Virgin. (Remember, Mb = Mega Bits, not Mega Bytes.)



Can't grumble.

[MattF]

Just decided to give this end a test with that thing. Never really rated them personally, but there you go. 2Mb Down.

[24Seven]

You get what you pay for. Simple as. If people will insist on finding the best deal, they cannot also expect to have the best quality and|or service. The two ne'er go hand in hand.

If reliability and suchlike is the primary concern, go for a business grade solution. If price is the primary concern, then go for domestic solutions.

Totally agree, I was paying £20 per month for Bulldog for years for a solid 6Mb/s with a 25/1 ratio no limits and would be still with them now if they had not been bought by Pipex and then Tiscali (shudder) suddenly I could not even get a bill out of them although they still kept taking money and I was paying £20 for a shite service.

Be Broadband (Part of O2) was the logical change and lucky enough they are cheap as well, which in fact worries me as I'm not sure they can sustain a good service for the price.

[SurfDogs]

We've always used BT and have had no problems until now....when Sky offered us a package that we couldn't refuse. Sky customer service for the TV is great but for the broadband is crap and then their modem packed up at 13 months old!

Back to BT we think.

[POPEYE]

Well ta guys, aint much wiser but i think i'll just phone em up and have a moan see if they offer me a reduction, if not well never mind, when we eventually get a new telly (plasma or lcd) we'll prob dump the cable and go for a freeview box, trinitron's on it's last legs, if it'll just hang on another few months

[tintin]

just tried mine.....



dont know why the isp comes up as opal, cos i'm with 'talktalk'

alan

[MattF]

Be Broadband (Part of O2) was the logical change and lucky enough they are cheap as well, which in fact worries me as I'm not sure they can sustain a good service for the price.

That's why I'm with Demon. Granted, it's only a 2Mb down, 832kb up service, (business grade), but it is, (other than a problem they had for a day or so a while back with their DNS servers), rock solid. 20:1 contention ratio, and it deals with all of the server side of things as well as the family for their browsing and such. Plus, I know they ain't slitting their throats on price so the quality or service isn't liable to suffer if the bean counters ever take charge at their end.

[MattF]

dont know why the isp comes up as opal, cos i'm with 'talktalk'

A lot of so-called providers just front a service with an I.S.P.

[KERRSURF]

Results can vary depending on time of day as well. I have a sneaking suspicion that Virgin are choking download after a certain amount, my file downloads drop from 1.4Mbps to 267kbps after a few gig has been downloaded, even though they maintain they have an unlimited service.