25 replies to this topic

[miniboo]

here is mine from when i did it before. I have 10 meg down 1 meg up cable.

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[yorkshirechris]

No-one has 8Mb broadband, it's always 'upto' and it's like that for a reason.

For example if you look deeper and deeper into your terms and conditions on BT broadband for example you'll find the speed they guarantee is 22kb/sec. Hardly the 8000kb/sec you were expecting. All other broadband providers are the same with the exception if cable-based broadband (virgin media/ntl/telewest whatever they are these days).

It's not just about contention ratio either, the main reason in most areas that you can't get top notch broadband is to do with your distance from the telephone exchange and the quality of the line you're provided on. I have the approximate figures somewhere but I forget... but basically if you're further than about 6km from the exchange then the maximum you'll be able to get is 512k broadband. I'd say most people are within about 2-4 km. To get 8MB broadband you need to live probably within 1km of the exchange (don't forget this is in cable length terms not 'as the crow flies') and the contention ratio will have to be reasonably low for you to get 8Mb most of the time. There is an area near me which is about 7.2km from the exchange and they always complain to us that they can only get 512k broadband. Sorry but that's how it is!

The design of the network in this country is poor compared to others - in Germany for example everyone has fast broadband because there are more telephone exchanges meaning the line length from you to the exchange is shorter. In turn that means a faster broadband capability. But the quality of the network in this country is good compared to those countries... if our quality was the same as Germany's then we'd all still be on 256k broadband...

I'm approx 2.4km from the exchange, and I'm on a "upto 8Mb" service, and I typically get about 4500kb (4.5Mb) download speeds. I'm not too bothered about upload speeds because i rarely upload big files. Neither do most people, which is why ADSL is the product we use. You can be supplied with SDSL (Symmetric Digital Subscriber Line) which is the same speed in both directions but that'll cost you an arm and a leg and I'm pretty sure you can't use it on your normal telephone line. So not only is the rental high, but you have to pay for an additional line installing, plus all the more expensive SDSL router and equipment etc.

To be fair bungle it's not just beause you live in Cornwall (although you may disagree ) it's the same for everyone.

I lived in a city centre apartment once, less than 1km from the exchange, and the best speed they could offer me (bearing in mind I was on an 'upto 8mb' package) was 1Mb! Why? Because of the sheer amount of other ADSL connections going to the same equipment as mine in the exchange - and the fact that most of the other connections were up and running and being used most of the time.

In a few years and after a few billion £££ of investment they'll be moving the exchange equipment "out" further towards the customer in street cabinets (just like Virgin media) anyway so we can all look forwards to 20Mb+...

When I say 'a few' though, don't quote me!

[Bungle]

i knew my broad band was slow, a few months ago i was on here with a problem that my modem kept disconnecting

minimole (as well as others) was a great help and even did me a line test for speed and found my problem

and as yorkshirechris says its because I'm a long way from the exchange i was on a 2.2 broad band package with out being able to receive that much down my phone line

so far so good with the up to 8 supply it just gets very slow instead of disconnecting

[yorkshirechris]

I think with the 'upto' services, over the first few days of the line being connected the modem finds the highest, best speed that your line will support, and then it sticks to that. With the older services, say "2Mb", they force 2mb down the line, obviously if the line isn't good enough it will drop out, not adjust to a slower speed.

[Miniman]

No-one has 8Mb broadband, it's always 'upto' and it's like that for a reason.

For example if you look deeper and deeper into your terms and conditions on BT broadband for example you'll find the speed they guarantee is 22kb/sec. Hardly the 8000kb/sec you were expecting. All other broadband providers are the same with the exception if cable-based broadband (virgin media/ntl/telewest whatever they are these days).

It's not just about contention ratio either, the main reason in most areas that you can't get top notch broadband is to do with your distance from the telephone exchange and the quality of the line you're provided on. I have the approximate figures somewhere but I forget... but basically if you're further than about 6km from the exchange then the maximum you'll be able to get is 512k broadband. I'd say most people are within about 2-4 km. To get 8MB broadband you need to live probably within 1km of the exchange (don't forget this is in cable length terms not 'as the crow flies') and the contention ratio will have to be reasonably low for you to get 8Mb most of the time. There is an area near me which is about 7.2km from the exchange and they always complain to us that they can only get 512k broadband. Sorry but that's how it is!

The design of the network in this country is poor compared to others - in Germany for example everyone has fast broadband because there are more telephone exchanges meaning the line length from you to the exchange is shorter. In turn that means a faster broadband capability. But the quality of the network in this country is good compared to those countries... if our quality was the same as Germany's then we'd all still be on 256k broadband...

I'm approx 2.4km from the exchange, and I'm on a "upto 8Mb" service, and I typically get about 4500kb (4.5Mb) download speeds. I'm not too bothered about upload speeds because i rarely upload big files. Neither do most people, which is why ADSL is the product we use. You can be supplied with SDSL (Symmetric Digital Subscriber Line) which is the same speed in both directions but that'll cost you an arm and a leg and I'm pretty sure you can't use it on your normal telephone line. So not only is the rental high, but you have to pay for an additional line installing, plus all the more expensive SDSL router and equipment etc.

To be fair bungle it's not just beause you live in Cornwall (although you may disagree ) it's the same for everyone.

I lived in a city centre apartment once, less than 1km from the exchange, and the best speed they could offer me (bearing in mind I was on an 'upto 8mb' package) was 1Mb! Why? Because of the sheer amount of other ADSL connections going to the same equipment as mine in the exchange - and the fact that most of the other connections were up and running and being used most of the time.

In a few years and after a few billion £££ of investment they'll be moving the exchange equipment "out" further towards the customer in street cabinets (just like Virgin media) anyway so we can all look forwards to 20Mb+...

When I say 'a few' though, don't quote me!

Hahahahah Looking out my window i can see 2 exchanges!!!!

I am with Virgin Media or whatever there called this week though

[sixwheeler]

The quality of the line does of course have a bearing on it as well...

Various customers have has problems with poor line quality and have had to do serious battle with bt to get it sorted - that bizzarely includes getting trees cut back where they were touching the line.

One cutomer was opposite a main exchange; it was literally across the other side of the road, maybe 100m away, but the max speed they could have was 512 due to the very old lines that were going in to the building.

So overall, there are a lot of factors effecting the speed, some of which are mentioned above and some that you can do nothing about!

Also, make sure the lines in the house are up to scratch - dodgy extention leads will slow it down and Sky or Sky+ can wreak havok with your connection in some instances.

[yorkshirechris]

Miniman... it's impossible for them to be BT exchanges... because they're usually 4km apart at least! They're my forte... I don't know much about Virgin media and how their network operates.

Yeah I can understand about the trees - it does happen, where the overhead cable has been rubbing against tree branches for a while - that the sheathing rubs through and the bare wires touch the tree, and naturally with the tree being full of sap, it puts an earth fault on the line. Usually in that instance it would affect the telephony part of the line too, and that's when people notice.

The other situation is quite bizarre... There are still cables in the ground which are insulated by paper and the sheathing is made of lead - and they're fine with broadband! And they're at least 30/40 years old! I think the problem would be more to do with the quality of the conductor (some of it is aluminium and not copper) - but even so, there are hundreds of broadband lines which work on a couple of Km of aluminium and they can get a half decent speed!

That's true about extension leads. A lot of extensions, or a couple of poor quality ones, will put a noise on the line. Not a noise you can hear necessarily but one that degrades the ADSL signal. Because even though you might have your PC connected to the main socket, the extensions are still connected to the circuit and a fault on them can affect the whole circuit.

But yeah extensions... I know a guy who bought a cheap 'trailing' extension, and his broadband wouldn't work properly over it - kept cutting out. He then got an engineer in who installed a 'proper' wall mounted socket as well as using 'proper' cable, and his broadband worked perfectly after that.

[nev_payne]

Speed is generally a measure of how close you are to the exchange...rather than what the marketing bumph says. I have a BT broadband package - 3mbs down and 0.5mbs up. Rarely ever see above 2... 2.5 is the max.

Our business line at owrk is also a 3mb but with a 1mb upload...but becuase its a business line its very flexibl and take presidence over the home connections. I've seen 4.5mbs on it before now.

[yorkshirechris]

Speed is generally a measure of how close you are to the exchange...rather than what the marketing bumph says. I have a BT broadband package - 3mbs down and 0.5mbs up. Rarely ever see above 2... 2.5 is the max.

Our business line at owrk is also a 3mb but with a 1mb upload...but becuase its a business line its very flexibl and take presidence over the home connections. I've seen 4.5mbs on it before now.

Yeah, all goes back to the contention ratio like I mentioned earlier, business broadband is typically 20:1 or less, residential broadband can be around 50:1.

[andyc142]

See my sig for mine.

[Mandgands]

I am in an area that is only meant to have 512kb max. This is what all the internet providers quoted me when i was looking around. Settled with AOL in the end as i got a wireless router.

The speed was so slow, and i was on the phone to them at least once a week to complain, speaking to a man in India that was reading from cue cards. My contract is up at the end of Dec, so i phoned up AOL to get my MAC number to switch to Virgin. They asked why i was switching, and i told them it was because of the slow line speed. The woman on the phone asked if i would like my line speed increased, but i told her that the line max was only 512kb.

She then said she could "IP Max" my line, meaning that they take the line speed cap off my line, allowing me the full download speed of my line. So i now have 3meg connection, in an area that is 512kb max.