OFCOM 'disses' ISPs

[Yas786]

Im on Bethere internet and i regularly get 18mb download speed and 2mb upload, am on ADSL2...probably because i live literally across the road from my telephone exchange.

Im not complaining in the slightest.

 

[Gypo]

VM 20mb is the dogs, i was on it for years and last summer moved to a new housing estate which isnt covered by cable, stuck on 7mb with Sky and it truly is awful.

I never had any problems with Virgin and always got 2.4mb/s and 10-20ms pings in game.

If you go over the limit then yes you will be punished with their TM policy.

 

[LordSplodge]

Anyone out there on Virgin?
I hear that they are faster than anyone else tested

I pay for 20mb (on Virgin) and I get 20mb (well on average 19.5) even at peak times unless me or somebody else in the house goes download mad at peak times and we get capped but that doesn't happen often.

EDIT: Plus great pings. Even over wifi I get 18-20ms!

 

[Flubble]

im apparently on Sky 16mb, lol

 

[stockhausen]

No, what we need is for a more accurate estimation of the speed before you sign up ...

Honesty you mean?

But what we REALLY need is FTC/FTH from someone other than VM

Forgive my ignorance, but what is FTC/FTH

 

[willhub]

I'm on AOL and after 6pm I cant stream radio and it's a struggle to load images and browse forums. The weird thing is at the same time if I went and download something sometimes I can download at the full speed of my connection when the internet is unbrowsable.

 

[Westyfield2]

Forgive my ignorance, but what is FTC/FTH

Fibre to the Cabinet / Fibre to the Home.

 

[batsy]

I've been with Talktalk for about a year now and i'm happy with the service.I get 7Mb on their up to 8Mb package which includes all calls to 01/02 numbers and calls to europe, america and australia 24/7 for £26 pm.

Their forum is also quite good as i'm on LLU the staff can tweak your line and change you from interleaved to fast etc.

 

[Janesy B]

I'm on AOL and after 6pm I cant stream radio and it's a struggle to load images and browse forums. The weird thing is at the same time if I went and download something sometimes I can download at the full speed of my connection when the internet is unbrowsable.

Traffic Shaping.

 

[willhub]

Traffic Shaping.

Anyway around it whilst staying with AOL?

 

[Westyfield2]

I'm on O2 and am paying £7.50 a month for completely unlimited ADSL2+.

O2's ADSL2+ service will give someone who lives right next to the exchange (and on decent quality copper) 24mb.

My house is 2 miles from the exchange and was built 50 years ago.

So as I'm getting 13mb from two pieces of copper that were buried 50 years ago (and are simultaneously handling the from the phone) and the datas travelled 2 miles from where it started at 24mb, I'd say is quite good


The problem is ISP's where people aren't getting the maximum speed possible for their length and quality of copper (but then why did the people chose that ISP?), and people that can't understand that the signal will be attenuated over distance!

 

[bledd]

I agree our NTL line at home is only on the cheapest package, but we generally always get what we pay for.

At uni last year we were on 10m between 3 of us, there were a few times when it would just slow to a halt, due to a housemate streaming all day, he carried on, despite the fat that they capped us for the afternoon and me and the other housemate got really cheesed off.

If it wasnt for their stupid limiting policys they would be perfect.

so pay for a bigger service & use QOS on your router


we had 7 of us on a 10m connection, was fine all the time

I setup a central media server, so no-one ever streamed anything

I could play CSS without problems

 

[V4NT0M]

I don't know about other ISPs but when you sign up for a package with Orange the website (or agent) tells you what your estimated speed will be rather than just saying 8mb or 2mb or w/e.

The estimation they give is based on the availability at your exchange, line length and line quality. Currently there is not a more accurate way to estimate line speed without actually enabling DSL on your line.

I'm pretty sure BT and a lot of other providers have this check as part of their sign up process... I think the problem is that people are a little ignorant and selfish and start looking at their bills AFTER signing up and saying "I'm supposed to be on 8mb!!" and then rage guying down the phone at a company who has already informed them of the speed their line can handle.

Anyone wanting to check this information is free to do so on BT's website: http://www.productsandservices.bt.c...topicId=25795&s_cid=con_FURL_broadband/faster or indeed on an independent website such as: http://www.samknows.com/broadband/checker2.php

 

[rypt]

I think the problem is that people are a little ignorant and selfish and start looking at their bills AFTER signing up and saying "I'm supposed to be on 8mb!!" and then rage guying down the phone at a company who has already informed them of the speed their line can handle.

Perhaps the solution is for ISPs to charge less if you cannot get the full speed then?
Say if you only get 4 out of 8mbit then you pay 25% less, or 33% less, or similar