Internet Speeds

[Stuart_C]

Right bit of a stupid question here but I'm going to ask it anyway.

 

We are currently runing ADSL Max here. I've done various tests when the school has been empty and generally we get about 3.5-5 Meg downloads.

 

We are currently looking at what options are available to improves this speed. We are a long way from the exchange which is a problem. One of the things being suggested is a 2 Meg leased line. Now as we are not currently uploading much it would seem to me that, whilst the external contention rate will be less, this will actually be slower. It there some really obvious thing I am missing here?

 

I am aware that you can put in faster lines (i.e. 10Meg) but only enable a small portion (say 2Meg) but this makes no sense to me.

 

Help?

[ahuxham]

You are correct, in my opinion the only time leased comes into play is when major uploading is done.

 

We house all our systems internal and as such need the upload speed to be 1:1 contention. Download speed would be the only thing affecting you.

 

Business ADSL would be better, you get 20:1 contention and that's decent enough on a 8MB line. Just look at what other companies are in the area and see if any would be real hogs.

[Michael]

I would rather have ADSL Max than a 2Mbps lease line. An alternative could be ADSL2 (if your line and exchange supports it), or going down the fibre root. Does your LA not provide any solutions?

 

Here in Birmingham they've installed fibre in every school, so we get either 10Mb or 100Mb for larger schools. It was a great move as buying in bulk provides massive discounts.

[Stuart_C]

Alas we are an Indipendent school on theedge of Clumbar Park in Nottinghamshire... so no LA and a long way from the exchange. What is also not helping is the dodgy cable installed by BT! Apparently there is an aluminium leg somewhere between us and the exchange.

 

No ADSL2 yet but we are trying to find out when that will be installed.

[ahuxham]

Best bet is to phone up and see if you can get Business ADSL.

 

It's best to find out who runs what in your exchange, which ISP has dominance and the likes and contact them.

 

For example, the exchange in Wells, Somerset is occupied mostly by orange, they've invested the most and as such service from them is perfect.

 

I have 8MB at home from Orange, and I download at 700+ kb/s constantly.

[Michael]

Aluminium? I thought telephone systems were based on fibre at the core and copper to people's homes/businesses but not aluminium! How far away from the exchange are you? A useful site I like to use is Samknows.

[Stuart_C]

We've got a consultant in doing some research for us. We can get business broadband they seem to be pushing a company called Chess which is supplying Easynet.

 

Though unless we get a new line install I'm not sure how it will help. Sumply switching supplier won't make much difference I would have though unless you go for a leased line product over 6 Meg where they guarantee the speed.

[Stuart_C]

Aluminium? I thought telephone systems were based on fibre at the core and copper to people's homes/businesses but not aluminium! How far away from the exchange are you? A useful site I like to use is Samknows.

 

 

Apparently about two miles from the exchange. The Ali thing is due to a leg that was put in years ago when there was a copper shortage (40's?). I was told this by one of BT's engineers (not the one's on the phone the helpfull one's that come on site) and a couple of other people have been told that the physicall cabling to site is a load of rubbish.

[Michael]

Surprising, you learn something new everyday! At 2 miles I would expect around 5.5 to 6Mbps download speeds. Changing your supplier may improve this, but I have to agree that your line itself maybe be a contributory factor to the average performance you're receiving.

[SpuffMonkey]

Aluminium? I thought telephone systems were based on fibre at the core and copper to people's homes/businesses but not aluminium! How far away from the exchange are you? A useful site I like to use is Samknows.

 

Aluminium was used quite a lot in the 70's - it feeds a lot of villages around here (Northants) and the cables are degraded due to oxidation. You can't get a decent BB signal - but they are good enough for voice which is all BT will guarantee.

 

People I know there had to band together to install "line of sight" connectivity from the top of a local church to achieve anywhere near decent speeds. Even more irritating was the fact that they know NTL/Virgin cables run right through the village, but they are not allowed to take a tap off to get cable speeds.

[Michael]

Virgin and BT are competitors, so it would make no logic to allow a competitor to tap into your bandwidth I presume aluminium was definitely a thing of the past and that BT wouldn't use that today?

[Stuart_C]

Yep. Well I blooming hope so. What I'd like is some nice fibre optic.... mmm....

[torledo]

I am aware that you can put in faster lines (i.e. 10Meg) but only enable a small portion (say 2Meg) but this makes no sense to me.

 

Help?

 

That actually a good idea for a lot of orgs who don't need 10meg speeds today buy could do in the future. They'd save a few thousand a year by provisioning a 2meg service, and if and when the need arises they don't need to pay a second installation charge for getting a 10meg service later on. It's like the old CDR charges with leased lines.

 

It appears service providers are preferring these LES/Ethernet links because of the lower CAPEX/OPEX.

 

I'm assuming nationally there possibly isn't the coverage for it to replace traditional TDM leased lines altogether......but that's just my guess. IT's definitely the future technology for connecting to multiservice networks and service provider, and i'd expect to see the annual costs to the customer come down as there becomes more demand for a faster, SLA backed alternative to ADSL.

[Jay]

If you look at BT's product offerings you can get 2Mbps megastream or some fibre offerings from 10Mbps-1Gbps (just swap over NTE's). The only issue with the fibre is paying Openreach to lay 2 miles of it. You could also bond ADSL together, 2 lines is do'able.

 

There are also licenced radio and line of sight laser solutions, they tend to use 2Mbps circuits but can be bonded together (and you only increase the circuits, no additional masts). The main issue we had with these is getting planning permission (wayleave), it takes ages and can stall completley if someone complains.

 

Whilst you might think 6Mbps ADSL is quicker than 2Mbps megastream, the contention ratio makes a big difference to sustained data rates in busy exchanges at peak times.