Broadband rates 'not up to speed'

[elsiegee40]

BBC NEWS | Technology | Broadband rates 'not up to speed'

 

 

Interesting table of comparison further down the article. I'm still at war with BT over my connection - this started on July 1st with an 'exchange upgrade'

[Batman]

Virgin are fastest then... no surprises there, they don't use any of this adsl nonsense

[Michael]

To be honest, what exactly are Ofcom going to do about it? The BT copper infrastructure was never designed with 'the internet' in mind as it hadn't even been invented. All ISPs (as far as I'm aware) all state "Upto 8Mbps" which is very clear to me. It means I can receive upto a theoretical 8Mbps.

 

There are also many other factors which come into play. Use an old computer or certain security applications and they can throttle internet speeds. In the example of youtube they discussed on the news, it's their servers which are the problem at peak times (usually 4pm to 8pm in the UK), but many think it's their own internet connection.

 

As for the table of this ISP is faster than this ISP, the BBC are very stupid for reporting such inaccurate information. There are many factors which they haven't taken into consideration (as I mentioned above).

[localzuk]

What a bizarre table! I live out in a rural area, used to have Orange, and now have BT. BT is faster than Orange, by far. The table is far too simplistic.

 

I'm sure, in some areas BT is faster than O2, and in some areas, it is slower.

[elsiegee40]

To be honest, what exactly are Ofcom going to do about it? The BT copper infrastructure was never designed with 'the internet' in mind as it hadn't even been invented. All ISPs (as far as I'm aware) all state "Upto 8Mbps" which is very clear to me. It means I can receive upto a theoretical 8Mbps.

 

There are also many other factors which come into play. Use an old computer or certain security applications and they can throttle internet speeds. In the example of youtube they discussed on the news, it's their servers which are the problem at peak times (usually 4pm to 8pm in the UK), but many think it's their own internet connection.

 

As for the table of this ISP is faster than this ISP, the BBC are very stupid for reporting such inaccurate information. There are many factors which they haven't taken into consideration (as I mentioned above).

 

I agree that Ofcom have a problem in dealing with this.

 

My gripe is that locally I'm supposed to be able to achieve 2.5 Meg (though next gets 6) and I always get between 0.7 and 0.9 Meg which is useless. I live close to the centre of a town, but have no cable options and judging by what the neighbours say, there is little point switching ISPs.

 

The recent exchange upgrade demolished my service, the line keeps dropping if I can connect in the first place. I briefly thought things had improved as I recorded a record 2.2Meg, but that was a one day wonder. I'm totally pigged off with being passed from BTbroadband to BTopenzone with both sides denying responsibility and both sides failing to do anything other than ring me occasionally and say they can't find a problem. They will not come out here and see the reality.

 

I've tried different routers, different filters, the master socket, unplugging all other telecommunications equipment... it's their problem!

[Michael]

My gripe is that locally I'm supposed to be able to achieve 2.5 Meg (though next gets 6)

 

There are many factors involved - quality of the phone line, length of the phone line, the equipment being used (router, filters and the PC). In your case as you're an IT Professional I'd speculate it is a combination of the quality of your line and the length of your line. Phone lines take all kinds of weird of wonderful routes. Many websites which predict the distance to your exchange do so in a straight line.

 

Ofcom really cannot start pointing the finger at ISPs as they're not mis-leading anyone, which is why this news article (like the last time the BBC reported on it), will be forgotten until the next time they need a 'fill-gap' to report on something.