How fast can I go!?

carl_east

Hi,

I'm thinking about hooking my laptop up to a HD LCD. But in order to download some HD stuff I would imagine I need broadband that is super quick.

Can anyone tell me where to find out what the fastest speed I get is regarding broadband? Because I know it varies from exchange to exchange.

I live in the Marchmont area of Edinburgh.

Regards

Carl

wonderfullife_2

Hi
Just go to this BT site, put in your tel no, it will then tell you how much your line will be able to support, speed wise.

http://www.bt.com/broadband/

Hope this helps

jaws77

You should be connected to the Morningside exchange (long as I got the postcode right ) Have a look here for what is available to you:

http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange.php?ecode=ESMOR

carl_east

Thanks guys!

It seems that I'm on the Fountain Bridge exchange. The Samknows website doesn't say what speeds I can get. But alarmingly the BT website says that I'll only be able to get up to 1mb speed!

Who would I write to in order to find out when this will be improved? 1mb is certainly going to stop me in my tracks as far as downloading HD content is concerned.

mhendo

How far roughly are you from the exchange? With BTw's MaxDSL you may get more than 1Mbps - it all depends on line length and quality.

Additionally, Bulldog are rumoured to be launching their ADSL2+ packages this month - 19th April I read - which will support up to 24Mbps (less speed, the longer your line is).

Also check out UKonline who already have 22Mbps packages.


You can find links to the checkers for Bulldog & UKonline in this post.

Also check out cable, as you may get up to 10Mbps with them.

gavinp

If you have access to your line statistics reported from your modem or router, this on-line checker will give you an estimated MaxDSL speed:

http://www.dslzoneuk.net/maxspeed.php

Thanks

Gavin

wonderfullife_2

Hi
If you go back to Samknows, and click on Availabiltiy Checker, it will tell you if any LLU providers are in your area. Then you could check out one of these and see if they offer faster speeds.
Using its own kit installed in BT exchanges via a process called local loop unbundling (LLU), isps offers operators the chance to provide unbundled services direct to end users using the LLUStream product.

Hope this helps

carl_east

Thanks again to everyone. I'll check some of this stuff out.

The other problem I have though is that I'm with Telewest so I can't use a lot of the sites to check how fast I can go because I don't have a BT phone number. I'll call Telewest tonight. The problem with doing that is often these customer service agents just quote you what they can provide without knowing for sure if your exchange can provide that speed.

carl_east

wonderfullife wrote:

Hi
If you go back to Samknows, and click on Availabiltiy Checker, it will tell you if any LLU providers are in your area. Then you could check out one of these and see if they offer faster speeds.
Using its own kit installed in BT exchanges via a process called local loop unbundling (LLU), isps offers operators the chance to provide unbundled services direct to end users using the LLUStream product.

Hope this helps

I've just checked and Bulldog and Easynet both provide LLU in my area. I'll check them out tonight. My telewest broadband connection doesn't end for a few months though but it's worth knowing. Although if Telewest can provide 10mb then I might just wait and see if they bring the price down in a few months and take that. £35 for their 10mb connection is very expensive when you compare it to Bulldogs 8mb unlimited £20 per month connection.

The other problem I think I'm going to have is that I can't get Sky in my area (most flats in central Edinburgh can't) because we're not allowed dishes on our buildings. So that leaves me needing Telewest until Sky either ditch their dishes and everything gets provided via the net.

wonderfullife_2

Hi
About sky, have you thought of a pvr, with freeview, no SKY subscription, thats if you can get freeview in your area.

I'm sure I've read about Bulldog not being the best isp, so check out before you decide.