ofcom rates the speed of ISPs

ACID

syko29793 wrote: »

I have O2 broadband and have a speed of 3.5 meg. I have had BT broadband and plusnet broadband before and never got over 1meg. In fact BT speed checker still says now that i can only get 1 meg speed even though i have 3.5mbs with O2. So it looks as if O2/BE seem to have some tech advantage over any other isp.

as mentioend your prev provider mustve offered you ADSL
wheras o2 have offered you adsl +2/max

there is a huge different

TimothyEBaldwin

No, neither "up to 8Mbps" or "2Mbps" are clear. Are these just local loop speeds, or is there promise to provide that speed to certain points on the Internet, such as London Internet Exchange?

Bursts or sustained? Is it slower in peak times?

What about latency? Does latency increase when downloading files?

moonrakerz

I'm afraid this report is of the same quality that one normally expects from the Daily Wail. It is just a statement of the "bleedin obvious" !

Virgin are fastest - wow, what a surprise ! could it be that Virgin have more fibre than anyone else ?

The BBC, reporting this report, were quoting people that had been "promised 8mbs" - absolute rubbish !
1. No ISP will promise anyhting.
2. Speed (down copper) depends on distance from the exchange.
3. Max possible speed on an "up to 8mbs line" is actually about 7.2mbs. (Then only if you are within spitting distance of the exchange)

Add to that other variables such as quality of the cable, how YOU have your equipment connected together, time of day, etc, etc............

ISPs could, perhaps, do more to give people an idea of what they might expect - but most of the complaints come from people who have no idea of what the physical limitations are on their particular set-up are - and just think that they will get 8mbs, "cos that's what it says on the box" - when it doesn't actually say any such thing on the box !!