How good/bad are ADSL broadbands now?

lelole

Hi,

We have been using cable broadband for a good few years now, and found it excellent, really reliable, and fast.

However we are going to be moving in the next few months, and the new place does not have cable services :eek:...

Having experienced ADSL back in 2004, it was really poor, and we are so worried about going back as we use our broadband quite heavily...

Have things changed? Any recommendations on how to decide which provider to go for??

Thanks

Leah

aerostar

Before you look for an ISP I suggest you check how far your proposed house is away from its telephone exchange, and also check if there are any LLU providers on it.


Go Here
http://www.samknows.com/broadband/search.php
and put in your new exchange.

If the people who are in your new house have broadband, ask them what speeds they get.

You can also go here
http://www.samknows.com/broadband/mapping/mapping.php
and you can find out the straightline distance between an address and the exchange.

Once you have the above info you can then look for an ISP.

lelole

Hi aerostar,

Thanks for this really useful website, unfortunately although the exchange is about a mile and a half away, it says that there are speed of about 3Mbps available... which sounds very slow to me!

It is such a shame as we have managed to choose one of only 3 houses in the area which don't have access to cable, all of the others in the same street do! Feel a bit like demanding that they extend the cabling!

Anyway thanks for this,

Leah

macman

You should be able to get cable if there are other houses in the same street with it-unless your driveway is half a mile long or something-have you checked with Virgin?
3MBps is OK for most purposes though, see what your LLU options are on samknows.

eldar_2

have a look here http://www.dslzoneuk.net/isp_ratings.php

lelole

Hi Macsman,

The street is quite a long cul de sac, and then the house is on a small offshoot of just 3 houses, and this bit is a private road, so each house owns the piece of land in front. I suspect this was the issue when they laid the cable, so expect it would be too much hassle for them just for one customer... The neighbours are older, so don't seem like they would be too worried about broadband...

What is LLU?

Thanks

Leah

lelole

ps just tested my laptop speed on speedtest.net, and download came out at only 1Mbps... considering we are paying for 10 not good, but haven't noticed it particularly... However I am running a work VPN alongside surfing, and my other half is downloading music etc upstairs on the PC so has that reduced the bandwidth?

If the laptop will run this well on 3Mbps then maybe I don't need to worry...

Thanks

Leah

456789

lelole wrote: »

and my other half is downloading music etc upstairs on the PC so has that reduced the bandwidth?

yes it has

to check your proper speed see what your router sync speed is

macman

lelole wrote: »

Hi Macsman,

The street is quite a long cul de sac, and then the house is on a small offshoot of just 3 houses, and this bit is a private road, so each house owns the piece of land in front. I suspect this was the issue when they laid the cable, so expect it would be too much hassle for them just for one customer... The neighbours are older, so don't seem like they would be too worried about broadband...

What is LLU?

Thanks

Leah

Local Loop Unbundled
http://www.samknows.com/broadband/search.php
Do an exchange search and look under 'LLU Operator Presence'. These will be the most competitive ISP's on your exchange.

lelole

Hi Macman,

Thank you! I have looked on samknows, and it looks like we have a few LLU ones - including O2 and Orange, so hopefully will get a good deal, will look into it once I know the phone number...

Thanks

Leah

456789

go with O2