The truth about British broadband

espresso

see article here

Guy_Wise

Wow, depressing, eh?

Rex_Mundi

A good article outlining a lot of (unfortunately) very valid points about the state of broadband on the UK.

One comment made me laugh though..........(quote)......

A PlusNet official says: “ISPs that don’t offer phone or other services will be dust in six months’ time.”

I found this a bit rich coming from a company that seems to get everything wrong it touches (and alienates a lot of its customers in the process). It certainly wont make me consider switching my unlimited, unshaped, faultless connection with Zen.

dooperama

Is there anything about Tiscali on this research by any chance?

Ganyam

That can be summed up with my measly 512 connection (the best i can get) and out of 24 hrs, its usually of for 6... :mad:

JohalaReewi

"Anyone who says they are offering an unlimited service is lying,” says Neil Armstrong, of the ISP PlusNet.

Plusnet were one of the first to offer unlimited broadband which was actually regulated by a fair use policy (hidden in the small print).

greyster

seriously what is wrong with 512k. UK ADSL sucks at the stuck 256k upload for all speeds with exception to a few LLU packages, I dont see the big deal.

I would rather have 512k with an ISP who doesnt care what I am using it for, with no limit or mention of a fair usuage policy ... than one with it.

The only reason I can see 1Mb+ connections useful is for P2P ... and it appears a load of these ISPs are doing traffic shaping and various other network controlling/QOS mechanisms to really bug the hell out of heavy internet users.

What UK broadband sucks.... imho:

1. Cost (related to 3)
2. Poor upload speeds
3. BT
4. Stupid marketting, "unlimited" with fair usage policies hidden at bottom of screen.
5. Long contract periods
6. Where 4 doesn't apply, high installation charges

Iffy_Wallet

There was a tv article recently showing how the French citizens had all the high speed, cost efficient broadband solutions, and how we were left with the dross. But you'd kind of guess that anyway. Whenever we are told about how great we are in the UK, we know it is just one big lie.

We use a BT-provided service through Madasafish. They talk about their "Upto 8mb" broadband service. I've just tested the BT suggestion service:

http://www.bt.com/broadband - See How Fast You Can Go

Enter our telephone number ...

Check availability - results
For Telephone Number nnnnnnnnnnn on Exchange xxxxxxxxxx

Our initial test on your phone line indicates that you should be able to have BT Broadband with a likely maximum speed of up to 3.5Mb (Megabits per second).

Please note that this speed is only an estimate based on information available to us about the length of your phone line. Your actual speed will additionally depend on factors within your home, principally the length and quality of any internal phone wiring, and the speed of your computer and modem or router.

For more information on the factors which determine Broadband speeds, click here

(The phone line was upgraded for broadband service 2-3 years ago. The phone line into the house was completely replaced plus a new master socket a couple of years before that. The broadband is plugged into the master socket, which is less than a metre from the hole in the wall, where it enters the house. During the tests, there are no phones, faxes, tv-boxes or the like plugged in. All filters are brand new, supplied by Madasafish).

Then go to BT's actual speed tester: http://speedtester.bt.com

The speed test has completed on test server speedtester1.nat.bt.com for user nnnnnnnnnnn and you have downloaded a 1.7Mb file at a speed of

1331 kilo bits per second (Kbps), your service bandwidth will have been quoted to you in kilo bits per second.

Your IP address is 80.189.nnn.nnn, your browser is reported as being Mozilla 5.0 and is running on Windows XP.

BT would regard the speed ranges shown below as normal service:

For 250kbps End Users speeds between 50 - 250kbps.
For 500kbps End Users speeds between 100 - 500kbps.
For 1000kbps End Users speeds between 200 - 1000kbps.
For 2000kbps End Users speeds between 400 - 2000kbps.

You may now disconnect from the speed test account (click 'disconnect' in your internet connection window) and if you wish to regain normal access to the internet please re-connect to your ISP using your usual username and password.

Please note that test results may vary according to varying traffic in the network. If you continue to experience slower throughput when logged in to your ISP, this may be due to a slow internet site or high traffic levels beyond the BT Wholesale Network. Please report this situation to your ISP's helpdesk.

Using Madasafish's tests recently, I've had results like:

Speed Date
1.47Mbps 30/08/2006 10:32:13
1.7Mbps 29/08/2006 23:36:30
1.39Mbps 29/08/2006 16:19:54
1.29Mbps 29/08/2006 16:16:12
1.74Mbps 28/08/2006 22:19:07
1.72Mbps 27/08/2006 15:04:57
1.81Mbps 26/08/2006 22:36:48
1.78Mbps 26/08/2006 16:27:10
1.75Mbps 26/08/2006 14:05:35
0.24Mbps 26/08/2006 11:40:37

When you complain, the speed goes up again, but they give you all the excuses about "sharing" and "being upto" etc. Then when you turn your back, the speeds slide down again. I think there's more chance of seeing Santa Claus than seeing 3.6mb !!

One thing that I find amazing, is that you only need a slight grumble of thunder, or an occasional flash of lightening, and the broadband service drops immediately. If they were talking to satelites I could understand it - but down a wire it puzzles me !