O2 and BETHERE broadband

bobweston

jo444 wrote: »

However the main thing I need to know is about this traffic shaping that is being talked about on here. Is it likely to affect me in the evenings or not?

I think depends on what you're using the Net for.

Mainly traffic is managed for certain services, like P2P (torrents etc).
Theoretically normal web activities like general browsing may/should/maybe be quicker during the times they use TM.

O2 called me back last night and I said their traffic management was something which was deterring me from going with them, even though the 1/2 price as an existing O2 customer was a good deal, combined with the reports (Which? magazine etc) that O2 are in the top 4/5 of ISPs.
The O2 guy said their TM was to monitor illegal downloaders to 'protect' their other customers (also so the bandwidth isn't hammered). However, their TM operates between 4pm and 12midnight - I think this is quite a big chunk of the day.

jo444_2

Well have done the deal with O2, they are in our exchange and thus should be better than the 1/2 - 1 meg we have been getting from Sky that is using the BT equipment, has a 30 day happy period which you can cancel within penalty free!
Have used mother in laws phone number to get us 1/2 price broadband for 12 months, so with the evening n weekend home phone the 'all rounder' broadband that has the better (!) router with it and 1571 will be paying £17.27 a month and after the 30 days will get £30 cashback!
Compared to the BT line rental of £17+ and sky connect of £17 a month that appears to be a good deal! They say should get at least 2meg and know another person with them who get 2.5meg so whilst it might not seem lightspeed to some it far better than I have at mo!
Oh and the customer help line is within the UK and is an 0800 number as oppose to the 08442 number for Sky.
They also told me that the traffic shaping was for illegal downloads so will see but do have the promise of 2meg in writing so........

londonTiger

TakeThis wrote: »

O2 has 'Traffic Shaping'. BeThere does not.

yes but bethere has data limits, o2 does not.

It's just cost management for them, at the end of the day they don't want people killing it with torrents.

o2 tells you you can download however much you want but penalises the most guilty traffic hogs so you don't really get to download as much as you want

bethere lets you use whatever download mediums you want, but it will give you a set monthly limit that you can't go over.

I'm on o2. I use a seedbox to download torrents. Then ftp the files over at max speed.

I also have an always on torrent box which runs 24/7 so when their traffic shaping measures go offline in the evenings my torrent box kicks in.

jo444_2

londonTiger wrote: »

I use a seedbox to download torrents. Then ftp the files over at max speed.

I also have an always on torrent box which runs 24/7 so when their traffic shaping measures go offline in the evenings my torrent box kicks in.

I was ok with your comment up to the above, then went into misty eye mode, then went onto google which for a first not completely helpful! Is it that you have another computer with a special progame that downloads the files quicker by packaging the info into smaller bits like a zip file does. Is that correct or completely of mark?

cbrpaul

Bt , o2 and Be were companies who handed over 1000,s of customers personal details to a private firm to investigate illegal d/l a few years ago !!!

Wil they do it again ????????????

jo444_2

As not sure what a illegal down load is dont think that i am doing that anyway so should not be a prob, just interested when someone talks about something and do not know what it is. If torrents is illegal wont be going that way!!

jo444_2

bod1467 wrote: »

Noise Margin 16.4

That's why your speed is low - they have set your margin high to compensate for noise on the line, to try and maintain a stable connection. The only way to resolve that is to get the line fixed to remove the noise.

http://www.siteguru.co.uk/be/ADSL2PlusForDummies.pdf

my stats are now

ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 1408 kbps 448 kbps
Line Attenuation 55.0 db 29.0 db
Noise Margin 6.3 db 17.0 db

and have not done anything to system??

So what is causing the noise margin to alter, something at the exchange?

londonTiger

jo444 wrote: »

I was ok with your comment up to the above, then went into misty eye mode, then went onto google which for a first not completely helpful! Is it that you have another computer with a special progame that downloads the files quicker by packaging the info into smaller bits like a zip file does. Is that correct or completely of mark?

seedbox is a third party web host that just downloads and uploads torrents for you, you can get ridiculously fast connections like 15MB/s upload 10MB/s download.

Once it downloads, you can use FTP to logon and download directly from the server, you avoid the bittorrent limits and download from the server at the max broadband speed, for me this is usually 1.5MB/s

a torrent box is just a low powered compputer attached to the router that's always on, it has seedbox and some other network storage drives, it uses the home internet. I dont really need to use a torrent box now that I have a seedbox though

bod1467

jo444 wrote: »

my stats are now

ADSL Link Downstream Upstream
Connection Speed 1408 kbps 448 kbps
Line Attenuation 55.0 db 29.0 db
Noise Margin 6.3 db 17.0 db

and have not done anything to system??

So what is causing the noise margin to alter, something at the exchange?

It's only changed by a small amount - this is normal. (A change by ±1dB is not unusual).

bod1467

londonTiger wrote: »

yes but bethere has data limits, o2 does not.

You are mis-informed (about BE - I have no idea about O2). BE categorically DO NOT have usage caps, on ANY of their packages. Yes, they have a FUP (Fair Use Policy), but this has never been invoked on anyone other than those who have used their connections (and the BE mail server) to send SPAM. NOONE has been sanctioned for data usage.

/Voice of experience, 4 years as a BE customer.