UK 'misled' on broadband speeds

[father ted]

so now we know the truth



BBC News - UK 'misled' on broadband speeds, says Ofcom report

[barrowmanandrew]

yep,
its the dreaded "up to" phrase
why cant they give "actual speeds"
if you buy a 20 pkt of smokes
you dont buy a pkt of "up to" 20 smokes with 19 in it..
so whats the ~~~~in diffrence....

[Canker_Canison]

It's a lovely little lie.....

"People get what they sign up for," he said. "They are informed when they sign up so they know what speed to expect."
In some cases, he said, technical problems might stop those estimated speeds being reached.

In english...... We're going to lie to you about how fast the connection will be. Then blame technical problems in an attempt to keep you from leaving & reoprting us to Ofcom.

As the chart shows, Virgin have by far the best broadband. All because they don't use shitty ADSL lines.

[janobi]

You can check your expected speed before signing up, although this is often inaccurate, it will say upto.

The copper lines are indeed the problem, and its due to the SNR on a pair of copper wires. Copper wires were not physically designed to carry an ADSL signal, and the further from the exchange the more SNR you have, which deterates the signal and speeds. Also if you have any aluminium on the line then your speeds will drop drastically, and the people in offices cannot see this, as its often not marked on the plans as they have normally not been updated for years.

I used to work for Openreach fixing ADSL lines, an you would get people trying to get BB at 12kms from the exchange. TBH we never even used to go to those, as we knew it was an impossible service to provide, but the ISPs will sell anything to anyone, and then continue to charge for a service they know they cannot provide.

Majority of places you cannot even get the top speed inside the exchange on the MDF itself, so saying you can have upto the top speed allows them to get away with it.

Also when cables are replaced, the copper wire size is normally dropped quite significantly. Most cables are .9 (within the network), when replaced they become .4 (Dropwire to the house is normally .4) so that is a drop by more than half. If you have to have ADSL internet then sign up with BE, they are by far the best LLU provider around, and will do everything to get your line working at a decent speed.

Even with the 21cn network that Openreach are laying to the cab its useless, and will not significantly increase speeds, as your speeds will be determined by the weakest part of the link. So going from Fibre to copper is going to drop the speed massively, when they launced the 21cn in whitchurch in Cardiff it blew up, and crashed the whole network. Only way that BT can provide a better network is with massive investment, estimated at 5 billion! They should band together with VM and extend and upgrade the fibre network they have in place, rather than building another new network to try and compete. They should just look at what happened when VM initially setup the FO network, its nearly bankrupted the company due to the initial outlay.

[Meat-Head]

you dont buy a pkt of "up to" 20 smokes with 19 in it..
so whats the ~~~~in diffrence....

Surly the internet companys are a provider like a water company, where the water pressure drops, when everybody flushes bogs.

and electriity, but then the bloke in the power stainion, pedals his bike faster at peak time

[janobi]

Village of Crumlin to get 50Mbit/s service

Virgin Media will soon start offering Welsh villagers the chance to get a broadband connection via electricity cables.

The firm has inked an agreement with local power company Surf Telecoms that will deliver ultrafast broadband over electricity poles. The trials will start in the village of Crumlin in Caerphilly, and will increase speeds by up to 10 times, Virgin Media said.

The local community had relied on BT, specifically its copper infrastructure, to provide broadband connections, and Virgin Media said that villagers can now use the Virgin Media television service and its 50Mbit/s broadband offering.

"Working in partnership with companies like Surf Telecoms we can more rapidly and efficiently expand the reach of fibre optic networks to towns, villages and communities right across the UK," said Jon James, executive director of broadband at Virgin Media.

The company is already running such a trial in the village of Woolhampton using its own telegraph poles to deliver the service.

Surf Telecoms is positive that the move has implications for the future, and has suggested that its existing infrastructure could be used elsewhere to provide alternatives to BT's copper systems.

"With this trial we're exploring an innovative approach that could bring ultrafast broadband to many customers for the first time," said Richard Doble, design and policy manager at Surf Telecoms.

"The possibilities of aerial deployment promise a valuable use of existing infrastructure, and an interesting new commercial opportunity for utility companies. We're pleased to be at the forefront of this innovation."

BT, meanwhile, could be forced to open up its telegraph poles and copper networks further if Ofcom gets its way. The communications watchdog said in March that the telco should open up its networks, including its poles, to other firms, albeit at a price.

BT acquiesced, but claimed that such moves were part of its plans already, even though it is sceptical that this will solve the problem of providing high-speed connections to rural communities

UK technology news, reviews and analysis - V3.co.uk

[Matt_C]

On Virgin, often check my connection speeds using online tests, normally pretty good to be fair.

[barrowmanandrew]

afsfasfsdfsafsdfsafsd

is there a point to all these stupid posts?
are you mad????

[pLaYa.5]

Its about time the authorities caught up with the culprits :P

[sulemanch]

what's the best website to check real broadband speeds

[barrowmanandrew]

i use this one

[jaydee]

broadband speed

what's the best website to check real broadband speeds

I am with Virgin 10mb, NEVER falls below 9mb. I use this site to check . My Broadband Speed - Broadband Speed Tester