UK 17th in the world for broadband speeds

[oneman]

Sorry mate there is if you read it again. The polict for BT and Newsgroups is to shape, so whilst it wont stop after a certain amount, they will certainly "shape" your download so you dont get the full speed.

Quota and traffic shaping are two different things. You are free to download as much as you want. if you happen to use non-usenet and non-p2p then you can download 50mb 24x7. Well probably not but I have been close to a TB in one month and heard nothing from virgin about it.

[Canker_Canison]

Quota and traffic shaping are two different things. You are free to download as much as you want. if you happen to use non-usenet and non-p2p then you can download 50mb 24x7. Well probably not but I have been close to a TB in one month and heard nothing from virgin about it.

It's not a hard limit based on how much you download in a month. It's based on bandwidth usage over the peak times.

That's the whole point of their traffic management. You can take as much as you want, but they control what speed you'll get it, on a day-by-day basis.

You can pay for a 50MB connection, but only be able to use it at full speed during peak times for about 40-50mins, then they cap your speed for 5 hours.

[SouthernComfort]

Quota and traffic shaping are two different things. You are free to download as much as you want. if you happen to use non-usenet and non-p2p then you can download 50mb 24x7. Well probably not but I have been close to a TB in one month and heard nothing from virgin about it.

You pay for it so you're entitled to it, apply "up to" to any other retail product or service, see how happy you would be.
Using your logic you would be better paying for 2MB and just waiting a bit longer, hardly the point is it?

[oneman]

You pay for it so you're entitled to it, apply "up to" to any other retail product or service, see how happy you would be.
Using your logic you would be better paying for 2MB and just waiting a bit longer, hardly the point is it?

I don't get what you are saying. You pay for a 50mb and get 50mb ???

[SouthernComfort]

I don't get what you are saying. You pay for a 50mb and get 50mb ???

Nationally speeds quoted are rarely achieved, hence the investigations and term "up to", either you and your friends are lucky, close to an exchange or on commission.
If I sold you a TV package but told you that the premium channels would only be available off peak would you accept that?
The reason our services are so poor is that people are willing to accept them, in some cases defend them.

[oneman]

Nationally speeds quoted are rarely achieved, hence the investigations and term "up to", either you and your friends are lucky, close to an exchange or on commission.
If I sold you a TV package but told you that the premium channels would only be available off peak would you accept that?
The reason our services are so poor is that people are willing to accept them, in some cases defend them.

Distance from exhange makes no difference, local contention can make a difference but a majority of the time its the server you connect to that makes the difference. 50mb is available 24x7, the only limitation is 2 protocols are throttled at peak period. Virgin claim that customers typically get 49.45mb. If you are not getting close to 50mb I suggest you give them a call.

I am not sure by what you mean 'our services', do you mean in this country as this is what this thread is about. From personal experiance again with friends and family around the world (europe, asia and ameica), my connection is one of the best I have come across. The only part which falls down is upload speed.

[SouthernComfort]

Distance from exhange makes no difference, local contention can make a difference but a majority of the time its the server you connect to that makes the difference. 50mb is available 24x7, the only limitation is 2 protocols are throttled at peak period. Virgin claim that customers typically get 49.45mb. If you are not getting close to 50mb I suggest you give them a call.

I am not sure by what you mean 'our services', do you mean in this country as this is what this thread is about. From personal experiance again with friends and family around the world (europe, asia and ameica), my connection is one of the best I have come across. The only part which falls down is upload speed.

Virgin and BT operate very different networks, if you think transmission over copper lines have no limitations well there is not much more I can say.
Any idea about availability nationally?
Yes by our services I mean this country, how fortunate you are, what about everyone else?
If that is the best connection you have seen worldwide then your scope is limited and the chances of me calling anyone are slim.

[dhruva55]

Last month, BT made Cornwall a little bit faster: it gave fifty people internet access at speeds of up to 40Mbps as part of a roll-out that will reach 80% of UK homes by 2014.
40Mbps sounds impressive, and it was - in 2005. That's when Asian ISPs were upping speeds to 40 and 50Mbps or higher, and it's taken quite a while for us to catch up.
By the time the average UK consumer gets 40Mbps broadband many other countries will be on 100-plus - and because BT's fibre doesn't reach our homes and offices we'll still have the same "up to" nonsense that makes the UK's broadband adverts so confusing.
British broadband is rubbish. The average UK broadband speed is just 6.2Mbps, Ofcom says, and while faster options do exist they aren't widespread - so for example Virgin's 100Mb service is only available to one million homes, and BT's roll-out can't deliver 100Mbps until we have fibre-optic connections from the cabinets in our streets to the sockets in our homes.
Akamai's most recent State of the Internet report rated us 17th in the world for broadband. Akamai reckons our average speed was even lower than Ofcom's number - it says we're averaging 4Mbps - while the world leaders, South Korea, averaged 14Mbps.


Read more: How the UK could get the world's fastest broadband | News | TechRadar UK

BT is a load of shit, 5 months back i was running on speeds of 450kb/s according to speedtester.net (no im not advertising)...

now im on around 6Mb/s which MUCH better than what i was receiving but still unacceptable how i was on 450kb/s for years and still being on the highest broadband option i recieve only 6MB/s

[SouthernComfort]

BT is a load of shit, 5 months back i was running on speeds of 450kb/s according to speedtester.net (no im not advertising)...

now im on around 6Mb/s which MUCH better than what i was receiving but still unacceptable how i was on 450kb/s for years and still being on the highest broadband option i recieve only 6MB/s

You don't need any faster, 6MB is more than enough to watch iplayer. (Add cynicism here)

[oneman]

Virgin and BT operate very different networks, if you think transmission over copper lines have no limitations well there is not much more I can say.
Any idea about availability nationally?
Yes by our services I mean this country, how fortunate you are, what about everyone else?
If that is the best connection you have seen worldwide then your scope is limited and the chances of me calling anyone are slim.

The comment about distance to exchange was in reference to your comment regard virgin who as you know use fiber to the cabinet, much like Infinity. To the house is still copper (aluminum in some areas I believe) though coax instead of pairs.

There is a coverage map here,

Virgin Media : Press Office : Where we are

I believe they around potential of around 20m subscribers.

[SouthernComfort]

For anyone interested, after reading some other posts I found these simple guides that explain, in layman's terms, how the various networks operate.

thinkbroadband :: How broadband works

thinkbroadband :: Fibre Broadband (FTTC / FTTH) Guide

Hope it is ok to post links as they explain much more clearly than I would be able to how connections work. Also includes a broad range of information regarding networks, coverage, average speeds etc.