[Closed] 'Up to 8 meg', but what is your ACTUAL broadband speed?

Do they have a cheaper/slower speed service? Change your account to that one instead.

Job done.

Next?

Speed of internet connection assumes components working at optimum speed and capacity. Speeds referred to are download speeds. Both cable and ADSL broadband are affected by user volume

good luck getting out of that bill

[img] [/img]

Just tested mine. But I'm at work so that's cheating.

If they did the reduced rate thing, people living closer to the exchange would feel cheated, because they'd have to pay more whether they want it or not, and because so few are actually close enough to get the top advertised speed ISPs would either have to increase prices or go bust!

The real fault lies with BT. If they were prepared to invest in our cabling, we could have broadband like those in Scandinavia, where less than 100mbps is a joke...

Lol, yeh, don't get me started on that one!
Pipex 8meg connection

Best I get is 4 on a very good day.
Sometimes it's below a meg in peak times.

On BT and couldn't be anymore in central Bristol, I get 6mb, paying for 8mb

i get about 3.2meg at home on Sky

or in fact most of europe

we just opted for the wrong system, like we held on to steam for too long and have crap trains as a result. also our system wasn't annihilated in WWII as mos of europe's was

Great site, that Speedtest.

Just checked and I'm apparently getting 9892kbps out of Virgin for DLs and 487kbps for uploads.

Happy with that.

I am aware of all the small print, yet if I cannot enjoy the service 'as advertised', then is that not false/misleading advertising?

As for the BT bill; I've had a year of pure grief with them, coking things up all the time, disconnecting me for no ****ing reason, then denying any fault, and taking 2 months to reconnect me. Shittest company I've ever dealt with.

They were murmering something about '18 month contract', from September, when I was reconnected, until I asked them 'if I was under a new contract, then I should have recieved the 'free' equipment as advertised (new-type router), which I never did. They soon shut up. They are trying to get 2 months bill out of me, but I've told them I'm not paying. I've told them to get someone senior to give me a call, if they're that interested, but I suspect they will probably just give up, actually. They did fail to provide an adequate service (average speed was around 0.3-0.4 meg; completely unnaceptable), and with my history of problems with them (their fault), I doubt they'd push it too far.

i pay for a 512k connection and get nearly a meg in good conditions 🙂

the most i could get is 2mb so i'm not really bothered anyway

spare a thought for my parents who can barely get a 56k modem to work on their line

[URL= http://www.speedtest.net/result/390104060.pn g" target="_blank">http://www.speedtest.net/result/390104060.pn g"/> [/IMG][/URL]

The BT exchange is 10 yards away from me

[URL= http://www.speedtest.net/result/390107145.pn g" target="_blank">http://www.speedtest.net/result/390107145.pn g"/> [/IMG][/URL]

Not too shabby. I started with Telewest on a 512k service years ago and they just keep giving me free bandwidth upgrades....

I think part of the problem is, that Ilive in a very densely populated area, and the contention at the exchange is mental (it runs Canary Wharf!). It's possible that BT is giving the high-paying businesses more of the bandwidth. There's basically too many people using the system, so each ADSL line to the exchange has more people on it, than will allow decent speeds. As more people get BB, this increases pressure on the system even further.

Yes, we pay far too much, for shyte service. In France, I'd be getting over 24meg, TV and free phone (to any landline in Yerp, apparently), for what I pay here, just for BB.

Problem lies with BT (private company) having monopoly over the hardware. And not investing some of the enormous profits they've made, since privatisation, on new infrastructure. And our wonderful government allowing companies to be sh1t, yet still charge customers exorbitant fees.

IMO, the State should own the hardware, and licence it out to companies who have a duty to provide a certain level of service. The system we have supports lazy, incompetent companies like BT, to get away with ripping us all off.

RudeBoy - Member

Yes, we pay far too much, for shyte service. In France, I'd be getting over 24meg, TV and free phone (to any landline in Yerp, apparently), for what I pay here, just for BB.

Have you ever seen French TV? They'd have to pay me to watch it.

[URL= http://www.speedtest.net/result/390109555.pn g" target="_blank">http://www.speedtest.net/result/390109555.pn g"/> [/IMG][/URL]

That's better.

IMO, the State should own the hardware

I can't see the Government investing either. Politicians don't like spending money on things with a longer time horizon than the next election. Hence the state of the railways,roads etc.

Not happy with out work one, on Be and paying for something like 24mb and just tested it and getting a mere 10mb

[URL= http://www.speedtest.net/result/390111101.pn g" target="_blank">http://www.speedtest.net/result/390111101.pn g"/> [/IMG][/URL]

Will be better at the end of the month when we switch to 100 meg broadband that is being trailed in our flats!

I went for the up to 20mb option with Sky. No chance I'd get anywhere near that but it was their only option with unlimited downloads. I'm consistently getting between 5mb and 6mb all day for £10 a month.

Whereas before, with the absolute shower of c*nts known as BT, I would get between 5mb and 6mb between midnight and 8am, and about 10kb/s for the rest of the day, all for the f*cking bargain price of £30 a month.

[img] [/img]

Yep, that's about right. Pay peanuts, get peanuts-worth of service

Tried it in work for a laugh

[URL= http://www.speedtest.net/result/390113446.pn g" target="_blank">http://www.speedtest.net/result/390113446.pn g"/> [/IMG][/URL]

😆

[URL= http://www.speedtest.net/result/390115438.pn g" target="_blank">http://www.speedtest.net/result/390115438.pn g"/> [/IMG][/URL]

😀

Mine from home with Virgin

[URL= http://www.speedtest.net/result/390116048.pn g" target="_blank">http://www.speedtest.net/result/390116048.pn g"/> [/IMG][/URL]

Not bad for work.

Until i looked at the ones above.

hurmph 😥 fair bit of willy waving going on here

[URL= http://www.speedtest.net/result/390121957.pn g" target="_blank">http://www.speedtest.net/result/390121957.pn g"/> [/IMG][/URL]

This is a good day.I'm at right at the end of the exchange line, however there is a fibre optic cable that passes my back garden from Tesco if only we could use that!!!

ok then 🙄

[URL= http://www.speedtest.net/result/390124219.pn g" target="_blank">http://www.speedtest.net/result/390124219.pn g"/> [/IMG][/URL]

but if i look out of my window i can see trees and fields and stuff

i know which i find more important

I'm on 10Mb virgin and got a download of 10Mb and an upload of about.5Mb so pretty much as advertised.

Limiting factor in my experience is the site you're downloadign from, I rarely get more than .5Mb speed on download on a single site (but can carry on with other things without affecting it).

We did this a while back in the old forum.

I seem to remember thrashing your asses (by cheating with my work connection):

[URL= http://www.speedtest.net/result/390125169.pn g" target="_blank">http://www.speedtest.net/result/390125169.pn g"/> [/IMG][/URL]

i'm still the slowest 😀

To rub it in, I know quite a few people that live above or very near places with free internets, or internet cafes. With the latter, all you do is pop in once a week for a coffee, get the password, bosh! There are some that change the password every day, but apparently, most don't. and the place I work at, just uses the same one all the time.

Grrr!

I know, I know, stealing etc, but it's already paid for, and you're probably not using it when the place is open, anyway.

And I know others, who may live in a big house converted to flats, where it makes sense to get a fast (24meg or so) service, and share the cost throughout all residents. A mate has this system, and pays about £5 a month. And it's always a decent speed, as no-one really canes it.

Arrggghh!!

Sh1tting Cheezuz! Bradford??? I didn't even think they had electricity up there!!!!!!!

Is that a 100 meg service? Bloody hell!

it'll be a maintained T3 connection

not within the budget of your average home user

plus universities need it as their are a lot of essays to be downloaded for the purposes of cheating

you'd have top seriously trust your neighbours to go for a shared connection, imo.

I'm on AOL so just grateful to get a connection most of the time 😯

Yes, I wish I knew my neighbours well enough to have a shared connection. The mate in question gets on really well with all the other residents (6 flats, I think). They had a separate cable line fitted, and actually installed an ethernet cable system to distribute the network, rather than using wireless. Then, each flat can use a wireless thingy if they choose. Very clever. Apparently, it came about when one flat had internet, then started sharing with another, then a third one. So they decided to do it properly.

Aye but the ISP will see all the connected users as one mac address. If anyone was up/downloading anything dodgy (porn, ripped music/video, bomb-making instructions) everyone would be in the frame....

Its probably been mentioned but subscribers are normally on an 'up to 8MB' service which means that although 8MB may be possible you may not (probably won't) get it.

It is just an arse covering exercise from the ISP and fulfills their contractual arrangement with BT.

I consistently get pretty close to 8Mbps on my connection (Zen in a small village).

I am aware of all the small print, yet if I cannot enjoy the service 'as advertised', then is that not false/misleading advertising?

Not really. It says [i]"up to"[/i] and some people can get that figure so fair enough. Same deal as the old [i]"Sale: up to 80% off"[/i] by which of course they mean [i]"80% off one thing that no one wants. 5% off everything else"[/i].

Couple of things you can try:

➡ check how noisy your line is. This is the usual reason that it runs slow (the equivalent to having to talk loudly and slowly in a noisy room). Your modem should report this on its configuration page. Look for something like "Line Attenuation" and "Noise Margin"

➡ make sure you are using ADSL micro-filters on every phone socket.

➡ check if your internal wiring is making any difference: find your BT master socket. Take the front off it and plug your modem directly into the hidden socket. This takes all your own internal phone wiring out of the equation. If the noise gets significantly better then you need to replace your wiring.

➡ if it is still noisy then you just have to hassle BT to get a better quality connection. Ultimately though if you are far from the exchange then the quality will always be pretty bad - your only real option then is to consider going cable, if it is available. Virgin do speeds up to 50Mbps.

Zen broadband are amazing but pricey, but you get what you pay for.

virgin this year on 8 unlimited are good ( at a student housing location of terrice streets so no doubt the exchange is being rammed full of people dling so this is cool if its good here!)

last year 4mb virgin was pretty crappy well it was alrite but online games were to laggy to play..

If you look carefully most services are advertised at "up to 8meg". Although many suppliers previously left out the "up to", but they aren't now.
A recent Ofcom investigation into ADSL Max (up to 8meg service) found that the nationwide average download speed was 3.6meg.

This is basically the speed as it leaves the box in the exchange, but its not usually possible to get more than about 7meg due to data losses and other stuff. The speed of your service is dependant on several factors (this applies to BT copper lines, what 90% of people have).
1) Length of the copper line into your house from the exchange.
2) The quality of your copper line.
3) The contention (number of users all using the same 'box' in the exchange.

There is a finite length of line before the broadband (DSL) signal degrades to the extent that its not possible for it work reliably, taking into account the other factors also. Its also very difficult to predict accurately what speed you should get, hence the "up to".
Im about 600m from my local exchange and usually get 6-6.5meg download speeds.
If you want to get a decent idea of what you can expect to get, go to http://www.samknows.com/broadband/checker2.php
and you'll get a reasonably accurate idea of your lines capabilities.

Clearer now?

Bwahahahahahaa! Work is the daddy!

[IMG] [/IMG][/URL]

Mind you, my home speed thing is shiiiite. On an "up to 8 meg" service, but last night was barely getting 150kb/sec. It's toss as the exchange is almost visible from my house and only about 2500m away.

willard - So you're 2.5km from the exchange??
Hmmm, at a push you'll get 3meg tops!

My 8Mb ADSL connection at home:

[IMG] [/IMG]

I remember last time we did this willy-waving exercise on here. Speedtest.net was reporting my 8Mb download speed as over 20000kb/s at times, so I'm not sure it's really that accurate...

Yes, as questionable as ever. Last time I suggested it's just a random number generator:

[IMG] [/IMG]

I'm about 200m (as the crow flies) from my (rural) exchange by the way.

I get about 4mbit down and 768k up, on my alledgedly up-to 16mbit connection from Sky.
I'm quite a way from the exchange, however until they artifically limited my line recently I was getting 5 or 6.

-m-: Bit odd that. At a guess I'd say you are getting a cached version of the download file from a local proxy for some reason. Speedtest should be set up to bypass that possibility though.

[img] [/img]

not bad considering there's five of us all downloading HD porn for 8hours a day

[URL= http://www.speedtest.net/result/390163107.pn g" target="_blank">http://www.speedtest.net/result/390163107.pn g"/> [/IMG][/URL]
It is supposedly a 20 Megabit connection.

On peak I get ~1meg. Off peak I get 7meg (I sync at 7.6).

[URL= http://www.speedtest.net/result/390178094.pn g" target="_blank">http://www.speedtest.net/result/390178094.pn g"/> [/IMG][/URL]

It appears the sheep must have been munching on the line again....

There are some actual facts on this thread and some complete bollocks too

The speed does to some extent rely on the distance from the exchange,also the cable conductor size and in some much rarer cases whether its copper or aluminium.
It states up to 8meg, not that it will be

BT have never been allowed to lower prices due to restrictions placed upon them or to roll out some technology that has been available to them for some time. All this was done in the name of fairness to other operators who doubtless would never want or have afforded to maintain an obsolete and decaying network.

You may or may not have heard about something called 21CN, this should hopefully make the copper based PSTN and ADSL technology a thing of the past and bring speeds up to a level unseen before and also make VOIP the way we communicate in the near future

I admit BT have made mistakes especially with their customer care, but when you have a workforce decimated by over 50% and the ever present pressure from the city and shareholders to make more profit its no wonder something had to give.

Not sure how to do the paste thing.....

speedtes results
download 483kbs, upload 368kbs in Devon.

This is cr*p.
I'm on Tiscali. 'up to 8meg ' and before we took up the offer, was getting sometimes 7.5Mb, usually 4.5-6.5Mb when our line should only have been at 2Mb/sec!!!!
I've noticed recently and at this time of day, it gets very slow. It's definitely slowed considerably to what it was.
Q

i'm still the slowest [:D]

Not any more...

[URL= http://www.speedtest.net/result/390359618.pn g" target="_blank">http://www.speedtest.net/result/390359618.pn g"/> [/IMG][/URL]

One of the guys I used to work with was forever ranting about this, kept saying he was goignt o sue, it was a shambles blah blah. He was getting about 1-2 mbps out of an "up to 8mbps" service but that's how they cover themselves.

Mine was shite for a while but then they upgraded the local exchange and BT changed all the wiring in the streets too, mine (TalkTalk up to 8mbps) runs at a consistent 6 (so says my computer anyway...)
The local bike shop runs at 7.6mbps but he's about 10yds from the exchange!

[URL= http://www.speedtest.net/result/390377452.pn g" target="_blank">http://www.speedtest.net/result/390377452.pn g"/> [/IMG][/URL]

NOt too bad... up to 8meg on sky, upload speeds a bit shabby though

I've just bought one of these [url= http://www.broadbandbuyer.co.uk/Shop/ShopDetail.asp?ProductID=7256 ]BT IPlate[/url] for £8.50. My sync speed improved from about 4meg to 6meg.
Well worth the investment! I'm on a 20meg package from O2, but it only costs me about £4.75 a month so I'm not complaining! I'm at least 3km from the exchange.

[URL= http://www.speedtest.net/result/390454030.pn g" target="_blank">http://www.speedtest.net/result/390454030.pn g"/> [/IMG][/URL]

[URL= http://www.speedtest.net/result/390462522.pn g" target="_blank">http://www.speedtest.net/result/390462522.pn g"/> [/IMG][/URL]

Happy with that

[URL= http://www.speedtest.net/result/390465628.pn g" target="_blank">http://www.speedtest.net/result/390465628.pn g"/> [/IMG][/URL]

[URL= http://www.speedtest.net/result/390481358.pn g" target="_blank">http://www.speedtest.net/result/390481358.pn g"/> [/IMG][/URL]

Hmm - less impressive than the uni from home, but then I am now halfway up a mountain in north Wales...

Meh...

[IMG] [/IMG]

but if i look out of my window i can see trees and fields and stuff

There are some actual facts on this thread and some complete bollocks too

...including your post...

Where in the 21CN plans is there anything definitive about replacing copper to the home? Until that happens we will still be dependant on equivalent technologies to ADSL to provide data over across the local loop, with the same factors affecting connection speed.

I'm on Orange mobile brodband and it's f*cking useless! Spoke to someone at their tech-dept who told me that nowhere in North Devon can actually get a 3G service. Been trying for months to get out of it but because I'm able to download something (hotmail takes ~7-9mins to open), I'm receiving a sufficient service.

W*ankers!

never tested it, but out BT conection in sheffield could run DT vision streeming the football, an internet phone, skype, and 5 computers, without being too slow (could still streem porn, but no downloads).

Checked my home speed last night. Plugged actuall Cat-5 cable into the router and started the test.

Got a _MASSIVE_ 128k/sec download speed. I am not about to complain to PlusNet.

Interseting responses. Very interesting to note that one or two people live in remote places, yet still receive a good service. So, I'm imagining that the problem with slow connection speeds is probably down to line contention. 50+ people per ADSL line does not add up to a fast and efficient service. I've had the wires checked, and they are fine. BT simply won't admit they are jamming more and more people onto the same lines. As i've said, it's possible they are sticking residential customers onto very busy lines, to free up more for business.

I would get cable, but Virgin have told me that BT won't allow them to install the technology fully, in this area.

Time for the Government to nationalise the exchanges. They should never have privatised them anyway.

Hmm, I wonder who did privatise the entire network? 🙄

I would get cable, but Virgin have told me that BT won't allow them to install the technology fully, in this area.

More likely that Virgin don't have any intention of making a big investment to install more cable. It's probably more convenient to blame BT than be honest about it...

8meg here. On o2. I'm fairly near the exchange, about 1/2 a mile, and I had the phone line into the building upgraded first. But it's 8 meg for £7 a month, if you have an o2 contract as well, which works out as cheap as anyone else...

m; quite the opposite. Virgin would love to install more cable, as they can deliver more spensive packages to people. More like BT are planning to do the same thing, albeit in about 6 thousand years, and want the monopoly on that, too.

Govt has to end BTs stranglehold on the telecommunications network. It's unfair practice, and just means higher prices for everyone.

Are we talking about the same thing? BT couldn't stop Virgin deploying its own cable network (any more that any other company could); the Virgin cable network is independent of and separate from the BT network. There hasn't been a large scale deployment / expansion of cable-laying in this country since the 90's when all the regional cable co's were desperately trying to increase the number of homes passed... whilst completely overlooking the need for those homes to actually buy service from them... The resulting consolidation in the industry was a result of a desperate scramble to try and build a viable business model.

Very interesting to note that one or two people live in remote places, yet still receive a good service.

Small village in Northumberland countryside and I get:

[IMG] [/IMG]

As i've said, it's possible they are sticking residential customers onto very busy lines, to free up more for business.

Yep that's what happened to my dad. New build house in a new development - ****ing awful phone quality that is barely usable to speak on, never mind get broadband.

Did you find what the Noise was reported as on your modem? That will tell you if it is actual contention at the exchange or dodgy lines between you and the exchange.

Apparently you can find out how far you are from the exchange by:

"dialling (on your intended ADSL line) "17070", The response will tell you the number of your circuit. Then enter "3", then "1" (you ARE authorised, aren't you?), then " 2". If you then hang up, the test system will call you back and tell you the approximate distance from your exchange."

I would get cable, but Virgin have told me that BT won't allow them to install the technology fully, in this area.

Agree with -m-: what have BT got to do with whether Virgin can install cable or not?
I thought you were in London RudeBoy? Surely the glorious capital is cabled throughout.

Alternatively, if you put your phone number in to [url] http://www.samknows.com/broadband/checker2.php [/url] and click on "BT ADSL" it will tell you your exhcange and give you a map.

According to that I am 256 metres from my exchange. 🙂

Most of London does have cable coverage, but not this little pocket, apparently. It's a pretty sh1t housing estate, with lots of poor people, so maybe Virgin won't bother, as it's not worth the investment. But I know BT have been very obstructive with allowing the connection of other companies technology to this exchange. I've hear this from BT staff, as well as other sources. It's because of the Canary Wharf area. An absolute goldmine that BT want to monopolise. Bastards.

'Noise' levels are fine. Router gives a connection speed of 7680 kbps. It's simply down to too many other people on the line. Greedy Bastard Telecom...

It's a pretty sh1t housing estate, with lots of poor people, so maybe Virgin won't bother, as it's not worth the investment.

Yep.. poor people all have Sky anyway 😈

Router gives a connection speed of 7680 kbps. It's simply down to too many other people on the line.

Yep sounds like it. Does it get faster at certain times, like late night or early morning?

Much faster late at night.

from my other office 😆

[URL= http://www.speedtest.net/result/390768713.pn g" target="_blank">http://www.speedtest.net/result/390768713.pn g"/> [/IMG][/URL]

Definitely contention then RudeBoy, not much you can do except hope that BT upgrade the exchange capacity, move, or go for a business package that guarantees lower contention. 😕