AlanHo Posted October 22, 2006 Report Share Posted October 22, 2006 I found that this site is useful to compare broadband offerings fromAOLBTBEEclipseNTLOrangePipexSkyTalk TalkTelewestTiscaliT MobileToucanVirginThe BE offering may be worth a visit.Click Here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted October 22, 2006 Report Share Posted October 22, 2006 I'll stick with NTL at the moment. I have found that if I phone at intervals and threaten to go elsewhere I can usually get one concession or another for six months at a time. At present I am getting a reduction of £6.50 per month on my phone plan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rong Posted October 22, 2006 Report Share Posted October 22, 2006 I found that this site is useful to compare broadband offerings fromAOLBTBEEclipseNTLOrangePipexSkyTalk TalkTelewestTiscaliT MobileToucanVirginThe BE offering may be worth a visit.Click HereWhat sight? your link goes to the BE websight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanHo Posted October 22, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2006 What sight? your link goes to the BE websight.Yes the link starts at the BE web site - but there is a drop down window at the left which opens the list of competitors. Clicking on the name opens the appropriate web site.Each site really is quite a sight to behold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CurlyWhirly Posted October 22, 2006 Report Share Posted October 22, 2006 The BE offering may be worth a visit.My exchange is due to be unbundled by BE in may 2007 but I won't rush in to migrating to them until I find out what their service is really like by looking for feedback from people who have migrated to them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thos Posted October 22, 2006 Report Share Posted October 22, 2006 Not enough emphasis is placed on the fact that the speed available is governed by the BT line (distance from exchange, etc.). Except for cable offerings, that is. With my Sky package, I am averaging 3.5meg and, because I have always subscribed to Sky TV, it is saving me a lot of cash.Good comparison site though.Thos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CurlyWhirly Posted October 22, 2006 Report Share Posted October 22, 2006 Not enough emphasis is placed on the fact that the speed available is governed by the BT line (distance from exchange, etc.). Except for cable offerings, that is.I agree.I am on BT's Max DSL (up to) 8 Mb service but as I live quite a distance from the exchange, I can only get between 3 and 3.5 Mb depending on line conditions.However, as ADSL2+ is a more advanced technology, if I was to migrate to it I should be able to get (up to) 6 Mb so it's something I intend doing in the future but am in no rush to do so as I want a reliable ISP with good customer service like I have now with Zen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catgate Posted October 22, 2006 Report Share Posted October 22, 2006 I have just had a quick trot through one or two of the candidates listed on the site. You really do need to be a Professor of Hard Sums to figure it all out. They are all so Wonderful.They are selling dreams. As usual everything is quoted as "up to" rather than "no higher than". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CurlyWhirly Posted October 22, 2006 Report Share Posted October 22, 2006 As usual everything is quoted as "up to" rather than "no higher than"Unfortunately that's one of the drawbacks of ADSL, the further you are from the exchange, the fainter the signal and the lower the speed :(If there was a national cable network (like NTL/Telewest) then this wouldn't be a problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gandalph Posted October 22, 2006 Report Share Posted October 22, 2006 I'm getting 7.5 MB DSL from BT and I live 847 Metres from the exchange. I cannot see how anyone can claim they can deliver 20-odd megs on any copper cable. I have my doubts whether it could be delivered to anyone even on fibre optics, for the moment at least. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CurlyWhirly Posted October 22, 2006 Report Share Posted October 22, 2006 I cannot see how anyone can claim they can deliver 20-odd megs on any copper cable.I think that you need to live within 500 metres of the exchange and even then by the time 'overheads' have been allowed for you would probably get around 20 Mb.I want to upgrade to ADSL2+ as it will offer me (on a longish line) a faster speed.I used this checker http://www.dslzoneuk.net/maxspeed2.php and when I enter my attenuation (54 dB) it says that I can get between 4 and 8 Mb which is better than the 3 Mb I have at present! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CurlyWhirly Posted October 23, 2006 Report Share Posted October 23, 2006 I cannot see how anyone can claim they can deliver 20-odd megs on any copper cable.I think that you need to live within 1.5 km of the exchange to get the full speed Click hereA newer variant called ADSL2 provides higher downstream rates of up to 12 Mbit/s for spans of less than 2.5 km (8000 ft). More flexible framing and error correction configurations are responsible for these increased speeds. ADSL2+, also referred to as ITU G.992.5, boosts these rates to up to 24 Mbit/s for spans of less than 1.5 km (5000 feet) by doubling the downstream spectrum upper limit to 2.2MHzI want to upgrade to ADSL2+ as it will offer me (on a longish line) a faster speed.I used this checker http://www.dslzoneuk.net/maxspeed2.php and when I enter my attenuation (54 dB) it says that I can get between 4 and 8 Mb which is better than the 3 Mb I have at present! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tankus Posted December 5, 2006 Report Share Posted December 5, 2006 Ive just had my (from 1.1mbps) upgrade gone through tonight , according to my acatel modem Im connected at 8.1mbps ,(supposedly 8mbps max) my new modem from orange hasnt arrived yet .(its got some sort of phone thingy as well) They said I needed to change it as my old frog wasnt capable of speeds over 2mbps ..... Ive just checked ...Its not croaked and there is no smoke ..... not bad for my X freeserve old banger .... £19 per month uncapped plus free calls of some sort ....Gotta say ...coming on here there is not a stroke of difference , I was sort of expecting the page to come up even before I touched the button ....but like ,as someone told me once before , even 8 is sometimes not enough .....!not played 2142 yet , hopefully I will be more impressed ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tankus Posted December 6, 2006 Report Share Posted December 6, 2006 urrr ..... not much point over 2mbps .....most of the places I go to (inc here ) there has been no appreciable difference ..... dissapointed nowhere near as big a performance jump from dial up56k to BB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarecrow Man Posted December 6, 2006 Report Share Posted December 6, 2006 Another good one - http://www.dslreports.com/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catgate Posted December 6, 2006 Report Share Posted December 6, 2006 Another good one - http://www.dslreports.com/Doesn't work very well for Yorkshire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarecrow Man Posted December 6, 2006 Report Share Posted December 6, 2006 Another good one - http://www.dslreports.com/Doesn't work very well for Yorkshire. Looks like North America only.... (more specifically USA)Sorry! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted December 7, 2006 Report Share Posted December 7, 2006 I use cable, and the connection is as near as dammit to instantaneous, with one click on IE. I notice on other peoples computers, that there still has to be a dial up. One click on a link takes me straight to the site concerned, while on my daughters computer, I also have to click on Pipex B as well as the link. Also, I don't think that I am susceptible to problems that are inherent on other broad bands due to distance from a telephone exchange. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanHo Posted December 7, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 7, 2006 I too am on cable broadband with a 4Mb connection. To be honest I did not notice much difference when Telewest doubled the speed some time back - I was expecting to see turbocharged browsing but it has not happened. There probably is a difference downloading large files - but normal browsing and Emails seem the same. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truscotsman72 Posted December 7, 2006 Report Share Posted December 7, 2006 I been with Telewest cable since day one when they introduced it. At the time it was half meg broadband, the connection was 80 quid and the monthly charge was 50 quid. Now Im still with them and I've just went with the flow, I havent phoned for upgrades as Ive always received an upgrade as they upgrade their own servers. Im currently receiving 2mb broadband and its 15 quid a month, cant be bad I say. I think they're fantastic and I honestly dont ever see me changing, Im very happy with the service. Almost all internet pages open instantaniously and its more than enough to download with. As I type this, Im sure telewest offer 8mb at the mo' and Ive heard rumours of 10mb broadband (I may be behind on this info), but to be honest, unless you're downloading full movies every day, i dont see the point in huge broadband for the home, but its nice to have.As for the discussion over the copper wire (eg: BT, dsl lines) I think they're a load of bollocks if you want serious download and upload speeds. Like a few people have said in this thread, theres a limit to what you can pass thru a copper wire, so if your happy with sending emails and surfin the web, it seems dsl is for you, me on the other hand. I want a seperate cable from my phone line and this is why I have cable, its a clean line. My dad has dsl and he gets sooooo much noise through his line, even though he has filters etc on his line, I personally think he's being ripped off by BT, but hes a stubborn man and I can sway him towards cable, even though he has a helluvah lot of problems with his line, he seems happy enough ok, Ive just visited the telewest site and apparently 10mb is already on offer!! boy am I outta touch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CurlyWhirly Posted December 8, 2006 Report Share Posted December 8, 2006 Ive just had my (from 1.1mbps) upgrade gone through tonight , according to my acatel modem Im connected at 8.1mbps ,(supposedly 8mbps max)Gotta say ...coming on here there is not a stroke of difference , I was sort of expecting the page to come up even before I touched the button ....but like ,as someone told me once before , even 8 is sometimes not enough .....!I don't think you will have been upgraded to the faster speed yet as on Max you usually go through a 3 day training period.Have you run a speed test http://www.speedtest.bbmax.co.uk/I want a seperate cable from my phone line and this is why I have cable, its a clean line.I agree but, unfortunately, not all of us can get cable (I can't) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tankus Posted December 9, 2006 Report Share Posted December 9, 2006 Last Result:Download Speed: 1310 kbps (163.8 KB/sec transfer rate)Upload Speed: 370 kbps (46.3 KB/sec transfer rate)something not right here ....?Download Speed: 1341 kbps (167.6 KB/sec transfer rate)Upload Speed: 369 kbps (46.1 KB/sec transfer rate)ADSL Speed Typical Download Typical Upload 512Kbps 460 Kbps 200-240 Kbps 1Mbps 920 Kbps 200-240 Kbps 2Mbps 1840 Kbps 200-240 Kbps 8Mbps 7300 Kbps 400-756 Kbps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted December 9, 2006 Report Share Posted December 9, 2006 Just run the test on NTL Home. 3847 download and 371 upload. Not bad for a claimed 4000, and 400. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanHo Posted December 9, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 9, 2006 My Telewest came out at 3860 and 348 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted December 9, 2006 Report Share Posted December 9, 2006 My Telewest came out at 3860 and 348I don't think we can grumble. I'm glad I don't have to rely on being close to a telephone exchange. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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