Broadband

[Zenith.UK]

I'm actually considering moving to Be atm. They're LLU in my exchange, and I'd imagine around my gaff their custom would be fairly low - would that mean low contention rates and better speeds? Or am I thinking dumb?

The plus points are they don't have effective caps, and they're slightly cheaper too.

Plus they say I can get potentially 5Mb, when BT wholesale say 2.5Mb max, which I'm sitting on atm and can get 3mb on a good day (or three).

It sounds like you'd benefit from getting a router that can be tweaked with DMT Tool.
::. Kitz - DMT tool v7 - Speedtouch routers .::
DMT (DSL-Modem Tool)
THE DMT TOOL For DUMMIES - The ADSL2+ User Forum

Using DMT Tool with Sky Firmware

I've got a Speedtouch 585v6 and normally get a sync of 4Mbps. With this tweak, I have pushed my sync up to 5.2Mbps and increased my bRAS profile from adsl3500 to adsl4500. This is on a long line with 58dB attenuation. Okay, so the stability isn't as great as it used to be (router resets 2-3 times a week) but the increased speed offsets the decreased stability IMO.

 

[Sar]

Aye I'm on a long-ish line (2.71km straight line distance) from my local exchange (NIGGY).

Line stats:


D/S: SNR Margin: 15.5 Db - Line Att: 51.0 Db
U/S: SNR Margin: 18.0 Db - Line Att: 30.0 Db

Synched at 3360 Kbps for the past 1 day 11 hrs.

It's a Zoom X6 DSL Router btw

 

[Sar]

Ok, update.

I've just completed the migration to Be today, and am currently using their Bebox (Thompson TG585v7)

Current sync speed?

5456, aka 4.5Mbs!

If it'll sync any higher then I'll get the full 5mbs!

So that's from 1.5Mb to 3Mb to 4.5Mb+ by fixing wiring then going to an LLU.

/happy_bunny

 

[Zenith.UK]

Congratz!
At least you have the option of going with LLU. I'm on a Market 1 exchange which means there are NO providers except BT. They have a monopoly on the equipment provision in my phone area.

 

[inactionman]

Good, now get rid of their crappy BeBox and get a decent router!

 

[Sar]

Hehe, well I CAN get sync speeds of just over 5.5Mbs if I plug directly into the BT test socket

Sync'd atm over an extension lead at 5Mbs, and d/l speed is now 615kbs, which for me is absolutely fucking awesome.



Some difference to a few months ago, when I was lucky to get d/l speeds of 120kbs!

So far the Bebox ain't too bad, and tends to sync at faster speeds than my X6. But I'll double check the settings on the X6 and see if it's the router or the settings not being quite right.

 

[Kryten]

Quite nice, O2/Be is a great ISP imo, especially on LLU.
Mine:


Thats at peak rate though (taken just now), normally sites at 7.6 down and 0.97 up. I get a better rate on my BeBox (o2 wireless boxed flashed to the Be firmware, shitter GUI but a few more options) than I do with a far better Linksys router. As has been mentioned beforehand the possibility of them using the same chipset (or something along those lines) at the other end hence better sync rates.

 

[Krazeh]

Mine:

Love Be* and really can't argue with the speed I get.

 

[Kryten]

Think my router needs a reboot or something else is broke

 

[nath]

I get about 16mbit on that site when my actual download speeds from better sources go up to at least 19mbit. Speedtest sites are almost always inadequate at properly measuring speeds.

 

[Kryten]

Without doubt, speedtest.net is one of the best. Thinkbroadband's one is ruddy awful and always gets mine at about half speed

 

[ford prefect]

My supercharged 16 mbit sky connection is working as expected.

 

[Kryten]

ouch, Sky still not sorted that out?

 

[Uara]

Mine, does alrite, but hideous bandwidth shaping during the evenings

 

[old.user4556]

Speedtest tells me one thing and I consistently download faster than what it tells me.

 

[Sar]

Works at full speed for me. Need to pick a decent server though. I use the ones in Derby and Maidenhead mainly.

 

[old.Osy]

 

[Job]

Need to post that to the commission looking to break up BTs broadband.

 

[Job]

But of course DL speed is not the full picture, it's the servers turning ip into addresses, that was always the bottleneck when I worked for BT.

 

[DaGaffer]

Need to post that to the commission looking to break up BTs broadband.

Pretty sure that's not a consumer broadband connection...

 

[old.Osy]

Pretty sure that's not a consumer broadband connection...

It actually is. Got it installed today. 10 quid a month.

You're welcome to move to Romania.

 

[BloodOmen]

BT is shite like, I mean it's stable (mine has been at least) but the speed in itself is just abysmal. BT were meant to be installing 1gbs connections last year, they're fucking tiptoeing around the bastard though, pretty sure they have no intentions of doing so.

 

[Job]

They always do, the amount of meetings I got told to shut up when I went on a broadband rant, they have improved enormously, but started off as total dinosaurs.
When people were upgrading from ISDN, the entire ethos was 'what do they want it for?'.
People would literally wait 6 months because it was inconvenient for BT to provide ADSL, I saw rack gathering dust because the guy who put in the power cables was on another job.
TBH they just pensioned off all the useless fuckers.

 

[BloodOmen]

The main issue is with BT having a monopoly over all the lines, it just stops other ISPS dead when it comes to providing better internet... BT really need a slap on the wrist and the lines to be made public, since they clearly have no intentions of keeping up with the rest of the world.

 

[DaGaffer]

It actually is. Got it installed today. 10 quid a month.

You're welcome to move to Romania.

Very good. I was guessing based on the isp name, which came up as a research group when I searched for it.

 

[Moriath]

It actually is. Got it installed today. 10 quid a month.

You're welcome to move to Romania.

No thanks visited bucharest a few times. Summer its aweful. The traffic is nuts and in the winter its freezing cold.

 

[caLLous]

Whereas in the UK the summers are wonderful, there's zero traffic and the winters are toasty warm.

 

[Gwadien]

There's also lots of Romanians there.

*shudders*

 

[Lakih]

I had 100 Mbit in Sweden 15 years ago, not surprised to see Gbit connections for the consumer market popping up.

Sadly US is broadband hell, I'm stuck with a (bad) 8 Mbit aDSL connection here

 

[fettoken]

100 Mbit back then, wasn't that the pinnacle at the moment? Well Gbit's been around for some time i guess. Do actually have 1 gbit connection, unknowingly, though, only for uploading...