Networking Now

Hi Guys

Am currently looking at costs of my broadband. My current provider offers up to 8mb downloads, whereas another provider is advertising up to 24Mb.

I'm connected by BT landline - no cable available. I know this is a confusing subject - which I don't really understand. How can I check if the 24Mb service would in fact provide quicker access.

Thanks in advance. In plain speak please.

Most of the broadband speeds are therotical and all their good form is marketing hype.

Reality is, we have aging infrastructure, so unless you are in a cable area, or your BT infrastructure is being upgraded, then I doubt you will achieve 8mb downloads let alone 24mb.

Also can depend on distance to your local BT exchange, number of people on your circuit etc.

Heres a quick and easy broadband tester, plus it will check your fastest theoritical speed.

http://www.broadbandspeedchecker.co.uk/

sjr4x4 wrote:Most of the broadband speeds are therotical and all their good form is marketing hype.

Reality is, we have aging infrastructure, so unless you are in a cable area, or your BT infrastructure is being upgraded, then I doubt you will achieve 8mb downloads let alone 24mb.

Also can depend on distance to your local BT exchange, number of people on your circuit etc.

Heres a quick and easy broadband tester, plus it will check your fastest theoritical speed.

http://www.broadbandspeedchecker.co.uk/

Exactly this Michael,

I currently have (supposedly) 8MB download speed with BT but only ever receive 2.6ish give or take .1%

Saying that i have just performed a check using the link above and this came in at 1.1MB at best and usign 70% CPU - crazy but then again it is peak time for internet usage (18:40 PM)

I don't really understand all the speeds etc. but just took a look at the link and performed the test.. now I feel like a mug. Download speeds of 1768kbs and upload speeds of 487kbs. This is meant to be the quickest available package from Telekom. Bah Humbug :evil:

Hi guys

Little secret a Virgin engineer let me in on. The most accurate site that they use to test true speeds is:

http://www.speedtest.bbmax.co.uk/

KeaneServices wrote:Hi guys

Little secret a Virgin engineer let me in on. The most accurate site that they use to test true speeds is:

http://www.speedtest.bbmax.co.uk/

Both links will give you a good indication of speed, all depends on amount of traffic at that given time, and I'd only take it as a guide. But reality is no 8mb for us :(

Broadband speed checker:
4528 down
338 up

Speedtest BB Max
5612 down
351 up

..and to top it off yesterday, BT themselves phoned up trying to shoehorn us onto a 24 month broadband package quoting superduper speeds. How we laughed.. Waiting for them to unroll the fibreoptic cable and push it through our open window..

You have to remember, if your broadband comes down your BT phoneline, you are on basically a residential plan (regardless if it says its a business package) with high contention ratios, ie you are sharing your internet with a set number of people. eg A standard BT contentio ratio of 50:1 means you share with 49 other people. If they are all on at the same time, then you slow down.

If you are business with deeper pockets, or fast internet is critical, then you can get quicker speeds by having reduced contention ratio packages to something like 5:1 or having dedicated solutions.

Thanks very much guys for straightforward answers which even I can understand.

Not the sort of news i wanted to hear.