ISPs tested by Ofcom

[martin_y]

Ofcom have done a test on ISPs speeds compared to what they advertise.

No surprise Tiscali came out worst.

[HMG1K]

Yeah, OFCOM tell us what we all know!

OFCOM is a toothless and powerless government body. One look at its Digital Britain report recently illustrates just how out of touch it is with the industry it is supposed to regulate, and how pie-in-the-sky its ideas are.

One area it is pushing is to switch off all FM radio transmissions by 2015 so we move quicker to adopting DAB radio - like the speed we've adopted to digital television.

Several problems, and OFCOM knows themt - DAB radio is flawed, FM stations on there now are only there because they got a free licence renewal if they paid to go on DAB. DAB+ is a far better as a technology and should be adopted here. Finally, car makers are still dragging their feet. Nine years after signing up to be one of the DAB pioneers in cars, fitting them as standard, Ford is STILL offering head units as a costly optiion!

And OFCOM expects us to ditch all our radios for costly and inferior sounding DAB!

AH! That felt better ! :mexicanwav

[Turbo_Steve]

DAB : I agree. It's a brilliant TalkRadio solution. It sucks for everything else.

Ofcom - No use to anyone.

ISPs - still using BT Copper. Virgin came out on top as they manage their BT Resale extremely well (though it's "upto 8Mb" and you'll rarely see it with the line quality) and because they have spangly infrastructure!!!

All I want to know is why I live in a brand new road, and they didn't bother to lay Cable from the main road!??

[elnevio]

they didn't bother to lay Cable
Well, I guess they actually have already - in a sense!

[pitslayer]

Pushing DAB because its failing, no one is really listening to it, no one is really buying the radios

My BT has sped up, tother night I was recieving 6 meg, which beats the usual 500kbs from upto 8 meg broadband

[Stevo]

i think my isp is doing allright :D lol

http://www.speedtest.net/result/527058321.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

[Confused]

The general populous need a 30 second lesson on how ADSL works and why they're unlikely to get the up to speed the technology is capable of unless they can spit on their exchange.

[martin_y]

... and the ISps marketing team needs a lesson too, dont they?

[Confused]

To a point... but they're also completely within their rights to say that you can have up to a headline figure, as that's what the technology can technically support.

[martin_y]

Is it unreasonable to expect at least 1/2 their "up to " speed?

[Confused]

Well it depends on entirely how long the two bits of copper are from you to the exchange.

Unfortunately, without actually hooking up the DSLAM at the exchange, and an ADSL modem in your house, it is impossible to tell exactly what speed you'll get.

Most ISPs now use BT's Line Checker to give a guesstimate of speed based on "as-the-crow-flies" line distance from you to the exchange, but this is still only theoretical, and individual line stats can and will affect this.

You could have a very short, poor quality line, or a longer, better quality line, and achieve the same speed.

[martin_y]

Thanks, I know all that stuff, I'm in IT too.

But Ofcom found that the average was about 1/2 of what the ISPs advertise, hence my question :

"Is it unreasonable to expect at least 1/2 their "up to " speed?"

[Confused]

It's also the general populous inability to understand the phrase "up to".


It's all marketing - which is only a stone's throw from Sales - where they'd tell a lie even if the truth sounded better.

[orionn2o]

I can't really complain, I'm only on Virgin media paying for the 2Meg Package, however I get a constant 250MBytes/sec download rate 99% of the time :)

[Confused]

That's because Virgin uses cable technology, which is different to ADSL technology.

Cable internet doesn't suffer from line lengths from the exchange, as it's all coaxial from your local green box in the street.

However... cable is shared between all those in your street on the same box, so if it's being heavily used, it could suffer slowdowns.

[martin_y]

I'm really happy too, on Virgin.

[Confused]

Which is great, if you can get it.

The streets all around me have cable, but mine, which was built after it was installed elsewhere, and they didn't run in lines when they built our road.

So I'm stuck with ADSL. I'm a good couple of miles from the exchange, so I'm on ~5mbit/sec on ADSL2+ - which would have equated to about 2mbit/sec on standard ADSL.

Still not as good as the 10mbps cable I had at my previous place, but at least I don't have any stupid usage caps, so I can actually use the full potential of mine whenever I want! ;)

[HMG1K]

i think my isp is doing allright :D lol

http://www.speedtest.net/result/527058321.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

And mine with Vodafone broadband - which runs on BT Broadband pipes:

http://www.speedtest.net/result/527262775.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

:beerbang: :beerbang: :beerbang: :beerbang: :beerbang: :beerbang: :beerbang:

[NevGroom]

Not so bad

[miller]

http://www.speedtest.net/result/527342517.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

[ANTHONY]

i work for openreach BT and when we test an ADSL with our APtS tester back to the Dsam we always get a much high speed than those speed tester sites. but nine is still sh!t http://www.speedtest.net/result/527356281.png

[elnevio]

I can but dream...

http://www.speedtest.net/result/527358325.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

[Spirit]

http://www.speedtest.net/result/527412172.png (http://www.speedtest.net/result/527412172.png)

[apeman69]

This is what I should be getting, unless my ISP is imposing traffic shaping which it does from 10am to midnight!
I read somewhere once that Korea advertises it's broadband service as 100MB and the average was somewhere around 90MB.
We're struggling in this country with an antiquated infrastructure and ISPs that promise the earth. Then they increase their customer base. Then they cut services once they can't deliver to the extra customers they have acquired through promising the earth.

[psbarham]

paying for 2 mb, and i'm 6 miles from the exchange so this ain't too bad i suppose

http://www.speedtest.net/result/527651529.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

[elnevio]

Thanks, I know all that stuff, I'm in IT too.

But Ofcom found that the average was about 1/2 of what the ISPs advertise, hence my question :

"Is it unreasonable to expect at least 1/2 their "up to " speed?"
I don't think that's unreasonable at all.

It's like (kind of!) a car air freshener that says it will last for up to 8 weeks. You'd expect 6 or 7 weeks, but if it ran out before getting to 4 weeks, that would be pretty rubbish, and possibly 'not fit for purpose'.


I am now on a 24Mb Max service, getting less than 1.5Mb.

To be fair, it started out as a 2Mb Max service, when I was getting about 2Mb. I've just been upgraded over the last few years to where I am now, but at no extra cost. My usage cap has continued to grow though, which is nice.

[Ryan]

uploaded/50107/1248847730.jpg

[elnevio]

Ha-ha! Work!

http://www.speedtest.net/result/527689230.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

Although I've moved buildings. The old location was tons faster downloading!

[Confused]

My work line:

http://www.speedtest.net/result/527707522.png

However - we are (as the crow flies) about 300m from the exchange, but I think the line goes out to the main road and back round, rather than direct.

And home:

http://www.speedtest.net/result/527709963.png

But here we're about 2 miles (as the crow flies) from the exchange - a massive difference, given that both are ADSL2+ so have the same theoretical maximum of 24mbps!

[SGHOM]

WOW !! :sad3: :book:

http://www.speedtest.net/result/527712129.png

[Ryan]

From home:

http://www.speedtest.net/result/527722568.png

[Turbo_Steve]

I hate you all.

http://www.speedtest.net/result/528129459.png

[White Lightning]

http://www.speedtest.net/result/528136824.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

[shaun1978]

http://www.speedtest.net/result/528157127.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

And I still think mine is rubbish

[starky]

http://www.speedtest.net/result/528482347.png (http://www.speedtest.net)
Mine is with Karoo (Kingston comunications) Its is an upto 8mb its not to bad but I wish we could get Virgin :(

[Ryan]

I feel sorry for a lot of you. There are some really crappy results on this thread :sigh:

[Turbo_Steve]

So far: I am the lowest. Nobody has asked why, yet.

[Confused]

So far: I am the lowest. Nobody has asked why, yet.

Mobile "broadband"?

[martin_y]

Tiscali?

[orionn2o]

http://www.speedtest.net/rank/2212712217.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

Seems my work is pretty good !

[Turbo_Steve]

Indeed: Garry has it first time with the Mobile Broadband. Advertised as "Upto 7Mb". Suspect it scales up on demand - hence why it is so latency ridden under normal browsing conditions!

[Confused]

Up to 7.2mbps - providing you're sat right next to the transmitter (which is of course, capable of 7.2, many aren't!), and there's absolutely no one else attached to the transmitter - as like ADSL/Cable - it's shared, too! ;)

[Turbo_Steve]

Actually, mine seems to work better a little further away from the transmitter than I would have thought. I am guessing it's "shaped" to minimise the broadcast power as you get closer to it: you end up in the "shadow" as you get too close.

Hotel is about 200m away from transmitters, but seems to vary wildly in connection speed. I think the network actually "throttles on demand" as you can start a download and it will always be poor, then suddenly accelerate!

My DSL at home is "upto" 8Mb and after having work done by BT, work done to the house wiring and manually setting the number of Bins available, it consistently delivers 2.2Mb (according to my old router). Unfortunately, that died in the last thunderstorm, and now I using the crappy spare. Not sure how fast it is, but it's definitely a lot slower.

[Nick VR4]

I have AOL should be 8 MB but normally get between 5 and 6 MB I have also used different Speed testers and all are different speeds lol Exchange is about 400 yards from house

[Ryan]

http://www.speedtest.net/rank/2212712217.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

Seems my work is pretty good !

Winner! :D

[orionn2o]

:) :)

[ANTHONY]

http://www.speedtest.net/rank/2212712217.png (http://www.speedtest.net)

Seems my work is pretty good ! only one thing to say to you Matt .................:censored: /hammer

[elnevio]

I'm actually quite pleased to be getting 1.5Mbps now, especially as I have learnt that I am 3.5km from my exchange, as the crow flies. Given the local geography, I expect that the actual cable distance is closer to 4.5km!

If you want to know how far from your telephone exchange you are, go to Sam Knows: http://www.samknows.com/broadband/checker2.php

Then input your telephone number and postcode.

Then click on BT ADSL, which then gives you, amongst other things, details of your local exchange, including straight-line distance to it. :thumbsup:

To give you an idea, if you're more than 5km away, you are unlikely to be able to receive broadband! :(

[shaun1978]

To give you an idea, if you're more than 5km away, you are unlikely to be able to receive broadband! :(

not strictly true, I've worked on a lot of circuits where the line length is just over 6km , but the speed the line can hold a stable sync is ridiculous, getting called out to fix a slow speed fault is common and line length is 95% to blame