Why i would never have DSL

[Sirius]

This just shows the differance between DSL and Cable

http://consumers.ofcom.org.uk/2010/0...oadband-speed/

Headline (Advertised) speed Average actual speed

‘Up to’ 8/10Mbit/s DSL packages ... .. 3.3Mbit/s
‘Up to’ 20/24Mbit/s DSL packages .... 6.5Mbit/s
‘Up to’ 10Mbit/s cable services ..... ... 8.7Mbit/s
‘Up to’ 20Mbit/s cable services ..... ... 15.7Mbit/s

ISP performance
The research found that cable broadband services delivered significantly faster actual (or download) speeds than comparable services provided via a telephone line:

Virgin Media’s ‘up to’ 10Mbit/s and ‘up to’ 20Mbit/s cable services delivered average download speeds around twice as fast as DSL packages with the same or similar headline speed (see table below).
Virgin Media’s ‘up to’ 50Mbit/s cable service was the fastest service tested, delivering average download speeds of around 36Mbit/s with single thread tests and around 46Mbit/s with multi-thread tests conducted between 4 and 6am. A single thread test involves downloading a single file, while a multi-thread test involves conducting three file downloads simultaneously, which is more typical of the way heavy internet users consume broadband.

[danielf]

I don't see why that should be a reason to 'never have ADSL'. I'm on Be's 24mbps and my sync speed is 23,874. The bottleneck for me is my wireless network. I'm very close to the exchange mind.

Oh, and there's no cable here, which limits the options somewhat.

[Rob]

Hmm, unfortunately those statistics don't exactly shine cable in a goog light i.e. many users clearly aren't getting close to the claimed line speed, which cable broadband should have been able to achieve based on the FTTC network.

seeing as its an average and no one should get over the figures with cable its very good I think

If you take into consideration the number of posts on this forum with guys hitting low speeds due to contention the 10 meg especially is quite impressive

[Zee]

i get around 15Mb on Virgin 20Mb package, just hoping my speeds dont drop too much when i switch to Sky's 20Mb service...

[danielf]

It seems to me that many people on ADSL 20/24 mbps packages are better off moving to an 8mbps service anyway as their line doesn't support 20/24 mbps.

[roger skillin]

here is my speed and i'm very happy with it, problem with ADSL will always be the distance from exchange but that will change when BT finish their fibre to the cabinet but by that time cable with have moved a long way past that so i'll be sticking with virgin

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by Sirius

This just shows the differance between DSL and Cable

http://consumers.ofcom.org.uk/2010/0...oadband-speed/

Headline (Advertised) speed Average actual speed

‘Up to’ 8/10Mbit/s DSL packages ... .. 3.3Mbit/s
‘Up to’ 20/24Mbit/s DSL packages .... 6.5Mbit/s
‘Up to’ 10Mbit/s cable services ..... ... 8.7Mbit/s
‘Up to’ 20Mbit/s cable services ..... ... 15.7Mbit/s

So, is it acceptable that VM 's average speed on the 20 meg tariff is around two thirds of what is advertised? Bearing in mind that Cable speed is not distance limited (unlike ADSL) so virgin can (technically at least) actually do a lot to influence that speed.

[roger skillin]

Originally Posted by Stuart C

So, is it acceptable that VM 's average speed on the 20 meg tariff is around two thirds of what is advertised? Bearing in mind that Cable speed is not distance limited (unlike ADSL) so virgin can (technically at least) actually do a lot to influence that speed.

It's not two thirds is it, 8.7 from 10 mb so thats 87% two thirds would be 66%
and 15.7 from 20 mb is 78.5%
so i would say that yes that is very acceptable, remember these are average scores, you have to take into account traffic during peak hours and throttling due to over usage

[slowcoach]

1¼ miles from BT exchange, but who cares.

[Sirius]

Originally Posted by slowcoach

1¼ miles from BT exchange, but who cares.

4 miles from the exchange

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by roger skillin

It's not two thirds is it, 8.7 from 10 mb so thats 87% two thirds would be 66%
and 15.7 from 20 mb is 78.5%
so i would say that yes that is very acceptable, remember these are average scores, you have to take into account traffic during peak hours and throttling due to over usage

So, Virgin, on average, achieve the advertised speed between 80 and 90% of the time? As I said earlier, they don't have the excuse that people live too far from the exchange, so any problems they have are generally problems they can solve, but sometime fail to do so.

It's worth remembering that some industries offer compensation if you only get 90% of your service.

Say what you like about ADSL but if the reason someone is getting slow speeds (and it will be in a lot of cases) is because they live a long way from the exchange, there is little or nothing the ISP can do about it.

I don't mean to knock VM specifically, but I do think the fact they can get away with offering only 90% of the speed you pay for, and are still considered the fastest ISP is a sad indictment of the state of broadband internet provision in this country.

[Peter_]

I will never have ADSL for 2 reasons.

1 : I have no incoming BT line and I do not want an ugly cable hanging of my property.

2 : I am also to far from the exchange as people on my estate struggle to get speeds above 1 or 2Mb, which is odd considering that the whole estate is cabled and you would expect them to switch over.

[Berealwith]

never had a problem on adsl

[danielf]

Originally Posted by Berealwith

never had a problem on adsl

fail...