• The Forums are now open to new registrations, adverts are also being de-tuned.

8MB Broadband disapointing!

BenzComander

BenzComander

MB Enthusiast
Joined
Sep 17, 2004
Messages
1,044
Location
Bucks
Car
E320 Avantgarde Estate
Got my confirmation email from Tiscali this morning, as the upgrade to 8MB is complete. Connection speed is now shown as 7.8mbs but browsing, and the loading of web pages seems to be the same??

Is my system likely to be holding it all back from blazing glory!!:D

Pentium4 2.4, 256mb ram and GForce 4MX 64mb graphics
 
Browsing is unlikely to get much faster, downloads can depending on the source.

Your machine could do with another 768MB RAM to be honest, I'd want a 1GB in machine like that, at least 512.
 
BenzComander said:
Got my confirmation email from Tiscali this morning, as the upgrade to 8MB is complete. Connection speed is now shown as 7.8mbs but browsing, and the loading of web pages seems to be the same??

Is my system likely to be holding it all back from blazing glory!!:D

Pentium4 2.4, 256mb ram and GForce 4MX 64mb graphics
Click to expand...

If you are getting a true 7.8Mb/s download speed you are among the fortunate few since the advertised speeds of lots of ISPs of " UP TO 8Mbytes/sec download speed"
:devil: :devil: :devil: :devil: :devil: :devil: are rarely achieved in practice due to signal /noise, signal attenuation and other line issues. BT systems have a semi automated line monitoring system which down regulates your data transfer speed to what it decides is a "reliable" speed to give you good connectivity. This is often more like 3-4 Mbytes/sec rather than the advertised " 8 Mbytes/sec"

This "UP TO 8Mbytes/sec" phrase is misleading advertising IMHO and should have been banned by THE ADVERTISING STANDARD AUTHORITY

Theres a good speed test at http://www.myspeed.com/pe/index.html free download which can tell you about connectivity to servers in the USA and UK.
I suggest you try that. Theres another good speed tester here http://www.thinkbroadband.com/faq.html but needs the java plug in for whatever browser you are using. As has been said there are lots of other factors involved including internet traffic and site server response etc etc.
 
grober said:
If you are getting a true 7.8Mb/s download speed you are among the fortunate few since the advertised speeds of lots of ISPs of " UP TO 8Mbytes/sec download speed"
:devil: :devil: :devil: :devil: :devil: :devil: are rarely achieved in practice due to signal /noise, signal attenuation and other line issues. BT systems have a semi automated line monitoring system which down regulates your data transfer speed to what it decides is a "reliable" speed to give you good connectivity. This is often more like 3-4 Mbytes/sec rather than the advertised " 8 Mbytes/sec"

This "UP TO 8Mbytes/sec" phrase is misleading advertising IMHO and should have been banned by THE ADVERTISING STANDARD AUTHORITY

Theres a good speed test at http://www.myspeed.com/pe/index.html free download which can tell you about connectivity to servers in the USA and UK.
I suggest you try that. Theres another good speed tester here http://www.thinkbroadband.com/faq.html but needs the java plug in for whatever browser you are using. As has been said there are lots of other factors involved including internet traffic and site server response etc etc.
Click to expand...

When I hover the cursor over the little pic of the two PC's in the bottom right corner of the screen, I get 7.8mbs. Tried the tiscali speed checker as well, did a few runs and got 7.8 and 7.9 but also got one run of 10.2:eek:
 
I wouldn't want to download a speed tester - just use one of the online ones.

And grober, 7.8 is amazingly good mate. I get between 6 and 6.5Mbps. I'm 300m from my exchange.
 
Remember also that the path your data takes from its source to your computer may go through many other servers and suchlike. The speed you get will be limited by the slowest of those. Think of it as a busy motorway. You can go "Up tp 70MPH", but you will be lucky to average 50, and if you need to go through the roadworks on the M1 near Luton then 40 is your maximum on the "Up to 70MPH" motorway.
 
64 bit speed machine ??

Try that speed test to the servers. Its more comprehensive than a straight line connectivity test. I wasn't disbelieving you about your speed. It does sound as if you have a good fast line connection :bannana: :bannana: and least some hardware upgrades might be in order. Grahams memory upgrade sounds a good suggestion but maybe its time for an upgrade to a new computer-a dual core 64 bit machine -to take advantage of the new VISTA software. Price it all carefully.;)
 
Last edited:
GregE240 said:
I wouldn't want to download a speed tester - just use one of the online ones.

And grober, 7.8 is amazingly good mate. I get between 6 and 6.5Mbps. I'm 300m from my exchange.
Click to expand...

Agree, had read a lot about the potential speed, and was pleasently suprised to see 7.8. Just spoke to her indoors and it's showing 7.9 now. We are at least 1.5 miles from the exchange, and the PC is on a long telephone extension (with the filter fitted) so makes me even more suprised.
 
I'm on an "up to 8Mb" service but was advised (before connection) that the line would only provide 1.5, speed tests are showing about 1.8 at the moment.

Hopefully lines/exchanges etc. will be upgraded and it will get faster.
 
BTB 500 said:
I'm on an "up to 8Mb" service but was advised (before connection) that the line would only provide 1.5, speed tests are showing about 1.8 at the moment.

Hopefully lines/exchanges etc. will be upgraded and it will get faster.
Click to expand...


Don't hold your breath...

I am on 8MB line and my line is capable of carry 5.1MB without any issues BUT maximum I ever get on a "good day" from my ISP is 3.5MB but norm is 2.3MB and I used to before have have a 2MB package deal anyway and was getting 2.2MB from my speed test!!! It's all a "hype" being upgraded to 8MB...:rolleyes: :rolleyes:
 
Flash said:
Don't hold your breath...

I am on 8MB line and my line is capable of carry 5.1MB without any issues BUT maximum I ever get on a "good day" from my ISP is 3.5MB but norm is 2.3MB and I used to before have have a 2MB package deal anyway and was getting 2.2MB from my speed test!!! It's all a "hype" being upgraded to 8MB...:rolleyes: :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

A bit too much of a generalisation to be true as a general rule for anyone else Flash, not doubting your persoanl experience though.

Max ADSL (up to 8MB) does push your line to it's limits and sometimes this goes beyond the balance of reliability over speed. If your SNR drops too low you will have a drop outs and greater speed variations.

How do you know your line is good for 5.1MB if your best "good day" is 2.3MB?


Regards
Graham
 
ISP clearly advised that my phone line is capable of handling 5.1MB in my area without any issues what so ever. Evenings when a lot of pople are logged my speed shows as 2.3MB but during the day (week days and sometimes w/ends) when I connect it shows that my speed is between 3.2/3.5MB. I once had it at 3.9MB for a while without any issue.
 
So am I in the honeymoon period, where they are maxing my line to see what is stable??:confused:
 
If it's not Virgin then you might be lucky...;) :)

I am looking to chnage ISP now as well.

At first when they upgraded me they were testing for a while what my line could carry but above 5.8MB it would crash.
 
I would suggest that your connection speed is probably faster than your computer is currently able to deal with. If you find your browsing is unacceptably slow it may be that your security suite is utilising too much of your system resources, slowing everything else down in the process - this is easily possible with 256MB.
 
Flash said:
ISP clearly advised that my phone line is capable of handling 5.1MB in my area without any issues what so ever. Evenings when a lot of pople are logged my speed shows as 2.3MB but during the day (week days and sometimes w/ends) when I connect it shows that my speed is between 3.2/3.5MB. I once had it at 3.9MB for a while without any issue.
Click to expand...

"My phone" line or "my area"? For your area that may have been a good indication but your line sounds like it cannot handle it. Every line, down to the it's location in the exchange to the wiring in your property to your filters to your BT point to router cable can all effect the speed.

Ensure everthing your side of the BT point is tip top. Short as possible cables, but don't worry if you need some length, just use a Cat5e RJ11 to RJ11 cable.

If you have more than one phone point in your house, eliminate them by using the engineers socket behind your faceplate. If that is better get a filtered face plate that will do the same effectivly without the need for a separate filter. Measure your SNR as you make these changes.

Having a fast line SOME of the time depending on time of the day is no use. If your line cannot support a speed at the busiest/worst time of the day then forget about that speed. You want the fastest speed that you can get all of the time to be what you are aiming for or you will get drop outs. If that is 2 meg, that is 2 meg.

If your speed fluctuates and you get drop outs (outside of your bedding in period) make your ISP get on to BT about it, there are changes that can be made to aid stability.

Having a 2MB line is a lot better than some can get!

Flash said:
I am looking to chnage ISP now as well.
Click to expand...

I use BT for the reason that all ISPs have to deal with BT ADSL engineers for line realted stuff and I find it quite easy to get passed from the ISP side of BT to the line engineers.
 
Funny though Pammy, just done the dublin server and got 6880 and 394 upload, do you think this is dependant on how much traffic is on the server??
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 1 (members: 0, guests: 1)
Back
Top Bottom