Broadband speed

[BenzComander]

Can anybody explain how broadband speed is determined.

Am looking at upgrading to the Tiscali 8MB service, and not sure how it's done? (Have 2MB now)

Is it controlled at the exchange somehow, or is it down to the modem, or is it regulated by the tiscali servers??

cheers,

 

[Shude]

Initially they will try 8MB and monitor the connection. If it proves unstable after a short period they will try successively slower speeds with higher tolerance for noise etc and repeat until it's stable.

They will recommend that you turn your equipment off every day to make sure it's all picked up the changes properly.

Mine was tried at 8MB and it's still at 8MB, I don't know if my overpriced "world's greatest" ADSL microfilter helped...

 

[BenzComander]

Initially they will try 8MB and monitor the connection. If it proves unstable after a short period they will try successively slower speeds with higher tolerance for noise etc and repeat until it's stable.

They will recommend that you turn your equipment off every day to make sure it's all picked up the changes properly.

Mine was tried at 8MB and it's still at 8MB, I don't know if my overpriced "world's greatest" ADSL microfilter helped...

So they actually control the speed from the server end??

Please also, what is an ADSL microfilter, and do I need one??

 

[guydewdney]

If you have broadband at the moment, you have one. Its the little bopx plugged into the (sometimes master) socket that separates broadband 'noise' from speech 'noise'

HTH

yes, to the speed Q

 

[BenzComander]

If you have broadband at the moment, you have one. Its the little bopx plugged into the (sometimes master) socket that separates broadband 'noise' from speech 'noise'

HTH

yes, to the speed Q

So, as for the speed, if my line is capable of receiving 8MB broadband, why do I have to pay more for the privilege?? What extra costs do Tiscali have to bear to bring me 8MB??

 

[Howard]

They have to pay the man to flick the switch ......

 

[Dieselman]

Because the more people use higher bandwidth the less capacity they have so have to lay in more lines and routers.

 

[scotth_uk]

BC,

(Depending on your distance from the exchange to your house - you may be able to get up to 24mbps using current ADSL standards. That's what I have, but I live about 4 houses from the exchange!)

You are essentially paying for the bandwidth that you 'may' use, but there are real costs underneath. Sure, the copper pair between your house and the exchange doesn't change, but....

Let's say that one exchange support 500 users @ 2mbps each. That would be a total of 1000 mbps or 1 gbps, however they will 'oversubscribe' the link to a certain percentage. They may only deploy 100mbps to that site for users. It's done like that to save money, as it would be almost impossible for all users to be on at once using all the bandwidth.

If they now upgrade everyone to 8mb, and keep the same 'oversubscription' ratio, they have to upgrade from 1 x 100 mpbs link to 4 x 100mbps links and potentially more equipment to terminate and manage the link. It's not cheap to provide 100mbps of dedicated bandwidth between sites.

Another layer on - your carrier doesn't own the internet. They have to pay for their entry/exit points as well and for every user they upgrade, that cost goes up!

Some of these costs are passed on. Running a carrier is not a cheap business.

Scott

 

[BenzComander]

BC,

(Depending on your distance from the exchange to your house - you may be able to get up to 24mbps using current ADSL standards. That's what I have, but I live about 4 houses from the exchange!)

You are essentially paying for the bandwidth that you 'may' use, but there are real costs underneath. Sure, the copper pair between your house and the exchange doesn't change, but....

Let's say that one exchange support 500 users @ 2mbps each. That would be a total of 1000 mbps or 1 gbps, however they will 'oversubscribe' the link to a certain percentage. They may only deploy 100mbps to that site for users. It's done like that to save money, as it would be almost impossible for all users to be on at once using all the bandwidth.

If they now upgrade everyone to 8mb, and keep the same 'oversubscription' ratio, they have to upgrade from 1 x 100 mpbs link to 4 x 100mbps links and potentially more equipment to terminate and manage the link. It's not cheap to provide 100mbps of dedicated bandwidth between sites.

Another layer on - your carrier doesn't own the internet. They have to pay for their entry/exit points as well and for every user they upgrade, that cost goes up!

Some of these costs are passed on. Running a carrier is not a cheap business.

Scott

Ahh!! Nothing is ever as simple as it looks, have a nana scott for your explanation!:bannana:

How do you get 24mbps? And is it possible to increase my mbps, or will we always be tied to the ammount given to us by our provider??

 

[reflexboy]

It will be governed by your provider, and the capacity of your phone line supplying the broadband service, unless you are a cable customer, where they run the broadband downa coaxial cable to your house.

 

[scotth_uk]

How do you get 24mbps? And is it possible to increase my mbps, or will we always be tied to the ammount given to us by our provider??

Always happy to help out.

24mbps is the speed ceiling for ADSL2+ in the UK, and is offered through a few carriers that have started Local Loop Unbundling (essentially not using BT within your local exchange - deploying their own equipment and links).

I use UKOnline in London who sell the service as 22mbps, but I get a little more due to my exchange proximity:

http://www.ukonline.net/broadband/upto22Mb.php

[Note on this page, they state the contention ration to be 33:1. That means that there's only 1/33rd of the bandwidth available at any time that they've sold to users, hence the comments like 'up to 22mb'. It also means they are covered if you live a little further away from the exchange and your speed naturally decreases.]

Other providers available, but haven't looked for a while.

 

[reflexboy]

Always happy to help out.

24mbps is the speed ceiling for ADSL2+ in the UK, and is offered through a few carriers that have started Local Loop Unbundling (essentially not using BT within your local exchange - deploying their own equipment and links).

.

Local Loop Unbundling (LLU) providers still use BT copper pairs to supply service between the local telephone exchange and the customers premesis, but once in the BT exchange the line is connected (jumpered) to the LLU ADSL equipment, which the other licensed operator (OLO) owns.

 

[scotth_uk]

Local Loop Unbundling (LLU) providers still use BT copper pairs to supply service between the local telephone exchange and the customers premesis, but once in the BT exchange the line is connected (jumpered) to the LLU ADSL equipment, which the other licensed operator (OLO) owns.

You are indeed correct, I meant not using BT's ADSL infrastructure within the exchange. Oops!

 

[BTB 500]

Am looking at upgrading to the Tiscali 8MB service, and not sure how it's done?

Good luck.

I've been unable to get Tiscali to upgrade my line beyond 512k, despite both BT and their technical people saying it would support 2mb . That was after 2 months of trying, countless phone calls & emails etc.

I'm actually paying £14.99 a month for 512k, when their 1mb service is £12.99!

Am in a rented house that I'm hopefully moving out of soon, so no point switching to anyone else (which would mean no connection for 2 weeks or whatever).

 

[scotth_uk]

Am in a rented house that I'm hopefully moving out of soon, so no point switching to anyone else (which would mean no connection for 2 weeks or whatever).

I'm not sure that it's that much time these days. I had only a couple of days downtime between Plusnet and UKOnline.

 

[league67]

my 2 p

and in order to test what are you actually getting down the line use speed checker at http://www.adslguide.org/. Click on speed test and then its self explanatory.

Regards Voya

 

[scotth_uk]

Speed checking sites - I'm not a fan.

If your carrier offered a speed check against a device within their network and under their control, that would allow you to check the performance of their infrastructure. From memory, BT do this.

One you are outside their network, you are on shared links of unknown characteristics - and that's where the speed checking sites live.

In real terms, don't concern yourself with a single run of the tests. There could be one of a million things wrong or misconfigured along the path between you and the test site during the period of your specific test.

I get poor results from the ADSLguide.org.uk speed tests, yet I can download from many American sites at absolutely ludicrous speeds!