ISPs

[AJI]

Little rant thread to work off the big xmas meal yesterday

 

Why don't all ISPs simply state "up to 10000000000000000 Mbps" ?

 

I mean many already say "up to 8Mbps" and the like and 99% only give about a maximum of 4 or 5.... most only giving about 1 or 2 at best... including mine !!

 

I mean my Tiscali ISP sate "upto 16Mbps" ...and they give me 1Mbps maximum.

 

So why don't they just splur out some big numbers to make themselves look even more 'impressive'... maybe if I ran a ISP I would quote "upto ten trillion Mbps connection speed"... that would draw in the customers yes?

 

[JustGav]

Oftel are currently dealing with this... HOWEVER for ADSL and stuff you do have to remember that you are pushing silly data speeds down effectively a bit of crap copper, there isn't much they or you can do about it other putting something decent in.

 

My choice, fibre to the door, but that isn't going to happen in a hurry (and no, virgin even with their fancy marketing still don't offer it to the door REGARDLESS of what they say)

[PJ]

It's almost as annoying as the 'Unlimited' packages that are limited by a fair usage policy. How can it possibly be marketed as unlimited when there is clearly a limit on it?

[AJI]

I think the main problem with my setup is that my phone and internet are with Tiscali and all the exchange connections are owned by B.T.

 

I think the ISP rent the connections in the exchange box from B.T. and then sell the line rental onto the customer.

 

If there is a problem with the type of wire used and it won't support a decent internet speed they then spout out loads of cr@p and fobb you off. But the reality is that the ISP company do not push BT to upgrade the lines. And when we as customers try to do it we get the response that they can not help because we are not BT customers.

 

It is VERY frustrating. But again it is typical britain at the moment... companies not giving a damn about customers, and no option for customers to get value for money.

[Supradan]

I had the same problem with tiscali. Do you use p2p software as tiscali will limit your download speed to about .5 to 1 mbps. I complained in writing that if they didnt sort it out i would report them to oftel, amazingly overnight my speed went from the above to 5.5mbps........for about a month then slowly crept back down.

I have sorted the problem now by moving to bt broadband a bit more expensive but worth it for sure.

[AJI]

Now that is interesting !! .... yes I use Limewire.

I did notice a few times before installing this software that I did on a rare occasion get about 5Mbps ... but ever since (about a year now)... it has been no where near decent connection speed for what we are paying for.

 

I think I will try the oftel angle. I am pretty sure these ISP take bandwith away from the basic level paying customers to give it to all their high paying business customers in the area. But if they state "we can give you up to 16Mbps".... and then only provide you with 1Mbps maximum, then I think this is not playing fair.

[Scott]

Virgin is the fastest bar none. I get around 20Mb/s (usually 2.2MB/s) when running well. The only trouble i have with them is that if i download a fair whack they drop me down to 5Mb/s (around the 500KB/s mark) between 5pm and midnight.

 

I absolutely hate all the BT phone line services. I'm looking at houses at the moment and my first prerequisite, before having a bathroom, is that it has cable.

[ry4n]

Virgin is the fastest bar none. I get around 20Mb/s (usually 2.2MB/s) when running well. The only trouble i have with them is that if i download a fair whack they drop me down to 5Mb/s (around the 500KB/s mark) between 5pm and midnight.

 

I absolutely hate all the BT phone line services. I'm looking at houses at the moment and my first prerequisite, before having a bathroom, is that it has cable.

 

 

Yup I recently found out about virgins throttling when I started using a usenext client. The nitty gritty of it is that if you're on a 20 meg connection they'll drop your speed to five megs if you download more than six gigs between 10am and 3pm or three gigs between 4pm and 9pm.

[AJI]

As I am not geeked up on these things.... what is to stop me from having a direct connection to the internet and not needing an ISP ??

Is it something that is even possible ?

 

I remember people saying that the internet is uncontrollable and it is now seen as its own entity (or words to that effect)... but if one can only access it through an ISP company then the internet is effectively controlled by the ISPs .... or am I totally off the mark here ?

[Pot]

I remember people saying that the internet is uncontrollable and it is now seen as its own entity (or words to that effect)... but if one can only access it through an ISP company then the internet is effectively controlled by the ISPs .... or am I totally off the mark here ?

 

That's a damn good comment... And as the ISP's are a company, which ultimately can be controlled by the Government, then we can start to run into problems, like Web 2.0, and the news today about Age Classifications for sites, like with films and games...

 

For those moving to BT as they were throttled by their previous ISP, BT does throttling on P2P traffic, late afternoon until about 1am, mine drops down to about 20kb/s from around 270.

[mrdsukautos]

BT is the only isp worth goibng with as was already stated all the other isp's use bt equipment and lines it is slightly more expensive but only last month bt dropped my option 3 package to under 20 for being loyal

Also more importantly to me if i have a problem i call bt anytime of the day and i get human being on other end of phone to sort the problem and i mean in 5-10 minutes not 1-2hours like most other isp call centres and also the other isp isnt availiable 24/7 like bt is

BT also give good compensation when things go wrong

[AJI]

Think I will be changing to BT soon.

Totally sick of the service with Tiscali and their constant fobbing off of responsiblity.

[Scott]

BT is the only isp worth goibng with as was already stated all the other isp's use bt equipment and lines it is slightly more expensive but only last month bt dropped my option 3 package to under 20 for being loyal

Also more importantly to me if i have a problem i call bt anytime of the day and i get human being on other end of phone to sort the problem and i mean in 5-10 minutes not 1-2hours like most other isp call centres and also the other isp isnt availiable 24/7 like bt is

BT also give good compensation when things go wrong

 

On BT lines, possibly. Certainly not when you take cable into account.

[JohnnyW]

Try o2/be broadband amazing speeds no limits and no throttling you've got to be on an unbundled exchange though.

 

BT is the only isp worth goibng with

 

Incorrect, BT along with Tiscali are the two worst ISPs I have come across.

[Scott]

Try o2/be broadband amazing speeds no limits and no throttling you've got to be on an unbundled exchange though.

 

 

 

Incorrect, BT along with Tiscali are the two worst ISPs I have come across.

 

Worst? AOL lol. Those guys are a nightmare.

[Whitesupraboy2]

Think I will be changing to BT soon.

Totally sick of the service with Tiscali and their constant fobbing off of responsiblity.

 

Im with Tiscali and agree its poor, however i download from newsgroups. I get the full 8mb connection on my line, during the peak times it drops to about 3mb and other time its normally about 5 -6mb.

 

I use to get only a 2mb connection till i disconnected wire number 3 at my main connection in the house, this wire is the old ring wire and causes alot of interference, dropping your adsl connection speed. my speed went up to 8mb (i was lucky) however my dads went from 1.5mb up to 4mb.

 

Try o2/be broadband amazing speeds no limits and no throttling you've got to be on an unbundled exchange though.

 

 

 

Incorrect, BT along with Tiscali are the two worst ISPs I have come across.

 

02 all the way

[Pete]

It's all down to the cable and fair usage. (I really wish P2P would be banished forever!)

Until we're all attached with fibre optics to the house and there is an Internet backbone running a few thousand times larger (who do you expect to pay for this? Home users paying a pathetic £15/a month?) we'll have to stay as we are.

[JustGav]

(I really wish P2P would be banished forever!)

 

I disagree , P2P I personally think has some superb benefits and moves the internet away from the centralized system that it currently runs. Admittedly it certainly needs hauling in a bit and managed properly but the benefits for distribution are excellent.

[3LL]

tbh i think your all lucky to have so much choice. I live in Hull, we have our own telecoms network here, the last remaining one in the uk. [Kingston communications] We are totally shafted with regards prices as there are NO bt lines in hull, the only internet service we can use is Karoo, unless we use wireless. And let me tell you there prices are totally stupid, and the customer support is awefull. The attitude of KC and Karoo seem to be like it or lump it seen as you have no choice but to be with us. Personally I would LOVE a BT line and I think the competition would see KC drop there inflated prices overnight, not to mention there sub standard service would see drastic improvement I think.

 

So, next time your stuck with a poo ISP just think about us folks in Hull, we cant up and move to another ISP.. were stuck with our sh1te service! lol

 

PS, i say this from my crappy 512k internet connection that I pay £17 a month for unless I wish to go up to 2mb speeds for £40 a month.. ...

[JustGav]

tbh i think your all lucky to have so much choice. I live in Hull, we have our own telecoms network here, the last remaining one in the uk. [Kingston communications]

 

Hmmmm, I was always under the impression, Kingston was a test bed for all the new technology.... guess not any more.

 

Choice is an illusion when it comes to internet, I have two choices CABLE or ADSL. People might go, well you have a lot of choice with ADSL, well not really, you are still dependant on the quality of the BT copper to your house, so the provider is more of a choice of customer service not really speed.

[Pete]

I disagree , P2P I personally think has some superb benefits and moves the internet away from the centralized system that it currently runs.

I agree - technically it's highly beneficial, unfortunately its ease of use and abuse by the masses is causing major problems up stream.

[PJ]

As a nation we're way behind the pace when it comes to broadband speed and technology. The company I work for was trialling using your powerlines for broadband, why not use a network that's higly conductive and already in place, makes home networking incredibly simple, you just plug your device in.

 

The Japanese use a similar system I believe and see huge speeds compared to what we have in the UK.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_line_communication

[ozz]

I've had a nightmare with tiscali recently. Great service for a year then it was like a switch was flicked in October and my download speed dropped from average 1850kbps to 180kbps (yes thats bits not bytes!). For the last 2 months it will not go above 250kbps making any kind of streaming media unuseable. The sync speed is fine at 2meg with acceptable noise/attenuation levels.

 

Tried everything. To be fair, tiscali have tried to help after 6 weeks weeks of escalation but they couldn't find a problem. Today I cancelled and signed up with BT. Twice the cost at £24/month for unlimited but if it sorts my problem then its worth it. If it doesn't, at least they should be able to troubleshoot properly (theoretically).

[Pete]

I've just found out my cable has gone up from 4Mb to 10Mb with no price increase.

A steady 800kbps from newsgroups. It's madness!

[Scott]

I've just found out my cable has gone up from 4Mb to 10Mb with no price increase.

A steady 800kbps from newsgroups. It's madness!

 

 

Oooo wonder if thats virgin finally attempting the 50mb rise. Was rumoured in June.

 

Edit, yup thats 50mb up and running