What sort of d/l speeds are you getting (in Kbytes/sec) & for what cost?

 

Reason I ask is that I've been on NTL broadband for around 8months & had always assumed that I was on their slowest service which is 64k/s because I was getting d/l speeds of around 64-80 Kbytes/sec.

Have now found out that I was actually on their 600k/s services because they quote the speeds in kilobits rather than kilobytes & they had actually failed to charge me for the service.

 

I am now back on the 64k/s service which is not much faster than dial-up & TBH it's sh|t.

 

I need a faster connection quicksmart so do I start paying the £25 a month for the 600k/s service or start looking elsewhere???

 

Cheers

 

Jay > very p|ssed off with his slow pc :(

Well you can only really get ADSL, which is about £25 - £30 a month or you can go with NTL and pay £25 a month

 

I am with Blueyonder (telewest) and I get 1024kbs for £35 a month

Just started using ntl's 600 kb/s service after switching from pipex's 512kb's service. So far quite happy, dowload speeds seem to be slightly faster on ntl most of the time.

 

Two things to note.

 

First, i switched from pipex because their servers went down 6 times in two months, without any apology or compensation, infact no contact at all.

 

Second ntl's customer service is reputed to be bloody awfull

 

Low 20 squid is what you should be paying for 512kb/s, assuming your BT exchange is broadband enabled (if you choose to not go cable).

 

Hope this helps

 

Robin

Convention has it that file sizes are measured in bytes and transfer speeds are given in bits per sec.

 

Rule of thumb is 8 bits = 1 byte. (Actually this is exact as long as you are not talking overhead, throughput etc but ignore this pedantry - in the real world it's a close enough approximation.)

 

So if you have a 512kbs (kilobits per second) service like ADSL, you're file size throughput is a max of 64 kbytes/sec.

 

Confusingly, if you have a 64kbit/sec service like ISDN (single channel), you will get a max of 8 kbyte/sec file size throughput.

 

And lastly with a 56kbit modem you'll max out at 7 kbyte/sec.

 

And then you find the marketing suits (hi guys) get in on the act and want to quote the biggest possible number whether it agrees with number convention or not.

 

And all this without getting into contention ratios (a whole other subject entirely).

 

If you ever want to confuse a customer helpdesk or sales vulture, ask them to define the difference and state exacly what service they are offering - is it bits or bytes?

Internet speed is quoted in Kilo-bits a second. I.e. like 512 and 1M, its actually 512 k-bits and the 1M is 1 mega-bits a second not mega-bytes.

As we all know there are 8 bits in a byte. So 512 kilo-bits a second = 64Kilo-bytes a second (64KBs) download, 512 divided by 5. 1 megabit connection is 128kilo-bytes a second (128Kbs) download.

 

56K modems are 56 kilo-bits a seconds which equals 7kilo-bytes a second (7Kbs download)

 

That is the maximum you can get. Some times you will get more because of buffering. The program is downloading while you select where you are putting it and if you take 5 seconds to do that and click OK, you have 5 seconds of download but the computer only starts the time from when you click Ok. Thats why you seem to go really fast at first.

 

Also you will never get full speed on a download because of overheads. Information is sent it packets, like moving in boxes. In the packet there is also information which is not your download like packet number, where its coming from and the what the packet is, i.e. the MP3 you are downloading or the picture thats coming down as you browes while you download. So some of download is being used for that which makes the download speed of DATA slower. Also every so many of packets the computer you are downloading from will send a check number, which is a number generated from the information it sends. When you get the information from the internet, it will do the same calculation of the data and then compaire it with the number from the internet and if its the same, it will send an OK back to the internet and more information will be sent. So again, download speed is lost with your computer sending information back to the download speed. This is a generalisation of how it works. ;)

I get about 68 KB/s on Blueyonder broadband.

£25 a month

I am on NTL, I get constant download speeds of between 73 and 75 K per second with there 600MBit srevice

1mbit connection, upto 130kbyte download, pay for 512kbit ntl service but they dont seem to notice i upgraded online, shhh dont tell anyone

If you can get the Blue yonder 1024 for £35 then I would go for it.

I'm with NTL and I have 2 x 600k connections in my house, one for me and one for the mrs. The download speed are quite good and are very useful as I am a bit of a VCD freak and download most movies on WINMX a good few months before they come out over here.

 

The only bummer thing about NTL is they restrict your upload speed to 15Kb/sec. It's not a problem when you are downloading but when your friend wants "the Hulk" in mpeg format it may take a while even if you are acting as an FTP server for him.

 

I'm not sure if I've helped or confused you even more.

Originally posted by beermonster

1mbit connection, upto 130kbyte download, pay for 512kbit ntl service but they dont seem to notice i upgraded online, shhh dont tell anyone

 

So the best option seems to be to upgrade online & hope they don't notice ;)

 

or

 

Start paying for it :(

 

Oh well, seems like I've probably saved over £200 in internet charges :D:D:D

 

Cheers guys

 

Jay

http://www.2wire.com/

 

select this...

 

"How's your broadband speed? Test it with 2Wire's Bandwidth Meter."

Apparently freeserve have got an offer on at the moment at about £90 for the year one off payment.

 

Problem you're gonna have is a crap contention ratio. Even if you got 2mb ADSL line, if they have 50:1 contention, you'll slow right down.

 

I work for an ISP and we garauntee 20:1 max so you're garaunteed speed.

 

Here's the catch - about £100 per month!!!!!

 

If you want info, gissa shout!

Originally posted by Jez

http://www.2wire.com/

 

select this...

 

"How's your broadband speed? Test it with 2Wire's Bandwidth Meter."

 

Status:

Test completed...

Bandwidth = 467.2 Kbps

 

Plus that was while listening to Virgin and having my VPN into work running. BTconnect Satellite Broadband.

Test completed

2006.9 KBPS :D

Ahh the wonders of a t1.

 

 

At home i get 1251.7 KBPS :D

Cable rocks lol

Blueyonder.

Originally posted by 300z

Test completed

2006.9 KBPS :D

Ahh the wonders of a t1.

 

 

At home i get 1251.7 KBPS :D

Cable rocks lol

Blueyonder.

 

So either you have more than 1Mb cable, .... or ... you have caching that confuses the throughput testing ????

Originally posted by AndyP

So either you have more than 1Mb cable, .... or ... you have caching that confuses the throughput testing ????

I have more than 1 meg cable (its a long story):D:D:D