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Author Topic: The truth about UK Broadband Speeds.  (Read 3057 times)

kitz

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The truth about UK Broadband Speeds.
« on: November 14, 2016, 07:34:17 PM »

Article from the Daily Mirror -link

UK's top 9 broadband myths busted - the truth about speeds, spending and connections revealed

Quote
Today we're putting to bed some of the biggest myths internet users have about broadband.

There are plenty of 'facts' out there which have slipped into the mainstream but how many of them are actually true.

In an attempt to find out, we've called on the experts at BT to clear up some of the most common questions and gripes internet users have about their broadband.

Make of it what you will.
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kitz

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Re: The truth about UK Broadband Speeds.
« Reply #1 on: November 14, 2016, 07:39:50 PM »

btw...  not sure how many people watched last weeks BBC1 Watchdog program about broadband speeds. link.

I'm not so sure whether they presented that in the best way possible and did not make it clear that DSL speed and wifi speeds are not the same.
IMHO they passed on an ideal opportunity to explain why some speeds are low rather than rant to the ISP.  It is not best practice to check speeds using a laptop or tablet :(
It made me laugh at one point when they took the laptop into the toilet and complained about poor speeds.  :-X

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licquorice

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Re: The truth about UK Broadband Speeds.
« Reply #2 on: November 14, 2016, 07:46:53 PM »

They might have got different answers if they had asked somebody independant rather than BT!!

Nobody seems willing to bust the myth that FTTC is fibre broadband.
« Last Edit: November 14, 2016, 07:50:30 PM by licquorice »
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kitz

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Re: The truth about UK Broadband Speeds.
« Reply #3 on: November 14, 2016, 08:50:54 PM »

Nobody seems willing to bust the myth that FTTC is fibre broadband.

I wish someone else would.   This is something unique to the UK

Fibre Optic Broadband which isn't!

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Chrysalis

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Re: The truth about UK Broadband Speeds.
« Reply #4 on: November 15, 2016, 11:55:03 AM »

Is 4mbit enough for HD netflix? In my view no, it is the overall bandwidth netflix uses but it wont have excess burst available to keep playing without buffering cleanly so will likely drop the quality.  I would say 6 is absolute minimum but 15 is optimal.

FTTC (and VM cable) been fibre broadband I dont need to say anything, sadly marketing is king in the uk.

The mirror article does look like it came stright from BT, the giveaway is that VM has no mention at all and specific questions are related to the money BT spend.
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waltergmw

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Re: The truth about UK Broadband Speeds.
« Reply #5 on: November 21, 2016, 04:59:36 PM »

Gentlefolkl,

Please excuse my silence but I can assure you I have been well engaged elsewhere, of which more anon.

A number of us have decided to raise the profile of this tortured subject
We would be very grateful if any of you would care to sign this petition:-

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/172389

Kind regards,
Walter

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ejs

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Re: The truth about UK Broadband Speeds.
« Reply #6 on: November 21, 2016, 05:50:37 PM »

That is the stupidest thing I've seen all day. I think 2Mbit ADSL is adequate for essential usage. Unfortunately there's no facility for me to give it some sort of negative vote.
Doubling the 10Mb every 2 years seems even more unrealistic, or after 10 years, about half the country wouldn't be paying any council tax.
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Chrysalis

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Re: The truth about UK Broadband Speeds.
« Reply #7 on: November 21, 2016, 07:39:12 PM »

yeah that petition is stupid, and netflix is not essential.
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NewtronStar

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Re: The truth about UK Broadband Speeds.
« Reply #8 on: November 21, 2016, 10:21:38 PM »

Is 4mbit enough for HD netflix

It was only until I upgraded from ADSL MAX to VDSL then HD streams became watchable with no buffering so you need at least 15mbit you can watch BBC iplayer on SD fine with 4mbit
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waltergmw

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Re: The truth about UK Broadband Speeds.
« Reply #9 on: November 21, 2016, 11:55:47 PM »

Gentlefolk,

I can assure you that those in rural Lancashire etc. do not object to the speeds and ping rate illustrated at the top of the picture.
They also consider themselves to be very fortunate as they all only pay £30.00 inc VAT per month and where many now use the service for VOIP at reduced rates.
Teenage children are no longer "bending their parents' ears" either.

I can understand why there is some debate over the minimum acceptable speeds etc. but I am concerned that there seems very little planned universal enhancement as I very much doubt our requirements will remain constant.
E.g. it is known that 5G has an exceedingly short range so it would seem important to provide properties with sufficient symmetric bandwidth to support pico-cells within most buildings.

Kind regards,
Walter
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Weaver

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Re: The truth about UK Broadband Speeds.
« Reply #10 on: December 03, 2016, 08:25:46 PM »

I measure my Netflix data inbound traffic at 5 - 6 Mbps, from observing averaged realtime router stats. I get seemingly perfect picture quality on my iPad and can get away with it on my triple combined pipe which has a measured TCP payload downstream throughput of 6.5 - 7 Mbps, figures depending on which speed tester I use.

Netflix definitely needs a bit of headroom though in case of temporary drops in throughput and certainly you have to worry about completion with other users on your LAN unless it uses QoS, does so successfully, and has no aggressive high rung QoS competitors.
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aesmith

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Re: The truth about UK Broadband Speeds.
« Reply #11 on: December 12, 2016, 01:25:19 PM »

Gentlefolkl,

Please excuse my silence but I can assure you I have been well engaged elsewhere, of which more anon.

A number of us have decided to raise the profile of this tortured subject
We would be very grateful if any of you would care to sign this petition:-

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/172389

Kind regards,
Walter
Unless you're measuring something other than raw marketing bit rate, everyone has access to at least a 10meg service today.   If you're not taking latency, throughput, weather dependency and monthly allowance into account you can get that magic 10 meg over satellite.  Since you're not taking cost into the equation either you can get a conventional Ethernet provided service, and pay business class rental and excess construction charges, but you'll get that 10 meg.

I've been assuming that where you say "broadband" you actually mean Internet access in general, for example FTTP isn't broadband in the technical sense.
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Weaver

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Re: The truth about UK Broadband Speeds.
« Reply #12 on: December 13, 2016, 03:06:00 AM »

Actually, I just rewrote it in my mind to read “DSL”, and ignored the existence of satellite. This was illogical on my part. There ought to be more definition, more constraints on the minimum level of internet access service mentioned.

I agree, Netflix is not essential to most people, or possibly to anyone. I rely on the Internet for entertainment to keep me from going mad with boredom, but my circumstances are unusual, and “essential” us an ill-defined concept.

Nevertheless, I approve of the spirit behind the bill, if not the details.
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