Broadband ISPs

[Kinky]

I'm currently with BT; and have been since day 1 (literally).

Tonight I thought I'd do a quick scan of what ISPs offer a BB service in my area; but more interestingly what speed they offered me.

So a quick muck-about, here's what I got:

BT: 3mb
PlusNet: 3mb
BE: 7mb
O2: 7mb
TalkTalk: 3.7mb
Orange: 4mb
Eclipse: 3mb

Interestingly, AOL would not tell me; as I already had a BB account on the line - which strikes me as a bit daft, as I'd want to know what speed they would offer me (not just a case of "up to xxmb). Anyway - AOL are the one company I would never even consider!

All the results above state that they got their info from BT directly - using my phone number and postcode.

So, my question is - why is there such a huge discrepancy between what is in effect the same service? Is the BE and O2 speeds 'real' speeds?

If so, then I'm off to BE tomorrow

[gamefreaks]

For ADSL, the speed you get is dependant on the quality of your phone line.

I suspect those figures are 'Up to x Mbit/s', not what you'll actually get.

[Scraggles]

BE: 7mb

best of the bunch

check out http://www.samknows.com/broadband

am with merula who do not pay to be in the biased list of possibles

[Kinky]

gamefreaks said:

I suspect those figures are 'Up to x Mbit/s', not what you'll actually get.

No - I did specifically check that. All their claims were either "up to" 8mb or 20mb. Inputting my details gives me the specific figures above. Therefore my 'assumption' is that the speeds are the real ones.

So more than double my speed, for half the price ... yes please

Assuming that's really the case of course (hence this thread).

[Kinky]

Scraggles said:

BE: 7mb

best of the bunch

check out http://www.samknows.com/broadband

That's what I keep hearing! It was SamKnows that gave me the list to start with

[Kinky]

Scraggles said:

am with merula who do not pay to be in the biased list of possibles

Just tried them ..... here's the results!

SDSL Results
This exchange is activated for SDSL
Speeds available at this location are:
* 256k
* 512k
* 1Mb (possibly)

[109 Bob]

I asked the same last week, the third reply in the link answers your question.

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

ETA - Sorry, second reply.

Edited by 109 Bob on Sunday 31st January 22:43

[The_Jackal]

Honestly,the best thing you can do is see what your neighbours are getting.
You never know the wiring in your house may be bad quality, dont take those figures as gospel.

[Dibby]

Kinky said:

Scraggles said:

BE: 7mb

best of the bunch

check out http://www.samknows.com/broadband

That's what I keep hearing! It was SamKnows that gave me the list to start with

Sam is the man when it comes to internet choice.

Although ... read the small print carefully regarding usage limits, peak and off peak times, they all advertise the world but when it comes to providing a good quality service. If your internet use is just a bit of email and supermarket shopping then price per Mb is a fair comparison but watch out if you want to do more on a cheap 'value' package:
Do you play online games? Download music? Listen to internet radio? Watch BBC iplayer/ 4OD?

[john_p]

Would not hesitate to recommend Be.

[TEKNOPUG]

john_p said:

Would not hesitate to recommend Be.

+1

[Sajax]

Try finding your line attenuation in your router stats, changes depending upon your router where to find it but with BT I'll guess Home Hub.

http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/frogstats.php#10

Then put your attenuation into this

http://www.skyuser.co.uk/adsl2_checker.php

And it'll give you a better indication of the speed you'll get. I'm at 55db attenuation and get around 4mb download with Be/O2.

-- End Really Geeky Post --

[g60editionone]

Check out ISP Review to see who's best and who's not.

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/review/top10.php

[LordGrover]

I have BE Unlimited at home and Zen at the office - both very good, uncapped services. I've never managed to hit a limit anyway - we have 40+ users here sharing two Business 8000 lines which gets shagged pretty much every day.

[Scraggles]

company has a vpn, most of the time dialup is faster

tested it during work, around 100 kb/sec, now it is around 6 mb

still, they save money I guess, just means a lot of hassle

[Who me ?]

The_Jackal said:

Honestly,the best thing you can do is see what your neighbours are getting.
You never know the wiring in your house may be bad quality, dont take those figures as gospel.

Suggestion -try a speedtest (e.g speedtest.net ) from your usual socket ,then again from the test socket in the master ( unscrew fromt plate & pull off ).That'll pick up any real differences in your house .