Bt broadband

[tarric]

Impressive, and not just the speed, but I wonder at what point the speed is superfluous?
At my less than 4 mbs, I search Google almost instantly, and watch now TV (WiFi) with no loss of service

There are a number of reasons to have as fast a service as possible ranging from:

Existing broadband is struggling to support the increasing number of Internet-capable devices in the home, which include but not restricted to mobile phones, iPads and tablets, notebooks, e-readers (such as Kindle), desktop PCs, games consoles, Apple TV and media players, Sky+ boxes.

Without superfast broadband, consumers miss out on some services a large (and rapidly increasing) number of bandwidth-intensive services use broadband as a delivery mechanism. BBC iPlayer requires at least 3Mbps to stream HD content, and Netflix can demand 6Mbps or more to stream high-quality video. Online backups of important content, such as family photographs, can be unbearably slow with conventional broadband. Without superfast broadband, consumers have an increasingly reduced set of onlineservices to choose from.

Superfast broadband could increase house prices, A survey carried out by ispreview.co.uk found that 68.8% of respondents would be put off from buying a “beautiful new house” if it lacked fast broadband. 73.9% considered that broadband was “critically important” to their home life.

Superfast broadband connectivity is essential for many businesses Superfast broadband is increasingly becoming essential to businesses, whatever the size of the business. In businesses with a significant number of employees, superfast broadband ensures that employees no longer have to compete for access to slow and limited conventional broadband services, increasing efficiency. Widespread deployment of superfast broadband services also allows businesses to provide flexible working for employees so that they can work from home and access company systems remotely, saving costs and reducing carbon footprints.

Conventional broadband services can be unreliable ADSL broadband is carried along copper cables all the way from the BT exchange to homes and business premises. Inevitably, the broadband signal suffers attenuation as it travels along the copper cable from the exchange to broadband modems, reducing the speeds that can be delivered and making the broadband signal susceptible to interference. In contrast, high-speed fiber broadband utilizes fiber-optic cables, which are immune to interference and do not suffer the signal attenuation experienced by copper lines. As a result, superfast broadband services deliver significantly higher speeds and are more reliable.

Fiber is Green starting to think that sending data via electricity over metal wires is wasteful? If so, then you would be correct; data sent over metal wires takes much more energy that it takes to send a light signal. The additional substations and nodes needed to keep that signal strong over greater distances only adds to the woes of metal wires. Add to this the fact that the cables virtually never go bad, and it is simple to see why fiber optics are considered a green alternative to metal wires and electricity in any form.

 

[Cobra]

There are a number of reasons to have as fast a service as possible ranging from:

I'm not disputing the fact that its ( fibre) better in so many ways, I just wondered exactly "how fast" is enough?
There must come a point, above which, it has no further use.

Fiber is Green starting to think that sending data via electricity over metal wires is wasteful? If so, then you would be correct;

In all honesty? Nope, never given it a thought.
And I doubt that I will in the future,
but maybe, just maybe, I'll get it here one day ... pigs may also go airborne unassisted!

Existing broadband is struggling to support the increasing number of Internet-capable devices in the home, which include but not restricted to mobile phones, iPads and tablets, notebooks, e-readers (such as Kindle), desktop PCs, games consoles, Apple TV and media players, Sky+ boxes.

No sky here and there never will be so that's irrelevant,
My lad plays all the games he wants on his egg box / or PS 4,
We both watch Now TV in separate rooms,
two mobile phones connected, and as I said earlier
no problem with sub 4 mbs.

So again, all this "super fast" sounds like a gimmick, and above a certain mbs, has no relevence.
That was my query

 

[Gremlin]

TBH before my BT router went wrong I was on ordinary BB and that averaged 20mb, to get a new homehub I had to sign up to infinity, no contract
and actually quite a bit cheaper, I now get around 40mbs and that is almost instant when I hit a button.
Don't often to catch up TV or online films but when I do they are good too

 

[robmac]

My 67 meg is free but I was happy with my 16 meg on ADSL 2

 

[tarric]

So again, all this "super fast" sounds like a gimmick, and above a certain mbs, has no relevence.
That was my query

The mentioned bandwidth for any subscription is always the total bandwidth that you will receive. This means that 4 Mbps is the total bandwidth. This total is shared via your router between every device on your home network. If you have one out of four devices turned on, it will have the maximum available bandwidth to itself, so 4 Mbps. If you have more devices turned on, they will share the 4 Mbps of total bandwidth, but this will not necessarily be divided equally between every device that is turned on. For example, one computer will simply browse the internet and it will require only 1 Mbps of bandwidth, then your router will supply it with only 1 Mbps of bandwidth, leaving 3 Mbps for the other devices which are using the internet connection. This is what a router is for, to divide your internet connection between various devices and assigning each the required bandwidth. If all four devices require the most possible bandwidth by the way, the router will assign each device with an (almost) equal amount of bandwidth. Now if that is enough for your requirements then great but for a lot of people and most businesses this would be insufficient and my point is that it should cost no more to have a superfast and reasonably future proof service rather than the antiquated service that's available in most of the country.

 

[Cobra]

Now if that is enough for your requirements then great but for a lot of people and most businesses this would be insufficient and my point is that it should cost no more to have a superfast and reasonably future proof service rather than the antiquated service that's available in most of the country.

Agreed some people have a much larger requirement, be that business or private use,
but again that's not the point / question I was posing.
How much is too much? there must come a point where ( say) 300 million mbs is just a gimmick, no one could possibly have use for that, so going back 1000 mbs also seems to much.

 

[Gremlin]

They should stop trying to increase the download speeds and concentrate more on uploads

 

[boliston]

They should stop trying to increase the download speeds and concentrate more on uploads

I'd prefer to have an evenly balanced connection of 40 down / 40 up rather than my current 80 down but only 20 up - standard FTTC has a 4x loading in favour of downloads but some connections are even worse - there is someone at work with a fast virgin line over 100 but it's only something like 10 up so pretty bad in this respect.
-

 

[robmac]

Symmetrical broadband is available.

 

[viv1969]

What kind of download content requires more than say 40mb?
Serious question because apart from bragging rights, I can't imagine when 1000mb would be necessary.

 

[TopBanana]

What kind of download content requires more than say 40mb?
Serious question because apart from bragging rights, I can't imagine when 1000mb would be necessary.

I don't think there is much at the moment. But then if you work from home and have a house full of teenagers (with their friends round) and you all want a decent 20Mbps speed then the overall connection may need to be pretty high.

 

[boliston]

What kind of download content requires more than say 40mb?
Serious question because apart from bragging rights, I can't imagine when 1000mb would be necessary.

If you want to backup a lot of data then it is really useful as you can treat a remote server almost like it's on the lan

 

[OldCarlos]

Symmetrical broadband is available.

Is it widely available, Rob? (where from?)

I've just been looking again at moving from TT & BT infinity looks fine for me @ 40+ mb, but not sure what the upload speed would be & how do you check?

I'm a techie dinosaur so struggle with all this stuff.

 

[bindex]

Is it widely available, Rob? (where from?)

I've just been looking again at moving from TT & BT infinity looks fine for me @ 40+ mb, but not sure what the upload speed would be & how do you check?

I'm a techie dinosaur so struggle with all this stuff.

I'm on BT infinity 2 Carl, I've just checked and at the moment upload is 11.59 Mbps and download is 62.65 Mbps. As you know we're in the same town and we can't get Virgin at all. BT are generally OK, they sometimes do work "improving the network" late on at night but it's usually fairly reliable. Customer service varies from really quite superb both in India and the UK (often Belfast), to idiots who are clearly reading from a script and probably shouldn't be let out alone. Nothing new there whatever the service provider.

Cheers,

 

[tarric]

How much is too much? there must come a point where ( say) 300 million mbs is just a gimmick, no one could possibly have use for that, so going back 1000 mbs also seems to much.

Well as they say its all relevant, but to put it into context as this is a photography forum if you wanted to download/upload say 500 photos at your current speed and if no one else was using any bandwidth it would take you at 4mbs download speed about 54mins and if the lads on this xbox ps4 and someone watching tv it could take about 2hrs and to upload at say 500kbs about 7hrs 10mins, at 1000mbs download it would take 12sec and to upload at their speed ie 530mbits 24sec.
It may be a gimmick when it gets to this speed but for people who transfer lots of data one they would like to have.
P.S. I would be happy with speeds around 200mbs down and 100mbs up but where I live that's something I can only dream off.

They should stop trying to increase the download speeds and concentrate more on uploads

They are getting upload speeds of around 530mbs

 

[OldCarlos]

I'm on BT infinity 2 Carl, I've just checked and at the moment upload is 11.59 Mbps and download is 62.65 Mbps. As you know we're in the same town and we can't get Virgin at all. BT are generally OK, they sometimes do work "improving the network" late on at night but it's usually fairly reliable. Customer service varies from really quite superb both in India and the UK (often Belfast), to idiots who are clearly reading from a script and probably shouldn't be let out alone. Nothing new there whatever the service provider.
Cheers,

Hi Bill.
Yes it's the `infinity 2` that I was looking at. I don't want T.V. or anything, just `anytime` phone calls & a decent speed. Think the BT is £50 per month all in. plusnet is cheaper, as is talktalk who I'm with now, but want to move away from them....especially the Indian call centre!

Cheers.

 

[Gremlin]

They are getting upload speeds of around 530mbs

But that is far slower then the download speed, why can't they level them out, and yes I know it's been said
that it is available but why not on normal connections ?

 

[Cobra]

and if the lads on this xbox ps4 and someone watching tv it could take about 2hrs

Curiously I've never noticed the x/play/ box or NOW TV interfering with up/down loads,

So no one is prepared to stick their neck out and say "how much is too much" and at what point it becomes superfluous ?
I guess its like everything we all have to have the biggest and the best, even if its largely irrelevant "up to" a point / quantity / speed

 

[TopBanana]

Curiously I've never noticed the x/play/ box or NOW TV interfering with up/down loads,

So no one is prepared to stick their neck out and say "how much is too much" and at what point it becomes superfluous ?
I guess its like everything we all have to have the biggest and the best, even if its largely irrelevant "up to" a point / quantity / speed

I totally agree that there is an upper limit when it becomes superfluous.
But its a bit like buying houses, you always seem to find a way of filling your house with stuff - so there never seems to be a house big enough (other than budget of course!).
So the better the connection you have, the more you find additional uses for it. i.e things like using online back up for all your photos/video/music is a pipe dream on by 3Mbps connection but would become possible with 1000Mbps.

 

[tarric]

Curiously I've never noticed the x/play/ box or NOW TV interfering with up/down loads,

It doesn't interfere with up/down loads it just slows them down.

So no one is prepared to stick their neck out and say "how much is too much" and at what point it becomes superfluous ?
I guess its like everything we all have to have the biggest and the best, even if its largely irrelevant "up to" a point / quantity / speed

Well as you've said that's a question that everyone will have to answer for themselves, its a bit like photography, a Canon AV-1(other makes are available) is a capable camera but very few people use them, why because most people prefer the easiness and convenience of digital, but which one? that all depends on what you want to use it for (or how much willy waving you want to do) , by the same token you are happy with you current speeds, I personally would like a speed in the 100-200mbs range, Ingrid wants equal up/down load speeds and I'm sure if you asked other people they would all give a different answer, so I'm afraid I can't tell you how much is to much that's something we will all have to answer for yourselves.

 

[Nod]

As long as the user has enough speed for his/her wants/needs, any more is excessive. Until his/her wants/needs expand. Nothing wrong with headroom.

 

[Cobra]

It doesn't interfere with up/down loads it just slows them down.

No interference whatsoever,
I wasn't talking about waving lines either

Nothing wrong with headroom.

Yes but at what point does that headroom serve no purpose?

 

[Nod]

18.69^ 6.31v
Is enough for me now but might not be enough for someone up/downloading entire HD movie franchises! Thee and me currently have no need for 1000Mb/s (and I wish people would get their Ms right!) but some heavy users might.

 

[archangel]

Broadband update....went with BT in the end...smoothest transaction ever with informative regular updates....today was switch over and at 6.03 this morning I lost my old provider and in less than 3 minutes the new broadband was up and running....totally impressed with BT, they have definitely got better since I was last with them.....

 

[OldCarlos]

Mike, did you have any problems? eg setting up the home-hub
What increase in speeds are you getting now?

 

[archangel]

Apparently I need to use it as much a possible for there days to let it settle...the only problem is trying to log in to stop it from asking me to set up the hub....it keeps telling me my login is wrong

 

[OldCarlos]

The technical side, if there are problems, really puts me off.............I'm useless at sorting it, hence dithering about changing to BT.

Several years ago someone I knew had endless problems trying to sort out the home-hub, it went on for many weeks.
Last year another chap I know had similar problems & ended up having to get BT/Openreach out to sort it.

 

[archangel]

The technical side, if there are problems, really puts me off.............I'm useless at sorting it, hence dithering about changing to BT.

Several years ago someone I knew had endless problems trying to sort out the home-hub, it went on for many weeks.
Last year another chap I know had similar problems & ended up having to get BT/Openreach out to sort it.

Currently speaking to a really helpful guy and we are getting it sorted...fine a speed check tonight and getting 40mps....happy bunny

 

[archangel]

I am having to go out now so the bt guy had arranged to ring me tomorrow at 3 to finish clearing up any issues....I really can't fault their customer service

 

[OldCarlos]

I am having to go out now so the bt guy had arranged to ring me tomorrow at 3 to finish clearing up any issues....I really can't fault their customer service

Good stuff, I'm getting more tempted. Is it a UK call centre btw?

 

[archangel]

Good stuff, I'm getting more tempted. Is it a UK call centre btw?

It is a mixture...during the day I get a UK based customers service but after hours I get Mumbai.....or similar....but the service is excellent for either location

 

[OldCarlos]

Mmmmm, a bit less tempted now. I hate TT for their Indian call centre :banghead:

 

[OldCarlos]

Had a few offers recently from BT & very tempted, but would hate to have problems setting up the home hub/router.

 

[Cobra]

Had a few offers recently from BT & very tempted, but would hate to have problems setting up the home hub/router.

Cheers Carl, That saved me searching

It seems if you read the BT site, they will set it up for you.
( but there maybe a charge depending on the reason for it. )

 

[OldCarlos]

Cheers Carl, That saved me searching

It seems if you read the BT site, they will set it up for you.
( but there maybe a charge depending on the reason for it. )

Cheers for that, I don't mind paying tbh as long as everything works & fibre speeds are 30+ Mb.

 

[Cobra]

Cheers for that, I don't mind paying tbh as long as everything works & fibre speeds are 30+ Mb.

Damn I thought that was my other whinge, but obviously not as you bumped that one too

Have a look here there is a video that explains it all

https://www.productsandservices.bt.com/products/switching/?s_intcid=con_fly_pns_switch

 

[viv1969]

Had a few offers recently from BT & very tempted, but would hate to have problems setting up the home hub/router.

Setup was a piece of cake.
If I can manage it, anyone can
No complaints whatsoever.
Infinity (not plus) currently running at 47.43mb and the only dropouts have been short and during larger national or regional issues.

I'm sure some may have had issues, but not me.

 

[OldCarlos]

Damn I thought that was my other whinge, but obviously not as you bumped that one too

Have a look here there is a video that explains it all

https://www.productsandservices.bt.com/products/switching/?s_intcid=con_fly_pns_switch

Got to say, it seems easy enough Cheers.

Setup was a piece of cake.If I can manage it, anyone can

I hate it when folk say that. I'm a real techie dinosaur & unlucky to boot!


I'm very tempted though & think i'll proceed after the hols.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

Got to say, it seems easy enough Cheers.




I hate it when folk say that. [emoji38] I'm a real techie dinosaur & unlucky to boot!


I'm very tempted though & think i'll proceed after the hols.

BT have been excellent for me. See my commemt in Cobra's Talk Talk thread

The new Home Hub 6 is AC spev. As stated,my son rates it as brilliant. He is a heavy gamer 2.4Gxz and 5Gz.

He stated the service is even better with HH6

My house has thick internal walls (12" thick). He said wifi is even better with HH6 than the excellent HH5

S

 

[OldCarlos]

Cheers Steve.