The need for speed.

[Argyll]

There ARE companies, BT is just one, who deploy fibre to the premises (FTTH) but the majority (SKY, talk talk, virgin) use a hybrid of fibre local and then last mile is copper

I knew this already. The BT guy reckons it will come straight into the house within a few years but who knows. I jumped from 16mb to 36mb so happy as Larry.

[Retired]

Hi,

Copper or fibre optic I think our cable is well lubricated? Please see the speed test below I've just carried out; yes I'm pleased with Virgin Media. I'm on the computer and Bron is watching music videos on TV via YouTube. Time I joined Bron for a bit or quality time together.

Kind regards, Col.

speed test.JPG (107.81 KiB) Viewed 3203 times

[Argyll]

Colin I'm not a fan of those BB tests. I was showing as 41mb download but my router page is showing as 36mb.

[steviejoiner74]

The thing is I'd use mobile broadband if it was cheaper,I'm in a 4g area and get around 80meg which is miles faster than all the landline providers but it's really expensive!!

[steviejoiner74]

Why the ASA didn't nip all this fibre in the bud is beyond me.

There ARE companies, BT is just one, who deploy fibre to the premises (FTTH) but the majority (SKY, talk talk, virgin) use a hybrid of fibre local and then last mile is copper.

Most people think they have fibre, when they don't. I think it unfairly disadvantages those who do have a true fibre offering. Really annoys me.

It's a bit like saying my car has Ferrari performance, but what they mean is "this engine goes forwards and backwards and makes noise".

BG

So when all those thousands of miles of main roads and side streets etc got dug up 20 years ago it wasn't fibre optic cables they ran?

[big-all]

i am with talk talk perfectly happy
£20.43 a month including line rental 13x0.85 more than enough for my needs
i also get free phone 7pm to 7 am
my mobile is around £3 a month with something like 300 calls included

[Argyll]

Talk Talk and happy are words not usually used together. My parents had TT a few years back and every time they used their land line they could never get through the first time to anyone. After a year of calling Bangladesh and spending several hours explaining the most simple of things such as my name (which they never got right) they left.

The f*ck then wouldn't give them some code so they lost their phone number which they had since the 60's.

I'll never entertain TT

[thescruff]

Been with Virgin since they dug the road up. must be 20 years at least.

£54 month broadband and phone free everything 150Mb although my fingers don't work that fast anymore.

I do remember dial up press the go button, go and cook lunch, then have a look to see if it's downloaded, go eat lunch and if your really lucky it's sitting on the screen.

As for watching uTube and things like that it could take an hour to watch a 5min clip.

[Argyll]

I remember it took a day and a half to download U2's Unforgettable Fire single. Now I can download a 10gb blue-ray movie in about ten minutes using newsgroups.

[thescruff]

I remember it took a day and a half to download U2's Unforgettable Fire single. Now I can download a 10gb blue-ray movie in about ten minutes using newsgroups.

Yes them were the good old days I can download a years dial up in 10 mins.

My first computer was about 56mb, the HDs on this one total 6 gb

When I was littler that would be about 40 years ago computers were about the size of a 4 bed detached and we used to run the water pipes for cooling

[Argyll]

My first PC in 97 cost me £1700 from Dixons. It was a Pentium 166 with a 2gb hard drive.

£1700!!! What was I thinking.

[kellys_eye]

I built a PC in 1979? (maybe 1980) that cost me £300 then. 256 BYTES of memory, 8080 processor. 2K ROM. Classic!

Just checked - that amount of money in 1979 is equivalent to £1,061 today. So it's true - you can still buy a top-of-the-range RC for £1,000 - it's just that the spec has always got better!

[BillyGoat]

Why the ASA didn't nip all this fibre in the bud is beyond me.

There ARE companies, BT is just one, who deploy fibre to the premises (FTTH) but the majority (SKY, talk talk, virgin) use a hybrid of fibre local and then last mile is copper.

Most people think they have fibre, when they don't. I think it unfairly disadvantages those who do have a true fibre offering. Really annoys me.

It's a bit like saying my car has Ferrari performance, but what they mean is "this engine goes forwards and backwards and makes noise".

BG

So when all those thousands of miles of main roads and side streets etc got dug up 20 years ago it wasn't fibre optic cables they ran?

Maybe.

If it was Virgin, then it was likely coax they were running, alongside phone infrastructure. That's their "last mile" drop, that enters the house. Broadband and TV are delivered over the same cable (coaxial), not fibre.

They do use fibre in their network, that's why it's a hybrid system. They use fibre to the local node and the node converts back and forth between the network. Think of it a bit like power distribution - HV comes to the substation in your area, then it's converted and delivered to each property.

BT do similar with the FTTC systems - Fibre to the cabinet. Where you have the local cabinet (PCP), they twin it with a fibre fed cabinet that effectively makes the line distance less than if you were going direct to the exchange. There is a fibre feed to the cab, but copper thereon.

BT do FTTH - Fibre to the Home. This is where the fibre is fed into your home and converted via something called an ONT. THIS is what we should all have. It means the speeds are only limted by the bandwidth and tech at each end of the glass. None of this "up to 80mb" tosh depending on if you live within X distance of the exchange.

I keep saying, but there are lots of companies (altnets) that are doing FTTP - B4rn being a good read. A community that got fed up of the lack of support from BT, so they setup there own network. Community installed, community paid for and community ran. It's about 40 quid for a 1000/1000 connection

All providers run an over subscription model, they have too, unless you pay for uncontended bandwidth (read: Silly money). That's the problem I had with Virgin and why I left. My area used to drag to an complete halt during evenings and weekends, even with their traffic shaping in action.

It meant I had a 100mb connection, but could only download at about 2mbps. Day was "ok" night was terrible. Ring up and they would never say it was a network issue, always my own stuff. People around me on the same node suffered the same issue at the same times.

I'm sure it's better managed in other places, but not here. The proper kicker for me, was the latency of the connection. I work at home and use VOIP a lot - I didn't manage to make a good quality call for about 2 years on Virgin. Didn't matter what I done (I tried a lot), it just didn't work.

I moved and I've been happy since.

[gas4you]

BT have FTTH on trial at Martlesham.

1GB connection and stable so my Open Reach engineer informed me.

I can only wish

[Retired]

Hi,

For a long time now I've not suffered any problems with Virgin; at one time my computer would suddenly die then I would re-boot; ever since I found YouTube though and how to connect the computer to our TV it's been simply brilliant. Bron as I type is watching Mickey Rooney biography on TV via computer YouTube; my computer is well up to speed and no problems with the TV; it was like this with 50Mb so now should be even better with the new upgrade 70Mb? I'm no computer wiz kid I'm just happy to use my computer without problems and I use plug in wall plugs (£25 pair) which uses the household wiring to run the signal to the TV so I don't even need the wi-fi.

Given the number of customers at each broadband supplier I'm sure each supplier will receive mixed reviews?

I received another call from Plusnet tonight chasing new business but I declined and will stay loyal to Virgin even if Virgin is costing more. Its interesting though just reading through these replies as to the mixed feelings regarding suppliers. Thanks everyone for taking the time to reply.

I too remember dial up at 1p per minute using NTL cable. My first computer cost £1,000 but less £100 discount due to cash being handed over and at that time around 1998 8gig hard drive was huge in those days; PC World did their utmost to flog me extra warranty cover costing another £250; even the store manager had a go to flog me the warranty until I said I'll buy elsewhere because I want a computer to use not a policy to hang on our wall. 1p a minute doesn't sound much but it soon ran up a big bill given the steam powered phone line and boy it was slow; I only used dial up for a very short period until I became a bit more familiar with the Internet then I went broadband to a massive 1Mb; later I upgraded to 2Mb. I'm not into all the latest must have electronic kit and I'll not queue for hours to buy a mobile phone in fact I seldom use the £5 mobile phone I bought a few years ago but I do like my computer which is a desktop with a nice 23" monitor (Flatron IPS235).

Before YouTube I downloaded in excess of 1,000 free full movies plus equal amount of music videos and I think the last full movie at around 700Mb only took less than seven minutes to download and another seven minutes to burn to DVD; I've got lots of DVD's with up to six movies on each; I became very proficient with these downloads which are now clamped down on by the government so now I simply hook up YouTube to the TV. I have YouTube App on our TV but I prefer the computer keyboard and being able to browse YouTube so easily stacking up our nights viewing.

In real terms computers are dirt cheap now compared to when I bought my first computer; my current computer bought maybe four years ago through eBay is classed as a gaming computer and its wicked for my needs although I've never played a computer game in my life; it cost around £350 and owes me nothing. I was wary at first buying a computer through eBay but the 100% positive feedback score on over a thousand of these already sold convinced me I was safe.

I've tried upgrading it twice to Win10 failing both times; is Win10 now safe to download having got rid of its bugs?

Kind regards, Col.