speed loss

[Rik]

Don't we all - well most of us anyway.

[T_M_D]

My speed has been going up and down in the last 30 minutes. 0.4, 0.8, 1.02, 1.99, 1, now running at 2.8 so it looks as if it is on the up again. I tend to get consistent speeds of 5-6 mbps so the sudden downturn was quite noticeable to me.

Hopefully, the speed will continue to rise now the England match is over.
Tina.

[Rik]

Hopefully, Tina, I was running at 1/3rd speed during the game. 

[Rapier Racer]

I appear to be running at the usual speeds again, how long is this nonsense on for, gah.

[Glenn]

A couple more weeks I'm afraid.

[ogster]

I was getting 0.5Mbps up and 0.5Mbps down this afternoon. With "exchange priority". This is on a rural exchange.
Normally 6-6.5Mbps down and 0.5Mbps up. Everything is back to normal now.

[T_M_D]

Hopefully, Tina, I was running at 1/3rd speed during the game. 

Yes Rik, mine is back up to over 6 mbits again. Fell asleep for a while there, but just done a test and it is fine. I will try and schedule my online needs around the football I think. I wonder if Wimbeldon will affect it as well... I noticed Sky TV was even slower than it usually is ('bout time they did something about that) when navigating around it during the match. At least us IDNetters could get on the net, I bet many users of other providers couldn't get on at all (02 Access users spring to mind, unless 02 has finally sorted that issue).

Tina.

[Tacitus]

....... I bet many users of other providers couldn't get on at all (02 Access users spring to mind, unless 02 has finally sorted that issue).

Looks as though iDNet can't win.   

[T_M_D]

Looks as though IDNet can't win.   

I think it is unfair of people of any broadband provider to immediately blame their provider when BT has such a huge influence over the infrastructure. Users should look at the overall picture, such as consistency of speed and service delivered over a period of time. IDNet is the only broadband provider I have had that has given me consistent broadband speeds. I go on the net with confidence knowing that whatever time of day or night or weekend it is, whether school holidays or some other period of time when the net is generally congested, I get a good consistent connection and speed. My exchange is not the greatest, but I still get good speeds.

Today is the first time I have experienced my speed dropping and it was only whilst England were playing today, it quickly came back up to speed once the match was over. I am sure that it had nothing to do with IDNet and everything to do with BT's infrastructure.

I am sure that IDNet does sometimes have issues, but from the evidence I have seen, IDNet is proactive in identifying and resolving any technical issues. I would be one of the first to give IDNet a hard time if I I believed they were not providing me with a service I expect, but I would hope that I would make sure first of all that it was indeed IDNet's fault if there was a problem and that I had given them a fair chance to sort it out over a reasonable period of time.

[pctech]

I think BT deserve a right royal roasting from ofcom over the way their infrastructure has performed during these peaks.

If they are not capable of running the 20CN and 21CN networks that constitute the national carrier networks then they need to be nationalised.

A lot of ISPs have added extra capacity in anticipation and say their networks are holding up well so why can't BT?

[Rik]

Looks as though iDNet can't win.   

They never can with him. 

[Rik]

A lot of ISPs have added extra capacity in anticipation and say their networks are holding up well so why can't BT?

See:


http://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/4282-can-the-uk-broadband-network-cope.html

[Glenn]

To me if the ISP buys the extra capacity from BT, and they can't deliver on thier backhaul, BT are in breach of contract.

[Rik]

You would think so, wouldn't you. Anyone want to bet the small print gets them off the hook?

[Tacitus]

They never can with him.  

AFAICT he is on the Brightlingsea exchange.  Very nice part of the world, but I doubt very much whether it ranks on BT's priority list.  And, given the size of the place I can't see any LLU operators rushing to fill the gap.  

If it's that important his best bet would be to move further up the coast to Clacton where he could at least get C&W LLU.  Otherwise he's into leased lines which are not exactly cheap, even assuming BT would provide one.  For a small business it may well be unaffordable.

[Lance]

AFAICT he is on the Brightlingsea exchange.  Very nice part of the world

That's not quite how I would describe Brightlingsea!

[Rik]

I'll leave you Essex boys to argue amongst yourselves.

[Tacitus]

That's not quite how I would describe Brightlingsea!

I must admit that my experience of Essex is limited to Colchester, Wivenhoe and, the Clacton to Frinton area of the coast, which I've always thought of as some of the better parts of England, if a bit featureless compared to round here. 

Given Brightlingsea is in the same part of the world I had this image of it as being a small but pleasant area.  Just goes to show.  If it's that bad and the broadband is no good either, then it's an even better reason for him to move....

PS Rik:  I'm a Midlands lad, but I had a relative who lived in Holland on Sea.  I don't think we ever had any Donald Russell beef but she certainly used to put on a spread whenever I went to stay.  Sadly she died about 4 years ago.

[Rik]

East or West, Tac?

[Tacitus]

East or West, Tac?

I'm considered to be from the West Mids, since for some reason people think I have a trace of a Brummie accent.  Never understood that since I'm nowhere near Brum even though I spend a fair amount of time there.

Mostly in the Apple Store 

[Rik]

 

We tend to fall somewhere between the East Midlands (rugby), East Anglia (broadcasting) and the SE - all others. No wonder I get confused!

[ogster]

To me if the ISP buys the extra capacity from BT, and they can't deliver on thier backhaul, BT are in breach of contract.

Trouble is ADSL is a very contended service, 8Mbps is a maximum, the guaranteed levels are very very low indeed. If everyone tries to use it all at once it breaks. BT need public pressure to increase capacity and reduce wholesale backhaul prices.

[tashtego]

A couple more weeks I'm afraid.

Nah, it'll be all over on Sunday. Bandwidth will be back to normal on Monday 

[pctech]

Thankfully most of the decent ISPs don't but their transit from BT and use decent providers like Cogent, Sprint and Level 3, shame we cant exercise a choice of carrier to get our traffic onto their networks isn't it.

[Technical Ben]

I saw an interesting comment on the Think Broadband article.
Use P2P to stream the video. As it seems the congestion is at the Core, so if you re-route the feed between neighbours, you take the strain off the centre of the infrastructure.
For example, streaming to house no 1, takes up one line, and one amount of bandwidth from the VP. Then route that back and forth from the local exchange to houses 2,3,4 etc. You get a bit more exchange congestion, but the rest of BT does not die in the process.
Not sure if that would work though. (Apparently it was unicast that's no good, and multicast is?)
[edit] This is one of the goals of Google and their shard technology and "server farm in a crate" that they want in every exchange. It would allow streaming/file downloads from the local exchange, freeing up the backbone of the net when you get a large demand.