do you live....

[Baz]

.......here

[Rik]

Luckily, not.

[Glenn]

One of the speedtest sites gives you the speeds of people around your area, I seem to be on or near the fastest max connection locally.

[DorsetBoy]

I wonder how many of the users in the area are atually setting their systems up correctly. The number of old modems about still is amazing, many people are totally unaware that they need to change hardware to use ADSLMax.

[Steve]

The bit that worries me is the average of 6.2Mb, I fear I will get left behind on adslmax, I may get FTTC in Autumn who knows,I just can't go any faster unless I go to Sky but then gain what am I going to do with that extra download speed.

[Glenn]

I do have Be/O2 at my exchange, but their checkers only give me around an extra 1/2 Mbs so it's not really worth the hassle of the swap.

[Rik]

The bit that worries me is the average of 6.2Mb, I fear I will get left behind on adslmax, I may get FTTC in Autumn who knows,I just can't go any faster unless I go to Sky but then gain what am I going to do with that extra download speed.

That's the issue which vexes me on the question of whether to move to fibre, Steve. Fast speeds would be nice, but unless I also change how I use the 'net, they wouldn't really benefit me.

[DorsetBoy]

The difference in speed attained is not that great unless you are really close to the exchange and on a good quality line. ADSL2+ is a pain in many ways so it is probably better to wait for FTTC/P.

[Glenn]

Dorset, I'm around 5km from my exchange according to Kitz, so like you say, I wouldn't see much difference.

[Steve]

I would agree adsl2+ is often more trouble than it's worth although I think my line would do well on it but of course no availability in sight. I will re evaluate in Autumn if BT do the dirty on me again. Incidentally on Railway Hill , Canterbury there is a BT customer with 1.3Mb download speed



CT4 6PU

http://www.broadbandspeedchecker.co.uk/broadband_speed_in_my_area_v2.aspx?postcode=CT4%206PY

[Rik]

It seems to me that, for many, perhaps most, people, ADSL2+ has been a benefit. I've gained about 1M in speed. OTOH, for some, it makes their service worse. Luckily, the early conception that once we were connected we were stuck with it proved to be false (in fact, we were stuck with the MSAN), and re-modulation to ADSL has generally reversed any decline people have experienced.

For this reason, I would now recommend everyone to try ADSL2+ when it becomes available. Except in very rare cases, they won't end up any worse off in speed terms, and they will gain in bandwidth allowance.

[pctech]

When I moved back to Zen the connection was ordered as ADSL2+ (they only order new provisions/migrations on ADSL2+)

All was dandy for the first couple of months, I was getting about 2 Meg and was quite happy, I then started to get frequent resyncs and the speed dropped and dropped till I was down to a profile of 576 Kbps with throughput of 350

I pulled the power on the router for about an hour to try to reset the DLM, it didn't work, so logged onto the customer portal to order a regrade back to Max.

5 days I had to wait, on day 3 I rang support to see if they could do anything ahead of the regrade, they said they could see it had been banded and technician agreed with my decision that the line would be better on Max.

Migration day came and it was still trundling along, rang support and was asked to call back the next day as it was still going through provisioning.

Called back and they confirmed the cap had been removed but said they would tweak the BRAS profile, within a couple of hours sync shot up to 3108 and throughput to 2.38Mbps which is better than its ever been and pretty much stayed there since.

[DarkStar]

http://www.broadbandspeedchecker.co.uk/broadband_speed_in_my_area_v2.aspx?postcode=CT4%206PY

Using that speed checker I get a D/L speed of 2.44, have done for ages. But just have a look at the variation in speeds on the attached 'map'. The house at the bottom that is getting 0.7 with BT was with another supplier last time I looked and getting a higher D/L speed than I am. Am wondering if they fell for BT's drivel and thought they would get the super speeds BT mislead people into believing they can get with ADSL2+. I am just over 3 miles from my exchange, have a nice stable connection so am staying with ADSL2 until we get FTTC 

[Rik]

Looks like the situation round here, Ian. I have the fastest connection by far at 3.5-4M profile, next door only get a 512k profile.

[Gary]

It shows the divide between peoples use of the Net, upload speeds for video chatting, or uploading to YouTube would be really useful, I think sites will have more and more content that demands faster downloads, as media becomes not just pc based, but as is starting to happen you have 4OD, ITV Player Youtube LoveFilm, and the BBC iPlayer built into TV's and PS3's. People will use that speed for entertainment, its not about just using the computer at all. To watch HD content with great quality that extra download speed will change how we use our TV's and I think that will become more the hub in the home, maybe computers will start being built in TV's as well, your ideal all in one. Look how much has changed in the last few years with TV technology, all we need now is Apple/Microsoft to produce a 40" TV's with HD tuners and you are away.

Justina would hate it 

[dudwell]

I'm suspicious of broadbandspeedchecker. I've checked my speed with it several times and each time I have the fastest connection in the village but my results never show up on the map. Could it be that it only shows results from subscribing ISPs? Has anyone found IDNet appearing ?

[Steve]

I think your probably on the right track although why the heck BT,TalkTalk and Tiscali should subscribe and show poor performance is beyond me.

[klipp]

I download at 1.4Mb to 1.8Mb depending on how generous BT are feeling.