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 Topic: Broadband report / speeds
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25/1/2016 at 11:02pm
Location: Kent
Outfit: Bailey Senator 5 Carolina
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Joined: 10/3/2006 Platinum Member 
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There is an interesting forum running on the BBC website concerned with the report by MP Grant Shapps among others that highlights the parlous state of the UK Broadband infrastructure.
Apparently there are 5.7 million households/internet users that are not receiving the minimum 10mbs speed recommended by OFCOM. It is not clear whether these are 5.7 million households where those speeds cannot be provided at the moment or if it includes households that are not receiving those speeds because the customer pays for a basic service.
My question is: Do we really need speeds up to 1 Gbps?
Last year, Mrs 'D' and I changed our Internet Service Provider because a) it increased our monthly bill by 25% overnight and b) at that time we were receiving average speeds of around 1.6mbs download and 0.30 mbs upload.
We now enjoy speeds of around 5mbs download and 0.90 mbs upload. A vast improvement.
However, the speeds manage to cope with up to four users on the system at any one time; with our son and daughter watching films, gaming or surfing whilst we watch a film on Netflix with no problems whatsoever.
Does the average household really need speeds in excess of, lets be generous, 20mbs?
How much quicker, in reality, would a 50mbs line speed open a web page than, say, a 5mbs line speed? 10 x faster? In theory yes, but in practice?
I'm interested to know why you need an exceptionally fast broadband speed.
Defender
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26/1/2016 at 10:51pm
Location: Isle of Mull
Outfit: 2 x Outwells Kairos 400 Caranex
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I think it's fair to acknowledge that even in some towns and cities broadband speeds can be pretty dire, not just out in the sticks.
We're supposed to get up to 15Mbps - a total joke as no-one locally gets anything like - it's 6Mbps at best but at worst it's 0.2Mbps download - upload is better. Watching a tv programme or iPlayer is downright impossible. The local schools are on a different system and they get 40Mbps - not grudging the education bit, mind you, but when local businesses are being damaged/unable to expand (that's jobs for the community), it's not acceptable for the rest to be left floundering.
Yes, we're due to get FTTC later this year after a four year wait. On the parts of the island with no broadband, they're getting their satellite broadband and it's been set up in under two years. Yes, the scheme's had some public money which is why it's limited to those areas with no broadband via BT planned but they are going to be paying less per month than we are for higher speeds than we're going to get, let alone getting now. (Son organised a considerable reduction in our broadband charges following a full year of BT Wholesale speed tests; complaints raised by us and dropped/ignored by BT - in fact the usual bad customer service. However, how many people can do this - we only could because we were FT carers for my Mum and therefore stuck at home all day/every day and I relied on iPlayer on the pc on night duty a lot - no sound, so I could hear Mum.
IMHO, I feel customers would be happier if BT and Gov'ts were a lot more transparent. Forget the % households and give real figures and do the same for businesses. Require BT to up their customer service - think of the jobs created if they brought their call centres back to the UK - and Gov'ts to teach their call centres to realise that, whilst they expect everyone to do things online, some people and businesses struggle with such bad speeds, they can't do this.
Rant over!
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" When I die I don`t want my life to flash before me in an instant, I want it to be a 3 hour epic !"
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27/1/2016 at 10:15am
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I'm no fan of BT. When it all works, it's fine, but when it doesn't, it can be a nightmare trying to fix it. I've given up on their call centres (although they are coming back to the UK), and these days either email the CEO (which gets passed to the Executive Office and they do take action) or try their FB page. Last time our fibre speed dropped they did sort it out.
That said, BT are in the position they are because of history, and the tech development which enabled them to use the existing copper voice lines to carry data. Elsewhere in the world they didn't have that existing infrastructure and had to start data/internet from scratch. Having overcome that hurdle they are now far more advanced. But there it is.
There's a lot of call for BT and Openreach to be split, and Openreach to be more accountable to us, the customers. That may or may not help - I've no idea. I can't help thinking though that we could end up with a Network Rail/operators scenario. Has that improved things on the railway? Ummm.
I think BT can be their own worst enemy, but it's very easy to make them the whipping boy. Rightly or wrongly, they are a plc, and like all such, their primary, legal, duty is to maximise returns for shareholders. I know there's all the arguments about them taking public money and all the rest of it, but they are going to invest where they can get the greatest bang for the buck for the greatest number in the shortest time.
Nothing stopping Virgin Media or any other enterprise from having a go and providing real choice.
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Mike
My advice is worth no more than the price paid for it
Prague May/Jun 2017
Lake Annecy Aug 2017
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