stuartmaxwell Posted February 19, 2008 Report Share Posted February 19, 2008 virgin fibreoptic (2mg) has been great for me. I use it for xbox live and the like and rarely any fuck ups. I also find it is just as fast as my old "10mg" broadband which I paid business rates for Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted February 19, 2008 Report Share Posted February 19, 2008 virgin fibreoptic (2mg) has been great for me.Can't get that in Aberdeen, there's no cable infrastructure (or there is but no-one took it over when atlantic went bust). So none of the cable style offerings that places like Dundee get are available here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stripey Posted February 19, 2008 Report Share Posted February 19, 2008 virgin fibreoptic (2mg) has been great for me. I use it for xbox live and the like and rarely any fuck ups. I also find it is just as fast as my old "10mg" broadband which I paid business rates forthe latency will probably be the same regardless of the sync rate of the line, so it will appear to be roughly the same speed for anything using less than 2Mbit sustained, i.e average webbrowsing etc, but 10Mbit is faster if you're downloading anything bigger than a few megs at a time. AFAIK there is no cable in Aberdeen yet anyway. I haven't really had any problems with BT, the dect/voip service is reliable and when you offset the free calls against the cost of the subscription it works out fairly cheap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuartmaxwell Posted February 19, 2008 Report Share Posted February 19, 2008 possibly, although I downloaded a couple of .wav albums yesterday and it was pretty much exactly the same speeds as when I did it on the "10mg" in my old place Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stripey Posted February 19, 2008 Report Share Posted February 19, 2008 possibly, although I downloaded a couple of .wav albums yesterday and it was pretty much exactly the same speeds as when I did it on the "10mg" in my old placeThe thing with ADSL (if thats what your 10Mbit service was) is that the actual speed the line syncs at depends on line quality, the wiring in your house and distance from the exchange etc, so when you buy a 10Mbit package or whatever, that's just the theoretical sync rate. Very few people actually get those speeds from ADSL. I know someone who lives out in the sticks and they only get 2Mbit from the 8Mbit service. Relative speeds like downloading stuff obviously depends on where you are downloading from aswell... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuartmaxwell Posted February 19, 2008 Report Share Posted February 19, 2008 ah I see. I know very little about things like that. cheers for clearing that up!As long as it doesnt fuck with my xbox live Ill be happy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tam o' Shantie Posted February 19, 2008 Report Share Posted February 19, 2008 i use orange, 5 a month for 'unlimited' 8mb (don't download movies etc so nae caring about limitation/capping) plus no line rental required - this deal requires a mobile phone contract, but i dont know if you have one or not Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Posted February 20, 2008 Report Share Posted February 20, 2008 I'm fairly sure you could use your own one if you wanted. You just need to get the username and password details for the account. They don't give you that in the paperwork you get sent though as they assume you'll use the router they supply with that info already entered.It's not that straightforward unfortunately. Sky have restricted things so only routers with specific MAC addresses can connect to their broadband network. So even if you have all the login details this still isn't enough. The reason I know this is that I was helping a mate with their broadband connection and they are with Sky. If you do some Googling around you'll see plenty of people reporting problems with this Netgear router as well as complaining they can't use their own routers with the service. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alkaline Posted February 20, 2008 Report Share Posted February 20, 2008 The maximum ADSL speed you can get using Aberdeen's exchanges and phone systems is 5mb/s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted February 20, 2008 Report Share Posted February 20, 2008 The maximum ADSL speed you can get using Aberdeen's exchanges and phone systems is 5mb/s.My router says differently.What information are you basing this on? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alkaline Posted February 20, 2008 Report Share Posted February 20, 2008 My router says differently.What information are you basing this on?What about internet speed checks?My information comes from people i know who work in internet installation for BT in Aberdeen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted February 20, 2008 Report Share Posted February 20, 2008 My router says I connect at 6720Kb/s with a line attenuation of 31db. Which as I understand these things is pretty good. (Sky router stats (speed, noise, attenuation) explained - Sky User - The unofficial support forum for everything Sky!)Online speed tests vary wildly depending on the site, time of day etc. Even if you actually are connecting at 8mb a speed test could very well say you're only on 3mb.I've seen the stated connection speed on my router change a lot over the years as the lines, exchanges and my ISP have all been upgraded so I'm inclined to believe it's telling something similar to the truth and not just telling me what I think I want to know.No doubt a network engineer will show up on this thread and tell me I'm completely wrong though. I wouldn't be surprised. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stripey Posted February 20, 2008 Report Share Posted February 20, 2008 What about internet speed checks?My information comes from people i know who work in internet installation for BT in Aberdeen.Internet speed checks are pointless. If you go to Test Result this is the most reliable result you're going to get, it's handy because it will tell you your BRAS profile aswell. I.E if your line is unstable, you could have a profile as low as 250kbps despite the fact your router might sync at 8mbit.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted February 20, 2008 Report Share Posted February 20, 2008 it's handy because it will tell you your BRAS profile aswell.<puerile joke>36 DD</puerile joke> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alkaline Posted February 20, 2008 Report Share Posted February 20, 2008 My router says I connect at 6720Kb/s with a line attenuation of 31db. Which as I understand these things is pretty good. (Sky router stats (speed, noise, attenuation) explained - Sky User - The unofficial support forum for everything Sky!)Online speed tests vary wildly depending on the site, time of day etc. Even if you actually are connecting at 8mb a speed test could very well say you're only on 3mb.I've seen the stated connection speed on my router change a lot over the years as the lines, exchanges and my ISP have all been upgraded so I'm inclined to believe it's telling something similar to the truth and not just telling me what I think I want to know.No doubt a network engineer will show up on this thread and tell me I'm completely wrong though. I wouldn't be surprised.You are on Sky Broadband which has speeds of up to 2Mb/s in Aberdeen and you live about half a mile from the Aberdeen Lochnagar Exchange i would be very surprised if you get speeds of 6.7Mb/s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted February 20, 2008 Report Share Posted February 20, 2008 You are on Sky Broadband which has speeds of up to 2Mb/s in Aberdeen and you live about half a mile from the Aberdeen Lochnagar Exchange i would be very surprised if you get speeds of 6.7Mb/s.Well I beat 2Mb/s on a download test half an hour ago, so you're already wrong.The Lochnagar exchange has Sky LLU on it for speeds of between 5.5 and 8Mb/s.So you're wrong again. Samknows - NSLNG exchangefrom bt:For Telephone Number 01224****** on Exchange ABERDEEN LOCHNAGARYour exchange is ADSL enabled, and our initial test on your line indicates that your line should be able to have an ADSL broadband service that provides a line rate up to 2Mbps.Our test also indicates that your line currently supports a potential ADSL Max broadband line rate of 5.5Mbps up to 8Mbps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elizabeth Posted February 20, 2008 Report Share Posted February 20, 2008 Currently using Zen, 25 bucks a month with a 20Gb allowance.Not the cheapest, but I've had virtually no downtime, no connection problems, and their service is great.I have Zen too. Had a bit of downtime the last couple of days, but as far as I remember that's the first for the time we've had it which has been... I think about a year now? I'm not really sure; seems pretty decent so far, though.I changed to Tiscali from BT and it was completely shite, really. LOADS of downtime for literally months on end, so, after some angry phonecalls, we made a quick change.I'm starting to think it might be our area as, it's not supposed to be great for Freeview either, but our Freeview seems to work fine, so, I don't know. ...but, my grandparents who are with Tiscali and live in Kingston have an awesome connection, so, aye... *shrugs* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted February 20, 2008 Report Share Posted February 20, 2008 i would be very surprised if you get speeds of 6.7Mb/s.6720Kb/s works out at 6.56 Mb/sSo you're actually right about that bit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stripey Posted February 20, 2008 Report Share Posted February 20, 2008 You are on Sky Broadband which has speeds of up to 2Mb/s in Aberdeen and you live about half a mile from the Aberdeen Lochnagar Exchange i would be very surprised if you get speeds of 6.7Mb/s.Well, post router stats and see...I'm currently in a rural area over 3km from the exchange.Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 448 / 2,080Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]: 29.5 / 58.0SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]: 19.0 / 1.5the signal to noise margin is more important than line attenuation on the current adsl network btw. If you reset your router a lot, or there is noise on the line etc causing resyncs, your BRAS profile will drop to barely anything and takes up to 3 days to recover. AFAIK the only way to see the profile is on the bt speedtester site. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alkaline Posted February 20, 2008 Report Share Posted February 20, 2008 from bt:For Telephone Number 01224****** on Exchange ABERDEEN LOCHNAGARYour exchange is ADSL enabled, and our initial test on your line indicates that your line should be able to have an ADSL broadband service that provides a line rate up to 2Mbps.Our test also indicates that your line currently supports a potential ADSL Max broadband line rate of 5.5Mbps up to 8Mbps.Yes, Lochnagar supports up to 8Mb/s but the cabling in Aberdeen doesn't. So does Denburn (the one i'm on).Those bits of information you provided tally up with what i've said. Your line supports a max speed of 5.5Mb/s.I didn't realise that Sky had upped their service, as far as i knew they had a max of 2.3Mb/s in Aberdeen City as they weren't a priority service. This may have changed with uptake from the public domain (obviously it has). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted February 20, 2008 Report Share Posted February 20, 2008 Those bits of information you provided tally up with what i've said. Your line supports a max speed of 5.5Mb/s.No it doesn't. The bit in bold quite clearly says my line supports between 5.5 and 8Mb/s, and that's from BTs own availability website.You haven't actually backed up anything you've said yet with any numbers or anything better than "I know a guy who works for BT and he said". I've posted information which so far has only made me more sure that I can get over 5.5Mb/s Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alkaline Posted February 20, 2008 Report Share Posted February 20, 2008 No it doesn't. The bit in bold quite clearly says my line supports between 5.5 and 8Mb/sYou're misreading that, it says that your line supports up to a max of 5.5Mb/s with an overall max of 8Mb/s if it was available. There is no 8Mb/s broadband in Aberdeen, there's the potential for it but not the wherewithal. Has there been any work done on Lochnagar in the last few months by any chance? They may have upgraded something there since i last spoke to my mate.Anyone on here getting anywhere near 8Mb/s other than Chris? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Posted February 20, 2008 Report Share Posted February 20, 2008 You're misreading that, it says that your line supports up to a max of 5.5Mb/s with an overall max of 8Mb/s if it was available. You're not aware of what ADSL Max is are you?Broadband Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alkaline Posted February 20, 2008 Report Share Posted February 20, 2008 You're not aware of what ADSL Max is are you?BroadbandNo i wasn't, that must be a new thing upgrade-wise to the Aberdeen exchanges. I stand corrected and am shoveling my words into my mouth for a total chow down.I will point out though that there is a disclaimer in that information about cabling in your area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Posted February 20, 2008 Report Share Posted February 20, 2008 Anyone on here getting anywhere near 8Mb/s other than Chris?yip, i get a solid 7 to 7.5 off thh denburn exchange.. have done for the last 2 years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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