Topic: Download speed

[Palustris]

Since Big Twisters failed to provide us with Broadband as promised, I was wondering if anyone out there could give me, as a rough guide, the length of time it takes,with Broadband, to download an Email of 1meg?. I have a Movie clip which I was intending to send, but obviously I do not wish to clog up someones connection for the same number of hours it would take to download it on my Narrowband system. TIA

[tim]

Still waiting for it here! = Tim

[derbex]

At a guess 16 seconds  :o -in practice a bit more, but I regularly get 1MB emails and they are < 1 minute to download.

Of course there's broadband and there's broadband, thats for bog-standard 512 download -you can get better or worse.

Jeremy

[tim]

Any ideas on the best Broadband server? BT certainly doesn't get much of an accolade, either on the net or in the Which report?? Since, although we should get 56kbs, & it is  claiming 44kbs, but a speed check shows 38 down & 22 up, can't wait till 16 March - the promised date. = Tim

[Roy Bham UK]

I pay £25 per month for 512kb and get another 238kb free total speed of 750kb. Telewest/Blueyonder had teething troubles when they first started but things are running very smoothly for me now as I can't remeber the last time I phoned them to complain.
http://www.telewest.co.uk/html/internet/blueyonder.htm

[ACE]

Have you any cable tv companies around your area,I have had cable for about 4 years and it is very fast.Plus you get all that extra telly and your phone is never engaged.

[tim]

How did I get put onto http://www.adslguide.org.uk/ ?? Was it Roy's link? Thanks, someone!

PlusNet seems to come out well. But, as someone said, it's important to pick a company which offers a freephone help line? = Tim

[Roy Bham UK]

Wasn't me Tim unless you found the link off the Blueyonder link I gave you.
Did you try out the comparison's list? Blueyonder came out tops throughout the five ISP I chose and that was BT, Tiscali, NTL, AOL and Blueyonder, that was for speed, reliability and customer service.

[tim]

Just realised - it was my 'tame computer advisor' who was in yesterday, bringing me his outdated version of Flight Simulator 2002.

Yes - the 'compare' facility is great - very colourful?? = Tim

[Roy Bham UK]

Since last boasting that I get 512kb and get another 238kb free total speed of 750kb.from Telewest/Blueyonder.
Well they sent me an e-mail this morning telling me the 750Kb will be topped up to 1Mb also free :o starts at begining of the new year, take look at this.
512kb and get another 238kb free total speed of 750kb.
http://www.blueyonder.co.uk/blueyonder/getContent.jspx?page=bbs_evenfaster
P.S. I would like to add that I am not on commision and have no connection with the said company. ;D

[derbex]

Tim,

I use Demon, just about the longest running of the UK ISPs. The current offering is £19.99/month for 512KB unlimited download (i.e. you can download as much as you like at that speed -some suppliers have limits).

They are pretty reliable, I think the help line is free. Their site is http://www.demon.net/

Jeremy

[tim]

That only leaves 49 of the major ones to consider!!! = Tim

[Admin aka Dan]

I would look at, and have recommended,

Telewest / Blueyonder (great if in your area)
Zen (the best ADSL - but pricey)
Pipex (the best of the rest)

All very good (in my opinion)

Cheers

Dan

[rdak]

I would recommend PlusNet..despite initial problems. I took the package whereby you sign up for 12 months and you get a modem included (not free, just means your monthly payments are a bit higher). I figured that it was safest to get "their" modem which would definately work with their service, rather than buy my own and find it wasn't compatible with their service.
During setup, my modem would connect to them, but I couldn't actually do anything on the internet. Numerous calls to their helpline resulted in a situation where they said it wasn't their problem, as they were able to see my PC connected to them, therefore they were fulfilling their part of the deal and couldn't be responsible for any faults my PC might have. Fair enough I suppose, except they wouldn't cancel my contract as they hadn't done anything wrong, so I was faced with paying for broadband for a year without being able to use it! Luckily, 3 solid days of searching the web found it was my motherboard causing a conflict with the modem, and once I unplugged the front USB sockets, problem solved!

Since then, have had no problems with them...just watch out for terms & conditions before signing up! Personally, I would buy your own ADSL modem and go with an ISP where you can leave quickly in case of problems.

[tim]

Many thanks = Tim

PS Stupid question - how do I estimate my future 'usage'?