Internet no UK

Estamos um bocadinhoooo farto do LAG de quase UM SEGUNDO, quando jogamos contra pessoal (PORTUGUESES até) que reisdem no UK.

Passo-vos a mostrar o ISP mais conhecido por lá:

http://allyours.virginmedia.com/html/broadband/fibre-optic.html







We've invested billions building our fibre optic network. It's the most advanced way to enjoy broadband.

Fibre optic is faster


Other
providers deliver their broadband through copper telephone wire, which
means your speed gets slower the further you live from the phone
exchange. Optical fibres are made of glass, and they're designed to
send vast amounts of information at the speed of light (that's pretty
fast). That's how we can deliver speeds of up to 50Mb.





Fibre optic is future proof


Downloading
music and movies, playing games, social networking - we do so much
online already, and we'll do more in the future. The great news is that
our network is so advanced, regardless of how the internet changes,
you'll be ready.

No need for a phone line


Our
fibre optic network means that our broadband isn't tied to the phone
network, unlike other providers. So if you just want broadband on its
own, we're happy to give you just that. We have great value phone and
broadband packages too, of course, but the choice is yours.











Choose your broadband package



Comparison of Virgin Media Broadband only packages Size: L - up to 10Mb Size: XL - up to 20Mb Size: XXL - up to 50Mb

£5 a month* for 3 months, £14 after that + Unlimited weekend UK landline calls Add to Basket Find out more	£10 a month* for 3 months, £20 after that + Unlimited weekend UK landline calls Add to Basket Find out more	£35 a month* + Unlimited weekend UK landline calls Add to Basket Find out more
*Plus a Virgin Phone line for £11 a month. These offers require you to pay by Direct Debit and use eBilling. Other options shown below.

Broadband speeds explained







When it comes to broadband, speed can be a confusing subject.Broadband companies use the phrase "up to" when talking about broadband
speed, because some things may affect your speed, such as:

• Some websites simply can't cope with high speeds
  
• If lots of people are downloading from a site at once, the site can slow down
  
• Computer specifications - Check your computer now
  

Ofcom rates Virgin Broadband top for speed


To try and untangle some of the confusion, Ofcom, the UK communications industries regulator, has published a review on broadband speeds delivered by the UK's biggest broadband providers.
Ofcom's review ranked the average download speed of Virgin Media's up to 10Mb broadband as almost double the UK average.*

Here's a breakdown of the results in a handy table:

Provider	Speeds
Virgin Media ('up to' 10Mbit/s)	8.1 to 8.7Mbit/s)
AOL ('up to' 8Mbit/s)	3.3 to 3.9Mbit/s
BT ('up to' 8Mbit/s)	3.8 to 4.2Mbit/s
O2 ('up to' 8Mbit/s)*	4.1 to 5.1Mbit/s
Orange ('up to' 8Mbit/s)	3.8 to 4.5Mbit/s
Plusnet ('up to' 8Mbit/s)*	3.8 to 4.9Mbit/s
Sky ('up to' 8Mbit/s)	4.0 to 4.7Mbit/s
Talk Talk ('up to' 8Mbit/s)	3.8 to 4.6Mbit/s
Tiscali ('up to' 8Mbit/s)	3.2 to 3.7Mbit/s

Data for O2 and Plusnet should be treated with caution as sampled sizes were smaller than for other ISPs.


See the Ofcom review
See a BBC news report about the Ofcom findings



Go even faster with up to 50Mb


Our top speed is a mind blowing up to 50Mb, the fastest broadband in the land.

And it's totally unlimited?


Yes. There's no limit to the amount you can download and use your connection with Virgin Media.
However, we do have an "acceptable use" policy¹. This is to protect the majority of Virgin broadband users from a small amount of people who misuse their broadband connection.

Managing our traffic


We
want everyone to enjoy their broadband to the max, so we manage our
traffic so that a very small amount of customers don't "hog" a large
part of our bandwidth, and make the speeds slower for everyone else.
What this means in practice is that we sometimes moderate speeds for
the top 5% of customers who are downloading and/or uploading an
unusually large amount. Most broadband providers manage traffic in a
similar way – it helps keep things fair for everybody.

Traffic management: the key facts

• Traffic management applies to our M, L and XL packages, but not XXL
  
• Over
  95% of our customers are unaffected by traffic management, since we
  only look at traffic from the top 5% of users each day - the top 3% of
  downloaders and top 3% of uploaders (with some overlap, this amounts to
  just under 5% of all our users).
  

We're constantly reviewing our traffic management policy to ensure it benefits as many customers as possible.
Find out more about traffic management

The Legal Stuff



¹Acceptable Use Policy applies. Traffic Management operates from 4pm to 9pm and 10am to 3pm to ensure a consistent user experience.


If you prefer not to pay by Direct Debit and/or want to receive a
paper bill, the monthly price for your Virgin Phone line with these
options is: Phone line and non-Direct Debit payment handling: £16;
Phone line and paper bill: £12.25; Phone line, non-Direct Debit payment
handling and paper bill: £17.25 (£18.50 with mobile broadband paper
bill). Prices include a £5 payment handling charge payable to Virgin
Media Payments Ltd and/or a paper bill charge of £1.25.

SERVICES AVAILABLE IN VIRGIN MEDIA CABLED STREETS ONLY. Subject to
network capacity, 12-month minimum term contract. If you cancel during
the minimum contract period you will incur an early disconnection fee.

General: Installation charges apply (starting from
£30 for standard installation and, subject to availability, from £15
for Quickstart self-install. Quickstart self-install is not available
for up to 50Mb broadband). An additional £20 activation fee is payable
for 50Mb Broadband. Payment may be required in advance. All prices
include VAT. These terms and conditions are in addition to and form
part of our standard customer service contract.
Free installation offer: Free installation includes
standard and Quickstart installation worth up to £30. This offer is
available for online purchases that include cable broadband services
(i.e. broadband without a phone line, broadband with a phone line or
TV, or all three services) on a 12 month contract. The credit will be
applied to your first month's bill. Offer available to new customers
only. As part of this offer, Priority install is reduced to £30 (normal
price £60). Free installation offer does not include V+ set-up fee (Current V+ set-up fee offer is £49). Free installation offer ends 30th September 2009.
£20 online credit: The £20 online credit is applied to
online purchases of three cable services together (i.e. broadband, TV
and phone) on a 12-month contract. The online credit will be applied to
your first monthly bill. Offer is available to new customers only and
may not be used in conjunction with certain other offers. Offer ends 30
September 2009. Check out the Product terms and conditions.


*Source: Ofcom review of UK broadband speeds (July 2009) using
SamKnows measurement data for major ISPs with up to 8Mb (DSL)/10Mb
(cable) connections, April 2009.

Traffic management








We don't like traffic jams


At Virgin Media, we want all our customers to get the best service
possible from their broadband. That means speedy downloads for all
users - not just a few.

When someone is downloading and/or uploading a particularly large
amount of information over a long period of time, it can slow down the
broadband speed for other users who might just be checking their email
or browsing online. So to make sure our service is fair for everybody,
we sometimes moderate the speeds for the top 5% of customers who are
downloading and/or uploading an unusually large amount.


This makes sure that the service doesn't get blocked up with people
using more than their fair share - which means a lot fewer traffic jams.

What traffic management policies are you applying to the heaviest users?



That depends on the broadband package you're signed up to. You can
check out the detail by taking a look at our 'Updated traffic
management policy' table below.

It's important to remember that these traffic management policies
only apply when speeds are likely to be affected by people using more
than their fair share.

In fact, the policies only affect the top 5% of users on a daily
basis - those whose usage of the service would affect other users if
they weren't managed.

What do the updates to the traffic management policy mean?



To make sure all customers get the most from their connection, we
automatically reduce the speed of the heaviest users at peak times
during the daytime and evening.

In this updated policy we have increased the thresholds for our Size: L customers.

Why do you have a traffic management policy?



We believe in making sure all our customers can use our Broadband
without being slowed down by heavy users. So our traffic management
policy is there to keep things fair.

Our traffic management policy protects the vast majority of our
customers (over 95% of them) from these heavy users, ultimately
providing faster, more consistent speeds for everyone.

Will the policy change again?



The way that our customers use their broadband is changing all the
time, so it's possible that in the future we may increase or decrease
the thresholds or modify other settings. Don't worry though, we'll
always let you know on our website if we're going to make any changes,
and we don't expect the thresholds to change very often.

Updated Traffic Management policy



Here’s the detail: Updated 12th May 2009



An example of how this works is that if a broadband Size: L customer
downloaded 1500MB of data between 4pm and 9pm, their download speed
would be temporarily set to up to 2.5Mb and their upload speed to up to
128Kb for 5 hours.

Always get the most from your connection



To make sure you always get the fastest speeds you can from your
connection, we've put heaps of information on our website to help. That
includes details about our minimum specification, and some simple steps
to tweak how your computer works. It's all really simple, and it's all
online at virginmedia.com/minspec.

How can I tell if I'm nearing the threshold?



There are several tools that you can use to check how much you're
downloading or uploading. One particularly useful tool you can download
is called DU Meter*.
If you'd like to use a different tool, you might like to visit www.tucows.com*

Traffic Management Trial


We are currently undertaking Traffic Management trials in the
following areas. To find out more about changes to the policy where you
live, click on one of the areas below:

Live in these areas?

• Preston
  
• Acton
  
• Aldershot
  
• Wigan
  
• Blackpool
  

The legal stuff
** Please note, these links are provided simply as a convenience to our customers. They are third

party sites, and we have no responsibility for the content of them.

The 50Mb difference





Browsing, streaming, gaming, downloading - an up to 50Mb connection takes it all in its stride, all at the same time.









Download loads and loads


Love
downloading? Up to 50Mb broadband is a dream come true. Music, photos,
movies - watch those files fly onto your computer. And there's no download limit¹, so you can really make the most of the fast speeds. It takes as little as 11 seconds to download a 60MB album.





Sharing your connection is a breeze


We love our up to 50Mb broadband because it's made for sharing. It's ideal for multiple users, from families to student houses.
You just need our state-of-the-art wireless router, and everyone can
use it - all at the same time, and all at mega-fast speeds.





The internet in high definition


Love HD? With up to 50Mb broadband you can download an entire 15GB HD movie in as little as 45 minutes.
With some broadband connections, a file that size could take all day to
download. And with up to 50Mb you can stream HD video straight to your
computer, and you'll hardly notice it buffering.

Citação :

Taking gaming to a new level


With
a fibre optic connection you’ll get improved reaction times, so you’ll
find your online games super-responsive. But you’ll love the download
speeds the most. With up to 50Mb you could download a game in under 2 minutes². Game on!

http://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Fibre-optic-broadband-cable/bd-p/Fibre

tambem nao teem a verdadeira fibra (parecem a zon):

Citação :

Hi There, Yes, fibre optic's run to the cabinet at the end of your street and then copper coaxial runs from there to your property. To
implement fiber from the cabinet to your property (known as the last
mile) would cost a lot of money, financially it wouldn't be beneficial
at the moment. Currently the network can provide plenty
of speed beyond VM's competitors, thus far no-one currently offers FTTH
(Fiber to the Home) residential broadband in the UK. Thanks, Jamie

Citação :

Jamie
wrote: Hi There, Yes, fibre optic's run to the cabinet at the end of
your street and then copper coaxial runs from there to your property.
... Thanks, Jamie It doesn't get that close, the network is FTTN (Fibre To The Node) not FTTC (Fibre To The Cabinet).The
fibre terminates in one of the large cabinets which would be the local
node, the smaller 2 or 1 door cabinets are fed by a thick Coaxial cable. But yes, the fibre does get alot closer to the customer on the Cable network (Broadband) than on ADSL.

Citação :

To reduce cost, RG6 cable is usually an aluminium shielded, copper-coated steel core. In
fact, in a recent advertising campaign, Virgin Media criticised all the
"old-fashioned copper" and Sky made a complaint to the ASA claiming
that Virgin cables also ran over copper. VM proved this not to be the
case

http://www.sadoun.com/Sat/Products/Perfect/ULPVRG6.htm

Citação :

Hi All I was part of the original 50MB test team in
kent and in September 2008 BT ran FTTH in Ebbsfleet Kent running at
100MB i am informed by a open reach engineer, i did fine some
information on the net with a google search. I am at
present part of the VM 200Mb trial in Kent and we are obtaining speeds
of 190Mb at present, my coax from the cabinet splits to supply a tv in
the lounge then a 30 foot run to the workshop and a triple spilt to a
second STB a 50Mb modem and a trial 200Mb modem, the 50Mb has been
working well since the install hitting 50 plus on most test sites and
downloads are very impressive.

Citação :

i think this was about 52Mb

about
normal on the LAN through a netgear router, same old router i had with
the 20Mb, the 200Mb system is on another pc and is having surgery at
present hope to have it back online soon and will post a link to the
speed test results as soon as i can.

All
the pc's on the LAN are running XP PRO SP3 cant get any decent speed
with Vista, all the units have 100Mb LAN cards and all were tweaked
when the 50Mb trial was running to allow maximum speed and all the
cables are CAT5e and were home made the router has a wireless access
point built in but is never used cable is so much quicker.

Citação :

This year I swapped from broadband running via the BT lines and
exchange to Claranet who then took ISP duties to Virgin. Two things to
note in the installation was firstly the existing BT line in house was
used to set up the phone line, the second was rather than use that
existing copper line the Virgin engineers drilled a hole in the wall,
set up a box in the house and the modem goes through that. So
my guess is that in some areas cable lines for TV were laid down first,
and then like my area, 20 years later fibre optic was put down too. But
there is a third piece of information, I’m positive the engineer said
he had to make some alterations to the street box across the road, but
what these alterations were for I can’t be sure. If I
already had broadband in my house, why put in a new junction box if all
that was going to happen was Virgin taking ISP duties at the main BT
exchange like Claranet did? The only other thing I find odd after a few
months use is the data rate has never passed the 15Mb speed, I rent the
up to 20Mb. Currently it is just hitting 2.7Mb. I know
from the other broadband system there used to be two packages. The
normal one was up to 50 users shared the same line, so if all 50 were
downloading speed were slow, premium package the user number per line
was 20. Now I take my dog for walks and the Virgin green tube from the
pavement to house is quite distinctive, and TBH there doesn’t seem to
be many Virgin users about here, its mostly aerial or satellite. So why
is fibre optics constantly slower than advertised?

Citação :

You are not sharing with just the Virgin people who are right in
your area, you could be sharing the bandwidth with an area covering a
thousand or more homes and however many subscribers are connected in
that area. You sound like you have a fault though, have
you taken this up with Virgin, 2.7Mbit/s is appauling performance and
certainly well below what should be expected. Virgin
don't give a contention ratio or inform on how many subscribers are
expected to be sharing the bandwidth because it'll be a very variable
figure depending on the area. They'll get as many subscribers sharing
the bandwidth as possible while preserving service quality so in some
areas where usage is heavy it might be 20:1 or lower, while in areas
with very low usage per customer it could be 100:1.

Citação :

Virgin won't fade away from exuberant advertising claims however as
their cable broadband services, which they market as fibre optic
broadband, will continue to be listed at its full 50Meg speed,
as is their right as this speed is achievable between your home and
Virgin's equipment. Whether defining it as 'fibre optic broadband' is
right when it's actually a fibre-coax hybrid network is of
course an open debate.

ASA rules on Virgin 'fibre optic' broadband claims



Wednesday 06 February 2008 11:20:22 by Andrew Ferguson


The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has published an adjudication relating to a series of radio, press and poster campaigns by Virgin
Media which made claims that many have found confusing including its 'super
duper fast fibre-optic broadband'.
The ASA received 22 complaints from the public, Sky and TalkTalk on a number of issues. The main ones
are:

• The adverts claimed it was 'fibre optic' broadband when the
  connection from the street cabinet to the home was co-axial copper wire;
  
• The suggestion that the speed does not slow down no matter how far you live from the telephone exchange;
  
• Sky challenged whether the ad gave the misleading impression that
  cable broadband speeds would never slow down, and that Virgin Media
  customers would always be able to achieve consistent
  broadband speeds;
  
• TalkTalk challenged whether the claim "fastest and best performing
  broadband" was misleading because it compared ADSL with a 10 Mb cable
  connection, while the offer described in the small print
  was for Virgin's 2 Mb cable service. TalkTalk contended that their 8 Mb
  ADSL service was faster than Virgin's 2 Mb cable service;
  
• TalkTalk complained that the add was 'denigratory' as it implied VM was the only broadband company to tell the truth;
  
• Both TalkTalk and Sky objected to the comparison which they
  suggested made it seem as if only 50% of the country could receive
  services from them;
  

The use of a fibre/coax hybrid network that supports the DOCSIS
standards does give Virgin Media an advantage on its cable access
network compared to ADSL which is delivered over twisted pair
cable. None of the complaints appear to dispute this, but a common
objection is the lack of clarity in describing the network and for the
general public there is a real chance they may believe it is
fibre all the way to the home. This is particularly confusing for users
because of the recent discussions of fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) services
in the news, although we should point out that the
adverts ran in mid-2007.
What will come as a surprise to many, none of the complaints were
upheld. The adjudication held that the co-axial element of the Virgin
Media broadband network was only a small proportion in
comparison to the fibre backhaul. This argument could be extended to
even ADSL since the local loop (the distance from the telephone
exchange to the home) was only a small part of the total ATM
network which links the exchange to a central aggregation point over
fibre.

The claim that no one offers faster services is not entirely true
with some ADSL2+ users exceeding 20 Mbps when we looked at the results
in February 2007. It is fair to say that generally ADSL
speeds are more limited as only a small proportion of users would be
able to get those speeds at this point in time over the ADSL network.

Our main concern here is that with Virgin Media promoting a fibre
network the average consumer may start to believe the UK has fibre
based broadband akin to a fibre to the home (FTTH)
infrastructure available to 50% of households. This is not about a
battle between ADSL and cable technologies. It is about trying to
ensure a public that already finds broadband confusing is not
misled and confused even more when true fibre to the home services
appear. We are pleased to see VM pushing the boundaries of broadband
forward, making better use of a network they have had available
to them for quite some time, and that can only be good for the
broadband population as it forces ADSL suppliers to up their game.

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/3391-asa-rules-on-virgin-fibre-optic-broadband-claims.html

Citação :

Why is my ping so high?


Ok
i have a 2meg internet connection with sky (BT line) and my ping on UK
servers in COD4 is like 130 to 150 but i have no other internet
programmes running only xfire and teamspeak but iv tried with them open
and closed and no change what so ever i was wondering if there is any
tricks to lower my ping.

P.S iv had 2 meg internet with NTL b4 it was virgin media and i got low
ping there i just assumed it was the cable was better quality but my
friend has a ping of 50odd on a 2meg adsl with sky

oh and the internet it hard lined into my pc not wireless

Thanks For Any Help!!!!

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters


When
you were with Virgin you were on fibre optic cable broadband which is a
lot faster than a copper wire service because there is no resistance in
the fibre optic and the signal only needs to be boosted every 150 miles
or so. Copper wire needs to be boosted every 10/20 miles as you can't
change the laws of physics.

Now you are using an ADSL copper wire service your using the infamous
BT crap telephone network with all the problems associated with it
because there is nothing else to use!

The ping time is the time it takes a pulse from your computer to a
particular server. Basically you have no control over that as it
depends on how busy the server is, where it is and how your routed
through the system at any one connection time.

Actually for a 2 Mb/s connection that ping time is not bad. Don't
forget a millisecond is 1/000 of 1 second so those ping times are only
0.13 and 0.15 of 1 second, just over a 10th of a second.

I'm on 10 Mb/s cable and my ping time is around 0.05 m/s for the UK but
if I ping Australia that can be 6 to 800 m/s from the UK.

A few things:

- Speedtest.net is NOT an accurate source for measuring downstream, upstream and ping.

- Hosting capabilities on Xbox Live are not determined by your
downstream, having a high upload is much more important. 1mbps
downstream and a good ping on a solid, reliable line is sufficient
enough to play Xbox Live. 1mbps upstream and higher is considered "very
good" for hosting on Xbox Live as currently only a couple of home ISPs
offer such uploads (ie. Be*).

- Other factors such as ping and packet loss also factor in how good a host is.

- You're on Virgin Media, upload is average, probably recieve packet
loss on a regular basis due to poor network infrastructure from Virgin,
do you get traffic shaped to?

If you are looking to move to a better ISP such as Be or O2 (O2 owns Be
and its network by the way), just because they are the best home ADSL
provider in the UK doesn't mean your connection will be great. Many
factors come into play with ADSL connections, such as line attenuation
(basically distance between you and the exchange), quality of the
copper wire in the ground, noise on the line, also depends on the
exchange to, and a few other factors not worth mentioning. You have to
do your research before changing ISP.

I've been with Be for 3 and a half years and they are easily the best
home ISP in the UK for general internet use, online gaming and heavy
downloading. In an ideal world Virgin SHOULD be the the best ISP in the
UK, as the UK is still running on copper (most of which is older than
your parents or even your grandparents!) and a fibre network would be
much better. However, Virgin still run copper to the home, use low
quality fibre lines and don't amplify signals properly, resulting in a
poor network infrastructure, hence why many Virgin Media users get nice
high sync speeds but experience packet loss on a regular basis. If you
are lucky enough to not get shaped by VM, then stick with them I'd say.










__________________

Citação :

Some uni halls have INSANE speeds, ie. 50mbps down and up, or 100 even.
However, they usually suffer from very high pings due to many people
using them during peak hours. During my first uni year the halls I was
in gave 500kbps down and 500kbps up, and during peak hours it was
horrible, late night Halo 2 the connection was so crispy. My connection
was only good for gaming between midnight-10am usually.

Virgin Media responds to Ofcom speed test


28th July 2009 by Kimberley Howson






Virgin Media has called into question the advertised headline speeds touted by copper-based (ADSL) broadband suppliers as a result of a new study by Ofcom.
In association with broadband testing company SamKnows, the
communications regulator conducted 60 million speed tests at 1,600
households over a five-month period to learn the true speeds provided
by Britain's biggest internet service providers (ISPs).
Cable broadband supplier
Virgin Media was found to top the list, with typical speeds of 8.1Mb to
8.7Mb on its 'up to' 10Mb service, while ISPs using ADSL technology
posted significantly slower speeds for their 'up to' 8Mb services.
These speeds ranged from an average of just 3.2 to 3.7Mb for Tiscali UK, to between 4.1 and 5.1Mb for O2's home broadband package.
In response to the findings, Virgin Media warned that the claims of most ADSL broadband providers are "not to be trusted".
A spokesperson for the provider said: "Virgin Media delivers more than any other major ISP - even our cheapest broadband
tier delivers double the average of our major competitors - and we are
committed to making all of our marketing better reflect the actual
experience our customers get."
Top 10 Broadband's
Jessica McArdle predicted: "Today's Ofcom report shows that the days of
'up to' speeds may be numbered. We're expecting real average speeds for
ISPs to start becoming the norm by the end of this year."
Last week, the broadband supplier announced that it has become the
first UK ISP to embark on a partnership with SamKnows to test the
real-world performance of its broadband network.

http://www.top10-broadband.co.uk/news/2009/07/virgin_media_responds_to_ofcom_speed_test/

http://www.broadband.co.uk/press/releases/UK-broadband-speedtest-results-July-2009.pdf

That's about average for a ADSL broadband connection. You aren't going to improve it much more than that.

There are too many factors and variations to take into consideration with it.

The only one that delivers what it says on the tin is fibre optic cable
because data is transferred by light frequency therefore has no
resistance like copper cable over distance.

Copper wire needs boosting every 20 miles or so, cable only needs it about every 150 miles or so.

I'm on 10 Mb/s cable and this is what I get and you can see what I mean

http://www.speedtest.net/result/53266478…

Broadband rates 'not up to speed'

By Jason Palmer Science and technology reporter, BBC News

The material used to deliver broadband is a big contributor to speed

Broadband users are not getting the
speeds they are paying for, according to the largest survey of its kind
ever undertaken by telecoms regulator Ofcom.Nearly one fifth
of UK broadband customers on an eight Megabit per second (Mbps)
connection actually receive less than 2Mbps, it found. The research showed that less than 9% of users received more than 6Mbps. However, the report shows that average connection speed across the UK is 4.1Mbps, up from 3.6Mbps in January. The UK government would like everyone in the country to have access to broadband speeds of 2Mbps by 2012. "It's
very easy to go out and find out what the price of broadband is, but
much more difficult to get a good understanding of what the observed
speeds are likely to be," said Ofcom chief executive Ed Richards. The
report also ranked the average speeds of nine major UK ISPs, with
Virgin Media - which primarily operates in urban areas and uses high
speed cable networks - coming out on top. In order to address
the issue of speed, Ofcom worked with Samknows, a broadband measurement
firm that specially modified the routers that decode the signal coming
into subscribers' homes.

FROM THE TODAY PROGRAMME More from Today programme

While many websites offer speed tests, their results can vary widely
due to a number of factors aside from the ISP's speed; the routers
measure the ISP's delivered speed regardless of these factors. The
routers collected speed data from 1,600 users' connections nationwide
between November 2008 and April of this year - amounting to some 60
million separate speed tests in all. The numbers were then
adjusted for a given user's distance from the telephone exchange. For
broadband that comes through traditional copper wires, such as ADSL,
the measured speed is lower for users who are farther from one of the
country's 5,800 exchanges. The speed study was accompanied by a
survey of subscribers, finding that although more than 80% were
satisfied overall with their service, about a quarter said the network
speed was not as fast as they had expected. Because the measured speeds varied so much, a simple league table of ISP speeds is difficult to make. However, Ofcom released a table which shows comparisons for nine major ISPs, showing which are faster and slower.

#broadbandperf caption { background: #5c86a3; color: #ffffff; font-weight: bold; text-align: left; padding: 0 3px; } #broadbandperf tr.odd{ background: #ecf2f6; } #broadbandperf tfoot td { font-size: 0.8em; } #broadbandperf tfoot tr { background-color:#e5e5e5; } HOW UK ISPS COMPARE ...is slower than... ...is faster than... All services at 8Mbit/s except Virgin Media at 10Mbps Source: Ofcom AOL O2, Orange, Plusnet, Sky, Talktalk, Virgin Media BT O2, Virgin Media Tiscali O2 Virgin Media AOL, BT, Tiscali Orange Virgin Media AOL, Tiscali Plusnet Virgin Media AOL, Tiscali Sky Virgin Media AOL, Tiscali Talktalk Virgin Media AOL, Tiscali Tiscali BT, O2, Orange, Plusnet, Sky, Talktalk, Virgin Media Virgin Media AOL, BT, O2, Orange, Plusnet, Sky, Talktalk, Tiscali "The Ofcom study is important as it quantifies accurately for the first time what consumers have known for a long while - namely that you are extremely unlikely to receive the advertised broadband speed," said Charlie Ponsonby, chief executive of broadband comparison site Simplifydigital. "Also for the first time it makes a robust, like-for-like comparison between broadband providers." However, BT, who ranked lower in the survey, criticised the report. It said the sample size was too small and the results were "unreliable". In particular, it said that because it provided rural broadband its average speed was bound to be slower than other ISPs. "We have many customers whose lines are at the limit of broadband service, with resulting lower average speeds," it said in a statement. The Internet Service Providers' Association (ISPA) also questioned why the report was limited to larger ISPs. "It is disappointing that the research does not reflect the breadth of the industry," it said in a statement. It also pointed out that the number of households unable to get speeds of 2Mbps (megabits per second) or above is far higher, at 19%, than the 11% suggested by the Digital Britain report. This, it said, made the government's challenge to bring the nation up to speed even harder. InvestmentOfcom's strategy and markets developments partner Peter Phillips stressed that the two major contributors to the measured speeds from a given provider were the type of technology that they employed, and the number of subscribers on that provider's network. Typically, broadband provided by a cable connection outpaced that provided by copper wire-based ADSL. However, the number of users on a given network played a strong role, so that a first-generation ADSL network with little traffic could record higher speeds than a newer, ostensibly faster ADSL2+ network. It is critical that people are told when they're new customers what speeds they can reasonably expect Peter Phillips Ofcom Take the BBC online speed test Send us your comments But Mr Phillips said that this makes the broadband market a dynamic one. "The broadband market is continuing to evolve as ISPs invest in their networks, driven by consumers' demand for faster and better broadband," he said. "Those that are investing more are clearly delivering a better service." Ofcom admitted that it would need to carry out such tests again in order to reflect the changing infrastructure and subscriber base, but a spokesman told BBC News that Ofcom currently had no plans to launch another study. For now, the watchdog is looking into assessing the degree to which customers are aware of what they are buying when shopping for an ISP. Of the UK's nearly 200 ISPs, 50 - comprising 95% of the UK's broadband subscribers - have signed up to Ofcom's voluntary code of practice. The agreement encourages ISPs to disclose more than just the "maximum possible" speeds to prospective customers. "It is critical that people are told when they're new customers what speeds they can reasonably expect," said Mr Phillips. Ofcom is currently undertaking a nationwide "mystery shopping" exercise, approaching ISPs as potential customers and assessing whether they quote reasonable speeds. Results of the study are due out in the next few months. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8171074.stm

Virgin Media has
once more taken issue with the internet's broadband speedtest services,
with the cable company seemingly frustrated with the lack of progress
made in adapting for faster services.
It was last year that Virgin Media announced that online connection speedtests
were far from precise, and said that it would continue to monitor the
situation as promises were made about changes to the online tests.
However,
Virgin Media's patience appears to have run out, and the company's
latest release on the matter is a strongly worded rebuke.
Misled consumers
"Virgin
Media today released the results of its latest evaluation of web-based
speedtests which show that consumers are still being misled by
inaccurate results and reports based on unsubstantiated data," said
Virgin Media
"Whilst the latest findings
show an improvement in speedtest performance, there are still many
speedtest and comparison sites which are unable to provide accurate
results for regular speeds such as 10Mb, and are a long way from being
able to check faster speeds of 20Mb and 50Mb.
"Virgin
Media's comprehensive research highlights that millions of consumers,
from all ISPs, have been misled for long periods of time due to 'dirty
data' published by some of the comparison sites or via erroneous
speedtest results presented to consumers."
View Virgin Media's statistics
50 Mb failings
Virgin Media's annoyance comes at a time when it is pushing its 50 Mbps service to the UK, utilising its fibre-optic network.
The major issue seems to be that the higher-speed packages are not being treated fairly by the speedtesters.
"We're
dismayed to find that for years, many speedtest and comparison sites
have been misleading the public on ISP performance, said Virgin Media's
Director of Broadband Jon James.
Rely on the facts
"Consumers
rely on these sites for clear advice and honest results. The fact that
many of them cannot accurately measure speeds of 20Mb, and some cannot
even accurately measure speeds of 10Mb, demonstrates there is a clear
need for more transparency.



"As ultrafast services such as 50Mb become more mainstream, this issue will need to be addressed quickly."
"Many
of these sites profess to be 'experts' and some even generate sales
from broadband providers, so I am sure that consumers would find it
alarming that they are unable to accurately represent speeds
accurately.
"We are pleased, however, that
our campaign has kick-started most of these sites into action and we
will continue to work with those that are non-compliant to get them to
the standard that they need to be," Jon James added.


Response

Michael
Phillips, productdirector of BroadbandChoices.co.uk comments: "We
recognise that there is a requirement to be able to provide accurate
speed tests for broadband customers so that they can compare the speed
they are actually getting from their ISP versus the speed that they are
being charged with confidence."
"Our speed
tester is accurate for measuring speeds up to 8Mb which is the most
popular speed in the UK at present and we are cooperating fully with
Virgin Media to improve our speed tester's ability to accurately
measure the super-fast packages. We believe that collaborating with
ISPs on this issue is the best way to safeguard the interests of
consumers."
"We are encouraged that Virgin
Media is championing accurate speed measurement because, as Ofcom
recently highlighted, the average speed being received by broadband
customers is currently only 49% of that being advertised by ISPs."




http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8171074.stm

To run this experiment, we took a look at some of the most popular sites people visit to test their broadband:­

• Speedtest.net (London)
  
• Speedtest.net (Maidenhead)
  
• Broadband.co.uk
  
• Broadband-Expert.co.uk
  
• ISPReview.co.uk
  
• BroadbandChoices.co.uk
  
• BroadbandWatchdog.co.uk
  
• BroadbandSpeedChecker.co.uk
  
• Thinkbroadband.com
  
• BroadbandGenie.co.uk
  
• Numion.com
  
• Speedchecker.org
  

Problems with web-based speed tests themselves…








If you log on to a number of different speed test sites one after
the other, its likely you will get very different results – try them!
More often than not, these varying results are caused by the following
problems:Most sites use servers that are on different parts of
the internet and you have no idea ‘how far’ that test has to travel to
reach you. We have no control over the quality of other provider's
networks, so tests that cross onto other parts of the internet don’t
give very accurate results on how your connection is
performing. In this case the test is merely establishing how fast data
is able to travel from one part of the internet to another, not how
fast the connection speed we are delivering is.Many tests are
run from highly congested servers. That’s either because the speed test
sites are so popular, or because the server is just not up to the job
of providing multiple speed test results at the same time.This
can cause a serious bottleneck at the test server site and end up
giving poor results. This can especially be a problem with highly
publicised test sites where too many users are attempting to run tests
at the same time. This causes ‘traffic jams’ at the server end – so in
the same way that internet speeds can slow down at peak times, the test
results can also suffer from this slow down too.Most tests sites
do not handle large profiles (high speeds) correctly. There are a
number of factors which can contribute to this issue depending on the
technology used for testing:

• Small ‘payload’ tests:
  To measure speeds most sites upload and download small files to
  computers, called ‘payload’. If the files are too small and the user
  has a very high broadband speed, these can simply be uploaded or
  downloaded too quickly and mess up the results.
  
• Server speeds:
  We were surprised to find that that some sites can’t actually send data
  fast enough to run a real test on our 20Mb service. If a site can only
  upload to you at 10Mb, then you’ll never get a result above that – and
  you might never know either, as it’s not something they mention.
  

Don’t forget there could be a problem with the computer you are testing from!Here are a few of the reasons that your own computer could be responsible for slow speed test results.

• Mis-configured Network Interface Card (NIC):
  Your NIC is the hardware in your PC that you plug your Ethernet lead
  into, which connects you to the internet. Sometimes this needs its
  settings adjusted to maximise its performance and enable it to make the
  most of high speed broadband connections.
  
• Wireless: You
  may be getting 20Mb to your router but you may sacrifice speed in order
  to be wire free – often because of the number of walls the signal has
  to pass through or because of electrical interference from other
  equipment in your home.
  
• USB Connections: USB connections
  were designed for many different uses and don’t provide as fast speeds
  as Ethernet ports when connecting to the internet.
  
• Multiple Usage:
  If a couple of computers and/or games consoles are using the internet
  at the same time (particularly when downloading or online gaming) you
  are essentially sharing one connection. This means when you run a test
  on one machine the result might be less than you expect as the other
  devices on your network are already using part of your connection.
  
• Programmes Running:
  If you use iTunes or P2P software, like BBC iPlayer or a torrent
  client, these can have a dramatic effect on speed test results. In fact
  any programme running while you carry out a speed test can affect the
  results.
  
• Viruses: You may not even know they’re there,
  but if your computer’s infected then it could be running lots of
  applications without your knowledge – and these will definitely slow
  your speeds down. Everyone using the internet should have our PCguard
  security!
  

For more information on how to boost your broadband speed check out our speed troubleshooting FAQ’s.

50Mbps broadband for £51 a month from Virgin Media







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Today Virgin Media took the wraps off of their new 50Mbps premium broadband service,
which promises to provide the fastest home broadband experience in the
UK yet, and truly unlimited downloads unhindered by any
bandwidth-throttling, traffic-shaping or hidden “unlimited” limits.
Journalists were given the chance to experience the power of 50Mbps
broadband themselves at the press launch where two PCs and a laptop
along with a PlayStation 3 and an Xbox 360 were all running nicely
alongside each other, all sharing the same connection. YouTube videos
buffered quickly, and iPlayer programmes (in high quality) loaded in
next to no time at all.
Virgin Media CEO Neil Berkett was keen to stress that the new
service is not just a premium service aimed at gamers and heavy
downloaders (although it is that as well) but rather “whatever you want
it to be,” something that can be used by everyone in the family for all
sorts of purposes, a sentiment reflected by the surroundings.
Areas of the conference room were mock ups of typical domestic set ups, with the 360 running Halo 3
in what was ostensibly the boys’ bedroom, and a PC with Facebook as the
home page in what was meant to be a social network-addicted teenage
girl’s room.
The ‘lounge’ area of the room housed the laptop and the PS3, which
was running PlayStation Home the Virgin Media spokesman ran his avatar
into the virtual cinema area of Home, and began streaming trailers for
the forthcoming Watchmen movie in HD.
Berkett said that the launch of the 50Mbps service heralded a
“Golden Age” for broadband, and that this was just the beginning of
things to come, with the existing fibre optic network apparently
capable of handling speeds of up to 100Mbps. The upgrades required for
this new premium broadband service will also eventually see more HD TV
content available on-demand.

He also likened the installation of the technology required to
launch 50Mbps services to ‘opening up a new lane on the M25′ meaning
that those customers who’ll want to pay extra for the faster services
will be able to do so, and that the network will become less congested
for Virgin Media customers on the Size: M and Size: L connections.
The new service is available now to some 1.5 million homes within
the Virgin Media cable network, for either £35 (plus £11 line rental)
with the Phone: M weekend calls package, or £51 a month on its own
along with a £50 set up fee which includes an engineer visit and full
installation.
Upgrades for the new service are to be rolled out to roughly 40 per
cent of the 12.6 million homes covered by the Virgin network by the end
of this year, with a complete rollout due to finish sometime in Q2 2009.