My internet speed: very unhappy

ROAD_DOGG33J · Aug 10, 2010

That was just the closest Speedtest server.

Famine · Aug 10, 2010

GT_Prologue5
I know this. But actually, no that's the server it told me I was currently running on. From Ontario. Other than this I don't know much about computers.

Speedtest.net measures your ability to upload and download (and the latency - or "ping" - of this request) a specific test file. In order to do this it requires servers which hold the test file, preferably dedicated just to this task.

The recommended server for you to conduct this test, based on the physical location of your IP address (which may not be the physical location of your computer) was the server in Ontario. The server in Ontario has nothing at all to do with your internet service provider.

TB · Aug 10, 2010

But the closest/recommended server isn't necessarily the fastest/most consistent. It want's me to use Grand Forks but I always opt for Chicago.

G.T · Aug 10, 2010

As others have said, it's all mainly dependant on how far are you are from the phone exchange.

I am on Virgin and get the 10meg I'm supposed to get, but I have a friend who's in an area so clogged with Virgin Media users he only got up to 2 meg on a 20 meg connection, with a HORRIBLE ping so he could do absolutely nothing online without lagging out.

Virgin told him that upgrading to 50 meg may improve things (trying to get money out of us I thought!), and it did, only slightly. Apparently the more expenive package you choose the higher piority your account becomes to get more bandwidth. But I don't know if that works for other providers.

So all in all, you're probably going to get that low "up to" speed no matter what you do. Changing providers maybe the only option, but then it won't be much of an improvement or you'll end up with something worse...

ExigeEvan · Aug 10, 2010

G.T
As others have said, it's all mainly dependant on how far are you are from the phone exchange.

I am on Virgin and get the 10meg I'm supposed to get, but I have a friend who's in an area so clogged with Virgin Media users he only got up to 2 meg on a 20 meg connection, with a HORRIBLE ping so he could do absolutely nothing online without lagging out.

Virgin told him that upgrading to 50 meg may improve things (trying to get money out of us I thought!), and it did, only slightly. Apparently the more expenive package you choose the higher piority your account becomes to get more bandwidth. But I don't know if that works for other providers.

So all in all, you're probably going to get that low "up to" speed no matter what you do. Changing providers maybe the only option, but then it won't be much of an improvement or you'll end up with something worse...

I don't think it's the density of users that's his issue, probably his connection line. I've lived in a high-VM density area (they do 9month contracts for students) and we maintained near our 10mb connection constantly but that's because we were in a Fibre Optic area.

kikie · Aug 10, 2010

I'm pleased with the result.

GT_Prologue5 · Aug 10, 2010

Now that's fast. And thanks for the heads up Famine. I'm not great with computer talk, all I know about them is how to plug it in and make it work.

By now I guess I'm just messing around cause I got nothing better to do. I need to stiop.

G.T · Aug 10, 2010

ExigeEvan
I don't think it's the density of users that's his issue, probably his connection line. I've lived in a high-VM density area (they do 9month contracts for students) and we maintained near our 10mb connection constantly but that's because we were in a Fibre Optic area.

Yeah it's probably the connection line.

My mate's issue was Virgin Media's servers in the area couldn't keep up with the demand, haha. They said they upgraded them, and it improved the speed by like 0.5 meg. :lol:

crooky369 · Aug 10, 2010

Jondot
Eeexactly, and some companies just aren't set up to deal a stable connection. Tiscali used to be the worst offenders for it, and now they've merged into TalkTalk who I can only assume are even worse. We've had BT broadband for something like 3 years and it's been excellent - even if the company its self is hateful. The only issues I've had with it have (as it turns out) been down to the router. It'd be nice to see O2 behave in a similar away - I seem to remember Be getting excellent reviews prior to the O2 takeover, so let's hope it continues.

I use Tiscali and when I used to use their DNS servers I had to reset my router every week or two and every 2-3 months get downtime. I've switched my DNS addresses to to the Opendns ones and it's been fine ever since. 👍

Max Powers · Aug 10, 2010

Mine has always been pretty good, especially for a wireless connection. I think a big part of it is that our ISP is located in the small town that I live in, and it has nowhere near the amount of subscribers as Verizon or Comcast does around here.

Jondot · Aug 11, 2010

ExigeEvan
I don't think it's the density of users that's his issue, probably his connection line. I've lived in a high-VM density area (they do 9month contracts for students) and we maintained near our 10mb connection constantly but that's because we were in a Fibre Optic area.

I think you're just well off in Swansea. I've heard Virgin is pretty dreadful around the Leeds student areas, so I probably wouldn't have gone with them even if our building was wired up for it. Well that and my flatmate's dad works for O2, ha.

crooky369
I use Tiscali and when I used to use their DNS servers I had to reset my router every week or two and every 2-3 months get downtime. I've switched my DNS addresses to to the Opendns ones and it's been fine ever since. 👍

My problem with them was that at about 7PM everyday they'd simply flick a switch and block a large number of online gaming ports. Well supposedly anyway, they (of course) denied it but there were hundreds of users with the same issue. But deliberately or not it was bloody irritating.

Dracwolley · Aug 17, 2010

Keep in mind, this is on an "up to" 20Mbp/s connection.

LeftyWright69 · Aug 20, 2010

staniland
BT says i get **upto** 24mbs, but as you can see im getting 3.37... anyone else have issues with BT and did you get it resolved?

I wish I was having as bad a day as you were........ lol

This trash cost me $40 / mo., It sukz to be in the country side..... :banghead:

Seismica · Sep 5, 2010

Famine
If you go here and tap in your phone number (more accurate) or postcode (less accurate), BT will tell you what the maximum speed they think your line can support is. We have an "up to 8Mb" package with PlusNet, BT rate our line to 1.5Mb, my router reports 1.56Mb and Speedtest.net give us 1.2Mb to Manchester.

Sam Knows is also terribly good if you're into tech details. Essentially, if many/most/all ISPs listed under the LLU section (Local Loop Unbundled) are checked as being able to provide you a service, you can expect to be able to get higher speeds than if many/most/all are crossed - a non-LLU BT exchange cannot provide speeds higher than 8Mb at the exchange itself, never mind 5km away. Our exchange is, on the whole, a non-LLU exchange, though Be. are unbundled and we may be able to receive an "up to 24Mb" service from them (if we lived on the exchange).

I just checked the BT site and they said the download speed I can expect is 0.512Mb/s (Yes, Megabits). :yuck:

I live less than a mile from the exchange. That's disgraceful in my opinion. Especially when we only get that speed on a good day.

I also checked that other site and it appears as though Sky and Be have access to LLU in this area. I know with Be/02 at least, that we would get far faster broadband, as my mate who enjoys 8Mb/s likes to remind me.

But did my mum listen? Oh no, she wanted to go with AOL. Even though they're infact more expensive than Be/02. Oh well, i'm off to university in less than 2 weeks, I wonder what the internet is like there...

My internet speed: very unhappy

ROAD_DOGG33J

Famine

GTP Editor, GTPEDIA Author

TB

Space Lord

G.T

ExigeEvan

kikie

I'm here

GT_Prologue5

G.T

crooky369

Max Powers

Jondot

Dracwolley

LeftyWright69

Seismica

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