landroversforever Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 Yup, that is standard practice across the country - no place for the cabinet electronics. In my village they had to put extra cabinets in, the cited the reason being interferance with the kit if it was inside the exchange. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eightpot Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 Bear in mind that all networks are not equal. Internet providers build their own network using a mix of circuits and virtual networks from possibly several providers, linking them with core and edge routers, terminating in a telephone exchange. (Because an ISP delivers service on a BT telephone line does not mean you are in any way using BTs core network, even if they do use some of the core network!) They will often tweak the network by prioritising certain types of traffic through the network- for example giving priority to netflix, so the end user gets a good experience and they can keep end user price down as they dont need the same core capacity or bigger routers to cope. Web browsing traffic doesn't need a high priority through the network, a slight delay between packets isn't noticeable, but a delay in video is. If a web based game relies to an extent on a steady stream of data, putting QoS on your home network won't do squat if traffic is delayed before it even gets to you. In a nutshell, I would start with a better or rather, more appropriate broadband service if a smoother data flow within a web based game is required, and then add a QoS on the router if still needed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CwazyWabbit Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 I'd agree with Eightpot, streamed video services are frequently prioritised by the ISP as well as VOIP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cynic-al Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 I often wondered if they prioritised the speed test websites Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CwazyWabbit Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 They should do, the speed test is supposed to test the speed of your connection to 'the internet' rather than the speed of a connection to a server somewhere on the internet so prioritising that traffic would make the most sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cynic-al Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 Guess that makes sense although it depends if they're trying to prove the capability or the user experience? I get a noticable difference between the bt wholesale speed test and the Web based ones, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CwazyWabbit Posted March 11, 2016 Share Posted March 11, 2016 The problem is that the ISP can only really control your connection to the internet, once you are being routed across the internet to some speed test web server they don't have a massive amount of control unless they happen to own the links all the way to said web server (I am over simplifying) and these links are also shared by many other users which of course impacts on your performance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRecklessEngineer Posted March 11, 2016 Share Posted March 11, 2016 I'm just going to drop this in here: http://aaisp.net/ Andrews & Arnold. They're not cheap, but they will give you the highest speed that's actually possible on your connection - not the one BT says is possible, but what's actually possible with the equipment installed. Also, many other perks. No throttling, and "XKCD/806" compliant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjmt Posted March 11, 2016 Share Posted March 11, 2016 I'm just going to drop this in here: http://aaisp.net/ Andrews & Arnold. They're not cheap, but they will give you the highest speed that's actually possible on your connection - not the one BT says is possible, but what's actually possible with the equipment installed. Also, many other perks. No throttling, and "XKCD/806" compliant. Seconded. Exceptional service in my experience Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted March 11, 2016 Share Posted March 11, 2016 I also find Zen Internet excellent, have been with them for more than 10 years. Multi-award winning just about every year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
=jon= Posted March 11, 2016 Share Posted March 11, 2016 Agreed, the ISP makes a huge difference. If your connection is faster in the middle of the night compared to peak hours, then it's lack of bandwidth somewhere that's an issue, and it's normally the ISP (bandwidth is expensive!)... I was with Zen for a long time and they were excellent, am now with Xilo as they have a deal with TalkTalk - so I have a BT phoneline, TT ADSL via LLU which exits via Xilo's network. It means I can get 15M vs. the 8 I can get on BT, and I don't have to put up with the contended ****show that are TT. Their support is decent too, no special codewords needed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cynic-al Posted March 11, 2016 Share Posted March 11, 2016 I use Zen for hosting at work and the support has always been good, lots of tools for php / wordpress / sql etc too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eightpot Posted March 11, 2016 Share Posted March 11, 2016 Prior to whacking rusty treasure with hammers for a living, I had a nice clean existance working as a technical specialist, creating and selling internet networks for ISP's including all the major companies. It's very much a price led product and the only way to grow your customer base massively is to be cheaper. That means employing a few tricks, lots of compromise and lots of b.s. The cheapest providers connect lots of users to a port (highly contended), under specify the back haul network, contending it further, and use smaller onward connections to the tier 1 & 2 service providers who are actually connected to 'the internet'. They will also use edge routers that retain web page information, meaning they don't have to pass your request to view the bbc homepage through to 'the internet', you just get shown a stored copy of it, plus a dozen other methods to give an illusion of quality. The way data is passed in packets across the network and reassembled at either end means you can get away with high contention most of the time, and who's to know if your email arrived 3 seconds late. High contention contributes to latency though, big gaps between packets, and with a game, skype call or tv show this shows as picture freeze, stuttering or blank gaps. So for best experience with this stuff, my experience has been that ISP margins across the board are very slender, and I'd always spend more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zardos Posted March 11, 2016 Share Posted March 11, 2016 So for best experience with this stuff, my experience has been that ISP margins across the board are very slender, and I'd always spend more. So the classic you get what you pay for And when some providers are offering Broadband for Free (well not actually Free as you have to take their over inflated line rental, which is where all there broadband margin is at nearly twice the wholesale cost of line rental) you probably don't get the best service. I personally pay a lot of money for a top end Virgin Media package but I think I get value for Money as I get over the stated bandwidth it's fairly stable and it enables me to WFH - My VPN connection can achieve rates close to the purchased bandwidth (this cannot be improved by caching but might be prioritised and my frequent multiple way Skype video calls are also OK) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happyoldgit Posted March 11, 2016 Share Posted March 11, 2016 So back in the real world out here where we're linked to the the cabinet a few miles away via bit's of ancient and cobbled together copper wire blowing about between 40 year old posts alongside the lanes we get around: Download speed. 3.98 Mbps.Upload 0.34Ping Latency ms 64.13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CwazyWabbit Posted March 11, 2016 Share Posted March 11, 2016 There's always satellite broadband HOG, you'll get twice that speed. Of course the ping latency will stop people playing online games Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cynic-al Posted March 11, 2016 Share Posted March 11, 2016 We had satellite broadband at work. It was very expensive and just stopped working mid afternoon everyday and was very laggy. We then went onto wireless which piggybacked off another local business which meant our Internet died everytime their cleaner needed a socket for the hoover :/ we then got a line of sight wireless connection which was pretty reliable at 16mb both ways although still a little laggy. Then fttc became available and it was like joining the rest of the world lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retroanaconda Posted March 11, 2016 Share Posted March 11, 2016 I looked at satellite but the cost was prohibitive for what you get. Plus that horrible lag, even when browsing the web it was noticeable. And a big (90cm) dish on the side of the house as well. My ADSL issues were compounded by the fact that the exchange is BT only, not that it would have helped being on a different supplier anyway as 512k was all that exchange (and my line) was able to provide. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qwakers Posted March 11, 2016 Share Posted March 11, 2016 at ip-stream. that means your isp will have no control of you throughput speed or bandwith, and bt WILL throttle you at peak times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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