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The Staff of SOH
New Fiber Optic Broadband
- Thread starter IanHenry
- Start date
Navy Chief
Senior Member
No idea of comparative costs, but I'd wager such speeds come at a high cost, eh?
NC
NC
kilo delta
Charter Member 2015
Broadband speeds are p!ss poor here as the service is provided using the old phone line's (I'm getting a max rate of ~6Mbps). My sister lives about a half mile away where fibre broadband is available and has the option of 100Mbps speeds. My broadband package costs more than hers too!!
IanHenry
Charter Member
No this was a "free" upgrade from British Telecom, otherwise I wouldn't have bothered with it. Has anyone else got a problem using the enter key on the SOH forum, mine doesn't work?
Daveroo
Members +
here in my part of northern california...we are deep in ATT country,they offer 3Mbps...6Mbps.....and 10Mbps....but when i asked for the 10Mbps package with a recent upgrade and i was told i couldnt have it due to the lines on the poles here in town....unless the entire area is rewired,were stuck at 6Mbps , i asked about a commercail/business highspeed line like the old TR1 lines..he got a little snooty..and i informed him my father never let his business lic lapse,and the house/property is duel zoned for commercail/residential ( its good to be long time residents,and dad is also on the city board of appeals,and used to be on the grand jury).....so the guy says.....well we could bring a high speed line in,and hook it up to both the house and rv ...i asked without making changes on the poles around the neighborhood? he just walked away at that point
Navy Chief
Senior Member
I read about this recently:
http://www.governing.com/columns/Chattanoogas-Internet-Service-Is-No-Choo-Choo.html
srgalahad
Charter Member 2022
Lots of ways and places to test "speed" - here's one I use:
http://www.speedtest.net/
Try different locations and see how the speed varies
Price, for those who like to compare: http://www.shaw.ca/internet/packages/
http://www.speedtest.net/
Try different locations and see how the speed varies
Price, for those who like to compare: http://www.shaw.ca/internet/packages/
TeaSea
SOH-CM-2014
Does anything that I'm about to write really matter to Ian?
Nope, not in the slightest, so I wish him the joy of his new found cyber power!:salute:
For everyone, there are an awful lot of factors involved in "Bandwidth" beyond simple transmission path....so I would caution anyone in jumping to conclusions regards speed (use of the term "Bandwidth" is a particular pet peeve of mine--I work in the industry).
The biggest factor in most systems is "latency". Since computers talk to one another full duplex, and most transmission systems are not balanced (i.e. they send and receive at the same rates) your actual "conversations" (up and down) are always going to default lower than what you think. So you can have the incredible download speeds, and really good upload speeds, but it really doesn't mean that much (why I hate these meters...they are valuable, but they miss a good part of the story). Transmission speed is not simultaneous (even when you're talking to someone in the room) and that's especially true of TCP/IP systems and networks. Note, we've not gotten to your particular system processing speed, communication speeds, and ability to move data around the board yet. We've also not talked satellite systems, which are a whole other bag of worms.
And while fiber is a wonderful medium for transmission systems, there is nothing inherently better about in terms of transmitting data than regular CAT V or coax. It's advantage is that given long haul communications it provides better bang for the buck, and is generally more resistant to damage and experiences little line loss over distance (don't anyone tell you there isn't any, because that is not true). However, damage a fiber link and watch the fun begin...it's hard to fix, requires specialized equipment, and is not particularly suitable for short runs being more expensive per foot that other options. Otherwise we'd all have fiber modems and converters in our computers.....The U.S. Army for years envisioned using fiber tactically for voice and data comms, but it's rarely done even now.....just too much of a pain.
So, when people tell me their speeds have dramatically increased via the use of fiber I generally have a few questions for them....what I tend to find out is that your Telecom company -- prior to putting the fiber in the ground -- completely re-designed their infrastructure and architecture before they made the major investments....your speed increase generally comes from that....not the medium itself.
Nope, not in the slightest, so I wish him the joy of his new found cyber power!:salute:
For everyone, there are an awful lot of factors involved in "Bandwidth" beyond simple transmission path....so I would caution anyone in jumping to conclusions regards speed (use of the term "Bandwidth" is a particular pet peeve of mine--I work in the industry).
The biggest factor in most systems is "latency". Since computers talk to one another full duplex, and most transmission systems are not balanced (i.e. they send and receive at the same rates) your actual "conversations" (up and down) are always going to default lower than what you think. So you can have the incredible download speeds, and really good upload speeds, but it really doesn't mean that much (why I hate these meters...they are valuable, but they miss a good part of the story). Transmission speed is not simultaneous (even when you're talking to someone in the room) and that's especially true of TCP/IP systems and networks. Note, we've not gotten to your particular system processing speed, communication speeds, and ability to move data around the board yet. We've also not talked satellite systems, which are a whole other bag of worms.
And while fiber is a wonderful medium for transmission systems, there is nothing inherently better about in terms of transmitting data than regular CAT V or coax. It's advantage is that given long haul communications it provides better bang for the buck, and is generally more resistant to damage and experiences little line loss over distance (don't anyone tell you there isn't any, because that is not true). However, damage a fiber link and watch the fun begin...it's hard to fix, requires specialized equipment, and is not particularly suitable for short runs being more expensive per foot that other options. Otherwise we'd all have fiber modems and converters in our computers.....The U.S. Army for years envisioned using fiber tactically for voice and data comms, but it's rarely done even now.....just too much of a pain.
So, when people tell me their speeds have dramatically increased via the use of fiber I generally have a few questions for them....what I tend to find out is that your Telecom company -- prior to putting the fiber in the ground -- completely re-designed their infrastructure and architecture before they made the major investments....your speed increase generally comes from that....not the medium itself.
arrowmaker
SOH-CM-2024
I'm on Virgin Media's basic 30mb package (their cheapest). Whenever I test the line speed I always get a result of 31mb per second, which to be honest is plenty for my needs. I'm not into online gaming so really have no need for 100mb packages.
Just shows how badly our internet in the US sucks. It isn't all that uncommon for speeds in Europe to exceed 100 mbps. I am paying 60 dollars a month for advertised 15 mbps with "turbo boost", which I consider to be absolutely ridiculous. Not to mention I do not get those speeds in the evening during peak usage hours. I wish there was something better than Time Warner here. 
AussieMan
SOH Staff .."Bartender"
Thought it was only me as the same thing is happening over on the ORBX forums as well. BTW I am with Telstra Bigpond here and my download speed is around 75 - 100KB/s. Yes you read it right and I am paying for ADSL 2+. And the part that hurts is that like someone else here I live 100 meters from a friend who is getting 10 - 15MB/s. If I want to download a major file I have to start the download when I am going to bed and hope it is finished when I get up in the morning.
The closest I get to having fiber for an internet connection is when I'm at my desk eating a bowl of Raisin Bran
Yeah me too!
Smoke & Mirrors
That is the kind of 'fiber' I seem to be getting-Smoke & Mirrors. I took a neighbor/friend to get DSL at a brick store (ITT) and the clerk trying to 'sell' her several 'plans' or 'speeds'. There was '768 kb', or '1.5 Mb' or '3.0 Mb' plans. When I asked if the higher speeds were possible AT HER ADDRESS, he said 'sure'. I asked him again to check the address. He said 'there will not be a problem (getting 1.5 Mb speed) at that address'. I then asked him then how come I can't get faster then 768 Kb and that I live in same complex as her. He did not say anything. It was embarassing so I steped outside before I caused a scene. There is no way my neighbor is getting 1.5 Mb (which is what she is paying for and not getting) at $19.99 a month for a year and then $25.99 a month thereafter. 768 Kb 'plan' is $14.99 a month for 1 year and $19.99 there after. She was 'moved up' a year without her realizing it (hehe). Phoney buzzards. They are ALL gougeing us. We need Obama to get involved. It's all the FCC's fault (they 'lobby' those guys-so WE pay through the nose). This is not politics-these are facts, ok? OK!
Chuck B
Napamule
That is the kind of 'fiber' I seem to be getting-Smoke & Mirrors. I took a neighbor/friend to get DSL at a brick store (ITT) and the clerk trying to 'sell' her several 'plans' or 'speeds'. There was '768 kb', or '1.5 Mb' or '3.0 Mb' plans. When I asked if the higher speeds were possible AT HER ADDRESS, he said 'sure'. I asked him again to check the address. He said 'there will not be a problem (getting 1.5 Mb speed) at that address'. I then asked him then how come I can't get faster then 768 Kb and that I live in same complex as her. He did not say anything. It was embarassing so I steped outside before I caused a scene. There is no way my neighbor is getting 1.5 Mb (which is what she is paying for and not getting) at $19.99 a month for a year and then $25.99 a month thereafter. 768 Kb 'plan' is $14.99 a month for 1 year and $19.99 there after. She was 'moved up' a year without her realizing it (hehe). Phoney buzzards. They are ALL gougeing us. We need Obama to get involved. It's all the FCC's fault (they 'lobby' those guys-so WE pay through the nose). This is not politics-these are facts, ok? OK!
Chuck B
Napamule
