Despite usually getting between 4-6MB on speed tests, it's very rare
that I can exceed 2MB download speeds.

I'm on plusnet, but I'm wondering if that's _not_ the problem. It was
even worse when I was on virgin. Now, 2MB is acceptable to me, to tell
the truth, but I find the whole "8MB" advertising very misleading. I'm
in central Manchester- given the number of users on this exchange, it's
no surprise that things are always less than what I should be able to
get.

Maybe UK ISP's should just admit that they can't provide the service
they claim?

Does anyone in central Manchester consistently get high download speeds?

Thought not...

--
(*) ... of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate
http://www.davidhorne.net - real address on website
"Abominable, loyal, blind, apparently subservient."
Pres. Carter on Pres. Blair- May, 2007

"David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*)" <d4g4h4@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
news:1hzwv17.sqxhhk141qytxN%d4g4h4@yahoo.co.uk...
They advertise "up to 8mb". Most of the time it is down top distance to the
exchange.

If you are syncing at 4-6mb and only downloading at 2mb it sounds more like
you have a stuck profile.

steeler <nospam@nomail.com> wrote:

No, I don't- my profile is 6500k. I can download at faster speeds in the
early morning, and even sometimes during the day. It's just very busy,
that's all.

--
(*) ... of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate
http://www.davidhorne.net - real address on website
"Abominable, loyal, blind, apparently subservient."
Pres. Carter on Pres. Blair- May, 2007

"David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*)" <d4g4h4@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
news:1hzwyt1.qkgud1k73ilvN%d4g4h4@yahoo.co.uk...

Why Bother asking the question in the first place?

You`ve just answered your own question, maybe your a politician??

Meggahurtz <nobody@here.com> wrote:

Because even with the "up to" I think it's misleading. I think the
advertising should be changed if people can't realistically expect the
speed their line is capable of...

--
(*) ... of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate
http://www.davidhorne.net - real address on website
"Abominable, loyal, blind, apparently subservient."
Pres. Carter on Pres. Blair- May, 2007

In message <1hzx2ws.ewichu78f4xlN%d4g4h4@yahoo.co.uk>
at 18:49:22 on Mon, 18 Jun 2007, "David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*)"
<d4g4h4@yahoo.co.uk> wrote
--
Mike News

Mike <turnpike_user@turnpike_REMOVEuser.THIScomANDTHIS> wrote:

Uh, well done.

--
(*) ... of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate
http://www.davidhorne.net - real address on website
"Abominable, loyal, blind, apparently subservient."
Pres. Carter on Pres. Blair- May, 2007

"David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*)" <d4g4h4@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
news:1hzx2ws.ewichu78f4xlN%d4g4h4@yahoo.co.uk...

"8mb if you are near to an uncongested exchange on an ISP with spare
capacity at all times of the day" is a bit less catchy.

David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*) wrote:
So it's your ISPs fault that the sites you go to haven't got adequate
uplink capacity to cope when it's busy then???

It's not as simple as you are trying to make out.....

steeler <nospam@nomail.com> wrote:

Exactly.

--
(*) ... of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate
http://www.davidhorne.net - real address on website
"Abominable, loyal, blind, apparently subservient."
Pres. Carter on Pres. Blair- May, 2007

Kraftee <kraftee@b&e-cottee.me.uk> wrote:

It is. The vast majority of UK broadband users don't get 8mb service.
The broadband advertisers give the impression that they have a better
service than, in fact, they can provide.

--
(*) ... of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate
http://www.davidhorne.net - real address on website
"Abominable, loyal, blind, apparently subservient."
Pres. Carter on Pres. Blair- May, 2007

David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*) wrote:
All ISP's quote upto XMbps, except the cable co who does but just
can't/don't supply it, so there isn't any mis-selling there. As for
thru put as I've already stated a lot of it will depend not on your
download speed but the upload speed of the site which you are
using/downloading from. Added to that the fact that all DSL services
are sold as a contended service ( you share the service with others)
if someone out there is soaking up all the bandwidth the whose problem
is that?

No I'm not making excuses for ANY ISPs (& there are some who have
acted very badly in the way they have treated their users, even to the
point of mis-selling services & then denying it) but it isn't (&
never has been) as simple as you are trying to make it.

In 7 years of dealing with the actual casualties of DSL I have only
met one user who was mis-sold their service & that was because good
old BT put them on the wrong exchange (yes 2 exchanges fed 1 pole &
they picked the wrong one for him, effectively denying him any service
at all)

Kraftee <kraftee@b&e-cottee.me.uk> wrote:

I'm saying it is as simple as that. BTW, I'm actually quite happy with
the broadband service I have, but my point is it's the same as what I
had with old-fashioned 2MB- with the exception of a few less busy times
where it's a bit faster. This is a general trend BTW, that the ISP's
simply can't keep up with the demand, and in the increase in usage. They
should maybe concentrate less on advertising their potential speed and
more on creating more capacity.

--
(*) ... of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate
http://www.davidhorne.net - real address on website
"Abominable, loyal, blind, apparently subservient."
Pres. Carter on Pres. Blair- May, 2007

David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*) wrote:
Now you're making sense, many ISPs are bringing online more/bigger
pipes, but all that does is move any choke point (if there is one)
further up the route to a carrier not an ISP. Gridlock on the
superhighway has been predicted for years now, but has never quite
happened

Capacity is always going play catch up to demand & any logically
thinking, profitable ISP will try to squeeze every last bit out of
what they already have before paying for that non cheap extra pipe or
2 or 3.

Mike wrote:
Which could help.

More info here:-
http://www.plus.net/support/broadban...in_guide.shtml

Rgds,

--
|Bob Pullen Broadband Solutions for
|Support Home & Business @
|PlusNet plc. www.plus.net
+------ PlusNet - The smarter way to Internet! ------

David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*) wrote:
Hi,

Is that the profile that's returned when running the BT Speedtest?
http://speedtester.bt.com/

What's your exchange contention like?
http://usertools.plus.net/exchanges/

Kind Rgds,

--
|Bob Pullen Broadband Solutions for
|Support Home & Business @
|PlusNet plc. www.plus.net
+------ PlusNet - The smarter way to Internet! ------

PlusNet Support Team <support@plus.net> wrote:

Yes.

"BT is reporting that some of the virtual paths at this exchange are not
operating within BT Wholesale's planning guidance, although they are
still operating within the product specification.

At busy times, your ADSL connection may operate at a reduced speed,
although not all customers on your exchange may be affected. You should
only contact support if there is no current ETA date set.

The ETA fix time is: 07 Jun 07

Record last updated: 28 May 07"

This has been the case for ages. I can download at faster speeds
depending on how congested it is. When I lived in the suburbs, I was
solidly at 2MB. This, I'm afraid, is just reality.

--
(*) ... of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate
http://www.davidhorne.net - real address on website
"Abominable, loyal, blind, apparently subservient."
Pres. Carter on Pres. Blair- May, 2007