BBCi Broadband

Last year, when I was on Eclipse ADSL, the on demand news bulletins were at
256k.

Last term, when I was on my JANet connection in University, the on demand
news bulletins were at 256k.

This vacation, on NTL World's 600k offering, the news bulletins are at 34k.

Am launching through http://www.bbc.co.uk/broadband/ Am I doing something
wrong, or have the BBC taken a concious decision to make the content utterly
unwatchable?

--
Now Playing: 3367. Placebo - [Placebo #10] Swallow [128kbps m4a]

nsj wrote:
> Last year, when I was on Eclipse ADSL, the on demand news bulletins were
> at 256k.
>
> Last term, when I was on my JANet connection in University, the on
> demand news bulletins were at 256k.
>
> This vacation, on NTL World's 600k offering, the news bulletins are at 34k.
>
> Am launching through http://www.bbc.co.uk/broadband/ Am I doing
> something wrong, or have the BBC taken a concious decision to make the
> content utterly unwatchable?

They're 225Kbps for me, using NDO ADSL. Check your connection settings
in your RealPlayer preferences and set them to your connection speed.

"nsj" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:c57tbo$2ov14j$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Last year, when I was on Eclipse ADSL, the on demand news bulletins were
at
> 256k.
>
> Last term, when I was on my JANet connection in University, the on demand
> news bulletins were at 256k.
>
> This vacation, on NTL World's 600k offering, the news bulletins are at
34k.
>
> Am launching through http://www.bbc.co.uk/broadband/ Am I doing
something
> wrong, or have the BBC taken a concious decision to make the content
utterly
> unwatchable?
>

Perhaps NTL want you to watch their TV service and they have limited the
speed?
They also offer a 128K "broadband" so perhaps its to keep it compatible with
that ?

> --
> Now Playing: 3367. Placebo - [Placebo #10] Swallow [128kbps m4a]

nsj <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>Last year, when I was on Eclipse ADSL, the on demand news bulletins were at
>256k.
>
>Last term, when I was on my JANet connection in University, the on demand
>news bulletins were at 256k.
>
>This vacation, on NTL World's 600k offering, the news bulletins are at 34k.
>
>Am launching through http://www.bbc.co.uk/broadband/ Am I doing something
>wrong, or have the BBC taken a concious decision to make the content utterly
>unwatchable?

BBCi only allow make their content available at higher bandwidths to
customers of ISPs that have registered their address-space with the BBC.
I understand that this is intended to prevent customers without the
necessary bandwidth available (e.g. dial-up, smaller cable modems,
less than 512kb ADSL) from trying to access the higher quality content
then being disappointed when it doesn't work. One of the things that
www.adslguide.org.uk will usually tell you is whether each ISP has BBCi
access but for some reason it doesn't say either way for NTL.

When we (InterViVo Networks, www.intervivo.net) recently registered our
customer address space for BBCi access there was no charge and the BBC
just said yes straight away when we explained that our smallest bandwidth
offering was 512kb and that we were using ADSL rather than cable modem. I
know that a wireless ISP who used to operate locally were turned down
when they tried to register for BBCi access so it appears that the BBC
are doing something more than just saying yes to each ISP that asks.

I just tried to check what content was available to me here on a 600kb
NTL cable modem (near Newmarket, so on what used to be the Cambridge NTL
franchise) (it just doesn't feel right having to buy connectivity from
the opposition but ADSL hasn't reached my village yet) but the BBCi site
seems to insist on Realplayer and I don't have that installed on this
Linux box.

Cheers,

Mark.

On Sat, 10 Apr 2004 05:30:54 +0100, nsj <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>This vacation, on NTL World's 600k offering, the news bulletins are at 34k.

do NTL provide the BBCi broadband service via a portal ? In the office
I use Griffin who do provide it and at home Demon who don't. The
result is I get the fast speed in the office and slow at home

http://www.bbc.co.uk/broadband/info/providers.shtml

Phil

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
Mark Turner <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>
> BBCi only allow make their content available at higher bandwidths to
> customers of ISPs that have registered their address-space with the
> BBC. I understand that this is intended to prevent customers without
> the necessary bandwidth available (e.g. dial-up, smaller cable modems,
> less than 512kb ADSL) from trying to access the higher quality content
> then being disappointed when it doesn't work. One of the things that
> www.adslguide.org.uk will usually tell you is whether each ISP has
> BBCi access but for some reason it doesn't say either way for NTL.
>

I notice that PlusNet offer BBCi on all but the cheaper of their ADSL
offerings.

Can can some kind person please write a couple of sentences which explain
exactly what BBCi *is*. Reading the blurb on the PlusNet site doesn't give
me any real idea about just what I would be getting - and whether this is
something I just can't live without!

Many thanks.
--
Cheers,
Tim
______
Please reply to newsgroup. Reply address is Black Hole!

nsj wrote:
> Last year, when I was on Eclipse ADSL, the on demand news bulletins were
> at 256k.
>
> Last term, when I was on my JANet connection in University, the on
> demand news bulletins were at 256k.
>
> This vacation, on NTL World's 600k offering, the news bulletins are at 34k.
>
> Am launching through http://www.bbc.co.uk/broadband/ Am I doing
> something wrong, or have the BBC taken a concious decision to make the
> content utterly unwatchable?
>

Afaik the Broadband news should be 256kbps, BUT if your watching any
kind of localised news content (i.e. reporting scotland) its likely to
be 32kbps or so, due to the narrowminded producers at the BBC's
regional divisions who havent learned about broadband yet

> I notice that PlusNet offer BBCi on all but the cheaper of their ADSL
> offerings.
>
> Can can some kind person please write a couple of sentences which explain
> exactly what BBCi *is*. Reading the blurb on the PlusNet site doesn't give
> me any real idea about just what I would be getting - and whether this is
> something I just can't live without!
>
> Many thanks.
> --
> Cheers,
> Tim
> ______
> Please reply to newsgroup. Reply address is Black Hole!
>

Tim,
I'm watching the BBCi service now. When you click on the link on the PlusNet
home page another window pops up; on the right is the video panel and on the
left are a series of links. When you click on one of the links Real Player
plays the video in the right hand panel. All of the video comes from the BBC
(not from PlusNet).
If you want to see what it looks like in action go to http://news.bbc.co.uk
and then click on the button which says 'watch/listen to BBC news' (at the
top right, just below the search box). This brings up the same panel as the
'BBCi broadband' link on the PlusNet home page.
The content of both is the same (video and audio from BBC news reports which
change throughout the day).

Hope this is helpful

Darran West

David Wade wrote:

> "nsj" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:c57tbo$2ov14j$(E-Mail Removed)...
>
>>Last year, when I was on Eclipse ADSL, the on demand news bulletins were
>
> at
>
>>256k.
>>
>>Last term, when I was on my JANet connection in University, the on demand
>>news bulletins were at 256k.
>>
>>This vacation, on NTL World's 600k offering, the news bulletins are at
>
> 34k.
>
>>Am launching through http://www.bbc.co.uk/broadband/ Am I doing
>
> something
>
>>wrong, or have the BBC taken a concious decision to make the content
>
> utterly
>
>>unwatchable?
>
> Perhaps NTL want you to watch their TV service and they have limited the
> speed?
> They also offer a 128K "broadband" so perhaps its to keep it compatible with
> that ?

The plot thickens. Real Player is told it is on a 768kbps cable connection,
so that shouldn't represent a problem (should it?) NTL seem to be quite
particular about 150k customers upgrading their package to one that will
allow them to consume the broadband content.

Is it worth contacting either the BBC or the ntl:?



--
Now Playing: Stevie Ray Vaughan And Double Trouble - Tightrope [224kbps mp3]

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
Darran West <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>> I notice that PlusNet offer BBCi on all but the cheaper of their ADSL
>> offerings.
>>
>> Can can some kind person please write a couple of sentences which
>> explain exactly what BBCi *is*. Reading the blurb on the PlusNet
>> site doesn't give me any real idea about just what I would be
>> getting - and whether this is something I just can't live without!
>>
>> Many thanks.
>> --
>> Cheers,
>> Tim
>> ______
>> Please reply to newsgroup. Reply address is Black Hole!
>>
>
> Tim,
> I'm watching the BBCi service now. When you click on the link on the
> PlusNet home page another window pops up; on the right is the video
> panel and on the left are a series of links. When you click on one of
> the links Real Player plays the video in the right hand panel. All of
> the video comes from the BBC (not from PlusNet).
> If you want to see what it looks like in action go to
> http://news.bbc.co.uk and then click on the button which says
> 'watch/listen to BBC news' (at the top right, just below the search
> box). This brings up the same panel as the 'BBCi broadband' link on
> the PlusNet home page.
> The content of both is the same (video and audio from BBC news
> reports which change throughout the day).
>
> Hope this is helpful
>
> Darran West

Thanks. Since I don't have broadband of any sort at the moment, the video
comes out as a sequence of stills. Presumably it plays continuously when
you've got the required bandwidth?

Also, if I can can get it (after a fashion) without having broadband at all,
I'm puzzled as to how it comes with some BB offerings but not others. Anyone
care to explain?
--
Cheers,
Tim
______
Please reply to newsgroup. Reply address is Black Hole!