Fast braodband service availability

I'm moving house next week and, up until today, I thought that my new home
was good for ADSL. It now turns out that RADSL is the best available (

I'm used to 2MB and do NOT want to go to a 512 service which will concede
the already-insufficient 256 upstream speed to maintain an insufficient
downstream speed. I use lots of FTP, http, remote desktop and run an Apache
web server too.

The locally-available cable company is NTL. Their service and reputation
appears to be diabolical, their max speed is 1.5MB (half what competitor
Telewest offers curiously - and Telewest isn't available to me) and they cap
this to 1MB/day - this seems totally customer-unfriendly. The only other
option I can find for broadband at the new address is the BT RADSL product
mentioned above.

Does anyone know of any broadband product or service which will offer me
something along the lines of 2MB down and 1MB up (or 512MB up), from ANY
provider via ANY means, keeping cost below £80/month, which might suit given
these conditions? I'd be happier with a DSL service compared with a cable
service, but such products just don't seem to be coming through via any
route.

TIA.

"JustMe" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:5mkBc.17657$(E-Mail Removed)
> Does anyone know of any broadband product or service which will offer
> me something along the lines of 2MB down and 1MB up (or 512MB up),
> from ANY provider via ANY means, keeping cost below £80/month, which
> might suit given these conditions? I'd be happier with a DSL service
> compared with a cable service, but such products just don't seem to
> be coming through via any route.

It would help if you stated what part of the country are you moving too ?

Regards
Sunil

On Sun, 20 Jun 2004 18:41:42 +0100, "JustMe" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>I'm moving house next week and, up until today, I thought that my new home
>was good for ADSL. It now turns out that RADSL is the best available (

RADSL _is_ DSL. Just a version that will work with the quality of
your line.

>I'm used to 2MB and do NOT want to go to a 512 service

Tough, that's what you can get. Typical Briitish attitude, whinging
that they want the the moon-on-a-stick, while wanting to pay
bugger-all for it.


>The locally-available cable company is NTL. Their service and reputation
>appears to be diabolical, their max speed is 1.5MB (half what competitor
>Telewest offers curiously - and Telewest isn't available to me) and they cap
>this to 1MB/day - this seems totally customer-unfriendly.

NTL is fine. If you want more than their comsumer offering, then be
prepared to pay for it.


>Does anyone know of any broadband product or service which will offer me
>something along the lines of 2MB down and 1MB up (or 512MB up), from ANY
>provider via ANY means

Leased lines

> keeping cost below £80/month,

No, but if your ftp/remote desktop/other crap is so important, you
won't want to compromise on the cost.

On Sun, 20 Jun 2004 18:41:42 +0100, "JustMe" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>I'm moving house next week and, up until today, I thought that my new home
>was good for ADSL. It now turns out that RADSL is the best available (

lack of research, bit of a cock-up there old boy.

>I'm used to 2MB and do NOT want to go to a 512 service which will concede
>the already-insufficient 256 upstream speed to maintain an insufficient
>downstream speed.

The 256k upstream rarely if ever is reduced in practice on RADSL, and
it is never reduced in order to maintain the 512 as the up and down
sit in different frequency ranges. In other words RADSL just allows
for upstream speed reductions because the upstream is the biggest
constraint.

Phil
--
spamcop.net address commissioned 18/06/04
Come on down !

> I'm used to 2MB and do NOT want to go to a 512 service which will concede
> the already-insufficient 256 upstream speed to maintain an insufficient
> downstream speed. I use lots of FTP, http, remote desktop and run an Apache
> web server too.

Could you ask NTL if they offer any business packages with a less strict
data cap ?

--
Please add "[newsgroup]" in the subject of any personal replies via email
--- My new email address has "ngspamtrap" & @btinternet.com in it ;-) ---

"Sunil Sood" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> "JustMe" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:5mkBc.17657$(E-Mail Removed)
> > Does anyone know of any broadband product or service which will offer
> > me something along the lines of 2MB down and 1MB up (or 512MB up),
> > from ANY provider via ANY means, keeping cost below £80/month, which
> > might suit given these conditions? I'd be happier with a DSL service
> > compared with a cable service, but such products just don't seem to
> > be coming through via any route.
>
> It would help if you stated what part of the country are you moving too ?
>
> Regards
> Sunil

Sorry, should've specified: Salford, Lancashire.

"Woof" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Sun, 20 Jun 2004 18:41:42 +0100, "JustMe" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
> >I'm moving house next week and, up until today, I thought that my new
home
> >was good for ADSL. It now turns out that RADSL is the best available (
>
> RADSL _is_ DSL. Just a version that will work with the quality of
> your line.
>
> >I'm used to 2MB and do NOT want to go to a 512 service
>
> Tough, that's what you can get. Typical Briitish attitude, whinging
> that they want the the moon-on-a-stick, while wanting to pay
> bugger-all for it.

Err, who said anything about paying bugger-all? £80/month for 2MB down and
512 KB up would be more expensive than any other domestic service I've seen
listed. And I do NOT want any webspace, mail, Usenet servers - all I need is
the actual connection. I'd say I'm willing to pay OVER the odds for such a
service, were it available - and that's the source of my question. I don't
want the moon on a stick (that's Stuart Lee, I think you'll find), but I do
want fast broadband. If I were a mile closer to the exchange, I'd have
dozens of options for a fraction of the price I'm willing to pay. Are you
sure that it's me who has the attitude?

> >The locally-available cable company is NTL. Their service and reputation
> >appears to be diabolical, their max speed is 1.5MB (half what competitor
> >Telewest offers curiously - and Telewest isn't available to me) and they
cap
> >this to 1MB/day - this seems totally customer-unfriendly.
>
> NTL is fine. If you want more than their comsumer offering, then be
> prepared to pay for it.

Perhaps you could be more specific: who would you suggest? The price for
their service isn't expensive, but their service quality is poor. As I
stated, I'd be happy to pay more than twice the price of their top (1.5MB
down) offering - £35/month, for the right service. I don't feel confident in
NTL's service and their product is peversly lacking compared to the ADSL
competition who are restricted by the products that BT wholesale make
available. I'm not familiar with the leased-line market but suspect that
this *is* more than I'd be willing to spend. NTL don't list their business
prices on their website and their sales desk were closed today, so I asked
here P

> >Does anyone know of any broadband product or service which will offer me
> >something along the lines of 2MB down and 1MB up (or 512MB up), from ANY
> >provider via ANY means
>
> Leased lines
>
> > keeping cost below £80/month,
>
> No, but if your ftp/remote desktop/other crap is so important, you
> won't want to compromise on the cost.

You know, you might have some useful knowledge to share, but it's hard to
tell through the derision and patronising arrogance that you display. The
services are important to me and I need them at home. You don't know me, my
circumstances or my requirements yet you judge my requirements to be "crap"!
Can you offer up any useful information? Who can you recommend who offers
leased lines to domestic addresses? URLs? Any products that you know are
good which fit my criteria? What would I expect to pay?

And yes, I have heard of Google - it's recommendations and advice from those
with experience I'm asking here.

> >I'm moving house next week and, up until today, I thought that my new
home
> >was good for ADSL. It now turns out that RADSL is the best available (
>
> lack of research, bit of a cock-up there old boy.

I know, I know! Only available method of research prior to purchase was a
postcode check and this came back positive. I played the odds that this was
OK and I lost: only got the telephone number (and hence the ability to check
the specific line) today, which is when I found out.

> >I'm used to 2MB and do NOT want to go to a 512 service which will concede
> >the already-insufficient 256 upstream speed to maintain an insufficient
> >downstream speed.
>
> The 256k upstream rarely if ever is reduced in practice on RADSL, and
> it is never reduced in order to maintain the 512 as the up and down
> sit in different frequency ranges. In other words RADSL just allows
> for upstream speed reductions because the upstream is the biggest
> constraint.

That's reassuring and I might end up with 2 x 512 RADSL connections if I
cannot get anything superior within my budget.

Does anyone know if there are any trials for faster RADSL? Or is this not
feasible given the longer line lengths? As I understand it, BT are rigid in
terms of what service is offered to what line - I mean if I were 20 metres
beyond their ADSL limit and had a very low noise line, is there any chance
of them allowing me to subscribe to an ADSL service?

On Mon, 21 Jun 2004 00:42:55 +0100, "JustMe" <(E-Mail Removed)> strung
together this:

>I don't
>want the moon on a stick (that's Stuart Lee, I think you'll find),

But that's not the moon on a stick is it, it's just a cardboard
cutout.
(I'll get me coat)....
--

SJW
A.C.S. Ltd

"JustMe" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:9mpBc.17766$(E-Mail Removed)
> I know, I know! Only available method of research prior to purchase
> was a postcode check and this came back positive. I played the odds
> that this was OK and I lost: only got the telephone number (and hence
> the ability to check the specific line) today, which is when I found
> out.

If you have only just been allocated the telephone number - its likely that
BT's ADSL checkers have not yet updated themselves and that you are getting
the results of whatever location used to have that number in the past.

As such, you can either wait weeks (up to 6!) to see if the result changes
or you can apply for your desired ADSL speed (2MB?) and ask the ISP to
submit a "manual order" - this bypasses the 1st stage of the ADSL order
process and means that BT Wholesale will actually carry out a line test -
rather than relying on their electronic records.

So try this step before you totally rule out the fact that faster ADSL
services are not available for you - even if the checkers were updated with
your new location, they are not aways accurate (generally conservative) -
i.e. I have a 2MB line (comfortably within the limits) and the checker says
I can't get more than 512K on that very line - in fact it changed after I
got ADSL!

Some ISP's are better at handling "manual orders" than others..

> That's reassuring and I might end up with 2 x 512 RADSL connections
> if I cannot get anything superior within my budget.

As you say - bonded 512 ADSL connections are an alternative.

> Does anyone know if there are any trials for faster RADSL? Or is this
> not feasible given the longer line lengths? As I understand it, BT
> are rigid in terms of what service is offered to what line - I mean
> if I were 20 metres beyond their ADSL limit and had a very low noise
> line, is there any chance of them allowing me to subscribe to an ADSL
> service?

BT decides whether a line is suitable for ADSL on the dB loss of the line -
not its distance from the exchange (though thats often quoted, as its easier
to explain "you are too far from the exchange")

Currently BT are trialling (in 3 locations) an extension of the 512K limit -
the trial is likely to finish in October, when I imagine it will go "live",
barring any unexpected problems.

Currently 1MB and 2MB ADSL products have the same test limit - which, unlike
the 512K limits, hasn't changed since ADSL was introduced in the UK.

BT have stated that they will be using data from the "512K trial" to help
them look at deciding on a new limit for the faster products - especially
the 1MB one.

Regards
Sunil