About to get Broadband in our area

I have been informed that Broadband will be available in my area on the 27th
April.
Is there any tips or advice for a new subscriber.
Is it straightforward and easy?
Blair

On Thu, 7 Apr 2005 07:39:17 UTC, "Blair"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> I have been informed that Broadband will be available in my area on the 27th
> April.
> Is there any tips or advice for a new subscriber.

Don't assume you have to buy it from BT (even though they would like you
to think so). In reality, most people *don't* use BT, although their BT
phone line is still used.

Look at:

http://www.adslguide.org

--
[ 7'ism - a condition by which the sufferer experiences an inability
to give concise answers, express reasoned argument or opinion.
Usually accompanied by silly noises and gestures - incurable, early
euthanasia recommended. ]

"Blair" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:d32o37$qng$(E-Mail Removed)...
>I have been informed that Broadband will be available in my area on the
>27th
> April.
> Is there any tips or advice for a new subscriber.
> Is it straightforward and easy?
> Blair

Don't expect the speed you are paying for!
Expect half of it....

On Thu, 7 Apr 2005 10:18:11 +0100, "James"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>
>"Blair" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>news:d32o37$qng$(E-Mail Removed)...
>>I have been informed that Broadband will be available in my area on the
>>27th
>> April.
>> Is there any tips or advice for a new subscriber.
>> Is it straightforward and easy?
>> Blair
>
>Don't expect the speed you are paying for!
>Expect half of it....
>

Most people do seem to be getting pretty well what they are paying
for.
--
Alex Heney, Global Villager
Don't hate yourself in the morning - sleep till noon.

To reply by email, my address is alexATheneyDOTplusDOTcom

"Alex Heney" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Thu, 7 Apr 2005 10:18:11 +0100, "James"
> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>>
>>"Blair" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>>news:d32o37$qng$(E-Mail Removed)...
>>>I have been informed that Broadband will be available in my area on the
>>>27th
>>> April.
>>> Is there any tips or advice for a new subscriber.
>>> Is it straightforward and easy?
>>> Blair
>>
>>Don't expect the speed you are paying for!
>>Expect half of it....
>>
>
> Most people do seem to be getting pretty well what they are paying
> for.

My parents are with Force9 (PlusNet). They recently had their line upgraded
from 512K to 2M. I did a speed test (from Force9's portal) on a Saturday
afternoon when you might expect a fair amount of contention. And the data
transfer came out at about 190-200 KB/sec - pretty much what you'd expect
for 2 Mb/sec.

When I get broadband in a few days' time I'm going to taking speed readings
at various times of day to see how much it really does fluctuate because of
contention.

I can recommend Force9: I've had good service over dial-up for the past few
years and if I have the same quality of service over broadband as my parents
have, I'm be very pleased. The cost of broadband is very competitive:
£15/month for 2MB with 1GB/month bandwidth limit or about £20/month for
"unlimited" (ie about 30GB/month) bandwidth limit.[*]


One recommendation I'd make if you're about to get broadband: either get a
router (which has a built-in firewall) or else get a good software firewall
(eg Norton) and keep your anti-virus and anti-spyware programs up-to-date.


[*] I use the commonly-used term "bandwidth" although technically that word
relates to data transfer rate (ie amount of usage of a frequency spectrum)
rather than quantity of data downloaded.

Blair wrote:
> I have been informed that Broadband will be available in my area on the 27th
> April.
> Is there any tips or advice for a new subscriber.
> Is it straightforward and easy?
> Blair
>
>

Dear Mr Blair,

You will probably have much more time to surf the internet on your
broadband connection *after* 5th May.

You might want to hold off a few days.

On Thu, 7 Apr 2005 10:18:11 +0100, "James"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>
>"Blair" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>news:d32o37$qng$(E-Mail Removed)...
>>I have been informed that Broadband will be available in my area on the
>>27th
>> April.
>> Is there any tips or advice for a new subscriber.
>> Is it straightforward and easy?
>> Blair
>
>Don't expect the speed you are paying for!

bear in mind you dont pay for a guaranteed speed, you pay for a
contended bandwidth, and anyway performance depends on both your end
and the rest of the internet and remote machine.

>Expect half of it....

FWIW on ntl broadband I get 2Mb most of the time but it becomes much
slower during early evenings when all the kiddies are online gaming
and downloading p2p and pron.

"Blair" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:d32o37$qng$(E-Mail Removed)...
> I have been informed that Broadband will be available in my area on the 27th
> April.
> Is there any tips or advice for a new subscriber.

Buy a router - wired or wired+wireless


> Is it straightforward and easy?

Yes - depending on your telephone line. If your have a long/marginal phone
line, then you maybe in for some extra hassle.

--

Michael Chare