Speeds in UK versus speeds in N.America

I am a member of a YahooGroup and the discussion got round to download
speeds and here are a couple of comments ..the first from a guy in
America ( I believe) and the other from a Canadian .
Looks like us Brits have a long way to go to catchup.

(1)
U-verse is ATT's trademark name for its fiber optic to the house
service. I've had the Verizon FiOS fiber optic for a year now
with the 15,000 Kbps download speed. It is indeed very nice. I can
download 8 to 10 separate videos or segmented video files at the
same time and each will download at between 2000 Kbps and 600 Kbps
depending on time of day and traffic.

(2)
Of course, time of day AND any traffic control or throttling at the
intended destination server (or the download retrieval point) will
offset even the fastest connections. I use cable broadband, which in
Canada is typically very fast anywhere across the country with a
standard connection. Speakeasy reports over 6 Mbps down to any of its
test sites, and 500 to 700 Kbps from west to east coasts. I typically
download several clips at a time, using multiple pipelines on Firefox,
taking only a few minutes for the very largest of video files.

 

Your point being? Why should BT invest hundreds/billions of there money in
the network and then be forced to allow other OLO's equal access to it. I'm
not a BT lover but can see why fibre has yet to be deployed, unless other
companys help out with the cost of fibre to the cab it's still gonna be a
long way off.
How much porn does your american friend need to download anyway?

Hugh

 

You neglected to mention that broadband FTTH in the USA is exempt from
unbundling following the FCC's Triennial Review.

"Which is Nice"

 

This is NOT widely available.

Here's what's more typically available ....
http://www22.verizon.com/content/consumerdsl/plans/all+plans/all+plans.htm

Hmmm ... 768kbps or 3Mbps. Makes BT's Max look fast.

The trouble with all these 'comparisons' is that people 'cherry pick' to
give the impression that suits their agenda.

Graham

 

Yep - that's about the strength of it as far as US DSL is concerned.
Only when you're talking cable are faster speeds possible.
Pretty similar situation to the UK really - but we have ADSL Max (and
DSL2/DSL2+ in some places) that give much faster speeds over copper.

George

 

I get more than that with Sky. I downloaded a large file a couple of
days back and got 1.36MB/sec...