Boardmad

Surprise surprise…people in the UK still aren’t getting what they thought they would when ordering Broadband. I do sympathise with the ISP’s to some degree here…they’re selling a 2nd rate product over a third-world POTS copper network which in much of the UK predates WWII.
Technology being used in the BT backhaul is ‘just’ keeping Broadband speeds ahead of what people expect nowadays but with news that the internet2 backbone has gone live in the US (University & student faculties only !) at speeds of up to 100Gbps (yes that’s right a 1000 times faster than your normal 100Mbps office network !) and fibre networking delivered to the home the far east for less than we pay per month for ‘Max’ ADSL (there’s a misnomer if ever I heard one !) It’s hardly really surprising that the ‘big six’ are getting their bum’s felt from Ofcom.
Just you don’t expect anything concrete or earth-shattering to arise from this meeting of minds !

The main problem is the marketing guff that the ISP’s get away with selling their products with…”up to 8Mbps” to your average Joe in the street..’Oh well if I get the right kit and turn up the volume then I should get the full speed’ When you then get into the conversation with them trying to explain line length, signal attentuation, copper twisted pair being repaired with Aluminium, lack of capacity in the exchange,  rate-adaptive products, 10 day training periods etc etc they just give up and burble ! Hardly surprising really is it…but then if you were > 4km from the exchange would you be rushing off to Talk Talk to get their great 2Mb service when your mate living 2 street from the exchange gets full speed !?

clipped from news.bbc.co.uk Net firms quizzed on speed limits Bosses at six of the UK’s top net providers are being asked to explain why consumers do not get the broadband speeds firms advertise. The six executives are being questioned by Ofcom’s Consumer Panel which acts as the regulator’s customer champion. The panel wants consumers to get more information so they are not misled about the speed they sign up for. The panel also has proposals on what net firms should do to improve how they sell and advertise broadband.