just what sort of speeds could NTL provide

[bigsinky]

As above, 1 meg connection going to 1.5meg which i think i comparable to a T1 connection (i stand to be corrected tho). what sort of theoretical speed could NTL pump down the cable line. would the cable modem have to be changed to meet the requirements. what sort of prices would they charge for this service?

cheers

big sinky

[seaneeboy]

That's quite a tough question to answer, as you've got all sorts of constraints there... although remember that your cable has enough bandwidth in it to pump 250 or so digital television/radio channels through it - if you could set it up so that you (and only you) were only using the core network you'd have massive speeds - although fairly pointless as you'd hit a level where you were faster than the rest of the internet, so would have a load of bandwidth going spare

In any case, NTL will not provide you with a connection over 1.5meg, best not to toture yourself, with what could have been, eh?

Here's a related question for y'all though. I've heard a few times that a STB 150k connection will give you an effective 256k connection, as the STB needs at least this to provide interactive... running This test suggested by Paulyoung666 (thanks mate) It looks like i'm only getting between 150-160k... this would suggest something is amiss, however I also realise that as i'm only paying for 150k it's a bit cheeky to start demanding the extra 100 or so k

In any case i'm watching to see what happens on August 1st.

[SOSAGES]

i think the modem can handle 38 megs? - i think mine can anyway and its OLD...
"would the cable modem have to be changed to meet the requirements?"
maybe - depends if it can take it obviously
"what sort of prices would they charge for this service?"
who knows they charge 38quid for 1.5 meg so x that by 30 or so

[BBKing]

If the modem has a 10Mb ethernet port, then 10Mb - USB is about 11Mb. That's quite often the limit of the current hardware, even though the cable itself can deliver way more. The bottleneck isn't necessarily in the most obvious place.

STB 150k is indeed 256k, but they're all going to 300k soon so that difference disappears.

[bigsinky]

just seen the prices for fractional T1 and T3 any beyond for businesses. OUCH!!!! still those speeds would be nice, won't be long i suppose before the world is connected up and we can get these speeds and more for next to nothing. anyone fancy writing a paper on 21st century communications for world populous - the way ahead. imagine the size of the global address list!!!!


cheers

big sinky

[Earwig]

I am sure that within the next year or maybe a little bit longer we are going to see higher speeds just so they can keep up with the competition.

Most people can already get 2MB through ADSL and I myself would drop NTL and go for this but for the fact that my phoneline will take no more than 512kb/s :-(

In London you can now get 6MB through Bulldog and I have also heard rumours that they are to expand further out of london so again, mor competition and speeds will have to go up.

With the rumours of NTL and TELEWEST merging aswell surley speeds will have to go up again as TELEWEST is currently double the speed of NTL. Surley being one company it would make sense to be able to have their range of services available everywhere?

I am fairly happy with the speed I get at the moment and look forward to the 1.5MB in august (Just a few days now :-))

If I had the chioce though I would opt for a higher upload instead of my download. I have great trouble sending large files between members of my family living throughout the country and would benefit greatly from a higher upload. Unfortunatley the monstous price of sdsl would kill me, so perhaps this is an area cable could get in on?? I am sure it would be VERY popular! !

Aye with ya a good idea through NTL for customer relations would be a pick and mix eh, for a cost yeah but say on 1mb you could mix your download to upload speeds to suit your personal usage?


Hey be a great idea i think

[BBKing]

pick and mix eh

Not possible with current technology (how would you bill it?) but nonetheless an excellent idea. Upstream costs more than downstream though, so the maths might not be too straightforward.

[Ignition]

Currently the highest speeds I've seen out of a cable network comparible with ntl's are 10Mbit downstream and 1Mbit upstream from a provider in Canada called Cogeco.

Worth mentioning though that they have soft caps same as ntl and very few people download and upload more than 50 - 60GB/month combined, over 100GB is considered crazy usage there.

Also their subscribers don't moan like crazy when they don't get absolutely maximum speeds all the time. The UK model rather sadly from the point of view of getting higher speeds out there is that everyone can download as much as they want regardless of what they pay, and God help the provider if they actually see some contention while downloading their 200+GB for the month.

[jtwn]

Would it hurt ntl to ever maybe raise the top tier's upload a nudge...maybe 384k or somewhere. So i get the idea from round here that it isnt really financially viable and not a great selling point to people less technically minded (maybe it could be if they did raise it and talked about faster sending of files to friends and such than other isps?), but dont ntl want the customers to get the best experience

[Chrysalis]

60gig limit is very reasonable to me for a 1.5mbit connection, I think ntl need to sort out all their packages to something like this with the traffic limits enforced.

300/128 15 gig month
600/256 30 gig month
1500/384 60 gig month
3000/384 90 gig month

of course there should be an option somewhere with no traffic limit

[ian@huth]

Originally Posted by Chrysalis

60gig limit is very reasonable to me for a 1.5mbit connection, I think ntl need to sort out all their packages to something like this with the traffic limits enforced.

300/128 15 gig month
600/256 30 gig month
1500/384 60 gig month
3000/384 90 gig month

of course there should be an option somewhere with no traffic limit

You can already download more than your suggestions at the moment and still stay within the AUP guidelines.

[jtwn]

Id prefer to not even talk about caps...the seemingly relaxed attitude shown by ntl atm id prefer...

Im all in for the 384 upload though, it sets it more apart from the silver tier and the other majority residential services, it could be a good selling point.

[Joe_Curry]

Im sorry if ive missed this somewhere in the middle of this thread, but what is my current upload bandwidth and what will it be after the upgrade. Im currently on the 150k package so im assuming my upload is 64?

[seaneeboy]

Heya, the maximum upload is 64k on the 150k package - it won't change when the download is increased to 300k.

HTH,
Sean