120M Surprise, surprise the fastest in UK are.........

telfordcable · 31-10-2013, 08:56

I am glad I am TelfordCable, and the fastest broadband in UK are in Telford.

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php...and-speed.html

kwikbreaks · 31-10-2013, 10:00

That appears to be a pretty pointless table to me unless I'm missing some hidden meaning.

**Chris** · 31-10-2013, 10:05

The most useful information in that table is in the final column. It shows how many people are still on less than 3Mb download in each of those towns and cities and reveals the shocking state of Britain's broadband infrastructure. The supply of insanely fast speeds to a tiny minority of people is distorting the average to the point where it's pretty much meaningless.

Kushan · 31-10-2013, 11:10

It always surprises me that my home town (Belfast) rates so well in these things. Normally it's the last to get anything good, but broadband (and cable especially) has been particularly sound there.

qasdfdsaq · 31-10-2013, 11:13

Personally I'd consider the 16% still left on 3Mbps or less (in Edinburgh) to be a pretty small minority myself.

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Kushan

It always surprises me that my home town (Belfast) rates so well in these things. Normally it's the last to get anything good, but broadband (and cable especially) has been particularly sound there.

Probably some kid spamming speedtests on a 10Gbit work connection

Kushan · 31-10-2013, 13:02

It's not just that, it just happens that Northern Ireland in general is pretty good for cable (and presumably FTTC as well). I think of all the regions, it has the highest coverage? From experience, it's pretty well maintained as well. I think that we can probably thank CabelTel for that (Before NTL bought them out).

**Chris** · 31-10-2013, 13:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by qasdfdsaq

Personally I'd consider the 16% still left on 3Mbps or less (in Edinburgh) to be a pretty small minority myself.

Why pick on one result out of a table of 50? The average percentage of people on under 3Mb in that chart is 27. And that's just in the top 50 towns and cities.

More than a quarter of the homes in our best connected cities are on sub-3Mb connections. That's not very good at all, considering that the lowest speed you ever see actually advertised these days is 24Mb and VM are trumpeting the availability of 120Mb.

Kushan · 31-10-2013, 13:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris

Why pick on one result out of a table of 50? The average percentage of people on under 3Mb in that chart is 27. And that's just in the top 50 towns and cities.

More than a quarter of the homes in our best connected cities are on sub-3Mb connections. That's not very good at all, considering that the lowest speed you ever see actually advertised these days is 24Mb and VM are trumpeting the availability of 120Mb.

I haven't seen anyone advertise "up to" 24Mb in a while now. Didn't the ASA slap them all on the wrist for this? I usually see up to 16mbit these days.

**Chris** · 31-10-2013, 13:47

Point taken ... Though its hardly an improvement, is it, given the reality for far too many people. 16Mb would be more than 5x faster than the best speed someone on sub 3 Mb could dream about.

Kushan · 31-10-2013, 13:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris

Point taken ... Though its hardly an improvement, is it, given the reality for far too many people. 16Mb would be more than 5x faster than the best speed someone on sub 3 Mb could dream about.

Yeah absolutely, it doesn't detract from your point at all. The "not-spots" they're talking about could really do with being targeted now. The problem is that it's not cost effective for many.

qasdfdsaq · 31-10-2013, 16:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris

Why pick on one result out of a table of 50? The average percentage of people on under 3Mb in that chart is 27. And that's just in the top 50 towns and cities.

Because that's where I live and hence the only area I care about.

---------- Post added at 16:13 ---------- Previous post was at 16:10 ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris

Point taken ... Though its hardly an improvement, is it, given the reality for far too many people. 16Mb would be more than 5x faster than the best speed someone on sub 3 Mb could dream about.

Well the average speed across the *whole* UK is above 12Mbps now and probably nearer 16.

As for those on sub 3Mb - not necessarily true either. As we keep being reminded, there's still plenty of people on 512k to 2Mbps cable connections simply because they couldn't care less about anything higher. The same applies to ADSL - how many of those on sub 3Mb are on sub 3Mb because they have no other options, and how many are on 10-year-old-or-more contracts that they just see no damn reason to change? Over 98% of the UK have access to 3G, which does >3Mbps in *all* areas (though not necessarily 24/7), yet there's little demand because people seem happy with their <3Mbps ADSL.

Similarly most people on cable opt for the lowest possible package available to them - currently 30Mb - and certainly average speeds would be higher if everyone was on the highest package, but demand simply isn't there.

Simply put, the bottom line is this table represents average speeds of connections that people choose to pay for not the average speeds of the best possible connection available to them.

---------- Post added at 16:23 ---------- Previous post was at 16:13 ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kushan

Yeah absolutely, it doesn't detract from your point at all. The "not-spots" they're talking about could really do with being targeted now. The problem is that it's not cost effective for many.

To be honest most "not spots" could easily be dealt with by the community themselves, with a bit of technical knowledge and minimal investment. We've all heard the great stories about farmers digging up fields and laying their own optical fibre to serve local communities, yet those sorts of cases are isolated and rare, when they should really be the norm.

Setting up a 200Mbps+ wireless link to serve a remote community 50Km away from a decent connection costs a few hundred quid at most, or equivalent to less than a years' line rental for a single subscriber. People really ought to quit whinging and do something about it, given it's so damn easy to do.

**Chris** · 31-10-2013, 16:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by qasdfdsaq

Because that's where I live and hence the only area I care about.<snip> People really ought to quit whinging and do something about it, given it's so damn easy to do.

Wow, the empathy simply drips from your postage ...

Although it is entertaining to hear you suggest that Mr and Mrs Average Villager would find it 'so damn easy' to source, acquire and deploy either fibre or wireless technology.

I know it can be done, my local village has had a mesh network since about 2002 and it continues to thrive despite the eventual equipping of the local exchange for ADSL. But 'so damn easy'? In your slightly nerdy parallel universe, possibly. Out in the real world, somewhat less so.

qasdfdsaq · 31-10-2013, 16:45

If a farmer can do it, as well as bunches of technophobic Scottish islanders, it's pretty easy. If you don't know how to do it yourself, all you have to do is ask one of many people who'll do it for cheap or free.

And surprise surprise, autism and empathy don't go together. Who'd have figured.

**Chris** · 31-10-2013, 16:49

If you're high functioning enough to own the label, you're high functioning enough to edit yourself maybe just a teensy bit. It's not as if the thread's kicked off and you need to post as fast as you can type.

I do know a little about the subject.

General Maximus · 31-10-2013, 18:11

getting back on topic, it is disappointing to see that an area such as Milton Keynes which you would have thought been bang on up to date technlogy wise is the worst in the table with a third of it's population <3mbits. I accept the points Qas made but I wouldn't have thought it was the kind of place that has the demographic of "i am not fussed about my bb speed or contract and 2mbits is fine".