Broadband speed

[tut]

Went over to Tut End yesterday to do some measuring up, tried the MBA, 0.8 download speed on Sky compared to the 8mb that I am getting here. Also asked him where the Mobile mast was, and he said 3 is transmitted by satellite which is news to me.

Almost a deal breaker as there will never be a chance of fibre optic out there.

tut

[robin]

I think he's pulling your leg on 3 being on satellite What's the exchange code ... but I agree you've got feck all chance of high speed broadband

[campbell]

What do you expect from a budget mansion + estate in the stix, Tut?!

[tut]

He was serious Robin, ex Army RMP, ex Sgt in the Met CID for 29 years, now in Security Operations around the World, just taking up with the lassie who will be his fifth wife and moving to Spain, he is 68, she is 27 and an absolute stunner, he does not drink now, used to be near alcoholic, and has a bible on his bedside table. However he does make good coffee and loves GSD's. I do find them.

Trying to work out his secret other than Verian said he looks like a giant when standing next to me, on the other hand he looks a bloody sight older, does not know what an Elise is, and has half his front teeth missing. Could still take him.

I know Campbell, sad state of affairs, I would have stayed here until they buried me in the Old Deer graveyard and looked down on the Wake of Wakes, but promised Verian that we would downsize when the kids left and Clare had her wedding here.

What ever happened to me retiring peacefully?

tut

[campbell]

You've only yersel to blame, big fellie

[gdr]

Is satellite broadband an option? When we lived in the Drumoak hinterland best we could do was 0.15 mb/s, 5 miles from exchange. Was thinking about satellite, apparently can get 20 mb/s via your Sky satellite dish, but not sure if any drawbacks. We moved to downtown Banchory a year ago, one of the reasons for move was in fact access to 21st century internet connection so I never followed up on the satellite bb option.

[robin]

Tut,

Three has no satellite service (that I have ever heard of) nor do normal mobile handsets work with satellites. You can get satellite broadband, but people's experience of those services is extremely hit and miss ... so be careful before you commit a lot of funds to it.

Assume you have checked that none of the mobile services work at that location (a pocket full of PAYG SIMs might be useful here).

Cheers,
Robin

[Lazydonkey]

If it's not an unbundled exchange you'll probably get faster speeds keeping everything with BT. BT throttle their competitors speeds in you hvae a BT line but another BB provider.

[campbell]

Tut, most mobile operators now offer a VOIP-based app to enable calls via wifi networks.

Now whilst .8 mbits might be marginal for carrying this, it may still be better than no signal at all

I used O2's Tu-Go for a year or so and was pretty impressed. Their signal here in Central Scotland was rather poor at the house and I was missing lots of business calls. Not good.

Three offer something similar, but I haven't tried it out yet. Reviews are mixed but worth a trial?

[graeme]

EE do a thing called "Signal Box" for their business customers (you work from home, right Tut? ). It's a pico-cell for places with zero signal and creates a 15m signal area, backhauled over your broadband.

You might have to blag a bit to get one for your house, but it's worth asking. I don't think you can just buy one; they're supplied if you can show you need one. It would definitely mean paying business rates for your mobile...

Anyway, just an option.

[graeme]

If it's not an unbundled exchange you'll probably get faster speeds keeping everything with BT. BT throttle their competitors speeds in you hvae a BT line but another BB provider.

Gibberish. Sorry, who told you that?

BT Wholesale is separate from BT Retail, and BTW must act independently and impartially, required by OffCom (the whole reason for the split). If BTW were caught preferring BT Retail in any way, they'd get fined bazillions.

[Sanjøy]

This reeks of a community project, run some fibre through the fields.

[CubanGav]

http://www.tooway.com/

Just saying.

[tut]

No probs with my mobile phone on 3 in the house, he is on it as well, but it would not really matter if there was no signal as I do not use it in the house and hardly ever outside, even less now that I am not driving.

With .8mb e-mail was also ok as was using S_E, but with 8mb here I can watch live TV or any streaming in HD including Netflix which I have just taken a sub out on to watch House Of Cards. I am also tied into Sky on a two year contract for BB, though BT speed checker only gives 1mb so that looks like the max from anybody.

Just been checking on Satellite, pricy, limited data usage, high installation costs, but the killer seems to be ping time of around 800ms, so with 8mb download rate it works out around the same as 1.0mb over copper. My ping rate here is 72ms.

tut

[graeme]

Don't confuse latency with bandwidth Tut, the next packet doesn't wait for the last one to arrive (for some types of traffic). The first packet of your netflix stream might take 800ms longer to arrive, but the second packet will arrive right after it. There isn't an 800ms delay between each packet of data if you see what I mean, so bandwidth divided by latency is meaningless.

Latency matters more for interactive data, like gaming, where you are constantly sending and receiving data as fast as you can, and you need low-latency so the other guy doesn't shoot you in the head before you can even see him. For streaming, there's no back and forth acknowledgements of the data; it just gets fired at you from the netflix servers as fast as possible, and if you miss a frame, or there's an error, it'll be a blip on the screen you'll hardly notice. So latency isn't quite so much of an issue for telly. Connection reliability is more important, and I don't think satellite suffers too badly there.

Satellite will be pretty useless for online gaming, and Skype might be a bit ropey (2 way) but netflix should be useable. (I have to say I've never tried it though!)

Browsing might feel a bit sluggish too, but at least the embedded videos (news, iplayer, youtube etc) should still work.

Fiber in the field? I'll have what Sanjoy's smoking! That'll be quite pricey.

You could have both... 0.8Mb (low latency) DSL and higher speed (higher latency) satellite, and we could bond the connections intelligently to get the best of both worlds... low latency where you need it, and high bandwidth for streaming.