Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
The fastest broadband in Harringay?
I've been aware of websites you can use to test your broadband, but I just came across one that will allow you to then compare all results for your area by provider. If you check on your postcode first, do your locality view and recheck, you'll see your results newly flagged.
Worth a couple of minutes.
Tags for Forum Posts: broadband
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Kamila on
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I've been doing this for the last few weeks as I am thinking of switching from Demon (which is really expensive and seems to go down quite often) to Virgin Media which is supposed to be really fast. It's a bit strange as you can identify youself and your neighbours!! Why is Virgin Media so variable though - from 0.6 to 21 MB!!! I would really appreciate people's advice on this. I am a freelancer working from home and it's really important to have fast broadband for me. Demon is OK in terms of speed but if I could get something faster for the same money I would switch.
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Permalink Reply by Tobias Maile on
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Virgin Media operates a cable connection. Although they claim it is fibre optics, that might be true only for a part of the network. Compared to DSL where you have a designated line, cable connections are used by several users at once which means the bandwidth is usually controlled by the operator.
The more people on a cable, the more connection speed goes down unless bandwidth is added by the internet provider. This can be frustrating if, for example, you want to go online during peak hours which are weekday evenings, mornings and very usually sunday evenings and the bandwidth is not properly regulated. Also, if you have an unusual high amount of downloading (internet addicted downloaders), they can put a "limit" on you, e.g. regulating your downloads to 1.0Mb down and 0.1Mb upload speed, which is really slow. :)
The best thing is usually to live in a low populated area with a cable connection. You can reach speeds higher than what you are actually paying for in these regions...however London is, typically, bad in this regard.
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Permalink Reply by JeremyS on
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In addition to what Tobias has already helpfully added, I think some of the difference in Virgin speeds is attributable to the fact that you get different speeds depending on what package you buy. Their claimed speeds for each package are given on their website.
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Guys, this is really helpful. Thanks! I'm not a huge downloader of films but I do use Spotify in the evenings to entertain myself while looking up government websites on the web for work, but I don't think that is a huge use compared to a lot of people. I'd just like searching to be a bit faster or at any rate more reliable. Will switch imminently I think. Has anyone switched from Demon to one of Virgin Media's packages? How was that? The only thing is I live closer to the telephone exchange than you guys (Stapleton Hall Road) so I might be getting quite a fast Demon service - usually between 6 and 8 MB.
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Permalink Reply by matt on
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Is anyone looking at getting a BT Infinity broadband package? Apparently it's available to our area from the Crouch End exchange from this December (although delays maybe possible as this is coming from their rollout with their new fibre optic network). A test on their site for estimated download speed at my ph no tells me I'd get 23Mb on their 40Mb package. At least they're honest! Same price as Virgin but more than double the speed (assuming it works as they say).
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Yes, Matt, assuming it works as they say. My test indicates 22.3Mb as compared with 3Mb on my existing BT Total "up to 8Mb" package. In fact my old dial-up AOL package years ago was often faster than my present BT job. Having been happy enough with my old wind-up Morris Minor do I as a 'Sunday driver' really need the built-in obsolescence of a Jeremy Clarkson toy? Still, if they can put their fibre optics through the existing 'London Cable' cable without digging up Wightman Road again I might think of a post-Christmas present for meself.
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Now I'm spoiled for choice. This might be even faster than Virgin. But I don't know which package to choose. I think 40GB per month is fine. And 40 MB download speed is more than fine! But what of the different upload speeds. 2MB or 10MB - I haven't a clue. Any help guys?
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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An upload speed is for sending things to the internets. So unless you're running some kind of p*rn site from your home you're fine with most upload speeds above half a megabyte. After all, you're just sending a tiny request to say "send me that data".
Actually, if you're a big bit-torrent user then your upload speed will be used by others downloading your content... perhaps one of the reasons our connections are so asymmetrical.
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Thanks John (btw - meet up for cup of coffee one weekend?). I understand the first paragraph but the second is quite beyond me! Bit-torrent user??? I think these posts have been incredibly useful in thinking about my choice of broadband provider. I think I wil go for the BT come December. Thanks.
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Permalink Reply by BBU on
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I moved from Sky to Plusnet who are doing the fibre trials (they're owned by BT) and I get my fibre installed tomorrow :D I will let you know what speeds I get.
My brother lives in Barnet and he got BT infinity about 10 days ago and he was downloading at 37mb and uploading at 8mb but for some reason it has dropped to about 25mb download and 6-7mb upload, I know profiling is done over a period of 10 days but if anything it should be getting faster not slower! He hasn't experienced any connectivity issues.
Ohh also please note the BT "unlimited" package is capped at 100gb a month "fair usage policy" you will get slapped with the cap stick if you exceed this, but there are rumours that they're going to raise this to 300gb in November. Personally I'm sitting tight for now (Plusnet 30 day rolling contract) until other ISPs start offering fibre but I bet BT would want to keep their networks free from competition for as long as possible.
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I am back to this discussion thread again as I was talking about the difference between the cable used by Virgin Media and the fibre optics cable used by BT Infinity. BT Infinity don't put cable into your house so does that mean there is only fibre optic cable to the Exchange and the rest is copper wire - in which case BT is being disingenuous. I am confused so any clarification would be really helpful for me as I am trying to choose between Virgin Media and BT Infinity over the Christmas period.
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