Program on Radio 4 mentioned connection speeds and a survey ( seems like
everyone's at it) they had done. One thing stood out apparently, if you
have a 1Mb connection then you are most likely to get close to what you
are paying for. Anything faster and no chance.

They then came out with the news that BT are about to launch ADSL 2 +
which will go at up to 24Mb though most of the country will not be able
to get it. Be nice it they got the existing service running up to spec first!

Alec

wrote in message news:4764394C.B59B4592@hotmail.com...
> Program on Radio 4 mentioned connection speeds and a survey ( seems like
> everyone's at it) they had done. One thing stood out apparently, if you
> have a 1Mb connection then you are most likely to get close to what you
> are paying for. Anything faster and no chance.
>
> They then came out with the news that BT are about to launch ADSL 2 +
> which will go at up to 24Mb though most of the country will not be able
> to get it. Be nice it they got the existing service running up to spec 
> first!
>
> Alec

Precisely.  ADSL Broadband in this country is a sick joke, mostly running on 
a BT telephone wire system that is decrepit and falling apart.
-- 
Dave (Sgt. Pepper)       Epsom, England
     My photo galleries at  http://www.pbase.com/davecq
    "I will not tolerate intolerance ... Doh!!"

It's been very, very slow all this weekend so far. Maybe I've been a 
naughty boy and downloaded too much.

John

"John Cletheroe"  wrote in message 
news:mF89j.12239$KC3.4477@newsfe6-gui.ntli.net...
> It's been very, very slow all this weekend so far. Maybe I've been a 
> naughty boy and downloaded too much.
>
> John

Same for me John, I'm typically getting 240kbps instead of the usual daytime 
speed of 1800kbps.   I just wonder if the system is getting bogged down by 
hoards of people doing late on-line shopping for Xmas.  I couldn't even get 
a connection for about an hour yesterday afternoon, which gave me a few 
heart tremors because coincidentally I had just finished a major cleanup of 
my C: drive and I thought maybe I'd screwed up my broadband modem settings 
in the process.  Of course, it was nothing to do with that, just Virgin 
failing under the load as usual.

I just love it when you phone their free service announcements line to hear 
a recorded voice say "Everything's running as normal on our internet 
services", and the sad thing is, she's telling the truth   LOL.

-- 
Dave (Sgt. Pepper)       Epsom, England
     My photo galleries at  http://www.pbase.com/davecq
    "I will not tolerate intolerance ... Doh!!"

John Cletheroe wrote:
> 
> It's been very, very slow all this weekend so far. Maybe I've been a
> naughty boy and downloaded too much.

Must be in a good spot here (Southend on Sea) as I just checked and got
1060/232 from the recommended Reading server. Then tried the
Sittingbourne one which gave 1138/228 which for a 1Mb connection is
quite amazing. BTW the 'ping' times were 106 and 57 respectively.

Alec

bill@hotmail.com wrote:
> John Cletheroe wrote:
>>
>> It's been very, very slow all this weekend so far. Maybe I've been a
>> naughty boy and downloaded too much.
>
> Must be in a good spot here (Southend on Sea) as I just checked and
> got 1060/232 from the recommended Reading server. Then tried the
> Sittingbourne one which gave 1138/228 which for a 1Mb connection is
> quite amazing. BTW the 'ping' times were 106 and 57 respectively.
>
> Alec

How do i change servers? This is news to me... Plus, as i'm in Kent, the 
Sittinbourne one might be better for me ping wise.


Les

-- 
Remove Frontal Lobes to reply direct.

"These people believe the souls of fried space aliens inhabit their
bodies and hold soup cans to get rid of them. I should care what they
think?"...Valerie Emmanuel

Les Hemmings  a.a #2251 SA

Les Hemmings wrote:
> 

> 
> How do i change servers? This is news to me... Plus, as i'm in Kent, the
> Sittinbourne one might be better for me ping wise.

Les,

When you go to speedtest.net you get a map of europe covered with
turquoise pyramids and one golden one which is the preferred server. If
you point at the turquoise pyramid just to the right and almost obscured
by it you will see it is at Sittingbourne. Just click it and off you go.
 This may differ for you as I assume this tester 'knows' roughly were
you are and suggests the nearest test server as London gave me a ping of
106 and Sittingbourne 57. I have used a program (MacTCP Ping) to ping
the BBC and get a consistent 56. I assume there are such programs for 
the windoze world.

You can select any part of the globe on the small world map to test from
and I tried Melbourne and SanFransico which gave 806/188/382 and
1071/181/392. The long ping times probably reflect the distance the ping
had to travel though the server does have a say in this I'm sure.

Alec

wrote in message news:47668A6F.C75339E7@hotmail.com...
>
>
> Les Hemmings wrote:
>>
>
>>
>> How do i change servers? This is news to me... Plus, as i'm in Kent, the
>> Sittinbourne one might be better for me ping wise.
>
> Les,
>
> When you go to speedtest.net you get a map of europe covered with
> turquoise pyramids and one golden one which is the preferred server. If
> you point at the turquoise pyramid just to the right and almost obscured
> by it you will see it is at Sittingbourne. Just click it and off you go.
> This may differ for you as I assume this tester 'knows' roughly were
> you are and suggests the nearest test server as London gave me a ping of
> 106 and Sittingbourne 57. I have used a program (MacTCP Ping) to ping
> the BBC and get a consistent 56. I assume there are such programs for
> the windoze world.
>
> You can select any part of the globe on the small world map to test from
> and I tried Melbourne and SanFransico which gave 806/188/382 and
> 1071/181/392. The long ping times probably reflect the distance the ping
> had to travel though the server does have a say in this I'm sure.
>
> Alec

I don't think that was Les's question Alec.   Unless I'm mistaken, I don't 
think Les' question was about the speed test.  I think he is referring to 
the real world and has been left with the misunderstanding that he can 
choose to connect to a different Virgin distribution point ( they are not 
servers but BAMs) at will.  This is not the case.  It is a total lottery 
governed by Virgin's traffic flow policy.  What you can try if you find your 
connection uncomfortably slow is to disconnect by right clicking the 
connection icon in your system tray and clicking on disconnect ... then wait 
a minute or so and reconnect.  If Lady Luck is with you, you just may end up 
re-routed to a different BAM somewhere else in the country with fewer users 
and therefore a higher download speed, but it really is a lottery.
-- 
Dave (Sgt. Pepper)       Epsom, England
     My photo galleries at  http://www.pbase.com/davecq
    "I will not tolerate intolerance ... Doh!!"

"Dave (Sgt. Pepper)" wrote:

> I don't think that was Les's question Alec.   Unless I'm mistaken, I don't
> think Les' question was about the speed test.  I think he is referring to
> the real world and has been left with the misunderstanding that he can
> choose to connect to a different Virgin distribution point ( they are not
> servers but BAMs) at will.  This is not the case.  It is a total lottery
> governed by Virgin's traffic flow policy.  What you can try if you find your
> connection uncomfortably slow is to disconnect by right clicking the
> connection icon in your system tray and clicking on disconnect ... then wait
> a minute or so and reconnect.  If Lady Luck is with you, you just may end up
> re-routed to a different BAM somewhere else in the country with fewer users
> and therefore a higher download speed, but it really is a lottery.

Thanks Dave, you are probably right thinking about it.  Sorry for any
confusion caused people.  

Alec

Dave (Sgt. Pepper) wrote:
>> Les,
>>
>> When you go to speedtest.net you get a map of europe covered with
>> turquoise pyramids and one golden one which is the preferred server.
>> If you point at the turquoise pyramid just to the right and almost
>> obscured by it you will see it is at Sittingbourne. Just click it
>> and off you go. This may differ for you as I assume this tester
>> 'knows' roughly were you are and suggests the nearest test server as
>> London gave me a ping of 106 and Sittingbourne 57. I have used a
>> program (MacTCP Ping) to ping the BBC and get a consistent 56. I
>> assume there are such programs for the windoze world.
>>
>> You can select any part of the globe on the small world map to test
>> from and I tried Melbourne and SanFransico which gave 806/188/382 and
>> 1071/181/392. The long ping times probably reflect the distance the
>> ping had to travel though the server does have a say in this I'm
>> sure. Alec
>
> I don't think that was Les's question Alec.   Unless I'm mistaken, I
> don't think Les' question was about the speed test.  I think he is
> referring to the real world and has been left with the
> misunderstanding that he can choose to connect to a different Virgin
> distribution point ( they are not servers but BAMs) at will.  This is
> not the case.  It is a total lottery governed by Virgin's traffic
> flow policy.  What you can try if you find your connection
> uncomfortably slow is to disconnect by right clicking the connection
> icon in your system tray and clicking on disconnect ... then wait a
> minute or so and reconnect.  If Lady Luck is with you, you just may
> end up re-routed to a different BAM somewhere else in the country
> with fewer users and therefore a higher download speed, but it really
> is a lottery.

 Cheers Dave, Bill...

Dave got the gist of my poorly worded question but your info also handy 
Bill. It's all grist to the mill :o)

Les
-- 
Remove Frontal Lobes to reply direct.

"These people believe the souls of fried space aliens inhabit their
bodies and hold soup cans to get rid of them. I should care what they
think?"...Valerie Emmanuel

Les Hemmings  a.a #2251 SA