How fast is your Internet?

[mikmas]

Do you mean in terms of FTTP, Mike? As you've already got the 300Mbps service with Virgin.

Marco.

'Project Lightning' is indeed about rolling out FTTP to all users ... presumably as the copper cable link used for FTTC causes some kind of bottleneck that would hinder actual 'super fast' broadband.

To be honest I don't really understand because you still have a coax link in the house to the modem and Virgin box - even with FTTP - so if that's throttling the speed then the only further "upgrade" would be fibre optic right up to the modem/set top box.

Makes little sense to me ... but thereagain I've never been that good at predicting the future (I thought iPads were a really stupid idea that would cripple Apple's credibility.....)

[Marco]

'Project Lightning' is indeed about rolling out FTTP to all users ... presumably as the copper cable link used for FTTC causes some kind of bottleneck that would hinder actual 'super fast' broadband.

To be honest I don't really understand because you still have a coax link in the house to the modem and Virgin box - even with FTTP - so if that's throttling the speed then the only further "upgrade" would be fibre optic right up to the modem/set top box.

Hey, I'd be well up for that!

Hardly "throttling" the speed, though... Just managed slightly better results than I recorded last time:



I'll keep trying and see if I can get close to Gaz!

Marco.

[spendorman]

I've got only standard 2-wire copper telephone line internet from Talktalk, can't complain as this is close to the max that they offer under this system.

Untitled by A60man, on Flickr

[Stratmangler]

'Project Lightning' is indeed about rolling out FTTP to all users ... presumably as the copper cable link used for FTTC causes some kind of bottleneck that would hinder actual 'super fast' broadband.

To be honest I don't really understand because you still have a coax link in the house to the modem and Virgin box - even with FTTP - so if that's throttling the speed then the only further "upgrade" would be fibre optic right up to the modem/set top box.

Makes little sense to me ... but thereagain I've never been that good at predicting the future (I thought iPads were a really stupid idea that would cripple Apple's credibility.....)

Having a fibre>coax converter makes a huge amount of sense at this point in time.
Virgin have a shedload of equipment in stock and on order that requires a coaxial connection.
And as the majority of the estate is FTTC it keeps the inventory small and manageable.

FTTP is of greater interest to BT than it is Virgin Media.
A huge chunk of BT's estate is fed overhead and by a single twisted pair. There's an immense amount of expenditure keeping customers in service.
The Virgin service is over much higher bandwidth coax cable, and pretty reliable. Once installed its upkeep is much less of an issue.

[Edward]

I thought that Virgin's FTTP product is synchronous? Same upload and download speeds.

Maybe Virgin (or whoever is running the show behind the scenes) don't want people running webservers or similar?

[Marco]

I thought that Virgin's FTTP product is synchronous? Same upload and download speeds.

Not that I'm aware of. The upload speeds are always significantly slower, perhaps for the reason you mention.

Marco.

[Stratmangler]

Having a fibre>coax converter makes a huge amount of sense at this point in time

I've been thinking further on this, and as far as domestic users go it's the only way to do things.
The fibres are not immune to breakage from rough handling, so having a closed box converter is the way around the problem.
Cables are far more robust than fibre.

[struth]

I don't think synchronous means download and upload are same. It's the streams of data are synced with a clock so transmitter and reciever are in sync.

You can also get hyperoptic which is silly fast

[Edward]

I don't think synchronous means download and upload are same. It's the streams of data are synced with a clock so transmitter and reciever are in sync.

You can also get hyperoptic which is silly fast

Maybe I'm using the wrong terminology. But basically I thought the tech cable internet connections use allow for the same upload and download speeds . Whereas copper connections are inherently difficult (impossible?) to achieve the same upload and download speeds.

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[hifinutt]

my son had a tantrum yesterday as he was complaining about the virgin internet speed !! he says it takes days for a download and wanted those mains adaptor thingies . it didn`t go down well when i pointed out they inject RFI into the system .. hence the tantrum