How important is the 'contention ratio' when choosing a bb provider

speedy2007

ive just moved to rathmines and i cant get Smart or NTL.
So im considering Eircom, Irish Broadband, imagine and digiweb

Eircom, Imagine, and digiweb 2mb services have contention ratios of 48:1

irish broadband breeze (2mb) has a contention ratio of 24:1

Eircom ive had previously and the connection wasnt great..kept dropping, but i dont know much about the others, and maybe better the devil you know..and all that.
But the real question here is will the better contention ratio of irish bb really be noticed? I know theoretically what contention ratio is...how big a factor should i make it when deciding who to go with?

thanks;)

jor el

I think contention is becoming more and more important, as more and more people are getting broadband. Up to a year ago I had no issues with speed on my 3M BT DSL, but for the last 12 months or so it had been getting steadily worse in the evenings. Often it would be down to under 1M. This really only effected it from around 6PM till midnight (peak times). I've also seen a few threads here from people with the same sort of issues, leading to the conclusion that contention is now starting to become a problem.

IBB have had serious contention issues (from over subscribing) in the past, not sure what it's like now. About 4 years ago they were loosing dozens of customers a week (I was talking to one of the guys going around taking down Breeze aerials) because the service was all but unusable at any time of the day or night.

Who to choose though, well that's the $64M question isn't it. Digiweb manage their services very well (by imposing strict download limits and kerbing heavy users) and so probably have the fewest contention issues. They might be the best for you.

Liam Byrne

Smart have 1:1 (i.e. NO contention)

Essentially, there's a possibility on eircom of sharing with 47 other people; while that might never happen, the fact that there's 47 possible others means that the likelihood is that you'll be sharing with at least a few of them......say 3 or 4, and maybe even all 47 at peak times....

There are other considerations, like what backhaul capacity the provider has, but worrying about what the motorway might be like is a moot point if you're getting stuck coming out your gate because you and 47 neighbours are trying to use the same boreen at the same time is definitely an issue in my book.....those 47 neighbours will probably using the motorway too....

It's madness really....eircom are essentially charging approximately €3,600 PER MONTH (divided over 48 x 3 customers, of course) for access to the same infrastructure that Smart are charging €15 for :O

Calculation based on Smart's 3MB uncontended for €15 per month, vs eircom's rate of €25 x 48 users (@ 1MB, so that's the x3)

speedy2007

yeah, i really wanted to go with smart...but they told me that theres no plans for it to be in my area in the near future. I had hoped that moving to dublin id finally be able to get it:(

Moriarty

Liam, there's a subtle but important difference between 1:1 contention ratios and "no contention" when you're looking to calculate backhaul costs. "No contention" means they can have backhaul of [normal max throughput for any link + XX% overhead] for any particular part of their network. 1:1 means they have to actually provision a 1:1 service. The latter will be far more expensive than the former.

Obviously that means bog all for the end user as they'll get an uncontended connection either way if it's done right and the service provider wants to do it, but it's something to keep in mind.

bmm

Liam Byrne wrote: »

Smart have 1:1 (i.e. NO contention)

I know this is thread is quiet old but i have a query relating to it.

I was with Smart 2mb for years and it worked at that speed all the time , i'm in Castlertroy, Limerick. I noticed sluggish performance in the last few weeks and did a speed test and i'm down to 0.6mb at best. Nothing has changed with my phone lines etc. Speaking to the new digiweb support (who now own Smart) for weeks now and getting nowhere, they sent me out a new modem, got me to disconnect filters etc etc. Speed still around 0.6mb.

Has anything happened at the castletroy exchange in the last few weeks?

Could contention be causing my slow speeds?