UPC 100Mb now available

Nehaxak

everdead.ie wrote: »

Can I ask what possible illegimate reasons could someone need 100mb/s instead of a 30mb/s it's the same answer you get there faster

Yeah but I can give you a load of illegal reasons why 100Mb is better than even 30Mb.

I have an account with microsoft and I regularily download iso images of there software(100% legally) and with a faster connection I tend not to have to wait as long to download GB's of information.
I also send information between my college pc and Home PC daily when I'm working on R&D it can take quiet a while to download my latest software testing daily.

Similar here, I have a sub to Technet and also access to Dreamspark.

That's a good legit reason and the other, thanks.

It just get's me there faster I also have three others at home with me that use the Internet. Just as well, I'm currently working on a few Software packages that require a constant high bandwidth connection as it is to do with media distribution for the media & entertainment Industry something that consumers wouldn't be able to use efficiently with a low bandwidth line.

Excellent, thanks, another legit reason.

Johnmb

Nehaxak wrote: »

Yeah but I can give you a load of illegal reasons why 100Mb is better than even 30Mb.

I'd say it would be more the fact that you could give a load of illegal services that can be used faster with 100mb. But the same can be said for legal services, there are lots out there that require a lot of bandwidth. Do I need my current 30mb (or future 100mb)? No, not really. I could leave my computer downloading over night if I wanted, or try to develop patience when I'm downloading more than one thing at a time and trying to surf, but it is so handy to have the bandwidth to do it all almost instantly. I have never downloaded anything illegally, although I have done things that break T&Cs, such as purchasing/downloading things from the US iTunes store, Hulu, 4OD, etc. But the basic thing is that all 100mb does is allow you to download faster than you currently can for the same amount of information. Whether the service you are using that extra speed for is legal or not, or whether it breaks T&Cs or not is irrelevant to the basic improvement of speed. It won't encourage people to break the law, there are more than enough legal services that will work better with more speed.

vibe666

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

What a load of rubbish. Cat5 and Cat5e are cable standards.

Do a bit of reading before spouting that crap.

http://www.connectworld.net/syscon/support.htm

oh here we go again. :pac:

maybe you should do a bit of reading on a few more reliable sources than some crappy US cable shop with a factually incorrect FAQ and make sure you are right before you start getting all uppity and pointing the finger at people telling them they are wrong.

it would be helpful also if you'd care to explain exactly where i'm spouting crap rather than just linking to a random website with factually incorrect information on it?

you're going to have to tell me exactly what you think i was wrong about because quite frankly i don't see it.

Thor wrote: »

???

What do you mean cable standards, I do believe Vibe666 stated that cat5 is rated at 100mbps which is exactly right.

There is a big difference between cat5 and cat5e so they both can't be standard!

it looks very much like another case of a little bit of knowledge being a dangerous thing.

CiaranC

So the only reason to go to 100MB is to download more files faster. Thats assuming you intend to download from places which actually provide huge bandwidth to you.

I dont really see it tbh. While you are watching the first hour of video (for example) you could comfortably download the next couple of hours anyway.

Theres no advantage for streaming media, for gaming, for browsing the web, for serving content or for anything else.

ct5amr2ig1nfhp

A little off topic... Are UPC re-launching 20mb?

Edit: Looking forward to getting this in! All that 100mbs goodness.

Thor

BearNecessities wrote: »

A little off topic... Are UPC re-launching 20mb?

A little weird but those numbers don't ad up!!

184,700 + 87,200 + 375,500 = 647,400

Johnmb

Thor wrote: »

A little weird but those numbers don't ad up!!

184,700 + 87,200 + 375,500 = 647,400

The balance are non-digital TV? Although, surely quite a few of the numbers above are the same people who have more than one service, so the number of individual customers mentioned would be less than the 647,700. Do UPC still do non-digital channels?

vibe666

Nehaxak wrote: »

100Mb download is all well and good but is there any actual legit usage or need for it at all ? Considering the 500GB limit imposed, anyone actually switching to 100Mb and that will use it to it's fullest, will probably hit the 500GB limit in no time at all so it seems pretty pointless.

In fairness, I've also found no legit usage for the 30Mb offering either and apart from all that, the erratic latencies for some online gaming at times makes it all pretty much worthless, apart from speedtest signature bragging :rolleyes:

how much do people pay for Sky+, SkyHD or UPC Digital? you can stream pretty much anything you can get on those services so paying Sky or UPC separately for them seems like a waste of money.

yes, you can do HD streaming fine on 30mbps, but (depending on the time of day and possible contention) you wouldn't want to be doing very much else on it at the same time if you didn't want to get stuck buffering all the time. you're not exactly going want to want be FTPing or torrenting a Linux ISO at the same time as watching a 1080p video stream and if someone else in the house wants to surf the net or play online games at the same time its nice to have plenty of spare bandwidth so the connection doesn't get choked.

and you probably don't even want to be going flat out all the time anyway, but you do want to know that it's going to be a lot more stable at moderate speeds and the extra oomph is there when you really need it.

CiaranC wrote: »

Are you having a contest to see how many times you can say "legit" in a post?

he's too legit to quit. :pac:

also, whoever said that UPC don't allow VPN, afaik, they don't *support* the use of VPN's but as far as i am aware they don't specifically disallow it, they just won't help you if yours isn't working.

i've regularly used 3 different VPN's since i first got UPC in and I know of at least two other people both using different VPN's who also do, so there's no technical issue stopping it from working as far as I am aware.

subway

CiaranC wrote: »

So the only reason to go to 100MB is to download more files faster.

i dont know why i'm responding to this as i am concerned you are trolling, picking a fight or, at the very least, have an answer in your head that you are waiting for...

anyway, yes the only reason to pay for faster download speeds is to download faster. its fairly obvious i would have thought.
having a faster download speed does exactly what it says on the tin.

if you want a list of things people use bandwith for, you might want to start a new thread as the list is endless. if you want a list of things people want 100mb speeds for, its the same as the first list, they just want it faster.

now can we move away from the "what is BW used for" & "what do faster download speeds mean" type questions.

chrabo

Bring UPC to Dundalk!!!

subway

UPC VPN

http://www.upc.ie/termsandconditions/acceptableusagepolicy/

Section 12: Use of Virtual Private Network (VPN)

As stated above, the UPC Services are for residential use only and we do not support the use of VPN. If we find you are using VPN we may instruct you to stop using it and you must comply with this request. This is in order to prevent problems with our network and other Internet users.

i found the above based on some comments on this thread and am surprised. i have been working from home via VPN for the last year (as a UPC subscriber) and have never had any issues.
i guess its more at the lower end and is more related to what you are doing / how much of it you are doing where it becomes an issue. server, rather than client, i guess.

CiaranC

vibe666 wrote:

yes, you can do HD streaming fine on 30mbps, but (depending on the time of day and possible contention) you wouldn't want to be doing very much else on it at the same time if you didn't want to get stuck buffering all the time. you're not exactly going want to want be FTPing or torrenting a Linux ISO at the same time as watching a 1080p video stream and if someone else in the house wants to surf the net or play online games at the same time its nice to have plenty of spare bandwidth so the connection doesn't get choked.

I was under the impression you could comfortably stream 1080p on < 10Mb/sec? Am I mistaken on this?

http://blog.streamingmedia.com/the_business_of_online_vi/2009/06/xbox-360.html

subway wrote: »

if you want a list of things people use bandwith for, you might want to start a new thread as the list is endless. if you want a list of things people want 100mb speeds for, its the same as the first list, they just want it faster

Its not the same as the first list, as the practical bandwidth required for everything I can think of on the first list tops out way, way below 100Mb/sec. Id appreciate if you left the obnoxious accusations of trolling out btw. Its not unreasonable to ask on a thread titled "UPC 100Mb now available" what its application might be.

DemoniK

CiaranC wrote: »

Theres no advantage for streaming media, for gaming, for browsing the web, for serving content or for anything else.

Not quite,
I could make use of the 7Mbps up that comes with the 100Mbps package for serving content to me on the move..

TBH - I cannot justify 100Mbps at the prices. While I may have legit uses

dubhthach

subway wrote: »

UPC VPN

http://www.upc.ie/termsandconditions/acceptableusagepolicy/



i found the above based on some comments on this thread and am surprised. i have been working from home via VPN for the last year (as a UPC subscriber) and have never had any issues.
i guess its more at the lower end and is more related to what you are doing / how much of it you are doing where it becomes an issue. server, rather than client, i guess.

Interesting. I use VPN alot as well for work. Just as well it's an SSL-VPN so it just looks like https traffic. I think from reading the quote in context that whatthey actually mean is:
1. You are not allow run your own VPN concentrator on your UPC subscription

The reason I think this is that they reinforce the point that it's a residential connection and not a commercial one.

subway

CiaranC wrote: »

Id appreciate if you left the obnoxious accusations of trolling out btw. Its not unreasonable to ask on a thread titled "UPC 100Mb now available" what its application might be.

i didn't accuse you of anything and am not trying to be obnoxious.
i'm sorry if people are not explaining it clearly enough for you, by asking the same question repeatedly it does get on peoples nerves.

maybe this will help, the easiest thing i can tell you that 100mb is very useful for is large file transfers.
think of a large file, then think that you might want to transfer it somewhere, you would use large amounts of bandwidth for that.
if you cant think of any large files that you might need to transfer then its probably not going to be of any use to you.
in a few years as large file sizes become more mainstream the average user migth have such a need but right now its a specialised product.

ronkmonster

dubhthach wrote: »

Interesting. I use VPN alot as well for work. Just as well it's an SSL-VPN so it just looks like https traffic. I think from reading the quote in context that whatthey actually mean is:
1. You are not allow run your own VPN concentrator on your UPC subscription

The reason I think this is that they reinforce the point that it's a residential connection and not a commercial one.

I host a VPN server at home (using openVPN) but I'm on the extreme package so maybe they overlook it.

CiaranC

subway wrote:

i dont know why i'm responding to this as i am concerned you are trolling

subway wrote:

i didn't accuse you of anything

Are you taking the piss?

subway wrote:

maybe this will help, the easiest thing i can tell you that 100mb is very useful for is large file transfers.

Ive just said thats its useful for transferring large files faster. I was wondering if there was any other real world application for the bandwidth for the home user?

DemoniK wrote:

I could make use of the 7Mbps up that comes with the 100Mbps package for serving content to me on the move..

Thanks. Do you mean with the likes of a slingbox?

Interestingly, if you were to max out this connection it would take roughly 12.5 hours to break the 500GB cap. Maxing out the 30Mb/sec would take over 20 hours to break the 250GB cap.

patrickmooney

Does anyone know anything about this 20MB offering? http://irishdev.com/Home/News/1382-UPC-Launch-Mb-Broadband.html Will this impact the 8/15/30 package?

lynchie

patrickmooney wrote: »

Does anyone know anything about this 20MB offering? http://irishdev.com/Home/News/1382-UPC-Launch-Mb-Broadband.html Will this impact the 8/15/30 package?

See here
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=69571899&postcount=17

DemoniK

CiaranC wrote: »

Thanks. Do you mean with the likes of a slingbox?

Like - but not a sling box.
I log into my HTPC via remote SSH login and then stream TV, and other services to my laptop when away.

Wouldn't use all the 7Mbps, but definitely would like to use more than the 3.
However - again, I can't justify the cost of it though and will live with what I have....

Yggr of Asgard

Well it’s full day number 1 with my new “100 Mb” pipe and so far I’m happy with the speed provided.

I however don’t like the Technicolor TWG870UIR router they provide. It’s not possible to assign IP’s against MAC’s, you can’t have dual band WiFi, the USB port is for show only and not for a hard-drive or printer, you can’t have a restricted WiFi Guest network (in effect there was a hidden UPC network in the NL but that is thanks gods not in Ireland) and overall the WiFi is not the best/stable around.

I really miss my good old TimeCapsule mostly because it was fast, easy and id it an integrated hard-drive.

As to the “why do you want it” debate, I just want it and I use it legally with great joy. Last nights rented HD movie was downloaded in no time and ready to be enjoyed before I even had time to get the popcorn.

In respect of the VPN debate, I had asked UPC before I got my 30 MB variant if I am allowed to use a VPN to connect to my office on days where I work from home and the clear answer was yes (in an e-mail), so while I understand the T&C say it's not possible, there are exceptions I'm sure.

If you get it, enjoy it.

vibe666

CiaranC wrote: »

I was under the impression you could comfortably stream 1080p on < 10Mb/sec? Am I mistaken on this?

technically speaking yes you can, but in reality you don't always get the full advertised speeds all the time and it can be a bit sketchy, particularly if you're using the connection for other things at the same time.

i like to think of it like having a large, powerful car instead of a farty little one. you don't necessarily want to drive round at 100mph all the time, but there are times when you will want to have plenty of breathing room to be able to put your foot down to overtake someone or when you're in a hurry to get somewhere, so you're a lot better off in something like a 5 series bmw with plenty of power to spare than revving the nuts off a little micra and driving it on the limit to try and reach the same speeds.

also, the increased upload is of much more interest to me than the extra download speed. i'd actually take 50mbps down and 10mbps up over the 100/7 they are offering.

M.J.M.C

@ dublin-texas

Hey,
Is the router bulky enough size wise?

If i buy this im going to have to upgrade my network plug powerlines to gigabit ones

Johnmb

dublin-texas wrote: »

I really miss my good old TimeCapsule mostly because it was fast, easy and id it an integrated hard-drive.

Why did you stop using the TimeCapsule? That's what I use as my router at the moment, and if I do upgrade to 100mb in future, I have no intention of changing (at least not for WiFi).

paddydriver

dubhthach wrote: »

Interesting. I use VPN alot as well for work. Just as well it's an SSL-VPN so it just looks like https traffic. I think from reading the quote in context that whatthey actually mean is:
1. You are not allow run your own VPN concentrator on your UPC subscription

The reason I think this is that they reinforce the point that it's a residential connection and not a commercial one.

I reckon they are just trying to be as vague as possible so that they can cover all eventualities; as suits them. More then likely they are referring to the likes of BlackVPN etc which basically allows you to mask all your Internet traffic across the UPC network.

I would think a large amount of people depend on VPN's to connect to their office etc so they couldn't prevent that.

Yggr of Asgard

M.J.M.C wrote: »

@ dublin-texas

Hey,
Is the router bulky enough size wise?

If i buy this im going to have to upgrade my network plug powerlines to gigabit ones

9*7*1.5 inches with 2 big antennas.

Johnmb wrote: »

Why did you stop using the TimeCapsule? That's what I use as my router at the moment, and if I do upgrade to 100mb in future, I have no intention of changing (at least not for WiFi).

Because I had no time to play with both units to get them to work together. The Technicolor is a must because it has the modem in it, so I will have to need to configure the time capsule differently to work together. With the 30MB you have a modem that you plug into the WAN port of the timecapsule but with the 100MB you get an all in one unit (modem/router/wifi) so it's not that easy.

subway

CiaranC wrote: »

Are you taking the piss?

honestly, no, i was just worried that you might be trolling and didnt want to get into some pointless back and forth with you about nothing ...
guess we avoided that

look, tone doesnt always come across in writing. i honeslty dont understand why you keep asking what 100mb might be useful for, you know how it works, you either have a need for it or you dont. thats all

Nehaxak

In regards the use of VPN, from what I would think myself - the restriction is in place so as to deter people from using VPN's to bypass filtering/shaping on UPC's network more so than restricting people from using it to access work/access their home PC outside the home or indeed restricting them from accessing the likes of BBC's iplayer or the various US sites.

I got the feeling the restriction was in place particularly to stop users' abusing UPC bandwidth to download and seed torrents.

With an OpenVPN connection, it's very hard for an ISP to see what exactly it is you're doing - even if it is just because you want the peace of mind of privacy and all you're doing is reading some public news site or like me, want a decent low ping to particular games' servers at times.

Then again, their T&C don't state any of what I said either, it just says it's not allowed and if they ask you to stop, you must comply.

Magnet's T&C are almost a copy/paste of UPC's except that Magnet have edited the VPN section and do allow it's use.

If you search part of the text from that section in UPC's T&C's you'll find it's also used nearly word for word across multiple ISP T&C's around the world - so it could also be just complete laziness on UPC's part not to amend a generic template they've used.

VPN has proper legitimate uses, not the users fault it's use negates traffic shaping/filtering on UPC's network and in fairness I think UPC's T&C on VPN should be changed similar to Magnets - not supported but not disallowed either.

ntlbell

maybe I'm out of touch can you explain how it reduces ping times to a server for gaming?

I would have thought if anything it would increase ping times?

ronkmonster

Nehaxak wrote: »

In regards the use of VPN, from what I would think myself - the restriction is in place so as to deter people from using VPN's to bypass filtering/shaping on UPC's network more so than restricting people from using it to access work/access their home PC outside the home or indeed restricting them from accessing the likes of BBC's iplayer or the various US sites.

I got the feeling the restriction was in place particularly to stop users' abusing UPC bandwidth to download and seed torrents.

With an OpenVPN connection, it's very hard for an ISP to see what exactly it is you're doing - even if it is just because you want the peace of mind of privacy and all you're doing is reading some public news site or like me, want a decent low ping to particular games' servers at times.

Then again, their T&C don't state any of what I said either, it just says it's not allowed and if they ask you to stop, you must comply.

Magnet's T&C are almost a copy/paste of UPC's except that Magnet have edited the VPN section and do allow it's use.

If you search part of the text from that section in UPC's T&C's you'll find it's also used nearly word for word across multiple ISP T&C's around the world - so it could also be just complete laziness on UPC's part not to amend a generic template they've used.

VPN has proper legitimate uses, not the users fault it's use negates traffic shaping/filtering on UPC's network and in fairness I think UPC's T&C on VPN should be changed similar to Magnets - not supported but not disallowed either.

I host my own at home originally for lan game over the net and it gives me security when i remote control my PC from work/away from home.

I can only see them stopping it if someone was using a private vpn for torrenting/heavy downloading not for the security/work side of it.