70Mb Fast Broadband a Lie??

sally365

Hi,

A well known broadband provider in Ireland is rolling out high speed broadband nationally.

The funny thing is, they say they are going to be using fibre optic cables, and locally i've not even seen one person out sticking down new lines.

How can they advertise super high speed '"UP TO speeds of up to 70Mb that uses fibre optic cables?

Do you think they are pulling a fast one as usual? I know our lines locally are only able to take 3.5Mb thats why I wouldn't upgrade, but they state they are using new cables.

Cuddlesworth

Their fibre argument is pretty flawed, but you would have to try take them to court over it.

They could argue that 99% of most traffic goes over fibre, so its a valid marketing tactic.

What they are rolling out is ADSL2 with more localized exchanges in the local patch boxes. So in a similar vein to ADSL's up to 24mb, their new product is up to 70mb with a higher chance of better speeds due to the shorter distance.

sally365

Thanks for the reply, I thought that tbh, when I got a letter in the post stating my internet package name had changed I laughed.

God old..[inserts name of provider] lol

Vico1612

sally365 wrote: »

Hi,

A well known broadband provider in Ireland is rolling out high speed broadband nationally.

The funny thing is, they say they are going to be using fibre optic cables, and locally i've not even seen one person out sticking down new lines.

How can they advertise super high speed '"UP TO speeds of up to 70Mb that uses fibre optic cables?

Do you think they are pulling a fast one as usual? I know our lines locally are only able to take 3.5Mb thats why I wouldn't upgrade, but they state they are using new cables.

Can you share your source ?

Pov06

You have to keep in mind that there is essentially lots of different types of fiber connections:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiber_to_the_x

Fiber to the cabinet, fiber to the home, fiber to the neighbourhood and so on. Your provider isn't doing anything wrong by saying it's a fiber connection.

At the end of the day, what matters is that fiber is used to route the long distances where there will be lots of people using it at the same time (for example city-to-city networking). A copper cable will do just fine for our needs around the house or area with the current network speeds provided by ISPs.

The UP TO bit is a bit in the gray though... UPC give a speed for each plan and that's the speed you are pretty much getting all the time.

sally365

Ok I found this on the providers website, when doing a speed test on their website.

When doing a speed test, I got this message below:

""Results are only an indication of your connection speed, which may be affected by other devices or wireless coverage. This will not show eFibre speeds if you have not bought an eFibre package.""

So currently im paying for an 8MB line, and im only getting 3.5MB which is grand due to the bad line.

Here's the interesting thing, Lets say they tell me to upgrade to get a faster speed, ''eFibre package"" and the speed only went UP TO 8MB, surely I won't have to upgrade my package to get a speed I already should be getting with my current package?

LFCFan

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

What they are rolling out is ADSL2 with more localized exchanges in the local patch boxes.

It's actually vDSL they are rolling out which is Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC). In simpler terms, it brings the exchange closer to your house and allows faster speeds over the copper from your house to your local cabinet. Unlike regular DSL, the speeds achieved drop very quickly the further you are from the cabinet. You would need to be within 100 metres of the cabinet to get anywhere near the 70mbit speed.

In the same way UPC market their broadband as Fibre Powered, they only bring fibre to their cabinet and then Coax to your home. With vDSL, it's Fibre to the the cabinet and then twister pair copper to your home. I have eFibre which is 'up to' 50mbits but I am only getting 24mbits because of my distance to the cabinet.

ZENER

It's all advertising men spouting numbers from a sheet of paper. For example there's a well known provider advertising broadband with speeds up to 24MB !! This would be a Mb speed of 192Mb !! Even UPC don't offer that. That's why I take all these numbers with a very large pinch of salt.

Ken

returnNull

Its not just eircom, all providers are guilty of the 'up to x amount speed' for BB.

The sooner people educate themselves about how broadband works i.e the limitations of it(distance from exchange,FTTC,FTTH etc) the better,and it will reduce stress inducing calls to tech support of their ISP:)

returnNull

ZENER wrote: »

It's all advertising men spouting numbers from a sheet of paper. For example there's a well known provider advertising broadband with speeds up to 24MB !! This would be a Mb speed of 192Mb !! Even UPC don't offer that. That's why I take all these numbers with a very large pinch of salt.

Ken

yeah people using megabytes and megabits interchangeably :pac:

Torqay

returnNull wrote: »

yeah people using megabytes and megabits interchangeably :pac:

What is wrong with these people?!?!?

vibe666

proper fibre to the home "FTTH" is available in ireland, but it's hard to get.

not impossible though if you happen to live in the right place and it DOES deliver exactly what it's supposed to and it does it 24/7.



i can get within 5% of these ping/download/upload results any time of the day or night.

yes i'm showing off. :pac:

sorry.

no i'm not really sorry. :cool:

AnCatDubh

sally365 wrote: »

The funny thing is, they say they are going to be using fibre optic cables, and locally i've not even seen one person out sticking down new lines.

Lots of activity locally - see http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056919149

You may not see new cables -- they may already be there, but you should see new cabinets in the vacinity of the area - see link above.

vibe666

the other option would be to use the existing MAN fibre that was installed in dozens of town in the last 10 years or so for this very purpose, and connect cabinets to that.