In reply to a post by MiGLancer:

I think most understand the contention issue. That doesn't mean we should accept a lower quality because of that.

Which shows you really truly misunderstand how the internet works - the internet IS contended. No matter how much capacity is available, what is actually available to you wholly completely and utterly depends upon what everyone else is doing at the same time. Korea is irrelevant - it too has contention issues and most live in apartment blocks who get these high speeds. I am not defeatist - I have a good understanding of how the internet actually works and I can do both maths and have an understanding of economics. All of which your post demonstrates you do not.

To expect otherwise is ...... well, I'll leave it there. Is that the first birdsong of spring I hear ?

Good luck with your unicorn hunt (and rewriting the laws of physics while you're at it)

In reply to a post by tri_hard:

In reply to a post by MiGLancer:

I think most understand the contention issue. That doesn't mean we should accept a lower quality because of that.

Which shows you really truly misunderstand how the internet works - the internet IS contended. No matter how much capacity is available, what is actually available to you wholly completely and utterly depends upon what everyone else is doing at the same time. Korea is irrelevant - it too has contention issues and most live in apartment blocks who get these high speeds. I am not defeatist - I have a good understanding of how the internet actually works and I can do both maths and have an understanding of economics. All of which your post demonstrates you do not.

To expect otherwise is ...... well, I'll leave it there. Is that the first birdsong of spring I hear ?

Good luck with your unicorn hunt (and rewriting the laws of physics while you're at it)

Hmmm - without wishing to spark anything off here the nub of the problem is as follows;

Is the internet & access to the internet a public utility ?

If no - then move along there is nothing more to see here, if yes then...

In reply to a post by IamQ:

Is the internet & access to the internet a public utility ?

One Answer.

Paul

This is what I think has happened ... ZEN appoints a new flashy new manager to increase profits, so the first thing he does is cut back costs to BT which he knows will cause low speeds to zen customers during peak times and they can consequently blame BT when the complaints come in.

As a matter of public record: this has not happened.

OK - as this is turning in a attack against me I will leave it there.

Your way of reaching conclusions is, to say the least, original.

As I lost interest in this subject, and this board for that matter, I will let the principles of market economy decide.

Adios!

In reply to a post by Pontefract:

This is what I think has happened ... ZEN appoints a new flashy new manager to increase profits, so the first thing he does is cut back costs to BT which he knows will cause low speeds to zen customers during peak times and they can consequently blame BT when the complaints come in.

As a matter of public record: this has not happened.

I doubt any sentient reader of this forum imagined it had.....

Here you go, just for you, i have found the Unicorn.

http://www.darkrealmfox.com/dvd_bluray_comparisons/l...

As someone who, up until last year tried many of the BT based ISPs along with O2 LLU I can say quite confidently that Zen are, IMO, the best.

With their tweaking and advice on tweaking my own router I now have an approximately 3.5 km line running with a throughput of 2.4Mbps

O2 LLU was very unstable on the line and all they wanted to do was send a BT engineer round. no guidance given whatsoever and they screwed up the refund under their guarantee too.

Some people sing the praises of LLU but bear in mind you will be committing yourself to a 12 month contract, I'd be more than happy to commit to a 12 month contract with Zen if they unbunded my exchange but not really with a faceless body like the big boys.

As others have said, as it is pretty much certain that contention is the cause of your issues moving between ISPs that use BT supplied DSL circuits won't help you.

While I'd like to see the access network wrenched from BT's grip and jointly owned by the service providers (as is the case with the London Internet Exchange) that unfortunately isn't likelly to happen anytime soon.

Zen are a customer of BT and have little sway over them unfortunately, unbundling exchanges is an expensive business which is why few do it.

In reply to a post by techguy:

With their tweaking and advice on tweaking my own router I now have an approximately 3.5 km line running with a throughput of 2.4Mbps

I would agree with you about Zen being the best however, if I was only3.5km from the exchange I would expect a lot more than 2.4Mbps. I am 6.5 km from the exchange with a line attenuation of 62db and I get a throughput of 2.1Mbps thanks to the efforts and help of the Zen staff.

Only did the tweaking last Friday so course I need to wait a few days for the DLM to realise the connection is stable and not flapping so it will hopefully up the throughput.

MK is rubbish for broadband although BT are currently trialling Fibre to the premises, I indicated I'd like to give it a ho and they contacted me to arrange but at the mo they can't give me an idea of the price so am waiting until it goes into production and Zen launch their FTTP product,