Is this a good definition of irony?

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/11/16/uswitch_broa...

A price comparison web site complaining about peak time congestion?

Not sure I see why it would be ironic tbh.

If it was a traffic management company complaining then I would say "yes"
Am I missing something?

Well bargain basement ISPs often cut costs to achieve the low prices touted by the comparison sites by running the system hot, that is as many users as possible on as little bandwidth as they can reasonably get away with.

So for me.. yes a clear example of Irony!

Well I see the point now but as someone who doesnt use comparison sites for BB, do they only list the bargain basement ones? I thought they listed a wide range of services, in which case the irony is lost I suppose.

USwitch does not even have a visitor rating system, or comments. So you don't see any feedback from users who have signed up.

Oddly claims Sky are fastest provider on exchange, when TalkTalk offer the same ADSL2+ options and no indication if any other data is used to arrive at this conclusion.

At least it does offer a postcode checker interface.

It does seem limited and quite a poor comparison tool. I certainly wouldn't use it!

35% seems not too bad to me.

Not exactly how i'd define "crippling" either. The average speed in the UK is what? About 8mbit? Drop that by a 1/3 and it's not exactly useless is it?

If you compare the network to it's closest tarmac equivalent - the road network - it performs far better. For example if I drive the main circular road around my town and then up to Belfast, during off peak it's maybe a 25 minute drive. If I decide to go in the rush hour(s) from about 7.30-10.00 it might take me up to an hour or more. I suspect many people experience similar or worse.

So either you make the roads wider en masse...and have the associated cost, or you make do.
Same with the broadband network. Either you install massive capacity (with it's cost) or you take the occasional slow downs. It does strike as a bit brass neckish for a comparison site that likely pimps "free" broadband as the greatest thing since sliced bread to be moping though. The top 5 packages they push are £5 or less...speaks volumes

Edited by orly (Wed 16-Nov-11 18:18:30)

In reply to a post by orly:

The top 5 packages they push are £5 or less...speaks volumes

Or lack of .

do they only list the bargain basement ones

no, they list only the ones that pay them commission. They are usually inaccurate when it comes to LLU packages being offered in non-LLU areas too.

All in all an utter waste of space.