Broadband in the UK?

Bradster · Post by **Bradster** » Thu Mar 07, 2002 11:48 am

I'm curious, how common are broadband Internet connections in the United Kingdom? Are cable, DSL, and T1's widely available in residential areas at a reasonable price? I ask because I just realized that the few files I've posted could be extraordinarily large for anyone on a dialup connection. Here in the states, cable and DSL are available in most metropolitan areas at about US&#3640 per month (appx. £28-30?) and the major universities universities have these enormous connection pipes, something like an OC-3 or OC-11 which provide the eqivalent of a T3 to each building.So, how do you connect?I'll be more careful with my file sizes in the future. I promise! (Edited by Bradster at 11:49 am on Mar. 7, 2002)

Jim Box · Post by **Jim Box** » Thu Mar 07, 2002 11:58 am

Well I got cable! (Sorry Andy for blowing me own trumpet again mate)512k dowstream 128k upstream, in other words 60kb sec/15kb when downloading files, sure beats 56k and ISDN!£25.00 all in so I can't grumble, was paying that before for a second phone line and an ISP.I never get cut off, disconnected, etc.I grab my mail from 8 accounts in about 10 seconds.Do tons of p2p stuff so the PC is on 24/7.There is a good support infrastructure there as well and any outages are usually fixed in 5 mins.1megabit service coming out soon so thats something else for me to consider.

Jim Box · Post by **Jim Box** » Thu Mar 07, 2002 12:02 pm

Forgot to mention, and this is the bit that you guys on 56k will hate me for, I can download a megabyte in 17 seconds, so Brads files took a few minutes As a suggestion Brad and if its not too much work on your part why not post the file in two sizes a preview and a large, those on 56k modems (narrowband) can d/l the preview and see if its worth there while d/l'ing the larger one.Just a thought

Post by **AndyThomas** » Thu Mar 07, 2002 1:56 pm

Unfortunately Brad, most of us (Jim excluded!) have 56k access at home. Cable is gradually spreading, and places of work generally have ISDN or better. BT, the main telecoms provider over here, recently announced a cut in wholesale cost of DSL line rental but it's an ex-monopoly situation and they're dragging their heels about letting other providers get access to their systems. There's also the small issue of actually being able to get DSL or cable in your area, of course... Basically we're stuck with copper and the US is much better wired for high speed Net access.We were also much later than you in getting unlimited access for a set fee; American gamers were always quite shocked when I told them I was paying per minute 5 years ago! However, now I have a no-disconnect v.90 and it actually seems a bit quicker on my new machine. But I wouldn't worry about is too much Brad, we'll just plod on - you enjoy your high speed access and I'll start filling out the immigration papers!

Bradster · Post by **Bradster** » Fri Mar 08, 2002 9:18 am

Ah, thank you both very much for the details!In the future, I'll be sure to offer segmented versions of anything more than one or two megabytes.

Matt Darcy · Post by **Matt Darcy** » Fri Mar 08, 2002 10:12 am

The Power user is here !!!!My Flat in Bath has a 2 meg Bt ADSL connection (very rarley gets above 1 meg) my House oooop North (with an genuine office on the 3rd floor) contains a 2 meg leased line which is a geniuine 2meg flow my Webservers Sit on 2 Meg connection to a 30 Gig T1 backbone so they rip also !!!!

Jim Box · Post by **Jim Box** » Fri Mar 08, 2002 10:57 am

Do you use Kazaa at all Matt?, If so can I download from you mate, I promise only to download at 512kbps

Matt Darcy · Post by **Matt Darcy** » Fri Mar 08, 2002 1:23 pm

Never tried it jim, I don't use anything like that at my home as the leased line is for geniuine work, I used morphuis on in my flat, which seemed to work ok until about 2 weeks ago when they did a software upgrade and it has lost a lot of its usablity.I have available for leech....about 9 gigs worth of mp3 full albums (mixed taste)%90 of all the simpsons episodesAll the reddwarf episodesMost of the voager and Next generation seriesa couple of DS9 episodesAlmost all the sex and the city seriesall of series 4+5 of southparkIf you want any of these I'll make them available to you on ftp jim and you can direct connect to my machine and get them much quicker than p2p networks.I am currently looking for bottom (any series)filthy Rich and catlapnewman and BaddielI have a good collection of DVd's and will rip any you want and make them available to you.I have almost finished all the black adderss and skinner and baddiel on the couch

Bradster · Post by **Bradster** » Fri Mar 08, 2002 3:14 pm

That's a might impressive collection you have there, Matt!Ah, Red Dwarf...I think I must be the only American to enjoy that show. None of my friends seem to "get it".

Happosai · Post by **Happosai** » Fri Mar 08, 2002 3:42 pm

512k cable broadband at our house, shared between 3 people via a server (which I also use as a leeching station, since it's on 24/7

-- 40 quid a month package for internet acces, telephone line and basic digital cable TV from NTL. It nice to be able to have the same sort of internet experience at home as I've been used to at work for years.Try WinMX, eDonkey and Direct Connect for other P2P programmes -- I only download fansubbed anime and the few times I've tried Morpheus, there wasn't anything for me to download.BTW, Just because you've got a fat pipe into your PC doesn't mean you're guaranteed fast downloads -- it depends on the bandwidth of the other end and the internet inbetween.[Happosai]