Hi, I was curious about how you went about getting a quicker internet connection. afew of my friends have mentioned a few things at school, like Broadband. None of us really know what it does except make the interent fast. So i have just a few questions: 1. Is broadband the best internet connection you can have for pure downloading speed? Ive heard of something called ISDN, i think. 2. How much is it Per month? 3. Whats the cheapest and best service i can get? 4. Does it change my ISP or is it just a cable that lets data through quicker and not a piece of hardware and software like a modem? 5. Is it like a modem, does the connection speed differ depending on what time you go on and does the connection speed decrease after time? Thats all my questions about Broadband for now, i now have a few questions about my current interent connection speed. 1. My download speed used to be around 4 kbps, which is dreadful but i wasnt used to anything else so it was ok at the time. Quite a while back my interent connection started to get slower and slower gradually. At present time my download speed is usually less than 1 kbps and it keeps jumping every few seconds from 0.8 kbps to 1.2 kbps. Its wierd, no-one messed about with the settings it just happened for no reason. My modem is a Hayes accura 56k modem, old i know, but a storm blew up our old one. So what should i do? Buy Broadband or whatever you recommend or check my phone conncetions and settings? Thanks alot guys
1) Yes it is, but ISDN is dead, you need to go for cable or ADSL, check NTL's website for Cable and BT's website for ADSL 2)Cable is around £25 a month maybe less. ADSL is £30 - £50 a month depending who you go with, BT is the cheapest 3)Cheapest is BT Best service i don't know, if were tlaking ADSL now 4)changes ISP, you need a USB enabled Modem and an ADSL line which is a £150 conversion fee 5)no the connection speed should be consistant at 512kbps download and 256kbps upload get broadband if you can afford it and live in the right area, its about £30 - £50 a month plus £150 fee to convert your lines, you'd have to talk to someone else about cable though
this might be better in networking&comms forum ...don't bother with isdn as Jaz said altho its an improvement over dialup - its no substitute for broadband and not as fast. Also with isdn you'll pay a hefty install price... a monthly price about the same as adsl and be tied in to it for at least a year... then to upgrade to adsl you have to pay them £100 to degrade the line before you can get adsl, then pay adsl instal charges ontop of that wish i weren't stuck on isdn now pipex are doing some install deal atm for adsl... they may be your best bet
1. Is broadband the best internet connection you can have for pure downloading speed? Ive heard of something called ISDN, i think. RTT: broadband (for home use) comes in two flavours - ADSL Cable at present, BT offers ADSL (which works on digital fone lines) and Telewest/NTL offer Cable modems, which use their own line, similar to a cable TV line, using CO-AX cable. BT's ADSL comes in at 512k (down) and 256k (up) (512/256) Telewest comes in at 512k (down) and 128k (up) (512/128) i think NTL also supplies 512/128 as well. these firgures are quoted in kbits/sec, so to get kbytes/sec, we have to divide by 8. 512k (download) = 512/8 = 64kbytes/sec maximum download and as for 56k (dial up) 56/8 = 7 kbytes/sec. so immeditaly you can see that Cable/ADSL is MUCH faster than 56k, plus the fact that their is no dialling, as cable/ADSL is an always connected connection. 2. How much is it Per month? RTT: At the minute, Telewest want £33 a month for their cable service, but if you also have TV and or phone from them, they only want £25 a month. Also you will need to pay an installation fee. (i am unsure of NTL prices) as for BT, im pretty sure that its £40 a month and £80 installation fee. 3. Whats the cheapest and best service i can get? RTT: decide for yourself from answer to question 2 4. Does it change my ISP or is it just a cable that lets data through quicker and not a piece of hardware and software like a modem? RTT: depends, if you are already on BT, then they'll just cancel your dial-up service, and connect you up to ADSL. if you opt for telewest or NTL, then you'll have to scrap internet from BT altogether! 5. Is it like a modem, does the connection speed differ depending on what time you go on and does the connection speed decrease after time? RTT: nope, ADSL or cable is always connected from the minute your PC is turned on. connection speeds dont change at all, and the connection never drops beware though, for ADSL, you will need to be within 5km (i think) of your telephone exchange, and you will need to be in an area that supports ADSL. same goes for cable, you need to be in a area where it is available, though with cable, you dont have to be within a certain distance from the exchange, as it doesnt work like ADSL, nor does it use phone lines. you may find that until you are cabled, or until BT upgrade the local exchange, that you may be stuck with dial-up. hope this helps.
ISDN is still alive and kickin over here in the states. ppl use it as an alternative to a FT1 if they only need say 50-100k transfer rates. its quite nice acually if you have a game server or something cuz its gaurnateed to have the same upload as down, as opposed to dsl or cable which will get load of downstream with a much muchg smaller amount of data upstream.
Thanks alot guys. I want to get ADSL with BT but because my Dad has just this very second bought the 14.99 per month thingy which allows you to surf for as long as you want and he doesnt want to pay an extra £40 a month and he certainly wont want to pay £80 for installation. That would mean we would be paying £55 per month for our interent, we dont even spend that much on it in 3 months (thats when we get our bill, every three months). So it looks like a fast internet connection is a lost cause for me but i really appreciate you educating me, now i can show off to my mates at school. Thanks again
puppet master - it really depends what you use the Internet for? if you just generally browse the net and chat in chat rooms then a suppose 56k would be fine. but if your into downloading games / sofware, playing lots of games etc, well then broadband is the better option. also. would just like to say, if you use a second phone line to connect to the net, that phone line is gonna cost you £10 line rental every month plus around 10 - 15 quid a month for a 24/7 ISP - at these rates (£10 + £15 = £25 per month), your better off just getting Cable (NTL or Telewest) anyway, as its gonna cost you no more £££ and you get a better service hands down
