Too good to be true . . . ?

[DJGM]

A new broadband ISP called "Be" claims it will soon be launching a 24Mb broadband internet service.

Have a look at what they'll apparently offer . . .

24Mb Broadband ADSL internet access.
Subscription fee of under £30 p.m.
Free wireless router worth £117.
No caps or limits on usage.

Is this too good to be true? Could it attract too many customers, and end up oversubscribed?

Judge for yourself - read the article at TheRegister.co.uk and/or have a look at their website.

[Dr Lobster*]

it sounds really promising.

there was a company called buffalow i think which required users to change to their phone service before you used their broadband - many users who switched have said their service could not handle demand.

i think, as you say, if the service does work it will soon be flooded.

[Jamez]

You don't really need such a fast internet connection, unless you are planning to receive high-bandwidth television pictures etc.

Until recently at Uni, I was on NTL's 4Mbit connection, which gave you average download speeds of around 450kbps, but with a rather paltry upload speed of only around 30-40kbps.

A lot of the servers I came across capped the speed you could download files/media from. Example:

http://www.server.com/song.mp3 (5mb file), would download at a capped 150kbps, whereas your actual internet connection could easily download the file at twice that speed.

It's slowly taking a while for severs to accomodate people with superfast connections. Until then though, it can be frustrating downloading files from slow or capped-speed servers.

[mr smuf]

You don't really need such a fast internet connection, unless you are planning to receive high-bandwidth television pictures etc.

Of course, high bandwidth net TV is the next big thing to happen I reckon. It's only a matter of time before people will be able to subscribe to all sorts of channels, including movie and sports channels as an alternative to Sky, cable and DTTV.

[Lee]

Don't these high speeds all depend on how good your line is? Some lines can't support 2mb, never mind 24mb. Or is that bull...

[Pete]

i think it's closeness to exchange although I used to be only able to get 512 and am not on 1mbit (i'm 3 miles from the exchange).

Also it requires local loop unbundling - whatever that means. so out here in the sticks we've got fuck all chance of getting it

[Fireboy]

i think it's closeness to exchange although I used to be only able to get 512 and am not on 1mbit (i'm 3 miles from the exchange).

Also it requires local loop unbundling - whatever that means. so out here in the sticks we've got fuck all chance of getting it

It's not only distance that can affect it. I'm only 1.05km from the exchange and should have excellent line stats, especially as the cables outside are only a few years old. However we have a very old "ringer" in the hallway which is wired into the telephone system... I'm told the ringer has been around for 60 years, and can't be filtered. This means we get high Line Attenuation ( around 47/48 ) and the most rediculous figures for SNR (try downstream: 1 - that was on Tuesday night for a short time). :roll:

[Chris]

i think it's closeness to exchange although I used to be only able to get 512 and am not on 1mbit (i'm 3 miles from the exchange).

Also it requires local loop unbundling - whatever that means. so out here in the sticks we've got fuck all chance of getting it

My understanding of LLU is whereby another company comes and installs their gear at your local exchange and provides their services alongside BT's on their telephone wires (i.e. the local loop; last mile before the exchange - hence the name).

I am currently on 1Mbit with Pipex (after the speed regrade). They left me on 2Mbit after they initially cranked up the line to 2Mbit but Pipex soon throttled it back down to 1Mbit - personally I don't agree with it (the fact they've upgraded me to 2Mbit but throttled it, instead of provisioning me as 1Mbit only without the throttle as they did in the "old" days), but because performance especially at peak times since the throttle has been iffy and not as "smooth" as it used to be when the line was provisioned at 512k. In other words, it's opened up a whole new can of worms - probably due to their shit throttling equipment at Pipex HQ.

Personally I think it's about time BT ditched the two-cans-and-piece-of-string network that they have had for the past millennium and put fibre to the door. However, the hope of that happenening is pretty much next-to-impossible as BT are there to please their shareholders as a monopoly, not to provide a service to customers. Other places like Sweden are speeding ahead with their fibre networks and multi-megabit internet access, but we are still stuck here with a stone age network and a government that doesn't give a toss.

[Chris]

A new broadband ISP called "Be" claims it will soon be launching a 24Mb broadband internet service.

Have a look at what they'll apparently offer . . .

24Mb Broadband ADSL internet access.
Subscription fee of under £30 p.m.
Free wireless router worth £117.
No caps or limits on usage.

Is this too good to be true? Could it attract too many customers, and end up oversubscribed?

Judge for yourself - read the article at TheRegister.co.uk and/or have a look at their website.

Yes, I have a feeling it'll be the "Altavista £50 per year dialup" fiasco of 1999/2000 when they tried to offer an unlimited service at a low price.

It'll probably go one of the following ways: -

Work fine for a bit and then begin to creak under the load of loads of new subscribers. It'll either boot people off, change the product or add other clauses to the terms and conditions so that the service becomes more restricted.

Be OK for a few months, admit they're in financial difficulty because of the costs (i.e. purchasing equipment/bandwidth) and go to the wall, or be purchased by bigger fish.

Be very small due to the amount of people not able to get the service due to shit quality lines (yes BT I am talking about your stone age network made up of 2 cans and a piece of string ) and admit they can't handle people leeching off the connection all the time, and impose restrictions or switch to an extortianate pay and go system.

[Pete]

surely if it's their own kit the costs are less? or do i not understand phone exchanges? What own kit do they put in exactly?

I read somewhere about BT wanitng to have their entire network run over IP in the near future. Would that require new wiring?

[Fireboy]

surely if it's their own kit the costs are less? or do i not understand phone exchanges? What own kit do they put in exactly?

I read somewhere about BT wanitng to have their entire network run over IP in the near future. Would that require new wiring?

I have no idea, but... erm... that's a "different" avatar.