Local Telephone Service, OT - internet speeds - a question

Edwards Finance > Phones

Q. Does anyone remember way back in the days of 14.4kb/s (and earlier) dial up modems? Then we went to 28.8kb/s Then 36kb/s Then 56kb/s Back then I seem to recall much discussion (from the tellecoms people...and in most computer mags etc) to the effect that 56k was pretty much the maximum that could be obtained.....and that this restriction was largely due to the last link in the chain...i.e the line from the exchange to your house..... Well, clearly this was bollox... Clearly the 'fault' lay with the equipment in the exchanges....once upgraded, we are now all capable of recieving high speed broadband data.....and for most of us, the lines from the exchanges to our houses have remained unchanged.... We are now told (and sold) broadband speeds of up to 8MB/s. But very few of us actually recieve anything like this speed.....in tests, the fastest I've ever managed was about 4MB/s...most people I know report the same.

A. This is still way in excess of what we were once told was the maximum. But nowhere near the promised speed. And they now blame the drop-off from 8MB/s ....on 'your distance from the exchange'. Now I know people who are virtually of top of their local exchange....and they report similar speeds that are nothing like the promised 8MB/s..... So, my question - (finally) - Are we being lied to now....just as we were, not that many years ago....when they blamed it all on the crappy lines from the exchanges to our houses... Is it really a case of very fast speeds being quite possible....if only the telecomms people are prepared to invest more of their profits in the infrastructure at THEIR end? I don't remember the speeds of 14.4 but I do remember using a 33k modem. I remember when I upgraded it to the blistering speed of 56K. The mags of the time were as you say blaming the last link being the cable from the exchange to your house, or so the telco's led them and us to believe. But that didnt matter when you could get free Internet access from telco's like Screaming.net, all by just transfering your telephone line to them. When The end of screaming.net came when they sold out to worldonline and then finally worldonline was bought by Tiscalli. It was now time to go even faster and return to BT. I decided to go the ISDN route. Now this was an improvement virtualy instant access to the net with no squeals from the dial up modem. This was soon replaced by ADSL which I have from Freedom2Surf. Like all companies they have bad reports and good reports but all I could give was good.Of the two occasions I have needed to call customer support they have been very helpful and always followed it up with a return call to make sure everything was now ok. I have now been with them for 4 years. They were bought out earlier this year by Pipex but I didn't see much change so have been happy to stay. Until now. Pipex have since been bought out by guess who, yes you guessed right Tiscalli. How this company stayed in business I don't know. Anyway I am now looking for an alternative supplier. No rush, because I have a web and email server on this connection, so I have to make sure I have continuity and keep my servers online. Just to correct a few facts. You were not lied to regarding the max speed for a modem. They operated within the voice band, using a telephone call, which restricts the frequencies that can be used (to roughly 300Hz to 3400Hz), and even with very clever techniques, it is almost impossible to connect a call over the network at more than 56k as the voice network uses a 64k channel to digitise the voice. ADSL uses frequencies outside the voice band, hence the filter to separate these, so you don't hear them on your phone, and your conversation does not interfere with the data modem. The ADSL link is terminated in the local exchange, and uses a completely different network to connect to the remote site. This operates at MUCH higher speeds than the 64k voice network. There were no problems with the equipment in the exchange, this is all still used to carry good quality voice. Additional equipment has been installed to allow a different service to operate over the same cable as the voice to your home (local loop). The speed of an ADSL depends little on the length of the cable, it depends on the losses (and noise) on that cable. A new cable to your home will allow highter speeds than a shorter, much older and lossy cable to someone elses home. Regarding top speeds, here you may have a point. The recent Which report shows that very few people get the advertised speeds. These are the theoretical maximum and are jumped on by the marketing guys at the ISP, and promoted out of all proportion with what is realistically achievable. But would you buy from an ethical ISP who (truthfully) said you could get a 1mb to 2mb speed, when another (not so ethical) ISP says you can have 8mb for the same price? Most people would go for the second, so all of them have to tell the same (tall) story, until a regulator gives them all a good slap and then they all have to tell the same (more truthful) tale to the buying public. If you want the higher speeds cable is more likely to deliver, as the quality (loss) and bandwidth is far higher. Before you ask - no I do not work for any ISP, Telco or other company involved in delivery of this service. I am just a networking engineer working in the private sector, and always try to set out realistic expectations when advising my customers.

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