Digital divide, which side are you on and does it bother you?

[L3nny]

Originally Posted by Spank86

pretty much.

the longer the line is the more the signal attenuates and the more external noise and crosstalk you get.

All that adds up to distance and speed being inversely related.

They're working on ways to improve it all the time.

Although I did notice speeds were faster in places where you could also get Virgin, coincidence??

[Bibio]

the highest speed i can get is the highest Virgin have to offer (100mb?) but i have 20mb and i don't feel the need for anything more. yes i remember dial up and even then i thought it was amazing.

Getting about 15 Meg at the moment in a smallish village in hampshire. So really can't complain.

NTL/Telewest - my wife used to work for them about 10 years ago. Part of their problem was that they didn't have a common platform. Each region had completely different infrastucture so they had stuff all chance of getting any economies of scale. Whilst she was working for them, we could have had their services at staff rates, unfortunately there's no cable in the village....

If you want to compare to a different country - look at Sweden. Phenominal domestic network speeds!! There's enough 3G & 4G coverage to keep you on line pretty much anywhere, that's despite an amazingly low population density. The population there is somewhere in the 9-10 million bracket....

Originally Posted by L3nny

Although I did notice speeds were faster in places where you could also get Virgin, coincidence??

not as such, more of a case of two effects and one cause.

Virgin cables up the most cost effective areas, those areas tend to be both more urban and closer to exchanges.

[keith_d]

I think I can tick most of the boxes in this poll depending on when I measure my connection.

At 5am it's a nice healthy 20Mbit, at 5pm it's rubbish. I'm guessing it's the contention ratio, combined with the number of kids who get home around 4pm.

[andrewsmith]

Originally Posted by Spank86

not as such, more of a case of two effects and one cause.

Virgin cables up the most cost effective areas, those areas tend to be both more urban and closer to exchanges.

That is very true.

The issue that all providers are finding (Spank will agree with this) is the roads and footpaths are at capacity in the urban areas and the rural roads are complex to dig in (hence why BT and the power is on telegraph poles still).
Good example that is happening in Newcastle is VM are jumping into the old GPO ducts where there is space and only serving the commercial properties

Pretty much.

Of course the ducts are pretty full as well and the costs of digging and road works are only going up and up..