Ofcom: By 2017, even BUMPKINS will have superfast broadband

Re: Bumpkin

Be warned.... you might think you're going to get 4mbps and you might well get it at the start but given time you will see it go down and down until at last you get so fed up you decide to change providers. Now you might wonder why changing providers would be the answer to a deteriorating broadband speed well here is the answer.

When I moved from TalkTalk (1.5mbps) back to BT (3.9mbps) I thought I was in speed heaven. However the speed started falling and is now below 2.5mbps so I called BT. The answer was when I went back to them they did not have too many customers at the Exchange but they had started to win them back. The more people come back to BT the slower the speed will get.

So at some point I will need to change provider again to one who does not have as many customers as BT in order to bump my speed back up. And all the time the exchange 2 miles away has fibre to the cabinet whilst my exchange which is a little over 2 miles away continues to be shown as no plans to upgrade on SamKnows.

Re: Bumpkin

If you are moving to Bumpkin land, where myself and SWMBO live, £7 a month for board band is going to be least of your problems...

Wait until you start running oil fired central heating...

Re: Bumpkin

Think I'm going to have to move to bumpkinland if that's the speed you're getting, I'm lucky to get more than 3mbps and that's living 1 mile from the exchange in a large town!

Re: Bumpkin

>I expect to get about 4mbps

I take it that that is the "Up to x" figure given by the BT Wholesale ADSL Checker for the "Downstream line rate" of the telephone line you will be taking over?

I've found this checker to generally be reliable, and have regularly achieved the cited figure for clients when using a mid-range router/modem (eg. Draytek) against the BT Wholesale Speedtest.

As for the extra £7 pcm, I suggest taking a look at the third-parties who resell BT broadband eg. Zen, PlusNet, etc. The nice thing about Zen is that if the line doesn't perform then you have some recourse...

But to get 4mbps in 'bumpkinland' you're very close to the exchange...

Re: Bumpkin

Ultimately Ofcom have absolutely no clue how to affect rural broadband or to properly regulate the broadband market.

I was particularly vocal about them in 2011 when they claimed (copy here - http://media.ofcom.org.uk/2011/07/20/better-value-rural-broadband/):

***Millions of homes and businesses in rural parts of the UK could receive better value broadband services by the end of this year***

Which related to an enforced 12% reduction in wholesale prices in rural regions.

I stated that the wholesale price wouldn't reduce the overall cost for ISPs to deliver broadband by more than about 2%, and that this would not result in a reduction in broadband prices for consumers.

It didn't - it hasn't - and as is attested elsewhere in the comments here - broadband prices in rural communities remain higher than in urban areas - despite speeds being slower overall.

Ofcom making this claim has more to do with their own continued justification of existing than anything to do with narrowing the gap between the haves and have nots.

At the time I asked whether they were clueless, witless or toothless - the answer remains a personal choice.

Re: Rail network would be good too

Where I live doctor Beeching ripped our railways out, so I don't think it mattes here.

Re: Filling the colum inches with inanity?

There's a school of thought that says 'window shopping' is a leading incentive for the unemployed and/or poor to change their situation. Most people are aiming at something beyond their current means and identifying that aim is a good motivator.

Besides, you've got your economic case backward. If you don't provide a decent level of baseline services for the poor/unemployed/lazy then they've actually got a valid excuse for their lack of social contribution. Denying those sorts access to tools for betterment only results in an ever expanding class of poor with no hope for escape. You dilute long term value to save a few bucks up front. If you start out going the cheap route, then you're on the cheap road forever. It's institutionalized Icahnism and it only benefits a tiny minority.

Glad you class yourself as a bumpkin, but 200m from the exchange puts you in the middle of the locale. Furthermore, your locale is large enough that your exchange has been unbundled.

This article is not talking about you, since you are, effectively, a townie - you live in an area where you have access to multiple wholesale providers, OFCOM would class your exchange as Market 2 (2-3 wholesale providers) or Market 3 (4+ wholesale providers, fully deregulated).

This article is talking about people connected to Market 1 exchanges, where BTw are the only provider. People like my old man, 8km from a Market 1 exchange, no ADSL2+, no 21CN WBC, 2 Meg on a good day and on a bad day nothing.

Re: Ofcomm's going to look at ipv6

Yeah, just "look" at it probably. Not actually do anything with it.