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Re: [LUG] Fwd: UK 'misled' on broadband speeds

 
This issue of broadband speeds keeps coming up
What they NEVER explain or address is that "the Internet" is not like a water supply

Just to recap
My laptop connects to a WLAN router at a theoretical 54Mbps
The DSL stuff in the router goes over a phone line (copper) at ( in my case )
DownStream Connection Speed 8128 kbps
UpStream Connection Speed 448 kbps
Then the local exchange sends the circuit via some BT voodoo to a proper POP at an unknown speed, let's guess 34Mbps
At the POP the ISP connects to the backbone at an unknown speed, let's guess 1000Mbps
If I am contacting a US website then the data goes through the transatlantic pipe.   I don't know what speed this is these days
Then it goes through a series of hops in the US, again at varying speeds
Of course apart from the initial local loop all the other bandwidth is shared so depends on the time of day etc

So the Internet has no "speed" that anyone can measure in bps
A point to point link....bits per second is a good way to measure and predict speed
A collection of networks...bits per second is a bad way

So if you buy a product that says "8Mbps Internet" on the description then this an inaccurate and imprecise way of stating the "speed" or any other quality that the product may have.

I'm sure that someone, somewhere has devised a good way of describing and comparing ISP speed.  But bps is not that way

On 27 July 2010 01:02, Julian Hall <linux@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
 'Britons are not getting the broadband services they are being sold, suggests a government report.  Ofcom's analysis of broadband speeds in the UK shows that, for some services, 97% of consumers do not get the advertised speed.'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-10760069

The phrase 'tell me something I don't know' springs to mind.  The real question is how many of these identical reports are we going to see before they actually DO something about this?  In any other industry, e.g. gas/electric suppliers the company(ies) would have been fined for misselling their products months, if not years ago.

Julian

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