Check your Broadband Supply Situation Here

[Hands0n]

I was chatting tonight and recalled a rather neat bit of information that I'd picked up recently and then completely forgotten about.

Go to http://www.samknows.com and you will be able to find out all sorts of information about the Broadband supply situation in your Exchange and Postcode area. This site is used by the trade and is open to anyone. Look to the Availability links on the left side of the webpage where you can do a search in a number of different formats.

Once on the specific page for your local Exchange, you can enter your email address to be notified of any changes to the Exchange. Useful if you're waiting for LLU or 21CN to arrive in your area.

Enjoy :D

[Ben]

Love samknows :D I remember it well in the days when I was campaigning for ADSL in our village. Of course, all that is long forgotten since BT changed its policies, but it's nice to see that the site still has its uses.

[gorilla]

Not sure if this relevant but wasn't there something in the news the other day about people complaining that they weren't getting the advertised BB speeds? samknows might be a good place for people to go before signing up for a new service?

[Ben]

"up to 8 meg" is a bit of a joke, I'm afraid.

I've had near 8 meg speeds at home (I'm sync'd at the theoretical maximum for ADSL Max), but most of the time I'm lucky to get 3mbps :(

The thing is, even if you're sync'd at full speed, your connection is still contended with 20-50 other subscribers. Contention didn't used to be that noticable, but with torrents and other P2P systems now able to claw up to that 8 meg mark the implications are pretty heavy on everyone else.

Of course many people can't even sync at the max - the majority will only get 2-6 meg due to the length and quality of their line.

[Hands0n]

This is all why I steadfastly refuse to go ADSL and eschew my Telewest Cable link. It was a 10Mbps but good ole Virgin Media have recently written to say that in May they're jacking it u to 20Mbps. Even with contention ratios similar to ADSL I often get the full 10Mbps here. There is no loss with Cable - I'm hard pressed to accept anything less these days!!

[Ben]

Just been looking up the Canterbury exchange on Samknows, all looks pretty great until you get to the bit where due to the length of the line BT Wholesale believes only 256kbps ADSL will be possible!

Totally irritating. At this rate I'm going to be on satellite, which is an experience similar to clicking a link on a web page, going and making a coffee, loading the dishwasher, and washing the car, and then still having to wait for the page to start loading.

Need better broadband technologies.

[hecatae]

Downstream Max 13068 kb/s
Upstream Max 1100 kb/s


max above:

what I get with TalkTalk:


Downstream Rate 10927 kb/s
Upstream Rate 1019 kb/s
Downstream SNR 6.3 dB


talktalk are a lot more open with this information,

the members site shows exchange status: http://www.talktalkmembers.com/content/view/109/149/

and you can check speed here with no worries of sales calling you back: http://www.talktalkmembers.com/content/view/142/156/

[Ben]

Projected speed 1MB... nice... but with the line length as it is, could they really provide me with a better service than another ISP via BTs network?

[hecatae]

talktalk dont use bt's network at all until the exchange to your house, plus they offer the 30 day trial for peace of mind.

[hecatae]

http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange/EMNORTH

why no FTTC?

also cant get cable....

surrounding villages can,

[Ben]

My FTTC date has been pushed back to December. Though ADSL is so poor in my village that there's no guarantee it'll help/they'll even roll it out to our cabinet.

[hecatae]

you are lucky to get an FTTC date, I dont have one at all...