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Why Test Broadband Speeds?

Nowadays there is a proliferation of broadband speed tests on the internet. These have arisen in response to the growing difference between the speeds advertised by Internet Service Providers (ISP's) and the speeds actually received by consumers. More and more customers are finding that their speeds are far lower than what they are paying for and research by Moneysupermarket.com in 2007 showed that 44% of 43,000 customers were receiving only a pitiful HALF of the advertised speeds for their internet connections. This massive difference between advertised and received speeds has finally caught the attention of communication regulator OFCOM.

OFCOM has warned ISP's that they must be more transparent about the actual speeds consumers are receiving and there are calls from consumer panels to make ISP's contact customers within a fortnight of joining to inform them of their exact actual top speeds. OFCOM has also introduced, since Valentine's Day this year, important regulatory changes that give consumers freedom to switch ISP's if they are not happy with the service and speeds.

In the past ISP's could bully consumers into staying with them by charging them for changing providers and by creating delays that left consumers without a broadband connection for weeks, a situation that forces a lot of people to reluctantly remain with a provider they were unhappy with. Under OFCOM's new regulations, ISP's can no longer charge for switching to new providers. They must also ensure that the Migration Authorisation Code (MAC), the code which is given to customers to give to their new providers, is passed on within five days of the request. In the past ISP's would wait weeks before giving these codes to customers, in order to deter them from changing. Now under the new regulations consumers are protected from this practice.

These changes are part of what will be a continuing development of adequate regulatory standards that are needed for the booming broadband industry. As it becomes more integral to daily life, and bandwidth becomes more valuable, we will need to ensure that consumer rights are protected.

With these changes in mind, now is a really good time to do a test of your broadband speeds to ensure that you are getting what you are paying for, and that you CAN get what you are paying for. With many of the previous obstacles to changing providers removed, consumer freedom is far greater and worth taking advantage of to ensure you the best deal.

Broadband Wise Is The Premier Resource for Broadband Comparisons. With in depth reviews of Sky Broadband in your area.

posted by badrul-halim23464 @ 6:12 AM 0 comments

Compare Cable vs. DSL

Okay, so you are finally tired of those slow dial-up internet connections, and you want to go broadband. Good deal. But first, you may be wondering which type of broadband connection is best- DSL or Cable? Or, at least, which of the two gives you more speed for the price? Here we take a look at these two popular broadband connections and try to determine which one is better: DSL vs. Cable.

Cable Speed vs. DSL

The most common question that comes up is which type of connection is faster, DSL or Cable? To answer this, it is important to compare both upload and download speeds. Now, so you have something to compare these speeds to, your average dial-up connection is about 28 - 56 Kbps. Most often, however, you won't be able to get 56k through dial up, as most services can not handle this speed.

The average speed of a DSL download is 1.0 - 1.5Mbps. That's megabytes per second - about 20 times as fast as the fastest dial-up connection. This is fast, but consider Cable, which can give you up to 2 - 3Mbps. Thus, at least for downloading, cable can give you almost twice the speed of DSL - that's impressive. On the upload side, however, cable and DSL are pretty evenly matched. They both provide about 100Kbps - 400Kbps. It seems that cable has won this battle.

What about Price and Quality of Service?

There is more to discuss here besides the speed of the connections. Take price for one. Cable and DSL connections are both going to be more expensive than dial-up. But, DSL seems to be the cheaper of the two at the moment. You can get a good DSL internet connection for about $35 - $45 per month. Cable modem will cost you about $45 or $50 (this price may be included in a cable TV package). These prices, however, are really close and they change almost from month to month.

DSL is nice because you can talk on the phone and be online at the same time. In addition, business-level DSL service provides guaranteed data rates, so your connection speed is never a surprise. On the other hand, DSL speed tends to decrease the further you are away from the data center, and it is typically not as widely available as Cable. Cable speeds are not dependent on distance from the data center, and is occasionally cheaper than DSL when included in a cable TV rate. A cable modem, however, may require costly professional installation, and there may exists some limitations on downloads and uploads. All of these factors should be taken into consideration when choosing either broadband service.

Bradley James is a senior editor at SciNet.cc, a website containing many helpful consumer electronics review articles. For more information on DSL and Cable technology, please visit our DSL vs Cable webpage.

posted by badrul-halim23464 @ 1:47 AM 0 comments