Network throttling

[ChrissyAA3]

Hello all,

I am new here and am after a bit of advice please. We are currently with o2 as our ISP, but due to a pretty poor service we are looking at moving to BE Broadband. BE informed us that they in now way shape internet traffic, throttle etc, however o2 have said that shaping internet traffic IS an OFCOM regulation.
Could somebody please confirm if this is true. We have done a bit of research into it and are even more puzzled then when we started.
Similarly, if anybody has some experience with BE, how did you find it? The review on the internet look promising.

Any help would be appreciated
Thank you

Chris

 

[Hameister]

Your best bet would be to look up, and PM, one of the people on these forums from the UK, like Bad_Machine.

Folks like myself in the USA probably won't have a clue.

Good Luck.

 

[Bad_Machine]

Hello all,

I am new here and am after a bit of advice please. We are currently with o2 as our ISP, but due to a pretty poor service we are looking at moving to BE Broadband. BE informed us that they in now way shape internet traffic, throttle etc, however o2 have said that shaping internet traffic IS an OFCOM regulation.
Could somebody please confirm if this is true. We have done a bit of research into it and are even more puzzled then when we started.
Similarly, if anybody has some experience with BE, how did you find it? The review on the internet look promising.

Any help would be appreciated
Thank you

Chris

Hi Chris

In my opinion the Virgin Media fibre optic service is the best. I'm currently at 100mbps and when downloading files from fast sources it throttles at around 10.7 mb/sec max. Brilliant service so far. Personally I wouldn't go with BT or anyone else, unless I absolutely had to.

If Virgin fibre optic is in your area, then your choice is obvious. They offer smaller packages as well. I was on 50mbps until recently and they upgraded us all to 100mbps FOR FREE. They really hurt BT there, a true BT killer. Virgin are now also launching clouf wifi (which BT until recently had the upper hand on).

And before you ask, no... ...I don't work for them, nor anyone else I know!

 

[ChrissyAA3]

Hey guys,

Thanks alot for your replies! I have just checked Bad_Machine, and unfortunately we are not in a Fibre Optics area. Which is odd actually, as they have been doing work on it for the past two years around my area. Anyway, as a student I feel it may have been too much anyway
Do you know much about the Throttling rules and OFCOM that I previously mentioned. Our dilemma is this: We are currently with o2 but our contract is about to expire. Our o2 connection is pretty poor to be honest, the router is a crock of **** and they seem to throttle everything we do. I study forensic computing and have a legitimate reason to torrent. Downloading Linux Security distro's, other OS images, research papers and case files but they crawl to a halt. Now o2 have offered us the same contract, new router but for £6 a month. The reason that we aren't contemplating it at the moment is the traffic shaping/throttling. Now if what he is saying is true (that OFCOM enforce that every ISP has throttling techniques) then there is no reason for us to go to BE, we may as well take o2's new offer.If what o2 said isn't true and BE wont throttle (which they claim, I phrased it in every way possible too when I asked them) us then we will go with them. I hope this is clear?

Again, any help would be massively appreciated!
Thanks

Chris

 

[Bad_Machine]

By BE I assume you mean BT? If Virgin via a phone line is not available as well, then I'd go for BT infinity. Don't go for O2, I haven't heard the best comments from their existing customers. Don't worry too much about throttling. If you are a heavy torrents user and you use uTorrent then you can always change ports frequently and also force encryption and disable incoming legacy connections for extra security.