Dispelling the myths of 8Mbps broadband

The myths around up to 8Mbps broadband

"I'm paying for 8Mbps and only getting 6Mbps – so I'm paying for a service I'm not getting!"

This is a common statement from broadband customers all over the UK. So what is the truth behind up to 8Mbps broadband?

The real issue lies with the 'up to' part of 'up to 8Mbps broadband'. This type of broadband service is based on ADSL technology, which has the potential to provide connection speeds as high as 8Mbps downstream. However, only a small proportion of users will ever experience this speed.

The truth is, 'up to' really is 'up to'. Broadband speed is determined by a number of factors, most of which are outside the control of the ISP. The main factor is distance from the exchange. And distance doesn’t mean eye view, it's literally the distance the cables and wiring have travelled from the exchange into your home, which differs from house to house.

Back to contents

Are KC customers getting a raw deal?

There is a common misconception about broadband in the Hull area. Some customers believe they are getting an inferior service than they would elsewhere in the UK with other providers. The reality is that many providers use the ‘up to’ phrase to hide behind the claim that almost any speed is acceptable. Some providers, and we believe we are one of them, are more upfront about speed expectations, but we would like to show just how our service compares with the UK’s biggest ISP – BT.

The graph below shows the average line speeds for KC and BT customers.

KT v BT Connection Speeds

In short, 99.87% of KC customers are achieving at least 1Mbps, and around 9% are achieving the full 8Mbps. In ‘BT land’, only 96% of customers are achieving at least 1Mbps (so 4% aren’t even getting that!) and only 25% are getting 6.5Mbps or above. In all cases, KC customers are achieving better speeds.

Back to contents

So how is this?

KC has a higher concentration of exchanges across its network than BT Wholesale because of the size of the market it services. So, on average, KC customers have shorter line lengths, giving them a better broadband experience than they would receive somewhere else in the UK.

What Ofcom has to say

Ofcom, the independent regulator and competition authority for the UK communications industry, has also expressed concern about the difference between the 'up to' speeds advertised and the actual speeds experienced by many UK subscribers. The Chairman of the Ofcom Consumer Panel, has written to the UK's six leading ISPs to seek their views about how this problem might be addressed. You can see the letter sent to these ISPs here...

Back to contents

What is KC doing about this?

In all of our marketing communications we are open and honest about exactly what customers are paying for the service they are getting. We don’t use gimmicks and always explain exactly how a service will work and what level of experience a customer should expect to receive. Just see the new KAROO broadband pages and you’ll know what we mean!

However, to help explain the up to 8Mbps service even further, we’ve put together the following pointers for you to remember…

Back to contents

Factors affecting connection and download speed

There are countless factors affecting connection and download speed, each of which can cause your experience to be lower than expected. These factors include:

Distance from the Exchange

Your speed is most affected by how far you live from the nearest exchange, and there is nothing that anyone can do to improve on this (apart from moving house, of course!). There are also numerous other physical factors, including weather conditions and other electrical equipment in the vicinity.

Back to contents

Your own personal setup – PC, router, splitters and domestic appliances

The broadband speed you experience can vary depending on the type of modem or router you are using. Generally, Ethernet routers will give you better performance than a USB modem.

Your broadband speed can be impacted by the quality of the telephone wiring within your house, and it is always best to connect your broadband router or modem direct to your master socket, if at all possible. Speed can also be impacted by the (incorrect) use of DSL splitters, and occasionally domestic appliances (such as fridges) in the house can interfere with the broadband signal on the internal home telephone wiring.

If you're running a home network, this can impact on your broadband speed. If several users are sharing the internet connection between multiple computers, the performance will degrade for each user.

A wireless connection may also impact download speed, as wireless performance varies by distance, the size and construction of the house and the type of wireless technology used. It is quite possible that the speed of the wireless network within the house will be less than the bandwidth available over the internet connection to the house.

If you have a SKY box with your telephone line plugged directly into it, you can also be reducing you broadband speed. Please always use a filter to connect your telephone line into your SKY box.

Factors specific to your PC can also affect your broadband speed, especially if the PC is running peer-to-peer applications in the background or downloading software updates, which may not be obvious to you, but can result in slow or 'sluggish' download speeds.

Spyware and viruses can cause your computer to run slowly and certain types of these can even cause your computer to generate lots of outgoing traffic (often spam) or to act as an 'open relay', allowing malicious traffic from other users of the internet to be routed through the end user's computer, thus using both upstream and downstream bandwidth.

See our top tips for improving line speed in your home...

Back to contents

The ISP's network

Every ISP needs to manage its customers' traffic, including traffic sent between its own customers, as well as connections to the internet. All ISPs plan their networks based on assumptions about the average bandwidth utilisation by its customers, and sudden surges in use can result in traffic speeds slowing for individual users at peak times.

Many ISPs, including Karoo, also use traffic shaping to ensure that heavy bandwidth users are not negatively impacting upon the performance for the majority, lighter users, so particularly bandwidth-intensive activities will also be slower during busy periods.

Back to contents

The 'public internet'

The internet is a 'network of networks', with no single entity controlling how traffic is passed between different ISPs. Due to IP routing protocols, traffic to a single destination can travel multiple different ways, often at the same time. Since there are no guarantees for traffic being passed across the internet, and a single route across the network cannot be confidently predicted, the performance of the internet varies wildly and depends on other users around the world and the individual network design decisions of the networks which make up the internet.

Back to contents

The destination server

Whenever a customer visits a web page, they are accessing information on a webserver connected to a network. The webserver's connection to the internet will impact the perceived speeds of response, as will the computing power of the server, what other websites are hosted on the same machine, and the number of users accessing it at a particular time. Even a popular website with large connection to the internet can be swamped by a sudden surge of traffic caused by multiple users attempting to access the site at the same time (e.g. a concert ticket website releasing tickets for a popular music concert may be 'swamped' by traffic resulting in poor performance). In addition, sometimes websites are subject to malicious activity, including Denial of Service attacks, which deliberately attempt to swamp a webserver to disrupt its activities.

Back to contents