The "Freeola Customer Forum" forum, which includes Retro Game Reviews, has been archived and is now read-only. You cannot post here or create a new thread or review on this forum.
Coming May 1st...
- Our standard 512K product reduces to £26.99 for new and existing customers.
- Blistering 1 MB service launched at £49.99 TBC
- Light Speed 2 MB service launched at £64.99 TBC
The future's getting faster... and cheaper!
Our site will be updated in near future.
Regards,
Danny
- Our standard 512K product reduces to £26.99 for new and existing customers.
- Blistering 1 MB service launched at £49.99 TBC
- Light Speed 2 MB service launched at £64.99 TBC
The future's getting faster... and cheaper!
Our site will be updated in near future.
Regards,
Danny
Page:
http://www.adslguide.org.uk/howitworks/contention.asp
Tóm wrote:
> It's all to do with how many people share the connection.
>
> For example, although you may have 512k, if a lot of people decide to
> hop on the internet and start downloading big files, your connection
> *could* drop to one with speeds lower than a standard modem - although
> for me anyway, it rarely does.
>
> I think you can work out that 50:1 means a maximum of 50 people will
> be sharing the little whatever at the exchange. This means (and here's
> where I'm not completely sure) if everyone came on and downloaded at
> full speed, you could get a minimum connection speed of about 10k. A
> ratio of 20:1 would make sure you get AT LEAST 25k with 512k (starts
> to make a bigger difference with higher speeds)
>
> Although I've never been unhappy with my 50:1. I live in an area full
> of old people who don't even know what a computer is, nevermind ADSL.
I actually think that the connection is 10Mbits that is shared by 50 people. So you can only go at 512K, but this means that 20 other people can also go at fullspeed. Once a 21st person comes on then everyone is slowed down a little. So on a 20:1 the connection of 512K should always be 512K no matter what. This is what some people have said and others think its sharing your 512K with 50 other people which would mean the internet would crawl to a halt when everone of those 50 is online.
At the moment I dont think any one is contended on ADSL as the numbers are still low. If you exchange has been enabled for ages and the exchange is full then maybe you get some contention. But I dont think that there is enough ADSL user nation wide for BT to actually start using contention. It will crop up in the future but by then hopefully BT will relise that 50:1 is not acceptible. Its good to see lower contention packages arriving.
Also another note is that it is actually up to the ISP at what contention you are on. So some ISPs state 50:1 but at the moment your on 1:1. I think that NTL use a connection of 15:1 or some small figure like that.
Hopefully contention will not be a problem in the future as I am use to having my 512K connection running at full speed at any time of the day. I dont think I could bear it if the speed dropped to even 4/5's of the full speed.
> It's all to do with how many people share the connection.
>
> For example, although you may have 512k, if a lot of people decide to
> hop on the internet and start downloading big files, your connection
> *could* drop to one with speeds lower than a standard modem - although
> for me anyway, it rarely does.
>
> I think you can work out that 50:1 means a maximum of 50 people will
> be sharing the little whatever at the exchange. This means (and here's
> where I'm not completely sure) if everyone came on and downloaded at
> full speed, you could get a minimum connection speed of about 10k. A
> ratio of 20:1 would make sure you get AT LEAST 25k with 512k (starts
> to make a bigger difference with higher speeds)
>
> Although I've never been unhappy with my 50:1. I live in an area full
> of old people who don't even know what a computer is, nevermind ADSL.
I actually think that the connection is 10Mbits that is shared by 50 people. So you can only go at 512K, but this means that 20 other people can also go at fullspeed. Once a 21st person comes on then everyone is slowed down a little. So on a 20:1 the connection of 512K should always be 512K no matter what. This is what some people have said and others think its sharing your 512K with 50 other people which would mean the internet would crawl to a halt when everone of those 50 is online.
At the moment I dont think any one is contended on ADSL as the numbers are still low. If you exchange has been enabled for ages and the exchange is full then maybe you get some contention. But I dont think that there is enough ADSL user nation wide for BT to actually start using contention. It will crop up in the future but by then hopefully BT will relise that 50:1 is not acceptible. Its good to see lower contention packages arriving.
Also another note is that it is actually up to the ISP at what contention you are on. So some ISPs state 50:1 but at the moment your on 1:1. I think that NTL use a connection of 15:1 or some small figure like that.
Hopefully contention will not be a problem in the future as I am use to having my 512K connection running at full speed at any time of the day. I dont think I could bear it if the speed dropped to even 4/5's of the full speed.
phi11ip wrote:
> Miserableman wrote:
>
> The only problem with NTL is they don't have even one vaguelly
> competent employee
>
> I had a problem while setting it up, I rang them, got straight through
> and sorted it!
>
> The customer services in this area are very good.
Lucky you. I think they have a national call centre, so now you have to deal with the same drooling morons that I have to deal with. You might think I'm some bearded UNIX nerd foaming off because the guy on the other end of the phone doesn't know the ins and outs of socket programming or something, but I'm not - they really do take incompetence to new and uncharted highs. Something like freeola, I actually get to talk to their staff directly - some of them may even know me by name! When I have to contact NTL, I face a minimum 10 minutes on hold, and several times now I've been lead on a wild goose chase calling different numbers to try and get someone to sort something out.
> Miserableman wrote:
>
> The only problem with NTL is they don't have even one vaguelly
> competent employee
>
> I had a problem while setting it up, I rang them, got straight through
> and sorted it!
>
> The customer services in this area are very good.
Lucky you. I think they have a national call centre, so now you have to deal with the same drooling morons that I have to deal with. You might think I'm some bearded UNIX nerd foaming off because the guy on the other end of the phone doesn't know the ins and outs of socket programming or something, but I'm not - they really do take incompetence to new and uncharted highs. Something like freeola, I actually get to talk to their staff directly - some of them may even know me by name! When I have to contact NTL, I face a minimum 10 minutes on hold, and several times now I've been lead on a wild goose chase calling different numbers to try and get someone to sort something out.
It's all to do with how many people share the connection.
For example, although you may have 512k, if a lot of people decide to hop on the internet and start downloading big files, your connection *could* drop to one with speeds lower than a standard modem - although for me anyway, it rarely does.
I think you can work out that 50:1 means a maximum of 50 people will be sharing the little whatever at the exchange. This means (and here's where I'm not completely sure) if everyone came on and downloaded at full speed, you could get a minimum connection speed of about 10k. A ratio of 20:1 would make sure you get AT LEAST 25k with 512k (starts to make a bigger difference with higher speeds)
Although I've never been unhappy with my 50:1. I live in an area full of old people who don't even know what a computer is, nevermind ADSL.
For example, although you may have 512k, if a lot of people decide to hop on the internet and start downloading big files, your connection *could* drop to one with speeds lower than a standard modem - although for me anyway, it rarely does.
I think you can work out that 50:1 means a maximum of 50 people will be sharing the little whatever at the exchange. This means (and here's where I'm not completely sure) if everyone came on and downloaded at full speed, you could get a minimum connection speed of about 10k. A ratio of 20:1 would make sure you get AT LEAST 25k with 512k (starts to make a bigger difference with higher speeds)
Although I've never been unhappy with my 50:1. I live in an area full of old people who don't even know what a computer is, nevermind ADSL.
Miserableman wrote:
> The only problem with NTL is they don't have even one vaguelly
> competent employee
I had a problem while setting it up, I rang them, got straight through and sorted it!
The customer services in this area are very good.
It's changing to £17.99 but also going up to 150kb.
Oh, an what's with the 20:1 and 40:1 stuff?
> The only problem with NTL is they don't have even one vaguelly
> competent employee
I had a problem while setting it up, I rang them, got straight through and sorted it!
The customer services in this area are very good.
It's changing to £17.99 but also going up to 150kb.
Oh, an what's with the 20:1 and 40:1 stuff?
phi11ip wrote:
> Hmmmmm, it looks as if you're one of the first companies to offer a
> residential 2mb ADSL package...
>
> Still far far too expensive for me, but I can't find any other
> companies offering it cheaper...
There are a few out there that offer it cheaper and now. Bulldog also offer 2mb at £44.99 but that is 40:1 and available around the country. Someof Bulldog services only run in London, but if your lucky to live there you can get 4mb!!!!!! Yes 4mb for £66.99 but that speed is only available at 6pm-8am and then the rest of the time its 512K.
A few others offer 2mb at the same price, like Nildram, but Freeola seems to be offering a very good package as its 20:1, and probably one of the cheaper 20:1 2mb out.
Only problem with 1mb and 2mb is the increased line quality you need as well as the line distance. For 512K the line can be 5.5Km but for 1mb and 2 mb its 3.5Km. Also the quality of line has to be much greater than with 512K. So if you can get 512K you may not be able to get 1mb or 2mb.
I would think about migrating over to a 2mb package with Freeola as my ISP hasnt released any plans, but I am unsure about my phone quality and length to risk being told 1 or 2mb would not be possible, and me having already left my current ISP which I am very happy with.
> Hmmmmm, it looks as if you're one of the first companies to offer a
> residential 2mb ADSL package...
>
> Still far far too expensive for me, but I can't find any other
> companies offering it cheaper...
There are a few out there that offer it cheaper and now. Bulldog also offer 2mb at £44.99 but that is 40:1 and available around the country. Someof Bulldog services only run in London, but if your lucky to live there you can get 4mb!!!!!! Yes 4mb for £66.99 but that speed is only available at 6pm-8am and then the rest of the time its 512K.
A few others offer 2mb at the same price, like Nildram, but Freeola seems to be offering a very good package as its 20:1, and probably one of the cheaper 20:1 2mb out.
Only problem with 1mb and 2mb is the increased line quality you need as well as the line distance. For 512K the line can be 5.5Km but for 1mb and 2 mb its 3.5Km. Also the quality of line has to be much greater than with 512K. So if you can get 512K you may not be able to get 1mb or 2mb.
I would think about migrating over to a 2mb package with Freeola as my ISP hasnt released any plans, but I am unsure about my phone quality and length to risk being told 1 or 2mb would not be possible, and me having already left my current ISP which I am very happy with.
phi11ip wrote:
> NTL rang up because I emailed them without him knowing.
>
> NTL - "Hi, we're replying to your email about broadband."
> Dad - "Um, I ddin't send anything."
> Me -'Crap, I'm gonna get moaned at here' (I got told off for too much
> complaining!)
> NTL - "We're offering free installation for you if you join
> us."
> Dad - "Yes, but I'm not paying £30 a month."
> NTL - "How about 128k for £15 a month, it's better than the
> Freeserve dial up you have at the moment, it's faster, it's alwas on
> and it freese the line."
> Dad - "OK, that sounds good."
> Me - "Yay!"
>
> Now I got internet all the time instead of only having a 2 hour window
> each night because of the single phone line!It's only 128k but it
> downloads faster and it would be very hard for me to get any better
> pings for games than I have now.
The only problem with NTL is they don't have even one vaguelly competent employee - I was on hold once for 85 minutes and then the guy refused to talk to me because I wasn't the account holder. In the end he had to talk to me as the account holder didn't know the first thing about the internet package. I could write essays about the problems I've had with NTL customer service. The connection is generally good, but if it ever goes wrong as ours did, you can look forward to hours of banging your head against a brick wall trying to get hold of someone to fix it for you.
Also - their 128k is now £18 a month.
> NTL rang up because I emailed them without him knowing.
>
> NTL - "Hi, we're replying to your email about broadband."
> Dad - "Um, I ddin't send anything."
> Me -'Crap, I'm gonna get moaned at here' (I got told off for too much
> complaining!)
> NTL - "We're offering free installation for you if you join
> us."
> Dad - "Yes, but I'm not paying £30 a month."
> NTL - "How about 128k for £15 a month, it's better than the
> Freeserve dial up you have at the moment, it's faster, it's alwas on
> and it freese the line."
> Dad - "OK, that sounds good."
> Me - "Yay!"
>
> Now I got internet all the time instead of only having a 2 hour window
> each night because of the single phone line!It's only 128k but it
> downloads faster and it would be very hard for me to get any better
> pings for games than I have now.
The only problem with NTL is they don't have even one vaguelly competent employee - I was on hold once for 85 minutes and then the guy refused to talk to me because I wasn't the account holder. In the end he had to talk to me as the account holder didn't know the first thing about the internet package. I could write essays about the problems I've had with NTL customer service. The connection is generally good, but if it ever goes wrong as ours did, you can look forward to hours of banging your head against a brick wall trying to get hold of someone to fix it for you.
Also - their 128k is now £18 a month.
NTL rang up because I emailed them without him knowing.
NTL - "Hi, we're replying to your email about broadband."
Dad - "Um, I ddin't send anything."
Me -'Crap, I'm gonna get moaned at here' (I got told off for too much complaining!)
NTL - "We're offering free installation for you if you join us."
Dad - "Yes, but I'm not paying £30 a month."
NTL - "How about 128k for £15 a month, it's better than the Freeserve dial up you have at the moment, it's faster, it's alwas on and it freese the line."
Dad - "OK, that sounds good."
Me - "Yay!"
Now I got internet all the time instead of only having a 2 hour window each night because of the single phone line!It's only 128k but it downloads faster and it would be very hard for me to get any better pings for games than I have now.
NTL - "Hi, we're replying to your email about broadband."
Dad - "Um, I ddin't send anything."
Me -'Crap, I'm gonna get moaned at here' (I got told off for too much complaining!)
NTL - "We're offering free installation for you if you join us."
Dad - "Yes, but I'm not paying £30 a month."
NTL - "How about 128k for £15 a month, it's better than the Freeserve dial up you have at the moment, it's faster, it's alwas on and it freese the line."
Dad - "OK, that sounds good."
Me - "Yay!"
Now I got internet all the time instead of only having a 2 hour window each night because of the single phone line!It's only 128k but it downloads faster and it would be very hard for me to get any better pings for games than I have now.
phi11ip wrote:
> I was considering getting brodband until my Dad said, 'NO!'
That pretty much summed up my state too, but after relentless annoying, he seems to have caved in, and we're *slowly* (read 'If any slower we'd be going backwards') getting somewhere :D
> I was considering getting brodband until my Dad said, 'NO!'
That pretty much summed up my state too, but after relentless annoying, he seems to have caved in, and we're *slowly* (read 'If any slower we'd be going backwards') getting somewhere :D
Hm, I'd probably consider this if I could get it...
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