Broadband with unlimited downloads

[Gilly]

Coli, Telewest is a huge company and I've been with them since the days of Dial-up and now Boradband and not really had any problems. Everyonce in a bluemoon the connection goes awol for a few hours (once/teice a year) apart from that no problem at all and it's FAST  I get Download speeds of 100kb's+ 

[LoveCatz]

Can't recommend anyone personally but please avoid NTL like the plague. I had major problems with them when I tried to cancel. They collected the modem and I had a signed receipt for it. They kept billing me which I patiently kept waiting in their queues to explain I no longer had the service. In the end they took me to court and looked total fools as I had the signed receipt for the equipment and an email from their Customer Services confirming it had been cancelled. 

[daunting]

I cancelled NTL because they kept charging me for stuff i didn't want and always said it would get taken off the next bill 
BUT i owed them £160 and each time i had a letter i complained saying i had cancelled a few months before ( true but i did really owe them it ) and they billed me £80 next so complained even more and as they don't know their a*se from their elbow i ended up paying nothing 

[speedyjaney]

We have NTL - the 2meg version but we dont think we get 2 meg cos its takes days sometimes to download one episode of something via torrents!

We cant have adsl here, not sure why, but sumat to do with the exchange....

Janey

[Gilly]

I get mega dowload speeds with my torrents, I was getting 160kbs+ yesterday  I think it depends on what downloader your using, I've been usiong Bitcomet for the last couple of months, also depends on the settngs I've been fiddling around with mine to get those kinds of speeds 

[Colin]

We have NTL - the 2meg version but we dont think we get 2 meg cos its takes days sometimes to download one episode of something via torrents!

Jayney, if you go to the "adslguide" link Emma posted on the  first page they have a speed test you can run (it's in the menu on the left hand side). It will only give you a snapshot of that particular moment but if you run it a couple of times at different times of day, you'll get an idea. My connection is supposed to be 2.3meg yet the best I've got from the test is about 1.6meg - one time it was only 0.6 meg. Torrent downloading speeds can also be affected by your ISP blocking certain ports - not sure if NTL do this, I'm pretty certain Tiscali do.  There are ways of manually opening ports to increase speed - I'm too chicken to try it in case I mess things up though and worry if it will open me up to virus attacks.

Gilly - 160kbps is pretty impressive. I think I've only got over 100 once. I'm still reluctant to go with a cable company though - I'm currently looking at plusnet, they do have a monthly download cap but don't block ports and claim to offer torrent download speeds of upto 500kbps, they also promise low contention rates.

( Guess whose been reading up on a  load of techie sites recently.  )

[speedyjaney]

OK This is the test I have just run as advised by Colin! Can anyone translate for me?

Direction           Actual Speed                     True Speed (estimated

Downstream   1895 Kbps (236.9 KB/sec)   2046 Kbps (inc. overheads)
Upstream          183 Kbps (22.9 KB/sec)      197 Kbps (inc. overheads)

Is this good?

Many Thanks

Jane

[Colin]

Jayney - I think that means you are getting a speed of almost 1.9meg, probably as close to the 2meg speed as anyone is likely to get.

If your torrent downloads are taking ages it's probably down to blocked ports or the file has too few seeders and loads of leechers. ( With new TV shows you have to get in there quick - or maybe wait a day or two for it to have more seeds and less leeches.) One thing I read to speed torrents up is to reduce the maximum upload rate to about 20kbps, rather than setting it at your 2meg speed. It seemed to work for me. It could also be the torrent software you are using - I'm using the original Bit Torrent but have heard that Bit Comet is much better.

[Sharon]

I'm with Blueyonder/Telewest too, but the 10MB connection.............I get around 600kbps, never had any problems with them and you can use their instant online help, somebody will ring YOU back.

[Cathy]

I too have had numerous problems with NTL,


However , until 3 months ago they had been  crediting my account for 14.99 per month instead of debiting.
This had gone on for 14 months.

There was then a problem with my modem. So when I called them up to sort it out they spotted the problem. They told me they wouldnt be taking the money back, but had to start charginge me the sum of £16.99. which they did.

I was feeling like ' damn !! then I go the the bill in and they had charged me £16.99, but were still continuing to credit me £14.99. So with the massive amount of credit I had sitting on my account, it works out i should  get Braodband free for about 104 Months - HAHA

SO I LOVE NTL, the staff  I have commuicated with are stupid and rude.

 IMO - GOOD JOB !!!! lol

[LoveCatz]

the staff  I have commuicated with are stupid and rude.

Aren't they just. I once complained that I'd had no internet connection for a couple of days and they told me they were 'experiencing problems in Scotland' so that was probably it! Yeah sure - I'm at least 350 miles away so it's really going to affect me!

[speedyjaney]

One thing I read to speed torrents up is to reduce the maximum upload rate to about 20kbps, rather than setting it at your 2meg speed.

Ok how do i do this? Is it easy....just waited over 24 hrs for a 40 min episode....thats cant be right...can it?

Thanks for your help everyone

JAney

[Colin]

Janey - It depends which torrent client you are using. With Bit Torrent there is a slider, you just slide up and down depending on what upload rate you want to set. With Bit Comet you go to options and then preferences and then set the level.

If your downloads are going so slowly maybe try Bit Comet, see if it's any better than what you are using - you can download it free here...

http://www.filehippo.com/

If you haven't already got it, it's worth downloading Peer Guardian from that site too - it won't improve speeds but is essential security to prevent any unwanted attention. 

[Annette]

Steve here (Annette's OH) aka ReadingSteve

Tried using Bittorrent software a few months back, but was getting really slow speeds. Never did get to the bottom of this.  In the end I went back to Limewire which is a traditional PTP client and I normally get really good download speeds from them.

We are also with NTL, but haven't had any problems (yet!)

[speedyjaney]

Have 'tinkered' with bittirrents settings at my peril...and Im still only downloading at 7.5 kbs....

I really am a bit of a technophobe so I dunno what im doing lol...Ill try bit comet once this episode is in....see if its any better

Janey