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By Julia Kukiewicz
Editor
Tuesday, 13 April 2010
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Best Broadband for Speed
Fastest UK Broadband
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If you want to spend your hours downloading songs, movies and other semi-legal bandwidth heavy data, you're going to need the best broadband for unlimited downloads. But just who does offer the best unlimited broadband? Julia Kukiewicz dives into the small print to establish the best unlimited broadband deals.
Best broadband for online gaming
Don't get fragged by some cocky little dude in a baseball cap sitting in an internet café in Taiwan - get the best broadband package for online gaming instead. Julia Kukiewicz puts down her XBox 360 controller long enough to look into who offers the best gaming broadband in the UK.
Best broadband for students
Helen Storey wasn't one too long ago, so she sets off to find the best broadband for students, and discovers that student broadband is about more than just unlimited downloads. Who really does offer the best student broadband deal?
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There's more to broadband speeds than the headline, as anyone who has battled for bandwidth come 6 o'clock can attest.
This guide will explain how broadband speeds are affected by the lines in your area, your provider's policies and other users.
How broadband speeds are measured
Broadband speeds are measured based on the number of megabits (basically, blocks of data) downloaded using the connection per second. On ChooseISP.co.uk this is usually written Mb but you may also see it written as Mb/s, Mbps or even meg.
Speeds that are under 1Mb are measured in Kb per second - 1 megabit is 1024 kilobits.
A broadband speed test will measure both the download speed - which will affect the time it takes to see web pages and, um, download things - and the upload speed - which will affect the time that it takes you to upload information online - that your computer is currently reaching.
How broadband speeds are advertised
The broadband speeds that providers advertise are estimated download speeds, not the speeds you can actually expect when you sign up (that would be far too simple).
In OFCOM's broadband speeds voluntary code of practice (of all the ISPs listed on our site, only AOL and Fasthosts aren't signed up) OFCOM say:
"...it is critical that all ISPs explain to consumers that actual throughput speeds are likely to be lower than the headline or advertised speeds..."
So, ISPs can advertise a headline 'up to' speed, which is a notional highest speed but they must also give you an estimated line speed based on the available information about your line. It's that second estimated line speed that you should refer back to if you're trying to get your broadband up to speed.
The Blame Game
When slow speeds are frustrating you it's nice to have someone to blame.
We've yet to hear of a broadband user who hasn't suffered from slow broadband speeds at one time or another so our broadband most-wanted list singles out the top reasons for slow broadband and explains why they're a problem.
#1: Your Cables
The truth is that one of the most important factors when estimating broadband speeds - the most important for many users - remains the type of cable installed in your area.
There are four main types:
- FTTH (Fibre to the Home) - 50Mb +
- FTTC (Fibre to the Cabinet) - Up to 50Mb
- ADSL2+ - Up to 24Mb
- ADSLMax - Up to 8Mb
The fastest - FFTH - is only available in the UK as part of broadband trials. Virgin Media is the UK's only large provider of FFTC, that's fibre optic cable in the street and traditional copper cables in your home.
See our Broadband for Beginner's guide for more on this.
Because of the expense of installing new technology and because most of the decisions on what to install are being made by profit-making companies, urban areas with more people sharing an exchange are most likely to have the fastest cables installed. See our rural broadband guide for more details on this.
#2: Your Area
The further away your house is from your telephone exchange the weaker your broadband signal can become and the slower your actual connection.
This is due to a combination of attenuation - the signal getting weaker as it moves further away from its source -, the quality of the lines themselves and electromagnetic background 'noise' which interferes with the signal.
Fibre optic cable broadband is less prone to attenuation and noise problems which is why it's so much faster than other broadband services.
When you compare broadband by speed using one of our comparison tables we'll filter out services that aren't available at your exchange and also those packages offering speeds less than your line can handle - in other words leaving the fastest broadband packages available to you.
However, for the exact speed your line can receive you'll have to check with the provider for a more specific estimate.
#3: Your Provider
Intuitively, the best way to throw some broadband blame is at your service provider: after all, you are paying them.
In addition, during busy times, usually evenings, some providers manage or shape their internet traffic, so always remember this when comparing broadband speeds.
What this means is that people who exceed their bandwidth allowance or breach the ISP's fair use policy will be 'throttled'. It sounds nasty but really it means that broadband speeds are cut to prevent that user from slowing the service down for everyone else.
When comparing broadband speeds look closely at the traffic management or traffic shaping policies of the provider to see if you could be affected. It might also be called something like 'Fair Use Policy'. In theory, ISPs should publish information on these restrictions on their website but that's not always the case.
If this concerns you then when looking at broadband speed comparison tables consider an ISP like Be Broadband, O2 Broadband or PlusNet Broadband who are regularly commended by their users for their policies... or lack of them (note that Plusnet do run traffic management during the day and at peak times in the evening but do offer a completely unlimited service between midnight and 8am).
For truly unlimited downloads you'll have to look towards Sky Unlimited Broadband - which has no fair use policy or traffic management applied at all. However, to get it you will need to take out Sky TV as well - Sky line rental and call plans are optional, but can work out cheaper than BT. You can view the various Sky Unlimited Broadband & TV options here.
Bear in mind it is only Sky's 'Unlimited' broadband package that has no fair use - if it's not available in your area the Sky Connect package is limited to 40GB and traffic management.
#4 Your Hardware
Many deals that advertise higher speeds do so as much on basis of the hardware - usually a wireless router - that comes with the deal as the broadband itself.
Its important to remember newer - faster - wireless routers will be using the new 802.11n protocol - which means, while they are back compatible, if the wireless card in your computer or laptop was bought a few years ago and only supports 802.11b/g then you won't benefit from the connection speed boost of a wireless 'n' router.
For more on how to check your router see our How to get Faster Broadband guide.
#5 The Time of Day
More people are online between 6pm and midnight - that means less bandwidth per person and slower speeds.
With more people at home during peak times there is also likely to be more noise on the line as a result of people using electromagnetic equipment in their homes which may also slow down your broadband speeds.
There's not much you can do about this it's a quirk of broadband technology which unlike water or electricity isn't just 'off' or 'on'.
All in all if broadband speed really matters to you and you're outside contract with your current provider, switching to one of the fastest broadband deals available is likely going to be the most hassle-free way of improving your broadband speeds.
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