Broadband Report - What do you think?

[Gatecrasher]

Well, even rpm says that Iburst was the fastest during the testing, 777kbps.

But he didn't put that in the report. Clearly this data carries very little weight when someone out of signal range is submitting a gazillion +-0kbps tests continously throughout the 7 day testing period.

What rpm does say in his report is: Stay away until the service improves. Who should get it? Only those who cannot get another service.

Unfortunatley this just does not allign with the vast majority of user comments on this forum. For that reason, rpm should be seriously questioning the validity of his data, and the conclusions he has reached.

 

[guest2013-1]

Maybe they should drop the "comments" of each service rather? focus on speed tests or whatever they do alone. Then disclose how many people participated in the speed tests (and in cases of wireless connectivity) which area and the average distance from the towers.

Then make it last 3 weeks instead of 1, and publish the report the last week (or first week) of each month.

Just some ideas off the top of my head

 

[bb_matt]

Other ideas would be to have extended testing over a 1 month period, using a similar method to the last test - and make sure people get involved.

An idea here would be :-

20 iBurst users in a widespread demographic - iow, not all connected to the same towers
20 512k ADSL users
20 384k ADSL users
20 192k ADSL users *is 192 broadband ?*
20 Sentech Advanced (widespread demographic)
20 Sentech Premium (widespread demographic)
20 Vodacom3g users (widespread demographic)

The lowest Sentech package is definately not broadband, so it should not be included.

IOW, the people volunteer and HAVE TO complete a specified amount of tests for thier data to be accepted.

20 users each doesn't sound like much, but I think rpm would be the first to say getting more people involved is damn difficult - 20 of each service listed above is 140 people - that's probably do-able.

 

[guest2013-1]

I doubt you will find 20 Sentech premium users.

The reason why I suggested 3 weeks is for "publishing" time. (As I'm now contracting to publishers and learning about the way they do business)

3 weeks, then 1 week to publish, then do the whole thing over again for the next month.

 

[slimothy]

just turn it into a web based test and I guarantee you get those numbers

 

[ScrnScrm]

for what its worth. hehehehehehe. my opinion :
i have 512kb/s business adsl uncapped (thorugh ISDSL)
vodacom 3g card
mtn edge via cellphone
am on the iBurst trial.

i think the report is pretty consistent with what i have experienced using all four of these services, although EDGE hasnt appeared in the report yet...
well done guys!

as a side note - i have recently returned from the USA where i had Optimum cable internet . It cost $80/month with an unlimited TV bundle, but i must say that I found the service rather ****. Download speeds during peak where often worse than using a standard v90 modem. Unfortunately earthlink DSL wasnt avail in the area....

later

 

[slimothy]

ok, well me and the other 20 people who supported the thread to see how many people were getting 1mbit on iburst would disagree with you

 

[ScrnScrm]

huh? i just said that my experience is consistent with what the report says about the relevant offerings. i wasnt slamming your methodology or desire to do further investigations on the iBurst service (which would be most welcome), merely stating my (very well educated) opinion... I dont think the report was very far off the mark!
by the way, I live 180 meters from the iburst base station, and still havent seen the promised speeds...

 

[slimothy]

huh? i just said that my experience is consistent with what the report says about the relevant offerings.

Yeah I know i read the post.

i wasnt slamming your methodology or desire to do further investigations on the iBurst service (which would be most welcome), merely stating my (very well educated) opinion...

you don't have to be too educated to know you are either getting 1mbit or you're not and that it is either great for you or crappy for you.

by the way, I live 180 meters from the iburst base station, and still havent seen the promised speeds...

it has nothing to do with distance, it has everything to do with signal strength and quality of signal on top of the fact that if you connect to a problematic tower you're not gonna get full speeds obviously. can you do me a favour and paste your ut firmware version?

 

[ScrnScrm]

lol. ok, will post the firmware versions tuesday when i get back home. dont keep that info at the top of my head I suspect it may be old because i got one of the first shipments, and lost track of when it was last updated...
wrt the distance statement - i am well aware that its about strength and quality of signal. Me thinks my problem is with the quality of the signal... To be honest - i havent bothered much with it lately - just havent had the time to fiddle. Damn, i am supposed to be testing iBurst for WBS...

 

[slimothy]

you haven't bothered with it latley.. well there you go. for all you know they could have upgraded you to 100mbit and stuck a basestation up right behind your house for your own personal use.

 

[ScrnScrm]

for all you know they could have upgraded you to 100mbit and stuck a basestation up right behind your house for your own personal use.

oh bugger. i hope they havent. that would totally ruin my view