A faster series of tubes

[c9]

So long, grandfathered DSL from Bell* - with your sweet sweet unlimited downloads** - and hello FTTN Fibe6. Pretty nice throughput in tests, but if I were Bell I would consider giving preferential treatment to these packets just to keep the geeks off my back.





Now to (a) start really testing and pushing to see if it's consistent, and (b) mark my calendar to start watching our usage to avoid overage charges.***

* A day early! I'm sure the utility gods have something nasty planned to balance this out.
** And your high high price!
*** It's like third-world country**** Internet I swear.
**** No not really of course.

Comments

[thespos]

:-)

[iambic-cub.livejournal.com]

FTTN? Why can't TO manage FTTC?

It is like a third world country!

Wireless is just a few months from completely obliterating this bandwidth. Of course, with the data fees Canada's wireless operators charge, nobody will dare use it for anything meaningful.

[zanate.livejournal.com]

That cap just still sticks out like a sore thumb, doesn't it?

I ran some numbers. The amount of time you can turn on the (download) tap per month before you hit your cap:
Fibe6: 9.2 hours (25GB)
Fibe12: 9.2 hours (50GB)
Fibe16: 10.4 hours (75GB)
Fibe25: a whopping 6.7 hours (75GB)

And for comparison, Teksavvy's 5mbit to my house: 88 hours (200GB). Think I'll stick with what I've got.

This country is crying for more competition. It may not be a third-world internet, but it's not a first-world one either.

[zanate.livejournal.com]

Given that there is bandwidth contention issues already from people just buying more smartphones (though a big contributor to that seems to be the overhead of a bunch of battery-conserving devices dropping and reestablishing connections), I somehow doubt that we'll see an effective wireless replacement of wired service for residential internet any time soon.

I mean, people want to run their TVs over this medium.

(I'm starting to wonder if I should get a smartphone and contract sooner than later: if contention continues to be a problem contracts will get more restrictive and expensive.)

[c9.livejournal.com]

Yup, it's a blight on my soul! I bought $5 more of cap (an extra 40GB) since that will cover our usage almost every month just fine. But it's a pain.

We end up with a lower bill than with TekSavvy, but only because we're OK with a 6Mb connection (for now).

[c9.livejournal.com]

I'd say you're safe for a while. The new Bell/Telus network is built for future upgrades and capacity, and was designed by a guy I know who knows his stuff. Not built for short-term disaster, unlike the AT&T iPhone in NYC issues.

[c9.livejournal.com]

FTTH or FTTC is in Fredericton of all places - sounds like another example of NBtel's wires being used to shake out something before it rolls out in Ontario, just like DSL and voicemail in the 90s.

You're exactly right on wireless - given unlmited dollars, I can do anything! Can someone please explain to me where the unlimited dollars are kept?

[iambic-cub.livejournal.com]

That guy bought the wrong equipment! That said, my desire to maintain a paycheck may be making be more than a little bit biased.

[iambic-cub.livejournal.com]

Maybe I should have said a couple of years rather than a few months. I was immersed in 4G for so long, I keep assuming that they're about to go live everywhere.

[iambic-cub.livejournal.com]

I just logged into my Bell account and checked, and I can't get FTT-anything in my neighborhood. That's despite the fact that there is something sitting on my front lawn that looks suspiciously like an ONU. (I find it hard to resist the temptation to rip it open so I can see just what's inside.) I'm living in a brand-new neighborhood, and I can't get fibre? There are lucky people in Portugal who can get 1 Gbps connections. (Mind you, there are only 4 people sharing an OLT port, so it's very expensive. Still, it's available.)