Internet Service Comparison

[petermillard]

Virgin Media cable here in the UK, 50Mb service (due to be upgraded to 100Mb in the coming weeks for no additional cost) gives a steady ~48.5Mb down and 4.7Mb up. As stated further up the thread, 'traffic management' restricts me to a max download of 10GB during the day, and another 5GB down in the evening, but is genuinely unrestricted at all other times. I pay £37.50/month for this - I could get this cheaper if I chose to get my TV from Virgin as well, but have opted to keep them separate, albeit at a slightly higher cost.

Phone was purchased outright and unlocked and is on a Simplicity tariff from O2 - more calls and texts than any sane adult could use for £13/month on a rolling (30-day notice) contract. Only includes 100Mb of data, which is usually just about enough as I'm mostly in reach of WiFi, though I can add more (e.g. 500Mb for £3) at any time if I need it.

I'm on Orange Pay As You Go for iPad 3G - very cheap option for a low user like me (basically just keeps contacts and calendars in sync and some very light browsing) don't think I've ever paid more than £1 a month, and payments are taken by direct debit so there's no 'topping up' required. Again, 30-day rolling contract, nothing long-term.

Great thread - very interesting, thanks!

[DarkScribe]

Originally Posted by HarryT

That seems a little improbable. Perhaps you mean 30MBits/sec?

Yes, my error, Telstra Ultimate Cable, Mbs, not MBs. It is supposed to be 100Mbs, but seldom tests higher than 30. Just before Christmas it was upgraded and went from a sluggish 17Mbs to a supposed 100Mbs. It seldom tests that high except during the day - early afternoon before the kids get home from school and choke the network. I don't notice any difference unless I am streaming HD video.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by DarkScribe

Yes, my error, Telstra Ultimate Cable, Mbs, not MBs. It is supposed to be 100Mbs, but seldom tests higher than 30. Just before Christmas it was upgraded and went from a sluggish 17Mbs to a supposed 100Mbs. It seldom tests that high except during the day - early afternoon before the kids get home from school and choke the network. I don't notice any difference unless I am streaming HD video.

I have two ADSL connections on two separate phone lines. One of them runs at about 3Mb/sec; the other at 18Mb/sec. To be honest I don't notice any practical difference between them for the vast majority of uses; it's only when I download large files that the fast connection comes in handy.

[hrosvit]

Verizon DSL (the "high speed enhanced" plan - yeah; right). Avertised at 1.1-15 Mb/s (the "high speed" plan is .5-1.0 Mb/s; in what world is that "high speed"?). In reality, the highest I've seen it is around 13 Mb/s, and it probably averages in the 5-7 Mb/s range. I believe it is around $35/month. No data cap, or at least not one I am aware of. We stream movies a few times a week, and I use Pandora a good bit, but I wouldn't characterize our internet usage as anything near "heavy".

At my previous residence, DSL and cable were not available. I used Verizon wireless service, $60/month, which provided me with about .5-2.5 Mb/s speed. It might have been slow, but at least it was unreliable, too.

For my iPad, I pay $30/month for 2GB of data from Verizon. Obviously, speed depends on location, but where LTE is available, I have hit 30Mb/s. With my iPhone, my girlfriend's Android and my iPad, the new data sharing plans from Verizon are very intriguing to me.

[Brainphart]

My ISP, phone and TV are purchased from the local city-owned utility company. 30 Mb/s down and 30 Mb/s up without any caps http://www.speedtest.net/result/2055729031.png
Price for just internet and phone is $68.83 monthly My service hasn't failed me yet and speed is "consistently fast with no slowdowns" 1000 Mb/s up and down is available but it's $317.03 monthly including phone.

[Ekaros]

Originally Posted by khalleron

I'm amazed at the cheap Internet most of you Europeans have, since everything else over there seems so much more expensive. Do your governments subsidize it?

I think it comes to fact that you are forced to lease the copper cables for other providers. And that prevents monopoly, which brings general price level done or keep it in check, this atleast for Finland. For mobile competition and working together I believe.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Ekaros

I think it comes to fact that you are forced to lease the copper cables for other providers. And that prevents monopoly, which brings general price level done or keep it in check, this atleast for Finland. For mobile competition and working together I believe.

That's right. In the UK, British Telecom own the copper network, but they operate as a wholesaler and lease access to the network to any ISP. British Telecom are themselves an ISP, but they lease network bandwidth from BT Wholesale at the same rates as anybody else.