BT Infinity-worth the extra?

Gordon Booth · 14-02-2013, 15:11

BT rang me to say I can now go on Infinity.
Is it worth the £6 a month extra?
I have a Dell PC which was top of the range but that was in 2004- it must be totally obsolete by now but does what I need. However upload/download sometime seems to go on a go slow.
Also they say I need 1GB of Ram- it only has 512MB. Would that work, if not can I increase it?
They want to connect to the Master socket, I have two but don't know which(if either) is the master,all the cables are under the carpet and I can't see a connection box outside the house.

I'm getting 10.1 download, 0.77 upload. They promise 48.7/10.9.

I don't download films/albums etc. or play online games.
Can the above problems be sorted, will I see a difference and-do I actually need it? And of course will it be worth it?

All advice welcome and as you can see-needed.
Thanks,
Gordon.

maxthecollie · 14-02-2013, 15:14

I am on infinity and it is a lot better

MargaretR · 14-02-2013, 15:28

I switched. If you use BBCiplayer it helps avoid pauses.

http://www.accringtonweb.com/forum/f...ity-61836.html

Gordon Booth · 14-02-2013, 15:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by MargaretR

I switched. If you use BBCiplayer it helps avoid pauses.

http://www.accringtonweb.com/forum/f...ity-61836.html

I sometimes watch iplayer and don't get any pauses.
Just gone through the above thread(saw you were on it, MargaretR, didn't know it was there) but it doesn't help very much.

Restless · 14-02-2013, 15:43

Do you use any on demand services(like sky) that require internet?

How are you testing your internet speed?

Gordon Booth · 14-02-2013, 15:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by Restless

Do you use any on demand services(like sky) that require internet?

How are you testing your internet speed?

No, Restless, I don't use any on-demand services.
The readings I got were from the BT Desktop Help site.

Restless · 14-02-2013, 16:11

master socket.
thinkbroadband :: BT Master Socket Identifical Tool for BT Broadband Accelerator / BT I-Plate

Use this guide to help determine master socket.

However 10MB is perfect for your needs. Upload is a bit rubbish but i imagine good enough for what you need. Upload is rubbish for most of us on DSL....

Think of this as a scale-- Now you think of how far you are from the Exchange which is somewhere close to town I guess....

Peel Area = 20MB (i know I get that speed)
Clayton-Le-Moors 4-6MB (i lived there for a while) further away you are the slower the speed.

BT infinity would be essential for me if I was with BT. But 20MB is more than fast enough for me. For now

IMO the best way to test your speed is to use something where the speed is for certain going to be fast. For this test I use newsgroups or a Torrent that is seeded well(Torrent is getting used a lot these days for distributing free software)

I have found online speed testers to be somewhat inaccurate. I have had them say 4MB when I have downloaded Ubuntu via torrent at 20MB.

Speedtest.net - The Global Broadband Speed Test

This is a decent enough test site. And you can embed the results. Here is mine

So much for 2.5 upload speed....

Gordon Booth · 14-02-2013, 16:24

Thanks, Restless, I ran the speedtest and got 10.21 download, 0.97 upload so slightly higher readings than BT gave me.
What do you mean by 'embed the results'?

jaysay · 14-02-2013, 17:09

I've had infinity for a few weeks Gordon, and in comparison my laptop is like grease lightening, and I'm just had my Sky box wire to the Internet today and will be watching plenty of on demand programs from sky, to me its Bean more than worth it

Restless · 14-02-2013, 18:39

Press share results then press forum then copy and paste the code here. Embed is what I did with my results

Gordon Booth · 14-02-2013, 18:54

Ah! I've a lot to learn. Thanks, Restless.

lancsdave · 14-02-2013, 18:55

Better off telling them you were thinking of switching to another supplier, that way it won't cost you an extra £6 per month

Neil · 14-02-2013, 20:58

Ping times on BT are never very good.

I just upset my lad when I did this test, he was playing on xbox live at the time

Virgin upload speeds are quite poor now compared to BT

This was my lad showing off on facebook when he moved house and had his broadband installed

davemac · 14-02-2013, 21:09

M speed is a bit poor compared to others.

this embedding is a bit tricky at first.

Restless · 14-02-2013, 21:29

Claytoner!

Hey my mum is on BT infinity. So you might be able to get the faster speed with talk talk....

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neil

This was my lad showing off on facebook when he moved house and had his broadband installed

1ms ping!!!