contention ratios with eircom packages

ro_G

I'm in the US trying to find out the contention ratios for eircom's various packages (but cant get through to the bloody freephone number from here).

So anyone know what the contention ratios are for
1. broadband home start
2. broadband home plus

Fricking NTL (despite saying they have broadband in Glasnevin say they can't hook me up, think I'm a bit too close than Phibsboro?).

Blaster99

The contention ratio is irrelevant, they all deliver the advertised speed up to what your line can handle.

Slippin Jimmy

If you went to Eircoms Web Page you would be able to see what they have on offer.

Blaster99

Check Smart Telecom as well, arguably the best broadband in the nation.

ro_G

Blaster99 wrote:

The contention ratio is irrelevant, they all deliver the advertised speed up to what your line can handle.

really? i find that surpising, surely they give you the advertised speed up to what your line can handle relative to how many other people are hanging off the line (hence the contention ratio). Or have they put in masses of backbone now?

ro_G

DonnybrookGhost wrote:

If you went to Eircoms Web Page you would be able to see what they have on offer.

been throught the site for over an hour, no mention of contention ratios anywhere. hence the post here.

Slippin Jimmy

Sorry about that. When you say connection ratio, do you mean the amount of people connected to broadband off the one exchange?

ro_G

no, contention ratio, not connection ratio. i.e. they give you a line available at 2MB, and divide it up, usually into 24:1 or 48:1, i.e. you share the capacity with 24 or 48 other people.

Blaster99

You'll get full advertised speed minus overheads up to what your line can handle. There might be some exchanges down the sticks where this is not true, but generally there's fibre with tons of bandwidth in the backhaul. I don't think anyone with eircom or any of the resellers ever experience contention. I don't know why they even bother mentioning it. Smart incidently compensates you for the overhead as well.

DemonOfTheFall

They're 48:1 for the cheapest one and 24:1 for the other ones as fair as I know.

Like Blaster99 said, it's not an issue though. Theres too much backhaul available for it to ever come into play. You'll get whatever your phone line is capable of.

ro_G

ah fair enough, thanks for that, I've been on cable for so long didn't realise that backbones had gotten so big that contention wasn't an issue on DSL.

I'm in Glasnevin and can't get Smart as I am on the Phisboro exchange, so with out NTL or Smart, I'm down to BT or Eircom, given that I wouldn't touch the wireless options with a stick. ****e state of affairs all together.

dubmick

I girl I know who works for Eircom told me that the contention ratio is actually 1:1 (is this possible?) but the regulator won't let them advertise it. She said they just don't mention in there ads now.