Broadband Classifications

MrShadow

How about some classifications for braodband to make things a little easier for the joe soap to diffrentiate between different offerings.

For example Satelite could be called "Broadband Limited" As to the fact that the latency limits it.

Anything below 256k up could be called "Broadband lite". as its a bit lite on the ole upload.

might help people in understanding a little more on the broadband thing. and increase offerings.

Shadow

seamus

I think it's a good idea, but one which IOFFL would have to push locally. As it is, the definition of Broadband is constantly mixed up and manipulated, globally. ISDN qualifies in some people's heads, and other people claim that anything below 2Mb is narrowband.

It's something definitely that would be useful in terms of a public education release from IOFFL, to help people quickly and easily determine what is a good deal, and what's a turkey.

dahamsta

I can see some frenetic lobbying happening if IrelandOffline has any success branding satellite connectivity as "Broadband Limited"!

I like "Broadband Lite" though. I've been researching a new provider recently and the 128k limit on everything (bitstream) up to 2048k is an absolute disgrace. I'm surprised I haven't seen The Register laughing their asses off about it.

Like I've said before, I had 128k upstream more than five years ago. It was called "ISDN".

Eircom sucks the sweat off a dead man's balls.

adam

eircomtribunal

seamus wrote:

and other people claim that anything below 2Mb is narrowband.

I am told the DCMNR regards broadband as 2 Mb upwards..no kidding.

P.

MrShadow

dahamsta wrote:

I can see some frenetic lobbying happening if IrelandOffline has any success branding satellite connectivity as "Broadband Limited"!

Its just calling a spade a spade and not an excavator machine.

Satellite is limited by speed of light unfortunatly. Calling what satelite offer as just "broadband" and what dsl/cable/wireless offer "broadband" is open to confusion and abuse.

And if they start calling foul let them come up with how what they offer is not limited compared to dsl/cable/wireless.

..............................................

People of all ages and all walks of life are talking about broadband. One of the market forces is competitors another is customers. It should be made clear as to what the Ideal Broadband should be. Eircom are busy saying that there is no need for more than 128 upload.

If a target is set for broadband as 1024/512
Less is considered Lite

If theres a download/upload cap on the service then it should be called capped.

so that an offer of 1024/128 with a 12 gig download is called Broadband Lite Capped. or something to that effect.

So straight away people know that its a slower broadband and to check the speed compared to rivals (or grumble about it) and there is a cap on downloads which has to be looked at as well.

damien

MrShadow wrote:

For example Satelite could be called "Broadband Limited"

How about Not Broadband ?

Anything below 256k up could be called "Broadband lite". as its a bit lite on the ole upload.

How about Still Not Broadband ?

MrShadow

damien.m wrote:

How about Not Broadband ?



How about Still Not Broadband ?

So what is broadband then? What is the definition? What does broadband offer? What are the various types of broadband and how are they distinguished from one another in simple terms that a couple of ordinary joe soaps in a pub could understand?

Capt'n Midnight

The recent eCommerce Govt survey still classifies broadband as over 128KB - that's the figures the CSO will use. (and if you don't look twice some might tick the box cos they have 128KB)

Caps are also important in BB, be kinda interesting in quoting figures as 256Kb x 5 - ie. max speed and how many hours per day to reach the cap.

And then compare that to other countries that have 44Kb x 24 (dialup on good lines) or 64Kbx 24 (or places that have 10,000Kb X 24)

damien

Hey Capt'n Midnight, can you link me to that report. I guess IrelandOffline will have to contact them and have them decide to change their minds.

As for a definition:

From here:
http://broadband.oireachtas.ie/Executive_Summary.htm#Summary

Defines broadband as a service that provides at least 512kb connectivity

Smart Telecom like to talk about Broadband being at least 2MB. I believe the ITU have their definition around that area as well.

ISDN is not Broadband and as has been debated here before, satellite is not Broadband. In Ireland it is a last resort not an alternative.

bealtine

damien.m wrote:

I believe the ITU have their definition around that area as well.

The International Telecommunication Union Standardization Sector (ITU-T) recommendation I.113 has defined broadband as a transmission capacity that is faster than primary rate ISDN, at 1.5 to 2 Mbit/s.

LFCFan

broadband

adj 1: of or relating to or being a communications network in which the bandwidth can be divided and shared by multiple simultaneous signals (as for voice or data or video) 2: responding to or operating at a wide band of frequencies; "a broadband antenna"

Praetorian

I think we should rename Irish adsl, "One way broadband", because the upload is not even as fast as dual isdn. ~ 7 minutes to send a 5 meg email; there is no way 128 up can be considered broadband

SparkyLarks

128 on a 2 Mb connectin is a bit silly alright.

that said a 128 up and down always on connection for a fixed fee (10-15 a month) would be so much better than connecting at 14kbps. a lada while not a porshe boxter sure beats walking

Though not sure if you can enforce a naming system, ie limited lite (doesn't ADSL light exsist already somethng bout filters), qand all thes product names would probably confuse the customer who has to go and learn what the names mean.making suppliers put the speed on their products would be better.

instead of the phantomnet megafast, phamtomnet would have to sell a megafast 512/128 so people know what their getting.

doesn't inform people about the latency in satellite though. and it's a bit messy to have in a simple naming system.
Make sure that people know about satellite's shortcomings and if they still want to buy then off they go