200mb Broadband anyone?

[Craig33]

[URL="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/technology/technologynews/5284110/Virgin-launches-200Mb-broadband-customer-pilot-scheme-in-Kent.html"]Virgin launches 200Mb broadband customer pilot scheme in Kent - Telegraph[/URL]

We dont even get Virgin up here so not much chance of me ever seeing that speed. :(


edit: Is that new i just pasted the url in and it automatically appeared as you see it?

[Guest]

Linking here now takes the header from the linked page :)

200Mb is pretty impressive! People will need to start upgrading their network cards and wireless in the future!

[Mark_T]

[quote=Jack155Q4;271791]200Mb is pretty impressive! People will need to start upgrading their network cards and wireless in the future![/quote]

Not before the rest of the world upgrades the rest of the internet :)

200mb is a largely pointless headline figure for most internet use as there is nowhere other than Virgin's own servers that will let you download anywhere close to that figure.

What is far more interesting is what it lets Virgin plan for regarding video on demand and other similar services fed from within their own infrastructure.

[unleashed666]

i wish they would install cable in my area, all areas around me have it :( while im stuck on crappy bt lines. ill have to just dream of the abuse i could give a 200mb connection :D

[robgt]

[quote]edit: Is that new i just pasted the url in and it automatically appeared as you see it?[/quote]
Yes, it's part of the [URL="http://www.crawlability.com/vbseo/"]SEO plugin[/URL] I believe.
Cheers,
Rob

[DT39]

you could get a 200mb leased line on BT just a bit of a bummer as it would cost you about 35k a year or more :ack2:

[Disc]

200mb is fine but Virgin cannot give everyone there bandwidth now for 10/20/50meg now they cap speeds..

So 200mb is when 1am ?

most routers cannot handle it currently and most computers cannot although I'd be okay dual gig net here but whats the point right now in todays world 200mb fine but who else will be uploading fast enough for you to dload those speeds.

Personally bring it on if 200mb but also what they can also bring us with it should be interesting..

[Mark_T]

Just to put it in perspective, an ISP using BT Central products would expect to put around 6-8,000 users on a single 155Mb/s pipe :)

[Guest]

Good points. I did see mentioned that a lot of data centres are only on 100 meg lines

[Brian Gifford]

[quote=Craig33;271789][URL="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/technology/technologynews/5284110/Virgin-launches-200Mb-broadband-customer-pilot-scheme-in-Kent.html"]Virgin launches 200Mb broadband customer pilot scheme in Kent - Telegraph[/URL]

We dont even get Virgin up here so not much chance of me ever seeing that speed. :(


edit: Is that new i just pasted the url in and it automatically appeared as you see it?[/quote]

Ha! cable in rural Wales! I should be so lucky. :(

[Mark_T]

[quote=Jack155Q4;271845]Good points. I did see mentioned that a lot of data centres are only on 100 meg lines[/quote]

Even when GigE is in use you'll often find a *lot* of servers sharing that bandwidth.

In the world of bandwidth costs what matters most is the peak traffic (95th percentile billing) so you'll often find there are artificial caps on the peak so that any one session can't go too high and drag the costs up.

It makes for good advertising for Virgin but the reality is a lot less exciting unless they use this for their own VOD services etc.

[JeromeF]

I still remember the days of hacking the Blueyonders modems Docsis to get 10mb, when everyone else was on 512k. As with the times, it was hard to reach 10mb.

Realistly how long until all of the exchanges can handle it? Months? Years?

[Mark_T]

[quote=JeromeF;271888]Realistly how long until all of the exchanges can handle it? Months? Years?[/quote]

The 21CN project has taken care of the Exchange capability, that really isn't the problem.

The limitation is the run from the Exchange to your house, that requires fibre to the home (FTTH) and that will take years before even a small percentage of homes are covered.

This is the advantage the cable companies have with thier existing fibre investment but as people have noticed, if you don't already have fibre passing your home it isn't likely to happen any time soon as new investment in extending the fibre networks is pretty limited.

[Tom Burgess]

[quote=JeromeF;271888]

Realistly how long until all of the exchanges can handle it? Months? Years?[/quote]

More like decades Jerome.

Good on Virgin for actually having an INTERNAL infrastructure to handle such speeds. Now we need BT to supply an infrastructure able to deliver it. It is chicken and egg as to wether the ability to deliver should be there before the ability to provide.

In the current economic climate it would be very hard to justify the expense of the retrofit I would think.

[Tom Burgess]

[quote=Mark_T;271897]The 21CN project has taken care of the Exchange capability, that really isn't the problem.

[/quote]

If we were all sat in BT exchanges at night browsing the internet fair enough. But we are not and it is the FTTH that is going to cost. I am willing to bet that the current routing of copper in the majority of areas is not conducive to fibre routing ie. total internal reflection and all that :(