Nildram Throttling

[piros]

Hi guys, been with Nildram for a while and noticed recently my speeds are getting worse and worse when I get back from work 4-5pm and onwards. Speeds can drop to about 100kbps, roughly works out at about 1.5meg? Even browsing webpages can be a pain

I sometimes nip on the internet before I set off for work at around 8am and I did a speed test then and it topped out at about 480kbps (8meg?)

Is this standard practice as I have read about ISPs throttling bandwidth, but it is quite an extreme drop in speed isn't it Should I complain to Nildram or swap ISP's (was thinking of doing this anyway as Nildram are quite pricey)

 

[Iccz]

I recently left Nildram after 5 or so years with them...
Since Tiscali took over the service became terrible, not to mention the support...
I used saynoto0870 to get the geographical number each support call so it didn't cost me a fortune thankfully.
Their support was the worst i've experienced anywhere.

I'm now with Be* and the service is great and so much faster.

Personally if I were you i'd move away. Complaining will get you nowhere really, just a 30+ minute queue on support or a 4 day email reply wait.

 

[piros]

Was thinking leaving might be the best solution, I am paying £25.99 too, so way over the top for what I am receiving Speeds have only recently started to plumet but have had one problem before and was just going round in circles explaining to them the situation

Thanks for the new ISP suggestion, I will check them out

 

[Iccz]

Prices and rates both from 2000, it's a good reason to move on.

It's a shame cause Nildram were a top notch ISP for years.


I've seen a lot of people complain/leave lately.

http://www.kitz.co.uk/isp/caps.htm
Shows a bit about various ISPs had a bit about Nildram and the takeover too.

 

[MarkE19]

I've recently dropped Nildram and moved to o2. Speeds are far better and the monthly price has gone from £25.99 to £7.50
I had been with Nildram for about 5 years and when I signed up they offered great customer service and their prices were about average. But looking at the o2 prices I just couldn't justify not moving over to them - and have no regrets in doing so.

Mark.

 

[Dweller]

Gasp! Tiscali took over.. enough said..

 

[MarkE19]

Tiscali took over Pipex, who had already taken over Nildram - out of the frying pan and into the fire

Mark.

 

[EndlessWaves]

Hi guys, been with Nildram for a while and noticed recently my speeds are getting worse and worse when I get back from work 4-5pm and onwards. Speeds can drop to about 100kbps, roughly works out at about 1.5meg? Even browsing webpages can be a pain

I sometimes nip on the internet before I set off for work at around 8am and I did a speed test then and it topped out at about 480kbps (8meg?)

Is this standard practice as I have read about ISPs throttling bandwidth, but it is quite an extreme drop in speed isn't it Should I complain to Nildram or swap ISP's (was thinking of doing this anyway as Nildram are quite pricey)

Capitalisation matters when talking about speeds. 100kB is 100 kilobytes, 100kb is 100kilobits which is eight times less. (technically the k should be lower case but upper case K has no meaning so using it won't cause confusion, Ms for mega should technically be upper case)

100kBps (100KB/s) is around about 800kbps-1Mbps, 480kbps is about 3800kbps-4800kbps which sounds like it might be full speed. (you won't get 8Mbps unless you're next door to the exchange, that's just the nature of the technology.)

Of course, if your speeds are actually 100kbps and 480kbps then that is even worse, although possible if you're miles away from the phone exchange (the 8Mbps connection technology can go down as far as 256kbps for extreme line lengths so a speed of 480kbps before throttling is conceivable).

Throttling is standard practice among some ISPs but the better ones either provide you with a hard limit and don't throttle unless you exceed it or inform you upfront about what traffic shaping and throttling you're going to see. If you can get Be/O2 in your area then they use faster connections and don't throttle or limit at all at the moment so they seem like an excellent deal.

 

[SeanT]

the 8Mbps connection technology can go down as far as 256kbps

I believe that max can actually go down to 64/64 for extreme line lengths - which is still better than dialup..... but the isp have to allow you to have it.