Running to stand still

There’s less than meets the eye to today’s announcement by BTC that it is upgrading its DSL customers to a faster connection at no extra cost.

Customers who currently pay $89 per month for a 256 kbps upload rate and a 1.5 Mbps download rate will now be able to upload at 512 kbps and download at 2 Mbps. Customers who pay $109 per month for 512 kbps upstream 1.5 Mbps down will now be able to upload at 768 kbps and download at 3 Mbps.

Unfortunately, because the fastest download rate offered by any ISP is 1 Mbps, no-one will see any increase in their download speed. And customers on a 128k or 256k package (probably a large proportion of DSL users) won’t see any increase in their upload speed either.

I would have been more impressed if BTC had given me the option of staying at my current speeds and paying less.

Comments

[Foxy Brown on 06.11.06 at 22:21]

My God Limey!! I didn't know people still spoke about those very slow speeds...much less at those astronomical rates!

[Denis Pitcher on 06.11.06 at 23:18]

I'm not sure if I agree with you Limey as download speeds can still be dependent on the ISP's upload speed.

For non-techies out there. Downloading something from the internet requires sending small groups of data (aka. Packets) back and forth between the server you're downloading from and your computer.

In order to download using the most common protocol (TCP), your computer needs to respond back with acknowledgement data in order to confirm that the packets have been recieved, or to re-request them.

While you can have an incredibly fast download rate, if your computer cannot respond back fast enough, it can create a bottleneck where the server doesn't take full advantage of your download speed because it cannot confirm if you are recieving them fast enough.

Even if you have a really fast download speed, if you have a really slow upload speed, it can limit how fast you can actually download due to the confirmations necessary.

So, for those with faster connections, during some downloads it may be possible to see slightly faster internet due to the increase in upload speed capacity if your ISP offers faster upload speeds that match BTC's increases.

I'm not certain what ISP's offer with regards to upload speeds, however so I can't suggest whether it'll actually be faster.

Despite that, I also wouldn't have minded have the option to pay less. Between BTC bills and ISP bills, internet is much more costly then it should be and will certainly stunt our potential growth as a digital community.

[Hello my name is Somers, and I am Bermudian on 07.11.06 at 08:52]

"internet is much more costly then it should be and will certainly stunt our potential growth as a digital community." Posted by Denis Pitcher on 06.11.06 at 23:18

"will" or "has"... I tend to think that it HAS stunted the growth of the digital community in Bermuda but that is only my little opinion.

[Denis Pitcher on 07.11.06 at 09:56]

Somers,

I definately don't disagree with you. I wish government would realize it. We are being robbed blind.

[Dan Burke on 07.11.06 at 12:35]

TCP is only the tip of the iceberg. The argument of effective download rate being metered by the effective upload rate for packet acknowledgement is not as great as suggested. The metering is mitigated by asynchronous packet transmission/reassembly between routers and packet size between a file download and acknowledgement. At its best, tcp can only deliver 72% effective throughput. It is doubtful if the additional metering would account for more than 5% less performance on file download.

I do agree the prices y'all are paying are steep. Maybe a dish provider could provide more cost effective communications without BTC's involvement.

Dan

[Palm Trees by the Sea on 07.11.06 at 13:14]

Denis,

TCP has something called Sliding Window.

Read up on it!

cheers!

[ace on 07.11.06 at 14:10]

Dan, was that English?

[Chris Jackson on 07.11.06 at 15:35]

BTC are likely doing this because they know people are flooding to EasyConnect. This service offers a 1GB wireless internet connection for just $45 per month ($35 if you also have a cell phone with M3 Wireless). You still have to pay your ISP but that's no different to DSL.

Even after the BTC price-cut why would anyone pay $109 for a DSL line that gives them 3/4 the speed of a $45 wirelss connection? Rest-in-peace BTC you've had your day.

I just cancelled my DSL line because of the ridiculous price. $109 to Northrock plus $45 to EasyConnect gets me a great 1GB connection for enjoying World of Warcraft all night long!

[shipwreckedcanuk on 07.11.06 at 16:19]

Bandwidth is not really the issue when it comes to your upstream on a download (assuming a half decent ratio). Latency (basically the time it takes for a packet to travel, not how much can travel) is the 800lb gorilla. The acknowledgment is small, but if you have high latency then it takes a long time before its received and your download speed suffers. Thats one of the reasons many online games here suck- we have the bandwidth to play, but our latency is high since the servers we play on are always far away.

BTC hasn't done anything about latency. Large, single file downloads may improve, but actual responsiveness during normal surfing and game play will more than likely remain the same.

[Chris Jackson on 08.11.06 at 08:13]

Correction to my post above: Sorry should read 1MB service, not 1GB service. But still faster and cheaper than any DSL solution BTC has to offer.

[Denis Pitcher on 08.11.06 at 17:05]

Palm trees by the sea,

I'll admit it's been a few years since I attended classes on networking, so I'm a bit rusty and by no means an expert.

However, even with sliding window, if the upstream speed is too small, would it not still cause bottlenecks despite the sliding window?

[ABP on 09.11.06 at 12:00]

Just checked Logic's DSL rates and they are now offering the same upload speeds as download speeds as opposed to the 25k upload which they've had from day one. It's about time!!!

[Martin on 09.11.06 at 19:44]

Chris,

Sounds good...but do you need a basic land line for phone calls from BTC as well?

[living in paradice on 09.11.06 at 22:41]

Chris Jackson,

Please read the fine print.

M3 (1 Meg) without a phone:
$45 for 1 MB access with no phone
$30 with a basic landline phone service
Total $75

M3 1 Meg With an M3 cellphone:
$33 cellphone
$35 for Easy Connect
$5 license fee
Total $73 (be advised of the 23 cents per minute overage)

BTC - 2 Megs
$59 for access
$30 for unlimited phone
Total $89

Dennis,

Your growth is not stunted. You are just left out of the discussion. Bermuda internet access is controlled by the ISPs. So they determine the digital growth you are speaking of.

Further, it is not Government who should see that we are being robbed blind, it is you. You have conceded all the buying power to the ISP.

[Ali on 10.11.06 at 08:57]

Can anyone tell me if there is a service which combines a mobile phone, internet and long distance calls for a flat rate? 23 cents a minute is highway robbery. Thanks.

[Chris Jackson on 10.11.06 at 12:09]

Martin; yes EasyConnect does not include a land line. But considering most people have a cell phone, why would you need one? Unless of course you make a lot of overseas calls - but then you can always use SKYPE. Even if you get the BTC regular land line on top the service still works out cheaper than DSL.

Living in paradice; for the same reason as above I don't consider a land line a necessity anymore and under the DSL set-up I still had the cost of my cell-phone on top. For me it made sense to just switch to using the cell-phone for all my calls.

[JJ on 10.11.06 at 12:32]

Ali I get unlimited calls to US, Canada and UK for $35 per month as a Logic and Mobility mobile customer. I also have Logic as ISP.

[Ali on 10.11.06 at 15:22]

JJ, does Logic's ISP extend to Blackberry data or do you pay twice?

[JJ on 11.11.06 at 08:32]

not sure. i don't have a blackberry.

[living in paradice on 11.11.06 at 19:37]

Chris Jackson,

Cost are what they are, there are advantages and disadvantages to both technologies.

Ali,

Logic is not wireless company, ie they do not sell cellular service. M3 Wireless, Digicel and Cellular One sell Smartphones and BlackBerries that have data service on them.

You should note that Cellular One is the only company that offers internet with its partnership with FKBNet. The speed is about 300 Kbps for $109 a month. The nice thing about having the laptop version is you don't need to plug in anything or subscribe to another service and you can use the service almost any place in Bermuda.

[Denis Pitcher on 13.11.06 at 12:06]

Living in Paradise,

I don't disagree with you that the ISP's have a measure of control over the growth of the internet locally. However, government does actually have some control over internet in Bermuda. They are the ones who give out licenses to be an ISP. They also control legislation that governs how the companies operate.

We have to pay for the actual connection to the network, and then the internet from an ISP on top of it. The costs of each are ridiculous.

Yet, our options are
- DSL through BTC (Keytech)
- Wireless through M3 (Keytech)
- Wireless through Northrock.
- Cellular One (through Partnership with FKB)

We could have other options, in the very least for providing alternatives to connecting to the network. Either more companies should be allowed ISP licenses, or in the least more companies should be able to provide the infrastructure for connecting so we have more options then either DSL or Cell Networks.

Examples:
- World on Wireless
- CableVision

BTC's requirement for you to pay for a phone line along with your DSL is ridiculous. It is very rare that I use my landline and I would much rather save the $30 a month then be forced to have it.

Another thing government should be doing is introducing number portability legislation to force better competition amongst local providers. It doesn't make sense that you can have terrible service from one provider, but are reluctant to switch because you lose your number.

[living in paradice on 13.11.06 at 13:58]

Dennis,

You are right on somethings. Lacking information on others.

Government does hand out licences for ISP operation, but they don't control what they offer to the market. If the ISP wants to offer 2 Megs to the home, they would have to buy more capacity from TeleBermuda International or Cable & Wireless; a clean 1.5 Meg is being charged out at $4,500.00 to North Rock, Cellular One, Logic, etc. So you can only imagine why we as consumers pay the prices we do.

Strip away the $30 a month from BTC and you have relative comparison:

- $59.00 per month access charge for 2 Megs on BTC
- $49.95 per month access charge for 1 Megs on M3

As for adding more companies, it does not seem to make sense. In a market this size we have more companies with more overhead, but the technology is cheaper and cheaper as the days go on. Companies should be merging because the technology does not require as many people to deliver the same service. Look at your price for service, it does not decline.

You should be advised CableVision is licensed to offer access to internet, but have been slow to market.

You should also read your paper and see that the offer of a telephone may be stripped away.

Number portability would be great, but government does not want you to be too happy.