James Courtier-Dutton wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I have a friend who can only get 512Kbps over their DSL line. I was
> thinking that they could maybe get 4 DSL lines, and then load balance
> over them to make 2Mbits.
>
> Does anyone know any ISPs that support this sort of service?
>
> Kind Regards
>
> James
>
I'm assuming you're referring to download speeds.
512Kbps sounds a bit slow but I've been told that BT have been a bit
stingy with their wholesale broadband and are not providing as much
bandwidth per subscriber as before. However I suspect that they are
simply allowing the service to degrade back down to the advertised
contention ratios. IMHO it's simply due to the widespread take up and
use of broadband resulting in many users saturating their ADSL lines
with downloads etc.
The contention ratio of the line is the key here. Some are 50:1, 20:1
and 10:1 and other broadband providers do 5:1 and 1:1 ADSL.
A 50:1 line running at a maximum of 512Kbps will only give you 10Kbps at
peak times, many times slower than an early 1990s modem!
A 20:1 ADSL Max line running at 6Mbps will still only give you around
512Kbps of usable (download) bandwidth at peak times.
I've not tried these ISPs but they might have what you need;
Andrews and Arnold
http://www.aaisp.net.uk/
Fluidata
http://www.fluidata.co.uk
Regards,
Simon
