ABCDiamond

Why Obviously ? They are technical terms. Not everyone would be expected to know the difference. Or, should I say, I wouldn't expect everyone to know it...

1.5 Mbs is a common speed term for the slow ADSL
8.0 Mbs is a common speed term for the Fast ADSL
24.0 Mbs is a common speed term for ADSL2+

For most people those are standard terms.
Everyone seems to quote speeds in Mbs here, never really noticed you used a different terminology. Just thought you had a slow speed

markbhx

Thats why I spelt it out as Megabytes instead of MBs. All ISP's quote in Mbs because it sounds more to have 24Mbs instead of 3MBs, which is the real speed that people are interested in.

fish.01

I work as a software developer and I missed it too. For as long as I remember network speeds have always usually been quoted as Mbits/second rather than MBytes/second and was not something thought up by ISP's for marketing.

markbhx

Agreed, in the IT industry it is standard but for home users its confusing. Probably 95% would think at 24Mb/s they can download an 800 meg movie file in just over 30 seconds!!
On top of that 95% of people never get full line speed anyway so in reality that movie file takes half an hour at least.
Maybe the size of files should be in Megabits and Gigabits too!!

fish.01

I reckon when 95% of home users see 24Mb/s they think: I have no bl@@dy clue how long an 800 meg movie file will take to download and just hit the button and find out

IvanM

When you get here put your telephone number in www.whirlpool.net.au . That will tell you which ISPs have ADSL2+ links at your exchange. IMO the two to go with are iinet or Internode. Internode is known as the geeks choice of ISP. TPG suffers from poor service and throughout is intermittent due to the large number of leechers. Read up on the above website as they have forums. Dodo is notorious for bad service and misleading advertisements.

If you are unlucky you may only have a Telstra DSLAM at your exchange however you can get ADSL through the above providers but probably at a higher price.

If you are even more unlucky you maybe stuck on a RIM which is how a lot of new housing estates have been hooked up. You will be limited to ADSL 1 then although that may change.

If you are lucky you may have a fibre enabled house but this is unusual.

If you are too far from the exhange you maybe limited to cable internet in which case your choice will be Telstra, Foxtel or Optus.

If that is not an option there are wireless options the better being Telstra NextG but I would experiment with PAYG sims and see which is best.

I doubt Sat will be needed in Brisbane.

IvanM

The big proviso is you would only get those speeds if you live next door to an exchange.

This graph from Internode explains it best



Just to add that the graph below is only true if you are on decent copper. Old copper such as that in the outback will not hold those speeds.

IvanM

That is correct. Megabytes is used for storage and Megabits for speed.

markbhx

I've had TPG for 3 years and only had 30 mins of no connection in that time. Speed is consistently over 1 Megabyte/s also. The only crap thing about them is the support service. Straight through to India talking to a muppet asking you to reboot the router over and over again. Then you'd be lucky to find any call centre not run out of India.

I guess if you want an unbiased recommendation your prob best to ask around to see what the neighbours, friends are using in your local area.

BristolBeary

It's actually a bit of both. Mbit can be a measurement of storage and speed. The marketing guys at ISP's are also doing a job on non technical users, as Mbit is the standard SI but they use Mb (which is also valid - but not the standard SI), because it simple sounds better.

IvanM

The con job they are doing is selling ADSL2+ as 24mbs when you are unlikely to reach those speeds. From before the days of consumer ISPs networking speed has been in Mbs. I guess no provider is going to be the first to go to bytes especially in an industry full of con merchants that go bust.

IvanM

TPG screwed me over in the past and I suggest the OP looks at Whirlpool. Internode call centre is run from Adelaide although Indians speak better Strayan.

BristolBeary

Spot on. My ADSL2+ connection averages around 3.5Mbits. I reckon customers should get a rebate on a sliding scale from the advertised speed back down to what we really get.

fish.01

You'd have to create a whole new industry that do official ADSL Speed Blame Reports

- Distance from exchange 30%
- Slow Telstra equipment in exchange 20%
- Kink in copper wire 4 streets away 14%
- Old wiring in house 22%
- Too long network cable in study 8%
- Pigeon nest on telegraph pole 6%