Sky Broadband

[islasmum]

Has anyone been finding that their Sky broadband is really slow in the later evenings in the last week? Each time I've been watching something on Iplayer at around 10.30 - 11pm, it keeps stopping, which is annoying - it seems ok throughout the rest of the day. I know that the weather definitely affects our Sky TV, so does broadband have the same problems?

[AlBags]

It's the 'contention ratio' for your immediate exchange area most probably.
Not much you can do .. apart from complain to Sky.
Not everyone will have these problems.
I think it's worst when the kids are online gaming or downloading 'stuff' mid to late evening (when they are supposed to be doing homework or in bed!)

[cazzz1975]

I think the more people who are on broadband the slower the reception, that is why evenings tend to be quite sluggish.

[RAV1D]

Sky broadband rent bandwidth off of BT and basicly they take on new customers but do not rent extra bandwidth to cope for the extra new customers who are now also using the internets bandwidth (signal) To explain it better it's like a mains water pipe and people keep plumbing into the main pipe with small branch off pipes and is less water presure to share out as much when more people add an extra pipe on to it! Sky need's to rent more of this bandwidth but they don't rush.

[Buenchico]

The 'contention ratio', mentioned above, is basically the number of people sharing a single broadband connection at the exchange. For a reliable broadband service, you need a figure around 20 to 1 (or, preferably, lower).

Most 'budget' ISPs have far worse ratios. (Sky has a 50 to 1 ratio for most users). If you want a better service, you'll have to pay for it. (My ISP has a 7 to 1 ratio but I pay 'business prices' to get it).

Chris

[AlBags]

Thanks ... saved me typing.

[islasmum]

OK, thank you all for your replies, I guess I'll just have to start watching films at 3am! - or are lots of ardent games-players still on line then?!

[Buenchico]

I'm often online at 3am. Everything is really fast!

At the bottom left of most iPlayer pages there's a button marked 'Lower Bandwidth'. That will reduce the image quality slightly but will (hopefully) allow the data to reach your computer fast enough to for viewing without any interruptions. Alternatively, the 'Download Options' button enables you download the whole programme at once and then watch it afterwards.

You can check your download speed (and see whether it's good enough for iPlayer use) here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/diagnostics

Chris