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Contention Ratios?

Ok, so I've been with a certain ISP for a few months and been extremely happy with the service. I originally chose one of their office packages because of the marketed 20:1 contention ratio.

Now, I'm relocating so I've been checking out the latest ISP deals. A different ISP seems to have particularly good prices but doesn't list contention ratios. So, I phoned them to query this and was told that BT did away with quoting contention ratios in 2005 and that companies listing them don't know their own product.

Therefore, my question is: With any ISPs that are quoting differing contention ratios between Home and Office packages, what are they actually referring to? Are they using false marketing? Do they employ some sort of in-house contention system? Is there actually any point in going for the office packages over the home ones?

Thank you all for any useful advice you can offer.
 
ld venture to say that ISP who told you that doesnt know their own product "unless" what you looked at was a leased line which is usually 1:1

someone correct me if lm wrong but as far as l know contention is the ratio of users sharing one pipe... so if l say the ratio is 50:1 then that equates to 50 users sharing 1 pipe, same kinda thing quoting 20:1 just a different amount of users... ALL ADSL products share a contention unless as lve said you were looking at leased lines instead of ADSL which as lve said is 1:1 since its a dedicated line.
 
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No, it wasn't a leased line. Just your standard home and office ADSL MAX packages.

So, what we're saying is: there's no contention as such on the BT line but ISPs operate contention on the links into their pipes and that's what is likely being referred to in the marketing of home/office packages? Please correct me if I have the wrong end of the stick :D
 
One difference everyone seems to have missed is the upload is double the home package.
 
It's very easy to get confused with this one. The 50:1 and 20:1 contentions are usually done by BT or in the case of LLU it's done by the owner of the equipment at the exchange. This is rarely the ISP, all the ISP can do is quote the contention the service is being suppied at.
The main difference between a home and office product is more to do with the service you get from BT. There are no real SLA's in place if your ADSL line goes down on a home product. However on the office product there are service levels in place; meaning your ADSL would normally be fixed quicker that if it were a home product.
 
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Yep Bt no longer quote contention ratios.

ADSL Max (home) has an upstream sync of upto 448kbps.

ADSL Max premium has an upstream sync of upto 832kbps and Premium traffic has higher priority on BT's network.
 
Im pretty sure the ISP control the ratio. They get supplied the pipes, and they choose how many to put on there.

There is a limit to the maximum number of active sessions on a pipe. I think a 622mbps central has an upper limit of about 32,000.
 
This is rarely the ISP, all the ISP can do is quote the contention the service is being suppied at.
Yep Bt no longer quote contention ratios.

So ISPs don't control contention ratios and BT stopped quoting contention ratios 2 years ago? Then is it not false advertising to be quoting deprecated information in your sales literature?

Therefore, it would seem my choice between home/office is more a question of quality of service and desired upstream :confused:
 
Therefore, it would seem my choice between home/office is more a question of quality of service and desired upstream :confused:


Basically Yes,

but then this was always the case, because before Max Bt very very rarely kept to either contention as it would have made throughput ridiculously slow.
 
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So ISPs don't control contention ratios

The ISPs can rent as many BT Centrals as they want, at about £114,000 a month for one 622mbps BT Central . The ratio of customers to available bandwidth is entirely down to the ISP. The more expensive ISPs tend to have fewer customers per central.
 
So ISPs don't control contention ratios and BT stopped quoting contention ratios 2 years ago? Then is it not false advertising to be quoting deprecated information in your sales literature?

Therefore, it would seem my choice between home/office is more a question of quality of service and desired upstream :confused:

BT still charge to regrade a customer from home to business they also charge for the amount of data that passes through the pipes.
 
BT still charge to regrade a customer from home to business they also charge for the amount of data that passes through the pipes.

Depends what pricing plan the ISP is on CBC there is no charge for the data transfer.
 
So ISPs don't control contention ratios and BT stopped quoting contention ratios 2 years ago? Then is it not false advertising to be quoting deprecated information in your sales literature?

Therefore, it would seem my choice between home/office is more a question of quality of service and desired upstream :confused:

oooooh... hmm interesting. So why do many ISP's advertise contention ratios to this day? Because they do so, i have been using that as a basis for deciding which company to go with.. ie.. if one advertises 20:1 ratio, while others dont mention it or say 50:1.. sure ill go with the 20:1 advert, all other things being equal... but if that 20:1 claim is useless or not true.. is that not false advertising linked to the basis of sale and thus illegal according to trading standards?

Quoting from my own ISP's website;
What does a 15:1 Contention Ratio mean?

Contention is the number of other people with whom you share your connection. Effectively, contention is a time share that you have with a given number of people to access a connection. The lower the contention, the better the chances are of your getting a connection to the service first time without retrying. A 15:1 ratio is typical of all the larger UK ISP's.

i thought 50:1 was typical..yet this thread now makes me think there isnt in fact any true number we can rely upon? Also, the above quote implies it is related to connection attempts.. and not throughput which doesnt seem quite right to me either?

If thats the case.. and contention ratio being quite important in the scheme of things.. are we in a way buying blind when we choose an ISP? ie, if one knew that in reality one would have 30:1 ratio compared to 100:1 then would it not be a no brainer which to choose?

Or am i way up the left? :P Cheers

edit - ahh thanks Mel, i didnt notice that i was within the dial up section only.
 
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It looks like you are quoting from their dial-up FAQ

the broadband one is here:- http://www.fast4.net/_files/faq_index_BB.asp

it is factually challenged though

What is the contention ratio on the Broadband service?

The contention ratio for Broadband is a standard ratio set by BT at the local exchange, this is 50:1. It does not mean that only one in fifty will be able to connect but the bandwidth at the exchange will be shared between fifty if all are downloading at the same time.

Fast4 (eurisp or even thus) may implement a 50:1 contention ratio on their network, but BT do not.



http://www.fast4.net/_files/faq/044_BB.asp
Am I tied into a specific length of contract?

We do not have a minimum period on our broadband accounts, all we ask is that should you wish to cancel, we are given 28 days notice. In order to cancel your Broadband service simply log into your members area and follow the links provided.

So all they want is 28 days notice, not the £85 or £20 cancellation fee on top of that for cancelling within the 12 month minimum period they don't have :rolleyes:
 
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