Query on new Eircom next-gen broadband speed

Just got a note from Eircom advising that my office broadband connection has been upgraded to Next Gen broadband for free. The card says that this gets me "up to 8MB".

Doing a quick online test, I get 4.73 MBps download speed and a rather measly-sounding 407 KBps upload speed.

Reading through other threads on this topic, I see that various factors can affect speed. So here's some information that might be relevant:

• PC is connected to the router box directly by cable. Router also supports wi-fi but no other wi-fi devices were in use at the time of the test.
• Only other device connected to the line is the office fax machine, which wasn't in use then either.
• Am I right in assuming that contention ratios aren't supposed to matter with Next Gen broadband?

I'm curious to know what other factors might be causing me to get less than the advertised 8MBps. I'm also wondering is it normal that upload speed should be so much lower than download, like 10% or so.

Any enlightenment welcome.

Upload speeds are generally much lower then download speeds (ADSL = Asynchronous Digital Subscriber Link) so yes your upload speed is in line with industry norm.

The actual speed will depend on quality of the line and distance from the exchange.

Eircom speeds look very poor when compared to UPC.

It is possible to get 100MB from UPC at home.

Yes DL the distance from Exchange will have a bearing on your speed.

Also it might be worth testing the speed with your Fax plugged out,and anything that is plugged into any Phone socket, that is not filtered,
another phone or Sky digital .

Try that.

Slightly off topic but note that if you've been upgraded to next generation broadband with eircom they will now charge 2 euro for every gig you go over your download allowance.

silvermints said:

Slightly off topic but note that if you've been upgraded to next generation broadband with eircom they will now charge 2 euro for every gig you go over your download allowance.

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+1 That's why I'm with vodafone now