[GLLUG] ISP - How slow is usefull?

[Alistair Mann]

On 10/04/17 17:17, John Southall via GLLUG wrote:
> To save money I am considering changing from Virgin fibre to 
> broadband. The BT speed estimate is a maximum of 2 to 6.5 Mbs and a 
> guaranteed minimum of 1Mbs.
> I don't stream films, but I do enjoy Youtube and BBC Radio, will they 
> be bearable at 2Mbs or less? I could download another Linux LTS, I 
> suppose.

I visit alot of domestic sites so I get a good overview. 0.5Mbps is 
enough for youtube at it's most basic, 5Mbps is required to watch HD. 
Radio is so much less demanding than video that ye olde dialup would 
suffice.

> I suspect that broadband will be a false economy, should I look 
> elsewhere for savings?

In recent years I've seen people saving money by combining broadband, 
telephone, mobile, TV packages etc going "all in" with Sky vs BT vs 
Talktalk etc rather than, say, getting telephone from BT, mobile from EE 
and broadband via Virgin.

I've also seen some people reduce costs by downgrading packages to their 
most basic, for instance taking a monthly cap on broadband. However, you 
(and they) have to be VERY strict about keeping to that cap: I've seen 
MS Outlook 2013 or 16 and gmail will see traffic spike from 20Gb pcm to 
well over 150Gb, I've seen visitors watching Twitch.tv do the same. The 
"overage" fees can be well over a quid per Gb.

If you want to be clever, I've seen one person abandon the landline and 
broadband altogether and connect wirelessly from computer to his mobile 
phone for occasional Internet.

Cheers!
-- 
Alistair Mann