I find this so hard to believe in 2010:-
“Thank you for your email dated 09/02/09 in regards to the broadband speed at your new property.
The initial test on your phone line you should be able to support a maximum broadband download speed of around 512 kbps. The actual speed you get could be lower and is dependent on several factors such as whether you have any internal home wiring, our network management policy and the number of people using the internet at the same time. Speeds are generally lower in the evening at peak times. You can find more information on all of these on BT.com.”
and where is this new property? you might ask – Well, its 1mile from the centre of Cambridge the so called heart of Europe’s Hi-Tecg Silicon Fen.
Thank goodness that Cambridge Cable (Comcast/Singapore Telecom) invested in all that fibre in 1991 (although sadly the fibre ends in the street rather than the house) so Virgin Media (who took over NTL who took over Cambridge Cable in the game of musical chairs that corporate UK loves) can offer 10MB, 20MB and 50MB speeds. Although amusingly they recommended I take on a Virgin telephone line as well because calls to their help desk would then be free!
22 Feb Update: @btcare on Twitter managed to sort it out. However, there is a £25 penalty to be paid for moving to Virgin and BT won’t let the house purchaser take over the telephone number!
