Internet traffic management..good or bad thing?

[tmg]

I'm trying to decide whether to switch ISP as my very long contract with talk talk is up. I used to have sky TV but since my ex left I can't afford a full package. So I've just ordered a nowTV box so we can still get the movie channels we used to love at a more affordable price. However whilst doing some research I've come across this internet traffic management thingy, as I understand it this is the practice of restricting the speed of some internet usage at peak times so everyone gets fair access and speed. I'm wondering how this could affect internet TV and whether I should be looking at an ISP that doesn't implement it at all. I'm tempted to go for sky broadband because they don't use it and as their bread and butter is television services they should presumably give streaming a quality service. On the other hand if there is no management does that mean it's a free for all during peak time resulting in crap service for all? Or am I just over thinking this and it makes no difference what so ever! 

If there are any IT gurus out there I would appreciate your opinions. 

[fred]

I've just paid £126 for 12 months line rental, and now get internet for £2.50. Added any time call boost for £5.50.

I use a nowtv box with no problems.

Talk talk push their you view streaming service, so I don't think there'll be an issue with now!

And I'll add, my connection is only about 3.8megabit!

Couldn't personally justify paying more for another provider.

Just don't renew your contract with talk talk - it will now run from month to month.

[Greg]

I think I pay £75 a month

[poochops]

Im on virgin and they have that, they say it only affects serial down loaders; so it hasn't bothered us at all. The serial down lowers are given more bandwidth in the early morning to compensate. So they say.

[fred]

Feb 14, 2014 21:49:42 GMT Greg said:

I think I pay £75 a month

What do you get for that sort of money?

[tmg]

The ex used to pay £60 a month for the full sky package but that left when he did, I've signed up for the nowtv free trial month movie package and I've just watched iron man3 on my iPad no problem, so when the box gets here hopefully that will be ok too. Which means we can have the sky movie channels for £9 a month. So I'll stay on talktalk for now without signing a new contract as and see how it goes, thanks fred for that suggestion, I thought they would make me renew.

£75 a month Greg! I hope that's a phone, broadband, tv bundle with diamond encrusted modem!

[GunJack]

tmg TT's service is pretty good if you're on a LLU line, it may be worth haggling with them (I do, about to do so again ) but there's no harm in leaving the contract expired and being month-to-month..I'm in another period of that until I do the haggling thing when I get time

Just remember, ultimately the length of your line is the most important factor in speed, and any LLU service will be better than an IPStream service

[tmg]

We should be ok then, the exchange is across the road, I was just concerned whether traffic management would mean an unreliable speed for streaming at peak times

[fred]

Shouldn't do!

I live about as far from the exchange as you can get for suburbia, and have no problems with t'interwebs or nowtv.

Just make sure you have one of the newer black routers - they are much better than the white ones.

[tmg]

Oh bum, mine's white, bet they won't give me a black one unless I commit to another century of contract...

[Greg]

Feb 14, 2014 23:50:36 GMT fred said:

Feb 14, 2014 21:49:42 GMT Greg said:

I think I pay £75 a month

What do you get for that sort of money?

Not much at all really fred
Im rather rural so I can't get much other than broadband over telegraph pole which makes it very thinband 
With usual providers it takes days to download a film or hours to download any sky on demand stuff which made it off demand.
So I had satellite broadband installed which lets me download all the above in seconds rather than days, normal surfing is stil a bit of a pain though due to the ping speed.

[fred]

Feb 15, 2014 10:52:02 GMT tmg said:

Oh bum, mine's white, bet they won't give me a black one unless I commit to another century of contract...

The white one's OK with though.

I like the black one though, as I can tinker with it, and have 2 hard disks running off it.
I did keep a white one though, as (can't rember what it was at the most) one of my wireless things could not connect to the black one - had to use the white one specially for it!

Don't renew your contract, see how it goes for a month or 2.
If its crap, change it maybe.
If its good, pay for line rental in advance, and make sure you're only paying £2.50 for broadband, + any boosts. If you're paying £7.50, you're paying for TV as well!

(Was just last week, I said, I paid 126 for a years line rental, and now my bill is £8 rather than £28.50, for unlimited interwebs and phone calls)

[a1laserboy]

I have sky fibre unlimited. Its fast, never seen a slowdown or lost service, i stream stuff constantly and download torrents at the same time. Couldn't recommend it highly enough.

I don't have their tv though - its a rip off.

[Greg]

Feb 15, 2014 11:20:59 GMT a1laserboy said:

I have sky fibre unlimited. Its fast, never seen a slowdown or lost service, i stream stuff constantly and download torrents at the same time. Couldn't recommend it highly enough.

I don't have their tv though - its a rip off.

I wish I could get that 

[tmg]

Me too, I'd love fibre but it's not available here. I've just investigated my account more closely and it appears I'm paying £7.50 for a Tv service I don't receive and despite the proclamations talk talk have unlimited broadband with no traffic management I appear to have a fair usage policy applied to my account. Try as I might I cannot see what the fair usage limit is in the small print. I've just emailed them asking for it so we'll see what they say. My concern is that while plowing through all the movies on now TV we'll exceed the fair usage limit and incur costs or some other restrictions. Trouble is if I renew my contract as an existing customer I have to sign up for 24 months minimum. I'm tempted just to switch to sky for a year, they have a half price offer on at the moment