onlincolnshire supporting ICT innovation

Broadband is an always-on internet connection.

It’s normally provided at a fixed cost per month, and has a much larger capacity to send and receive data to and from the internet than the old dial up internet connection.

This makes web browsing, emailing, sending files etc much faster.

There are a great many different types of broadband, based on how the service is delivered.

In Lincolnshire we have broadband delivered via:

• The telephone line as ADSL throughout much of the county,
• SDSL in some limited areas,
• Cable modem in some urban areas,
• Publicly accessible Wi-Fi wireless in Lincoln City Centre
• High speed fibre optic cable in a very limited area,
• Special leased lines, run by some firms,
• 3G & other mobile,
• Satellite.

It is possible to receive broadband throughout all of Lincolnshire.

Unfortunately, the cost of the service and the speeds available may not match the needs of many users.

For example, satellite is available across the whole county, but can be expensive for faster speeds and has other issues which may limit this as a choice.

There is constant development in the broadband area. New technologies are constantly being trialed.

Most broadband circuits are shared between multiple users. This is known as the “contention ratio”.

For example, if you have a 4 Mbps connection with a contention ratio of 50:1, at peak times of day you could be sharing this with 49 other users.

You would only get a fraction of the speed.

However, this makes sense for telecom companies in terms of providing the service.

When you are browsing the web, the time you spend reading the page isn’t being used to send information across the Internet. Someone else’s web traffic can use that time.

Sharing the capacity means that the cost of providing the service to you is cheaper. The main issue is that your broadband speed may be lower at peak times.

Contention ratios do vary between providers, 50:1 being common amongst domestic providers, with 20:1 being more common amongst business ones.

If you are looking for a broadband provider, it’s obviously better if the contention ratio is smaller. You are less likely to experience slow speeds at peak times on a 20:1 ratio than a 50:1 ratio.

Uncontended internet connections, (i.e. 1:1) are possible, but are very expensive compared to the contended services.

With a fast broadband connection, it is also possible to transmit multi-channel TV too.

As the Internet becomes more important in business and domestic life, fast broadband connectivity becomes vital for the county.

Onlincolnshire aims to enable local communities, businesses and individuals to improve the broadband opportunities within Lincolnshire.

They will help address the “not spots” and “slow spots” in particular.

If you need better broadband connectivity and can’t achieve it by the above routes, why not get involved with a local community campaign to improve access – or even start one yourself?

As you would expect, the speed at which you can receive broadband varies across the world, the UK and Lincolnshire.

The Government have committed to universal coverage of the UK to a 2Mbps download speed standard by 2015.

Many properties in the county already exceed that speed. Worldwide, many users have broadband access already at much higher rates:

Average speed:

South Korea: 14.6 Mbps
Japan: 7.9 Mbps
Sweden: 5.7 Mbps
UK: 3.5 Mbps

The UK is currently ranked 26th place in the world for broadband access speed.

(Source: State of the Internet Report, Akamai)

Currently, 11% of UK users, (2 Million households) can’t get this minimum 2Mbps speed, and they are defined as being in a “slow spot”.

In Lincolnshire, this applies to 27% of households and 24% of business premises.

160,000 UK households can’t receive broadband at all (or better than 0.144Mbps), or at a reasonable cost. They are defined as being in a “not spot”.

Lincolnshire has 8.3% of households and 7.3% of business premises currently in “not spots”.

The most common broadband provision in the UK is via ADSL. This is distance dependant, with an upper distance limit to which the signal can reach through the telephone cabling.

Other factors, such as the quality and type of the cabling also have an effect too.

This means that “slow spots” and “not spots” are often the result of the property or area affected being at the very end of the telephone line from the local exchange.

As the distance effect is so critical, rural areas hence tend to be a difficult to serve with ADSL.

As rural areas are also sparsely populated, other types of commercial broadband service providers are unlikely to be interested: it wouldn’t be commercially viable.

Unfortunately, Lincolnshire is large, rural and sparsely populated; leading to us having the issue of “slow spots” and not spots.

You can check your broadband speed at the links below.

• www.speedtest.net|
• www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest.html|

You may also wish to read our factsheet “How to improve your broadband speed”.

Some groups have already addressed this issue for themselves.

Ashby de la Launde was previously a slow spot. As a result of community involvement and an innovative project, they now have an exceptionally high broadband speed of 100Mbps.

They have also used wireless to connect the neighbouring village of Digby – previously a slow spot too.

Everybody in the UK is covered by satellite broadband, so theoretically almost everybody could have access to broadband.

In practice, satellite broadband is expensive and has other limitations in its’ use which may make it unacceptable.

160,000 households in the UK can’t receive broadband at all, or at a reasonable cost. They are defined as being in a “not spot”.

8.3% of households in Lincolnshire and 7.3% of business premises are in a “not spot”.

11% of UK users, (2 Million households) can’t get at least 2Mbps download broadband, and they are defined as being in a “slow spot”.

The figure in Lincolnshire is much higher – 27% of households and 24% of business premises.

You are likely to be able to get broadband – but the speed may not be as high as you wish.

Besides land- based broadband, it might be possible to receive broadband via the 3G mobile network.

Network coverage can be patchy in Lincolnshire. You should check the coverage area for your mobile provider.

You will also almost certainly be able to receive satellite broadband – but this can be expensive and might not offer the service you need.

If you think you can receive land-based broadband, check these comparison websites to see what deals and speed might be available in your area:

• http://www.moneysupermarket.com/broadband
• http://www.broadband-finder.co.uk
• http://www.broadbandchoices.co.uk

Do be aware though that advertised speeds are “up to”: you are unlikely to achieve them in practice and might get considerably less. This is a particular issue for ADSL broadband.

As a rural county, Lincolnshire has “slow spots” (less than 2Mbps download speed) and some “not spots” (no broadband available at a reasonable cost).

If you are in a “not spot” satellite provision may be a possibility, but may expensive.

If you are in a “slow spot”, you may wish to read out factsheet “How to improve your broadband speed”.

If you need better broadband connectivity, why not get involved with a local community campaign to improve access – or even start one yourself?

Access to broadband is most common in Lincolnshire through ADSL – which requires a telephone line.

Also popular in some urban areas of Lincolnshire are cable services via Virgin Media, which often includes a telephone line as part of the package.

However, there are other ways to receive broadband that do not need a telephone line:

• 3G mobile phones
• Satellite
• Fibre-Optic cables in a very limited area of the county (Ashby de la Launde), linked to Digby
• Wi-Fi in Lincoln City Centre, extending out to Bracebridge Heath to the south and Ingham to the North

Although there are many technical explanations of bandwidth, it’s better to view it as simply a measure of how much information (data) can be passed to and from your connection to the Internet.

You can think of it as the speed of your connection.

Imagine a country lane – you couldn’t have as much traffic on it as on a motorway. If you tried, the speed of each car would be very slow indeed!

A big, broad motorway allows a lot of traffic to travel down it at a high speed. The same is true of a fast broadband connection.

This means that you can access websites, send emails, and use other applications much quicker on a faster broadband connection

Your broadband connection will be set up by your Internet Service Provider to allow a certain amount of information to pass along it.

The amount of data that can physically be passed is determined by the technology, and this varies widely.

For example, ADSL connections cannot handle the amount of data that a fibre optic cable can – they have a smaller bandwidth available.

For ADSL, the further from the telephone exchange you are, the more difficult it becomes for the data to travel to you: it’s as if the motorway narrows to the size of an A road.

Your bandwidth would hence be less than someone closer to the exchange.

Bandwidth is measured in Kilo bits per second – “Kbps” or Mega bits per second - Mbps.

A Kilobit is a thousand bits of data, a Megabit a million. As connection speeds improve, the Mbps speed is the one most often quoted by Internet Service Providers.

There are two components to the bandwidth that you will receive as part of your broadband package:

• Download speed, the speed of the connection TO you
• Upload speed, the speed of the connection FROM you.

Often, they are “Asymmetric” – the “A” in ADSL stands for this. This means that you will have a broader bandwidth coming to you than going away from you.

This split makes sense for most web users. Most users browse the web, download files etc, but tend to only send emails and perhaps attach the occasional file or upload images to a website.

When you subscribe to a broadband provider, you often see details such as “up to 4Mbps download” in their advertising.

The upload figure is likely to be much slower.

“Up to” is also an important phrase: you may only actually receive 2 Mbps.

The 4Mbps advertised speed is what would be achievable, in a perfect world, if you were very close to the exchange, and the cables were in perfect condition.......etc!

There are many different type of broadband provision.

In Lincolnshire we have broadband delivered to consumers and businesses via:

• The telephone line as ADSL throughout much of the county,
• SDSL in some limited areas,
• Cable modem in some urban areas,
• Publicly accessible Wi-Fi wireless in Lincoln City Centre, out to Bracebridge Heath to the South and Ingham to the North
• High speed fibre optic cable in a very limited area,
• Special leased lines, run by some firms,
• 3G & other mobile,
• Satellite.

We also previously had a wireless based service for business users across some of the county. For commercial reasons, this became unviable.

There are also other technologies which are used in other areas of the UK and abroad, and which may be introduced into Lincolnshire.

For example, the BT Infinity programme, which will involve bringing fibre optic cables to curb side boxes, is being rolled out. This will enormously improve broadband speeds in those areas.

BT has allocated a date for two Lincolnshire exchanges to be modified. The exchanges are Market Deeping and Stamford, and the date is 30 September 2011.

Broadband technology is constantly evolving, with new solutions being worked on and existing technologies improved.

There are several issues that you need to think about what choosing the right broadband package.

• Are you a consumer or business user?
• What types of broadband are available in your location?
  
  In rural areas you may only have access to ADSL, or even just satellite in one of the “not spots”.
  
  In urban areas, you may have a greater choice, from ADSL, SDSL, cable & Wi-Fi in Lincoln City centre (extending to     Bracebridge Heath and Ingham).
  
  All offer different speeds at different costs.
• What speed do you want?
  
  You probably want the highest speed available, but be aware that advertised speeds are “up to”, and are normally based on download speed (i.e. to you).
  
  It is unlikely that you will receive this maximum possible speed.
  
  The upload speeds are normally considerably less. This may cause some businesses difficulty, if they need to upload large files such as graphics.
• How heavy a user of broadband will you be?
  
  If you want to
  
  - download lots of data,
  - watch video via the web,
  - use online gaming,
  - connect to your office via a Virtual Private Network,
  - connect a lot of users to the broadband via this connection,
  
  You’ll need to check if there is a usage limit, or if the service is “unlimited”. Even if the service is unlimited, be aware that “Fair Usage” policies may apply. 
• If it’s available, do you want a “bundled” package of broadband / TV / telephone or just broadband?
  
  Do you want to keep your existing phone number if you do want a bundled deal?
• Is there a one-off installation fee?
• What’s your price limit?
  
  Some packages have a low initial fee for a few months, and then revert to a higher monthly cost.
  
  You need to work out the overall cost per year. Many broadband comparison web sites do this for you.
• How long do you want to be tied into an agreement?
  
  You might get a better deal if you sign up for 18 months compared to 12.
• What’s the “contention ratio” on the service?
  
  This is how many other users share that broadband connection.
  
  A higher number means that it more likely you will have a slower broadband connection at peak times.
  
  50:1 is probably average for a consumer connection, 20:1 for a business.
• Are there any activities that you wish to use online that might need faster broadband (e.g. online gaming)?
  
  For technical reasons, some activities such as gaming aren’t possible on satellite broadband.
• If you’re using broadband for business, what sort of Service Level Agreement guarantees will you need to ensure that your business isn’t without a connection?

To work out the best possible package for you, there are several comparison websites.

We’ve listed web links to a few below.

http://www.moneysupermarket.com/broadband|

http://www.broadband-finder.co.uk|

http://www.broadbandchoices.co.uk|

There are several reasons why the speed you get from your broadband varies:

• Is more than one person using your Internet connection at certain times?

  For example, if you have a home network and your son is downloading a movie, your daughter is playing an online game  on her X-Box whilst you’re browsing the web, you will  notice a drop in browsing speed.

• Are you using the connection at a peak time of day (such as evening)?

  • General volume of traffic on the Internet as a whole at peak times will cause slower traffic.

  • As most broadband connections are shared with others, your peak time usage is likely to coincide with their use too.

    This is known as “contention ratios”.

    A typical consumer contention ratio is 50:1, which means you share the circuit with up to 49 other users.

    If they all decide to use the Internet at the same peak time, the speed for all will be slower.

    Generally, if you are a heavy broadband user, a service with a smaller contention ratio would be better.

• If your Internet Service Provider determines that you are a very heavy user, they may restrict your speed at certain times of day.

  This is called “throttling” or “traffic shaping”.

  It is used by some ISPs to ensure that all their customers have their fair share of broadband access.

  Although you may have an unlimited download package, this technique would probably be covered by the ISPs “Fair Usage” policy.

  Only a very small number of users would fall into this category – normally less than 0.1% of customers.

You may wish to transfer suppliers for a variety of reasons, such as:

• Poor quality service,
• You need additional features that your current Internet Service Provider (ISP) doesn’t offer
• Or that you think the deal you are subscribed to isn’t good value for money.
• You’re moving premises.

First of all, do check if the contract period you signed for with your existing supplier has expired.

Contracts are generally for either 12 or 18 months. If it hasn’t expired, you may be liable for a cancellation fee or even the balance of the fee until the contract runs out.

Most contracts require you to give a months’ notice, even after the initial 12 or 18 months

It’s your choice to decide if you want to buy yourself out of a contract that hasn’t yet expired.

It’s important that you check that the service you wish to sign up to is available in your area.

You can use various comparison websites to check this – we’ve listed a few below:

• http://www.moneysupermarket.com/broadband
• http://www.broadband-finder.co.uk
• http://www.broadbandchoices.co.uk

ADSL – ADSL transfer

Transferring from one ADSL service provider to another should be quite easy.

You need to obtain a Migration Authorisation Code (MAC) from your existing supplier.  Don’t cancel your existing provider at this point though!

They are supposed to give the MAC to you within 5 days.  If they take longer than this, complain through their customer service channels.

A MAC is valid for a month, so you need to pass this to your proposed new supplier as soon as you receive it.

They will then communicate with your existing supplier, and tell you when the transfer date will be. You can then cancel your existing supplier from that date.

This will avoid any downtime, when broadband wouldn’t be available to you.

On the date of transfer, you may experience lack of broadband for a brief time (normally less than half an hour) whilst the MAC transfer takes place.

Many ADSL transfers can be easily completed within a week

ADSL – cable transfer

If you want to transfer from ADSL to cable, it’s even easier.

As the services are delivered through different technology routes, you need just to arrange to have cable broadband installed.

When you know the date of installation, you can cancel your ADSL contract from that date. This would avoid you being without broadband.

You could then keep your existing telephone line, or you could choose to have the cable company also provide your telephone line too.

Virgin Media are the provider of cable services in Lincolnshire, and they provide various “bundled packages” of broadband, telephone and TV via cable.

Cable – ADSL transfer

As in transferring from ADSL to cable, the other way round is easy too, as the technology is different. The broadband comes into your property via different routes.

You will need a BT telephone line into your property though – some properties that have used cable exclusively since being built may not have a BT telephone line, so this will need to be installed.

The Government have committed to universal coverage of the UK to a 2Mbps download speed standard by 2015.

Currently, 11% of UK users, (2 Million households) can’t get this speed, and they are defined as being in a “slow spot”.

160,000 households can’t receive broadband at all, or at a reasonable cost. They are defined as being in a “not spot”.

Broadband via satellite may be the only current option for supply of any broadband at all to these people. However, satellite broadband tends to be expensive and can have other technical issues which make it less than ideal.

The most common broadband provision in the UK is via ADSL. This is distance dependant, with an upper distance limit to which the signal can reach through the telephone cabling.

Other factors, such as the quality and type of the cabling also have an effect too.

This means that “slow spots” and “not spots” are often the result of the property or area affected being at the very end of the telephone line from the local exchange.

As the distance effect is so critical, rural areas hence tend to be difficult to serve with ADSL.

As rural areas are also sparsely populated, other types of commercial broadband service providers are unlikely to be interested: it wouldn’t be commercially viable. 

Unfortunately, Lincolnshire is large, rural and sparsely populated; leading to us having the issue of “slow spots” and “not spots”.

You can check your broadband speed at the links below.

• www.speedtest.net|
• www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest.html|

You may also wish to read our factsheet “How to improve your broadband speed” if you are in a “slow spot”.

Some groups have already addressed this issue for themselves.

Ashby de la Launde was previously a slow spot. As a result of community involvement and an innovative project, they now have an exceptionally high broadband speed of 100Mbps.

They have also used wireless to connect the neighbouring village of Digby – previously a slow spot too.

Broadband technology is constantly evolving, with new solutions being worked on and existing technologies improved.

If you need better broadband connectivity, why not get involved with a local community campaign to improve access – or even start one yourself?

Broadband is simply a general name for a range of technologies that allow data to be transmitted back and forth – fast!

Different technologies work in different ways.

• ADSL works by splitting your existing telephone line into a voice channel for calls and a broadband channel for data.

  Data is transmitted to and from you to your Internet Service Provider on this broadband channel. This data may be web sites, emails, video etc.

• Satellite works by using radio transmission to and from satellites orbiting 23,000 miles out in space. The data is bounced off the satellite to your ISP (or vice versa).

• Fibre optic cable has special converters that convert the data signal from electrical pulses into light.

  It uses lasers that can switch off and on several billion times a second: these transmit the data in digital format along the cable. At the other end, they are converted back.

• A new technology that is being explored is using the national power grid to transmit broadband signals.

  A similar system already available lets a home network be created via the ordinary electrical sockets.

Broadband technology is constantly evolving, with new solutions being worked on and existing technologies improved. Much of this activity is looking at how to provide broadband in rural areas. 

Different technologies may have limitations as to their use, or may be too expensive for most broadband applications.

Being permanently on-line offers many advantages, but it also presents some risks too.

It is essential that you have two safeguards in place – a firewall and good anti-virus protection.

A firewall acts as a barrier against unauthorised access to your computer by hackers via the Internet.

All information to and from your computer to the Internet has to pass through the firewall. Suspicious or unauthorised traffic that may present a risk is automatically filtered out.

Viruses are malicious computer programs, often sent via email but sometimes infecting web sites. 

They can cause serious problems for you by damaging your computer. You could inadvertently spread them to other people’s computers too.

Anti-virus protection stops viruses from infecting your computers, and provide a very high (but not total) level of protection.

The BBC tried an experiment in 2007. They connected a PC to broadband, with no firewall and no anti-virus software protection.

The PC was infected by a virus within 8 seconds of being connected to the Internet.  After 30 minutes, it became unusable due to the infection.

See this link to the BBC| for the full story.

Any computer, (including Apple Macs), is potentially vulnerable.

Your Internet Service Provider will normally provide you with the means to connect to the Internet through their service – a modem.

Often, the modem provided has an inbuilt router, which allows you to share your Internet access between several devices.

Routers may be also bought separately

Routers usually have Wi-Fi wireless capability – this allows you to create a simple Wi-Fi network in your home or business.

This allows you to share Internet access across PCs and Apple Macs - and also such equipment as games stations (e.g. the Nintendo WII), Wi-Fi enabled Smart Phones (e.g. Apple iPhones) or even Amazon Kindle e-readers.

(Also known as Acceptable Use policies)

Fair Usage policies are part of the contract that you sign up to when you subscribe to a particular package with an Internet Service Provider (ISPs).

Fair Usage policies may restrict what you do online too.

For example, many state that you can’t send spam emails or use the connection for illegal purposes.

Some also insist that you maintain adequate anti-virus systems on your PCs. If they determine that your PC is spreading a virus infection, they can switch off your connection immediately.

For the majority of users these restrictions are fair. However, one issue that does sometimes cause problems is excessive usage – i.e. very large quantities of downloads.

Many ISPs will “throttle” connection speeds for (what they consider) very heavy users. 

This means that they will deliberately reduce your broadband connection speed. This is to make sure that other users get their fair access to the Internet.

Although you may have subscribed to an “unlimited download” package, “Fair Usage” will still apply. There are very few totally unlimited packages available in practice.

For example, many ISPs may reduce your connection speed between e.g. 4pm and midnight, if you consistently download large files between those times.

Typical users who may run across this problem are those who:

• Download lots of films or music.
• Play online games.
• Work from home and connect remotely to their office.
• Any other heavy downloaders.

If you run into this problem, your ISP may email you, and suggest that you subscribe to another package offering a larger download capacity.

It’s always worthwhile reading the Fair Usage policy before signing up to subscriptions with ISPs.