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Sunday May 20 2012 |
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ECnet Broadband FAQ ECnet Broadband
What is ADSL?
ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) is always on broadband service delivered over a standard BT PSTN analogue line.
What speeds does ADSL run at?
ECnet offer ADSL at the following speeds:-
Download: 512kb Upload: 256kb
Download: 512kb Upload: 256kb
Download: 1mb Upload: 256kb
Download: 2mb Upload: 256kb
Please note all ADSL circuits are subject to a contention ratio (See next FAQ).
What is a contention ratio?
Contention ratio refers to the maximum number of users you could be sharing your bandwidth with. There are 2 contention ratios in use by ECnet, 50:1 and 20:1. If you have a 50:1 contention ratio then in theory another 49 users could be competing for the 512kb you have. In practice this very rarely happens and even on the slowest ADSL product users typically see a 10x improvement over a 56k modem.
Why is the download speed greater than the upload speed?
ADSL is Asymmetric which means it runs at different speeds for upload and download. BT is currently trialling a SDSL (Symmetric Digital Subscriber Line) service which runs at the same speed for both upload and download. Entanet are currently working with BT to enable us to be one of the first in the country to offer SDSL.
What type of phone line is required for ADSL service?
A standard BT PSTN analogue line is required for ADSL. Certain BT services and/or configurations are NOT compatible with ADSL, these include:-
PBX Switchboard
ISDN 30(PRI)
Surftime
BT Data Stream
BT Video Stream
None BT Telephone Line
Redcare Alarm Monitoring
Pulse Metered Line
Coin/Pay Phone
It is possible to convert a ISDN 2/2e or Business/Highway line into ADSL. This does however mean that the ISDN service is lost as the line has to be converted back to a single analogue line. Certain fax machines will interfere with the ADSL signal so it is not recommended that you use a fax line for ADSL.
What is NAT/No-NAT?
NAT (Network Address Translation) is a technology that allows you to share a single IP address assigned by a ISP among a number of computers on a LAN. Most ADSL hardware supports NAT out of the box.
N0-NAT means that instead of having a single IP address to share you get a subnet of 8 or 16 IP's that are routable and can be assigned to your computers. Please note that because a subnet is assigned it means you do not have access to all the 8 or 16 IP addresses. On a 8 IP connection 5 IP addresses are available to you and on a 16 IP connection 13 IP addresses are available. This is because a IP is reserved for the network address, broadcast address and router respectively.
Do you assign fixed IP addresses?
Yes, all ECnet ADSL accounts come with fixed IP addresses on both NAT and No-NAT.
What is a microfilter?
A microfilter, sometimes referred to as a 'spliiter', is an adapter that plugs into the telephone socket the ADSL service is provided on. The microfilter seperates the ADSL signal from the voice signal. You plug your phone and your ADSL hardware into the microfilter and the microfilter into the BT phone socket.
ECnet MAX FAQ
Why are there varying ranges of Downstream and Upstream speeds?
This is due to the Higher Speed products being rate adaptive, the actual speed that any line
will obtain will be dependent on the line length and line conditions. As the line conditions will
vary, so will the line rate vary and may fluctuate at times, especially if noise is induced in the
home/office environment or network. Other factors can contribute ie End User hardware,
End User wiring and the incorrect/non use of microfilters. In general it is likely that rate adaptive products provide higher upstream and downstream rates for End Users who are closer to a Broadband enabled exchange, with lower rates for End Users who are further away.
During low network usage times, the service will take advantage of the increase in line rate
to enable increased throughput. However when there is a high usage of the network (during
peak times of the day) the service may on occasions give a service equal to that you would
have got on a standard 2Mb/s service.
Will my existing hardware support the Higher Speed products?
You will need to check this with the manufacturer. If your hardware can support the Higher
Speed products then please ensure that the necessary drivers are downloaded.
Will I still be able to order the Home 500/1000/2000 and Office 500/1000/2000 products in the future?
Yes you will, however if the exchange has been upgraded to the Higher Speed products then
Entanet will order the connection from BT Wholesale as a Higher Speed product and will then
rate limit to the speed that you are paying for.
The upload speed on the Home 500/1000/2000 and Office 500/1000/2000 products has historically been 256kbp/s will this remain the same?
No, we will only rate limit the downstream speed, the upstream speed will be whatever the line
can sustain ie between 64kbit/s – 448kbit/s for MAX and 64kbit/s – 832kbit/s for MAX Premium.
If the underlying connection has been regraded to MAX/MAX Premium, can it be regraded
back to a non rate adaptive service?
Yes. We have now adapted the regrade system on the Partner Site to allow you to regrade
your connection back to the non rate adaptive services however a regrade charge will apply to do so.
0845 FAQ
| What is dial up access? |
| Dial up internet access means that you use a standard modem to connect to a 0845 dialup number provided by us, which will allow you to access the internet. |
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| How much does it cost? |
| There is no monthly rental cost but calls cost a per minute amount based on the rates of the telephone company used. |
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| What is Unmetered Dialup? |
| Unmetered Dialup is different in that calls to the number are free but there is a monthly rental. |
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*All prices exclude VAT. ADSL is only available in areas where Broadband enabled
BT telephone exchanges are located, contact us to confirm availability in your area.
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