How crap is your broadband?

[Small Man Big Horse]

Don't you watch as much if not more torrented american tv than me? SMBH?  I thought surely that would have to exceed it.

As I use a laptop, if I'm worried about exceeding my monthly limit, I'll download some stuff using the wi-fi in coffee shops or pubs.

I tend to visit my Mum about twice a month, and download everything then. Plus if they start arresting people for downloading tv, she'll be the one to go to prison. So it's a win win situation!

I feel your pain, brother. I've got 5GB a month, thru my 3 dongle, but some months (like this one) that's not enough. I've got just over 1.5GB to last me the next couple of weeks which is balls. Speed has not been to bad recently, but there are spells every few months where it's very slow and sometimes won't connect at all. Thankfully if I need to download large files I can do at work, or my parents.

I tried 3 and found it to be appallingly slow (and I'm based in London, so there shouldn't have been any problems), to the point where it was unusable, so went with o2. That was 18 months ago though, would you say they've improved since?

[Treguard of Dunshelm]

What are you paying for that?

You could get a phone on the One plan with Three, which is genuinely uncapped (for now) and tether it to your PC, exactly as if it was a dongle. Might be a better deal. I did this for three months with a Galaxy S II when I was moving house (if you go down this route make sure the phone you choose can tether, which it probably can if it's Android).

Thanks for the advice, but I'm already locked into a phone contract for a while. I'll remember this for the future though.

I tried 3 and found it to be appallingly slow (and I'm based in London, so there shouldn't have been any problems), to the point where it was unusable, so went with o2. That was 18 months ago though, would you say they've improved since?

Hmm. They probably are a bit better, thinking about it, though I wouldn't describe it as fast. It's usually good enough to be usable though (which I define as being able to stream from Spotify without songs cutting out halfway through).

I'm hoping to move at some point this year, and broadband availability is definitely gonna be a big factor. The building I'm in is supposed to have wifi (or was when I moved in a couple of years ago, anyway) but you can't pick it up from my floor.

[falafel]

You could always put a wi fi repeater in somewhere nearer to the signal to extend it up to your floor...

[Treguard of Dunshelm]

I could, but it would have to be a communal area and this is a building where people regularly nick light bulbs.

[falafel]

I didn't say light bulb I said WI FI REPEATER

[Lyndon]

You have to consider installation costs too. How many people does it take to put in a wifi repeater?

[falafel]

Two. One to plug it in and another to hold the torch because someone stole all the fucking light bulbs.

[I accept the terms of the]

Here come joke: You should install some heavy bulbs so people can't carry them off.