The problem was with the cable internet, not SP

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Just something maybe interesting: I am in south west USA and I had my broadband internet via the cable TV provider for the last 5 years. I always had problems with SP loading slow or sometimes starting to load then stalling. I thought it was SP's fault because it is in southern Europe and had a poor connection to the web. I just switched internet service to DSL for a couple of reasons. Now all my web surfing is actually faster than before and SP loads almost as fast as Amazon. So it was the cable TV internet's fault all along.

I was worried that web surfing would be slower than before because cable internet advertises 4-6 meg download speeds and I can only get 1 meg with the DSL. The cable TV internet ads always make a big deal about how they are 5 times faster than DSL. I did some speed tests and I did get 5 meg speed with the cable and only 1 meg from the DSL. But these are special speed test sites, and like PC benchmarks, can be misleading. Most web sites and download sites cannot push the data at you anywhere near 6 megs speed anyway. So that extra speed is never used. At least I think so.

My local phone service (used to be SBC) is now owned by ATT which is a major internet backbone provider. The cable TV company has to buy an internet feed from someone like ATT to pass on to its subscribers. So that is why I think the 1 meg DSL is actually faster than the 5 meg cable - it is being fed straight to the ATT backbone.

My cable TV internet service advertises 4-6 meg speeds but if you read the real fine print, you cannot use it. They have a monthly download byte limit. If you exceed it too much they want you to upgrade to the premium or to the business account. Its kind of like they are renting you a 200 MPH Ferrari, but you are only allowed to drive it 50 miles a day. You have to save up if you want to take a long weekend drive. And how many times can you do 200 on the motorways anyway? Where DSL is renting a VW with unlimited mileage. And the VW can keep up to most of the motorway speeds.

That is the main reason I switched, the DSL has no byte limits. I recently discovered VOD downloads and streaming videos (and file sharing) etc. I will be way exceeding the cable limits. By eliminating my cable TV completely along with the cable internet I will save $70 a month. The DSL prices have finally dropped, and I will be paying just 1/2 of what the cable internet was. Any cable TV shows I do want to watch, which are very very few nowadays, I can get from the internet. Even AOL is offering free classic TV shows to download. Another place is the DVD rental store. Almost every TV series ever made is being released on DVD's. Amazing.

 

SP servers are located in Texas IIRC, so you're actually closer to them than you thought.

 

Well, maybe you now understand that advertisements aren't always honest, and that there's a difference between latency and bandwidth.

 

Don't you just hate it when your ISP "throttles" your connection?

Cable companies are the worst. They charge you outrageous prices for their services, and then without you knowing, they add limits to your speeds.

The only thing I don't like about DSL is it's poor upload speed. My 1.5Mbps connection only has a 256Kbps Upload speed...while it's suitable for many games, it's not fast enough for some serious uploading.