Hi

I have been working in London, while the girlfriend has been in Belfast. Now I am looking to split my time between the 2 - while in Belfast working from an apartment I plan to rent in South Belfast or central Belfast with the girlfriend.

The catch is I trade stockmarket futures for a living and trading from home (Belfast) as opposed to from an office (London) is not as reliable.

I just have a basic IT know-how and am just doing some basic research, the IT boys at work have th ereal know-how. I know bandwidth, distance from the telephone exchange are major factors etc.

I wonder if anyone knows any info that could be of a help? What is broadband generally like in Belfast? Best areas for fastest speed ? Any developments with really good reliable high speed internet?

Any help much appreciated - and apologies if this is a bit too much off topic.

Regards

Robert

i was researching this today actually as I'm moving on Wed and need a new ISP

5.5MB is about your max in belfast with phoneline. Cable you can get 10MB depending on where you are.

That sounds about right

Getdoon I would phone up Virgin Media (formerly NTL) and find out what areas of central Belfast have cable, I would say cable would be your best bet at 10MB

Here are some links that are interesting

Belfast superfast broadband trials prove a success

http://www.top10-broadband.co.uk/news/2008...prove-a-success

2008 should be a good year for broadband, a lot of trails on much faster connections are going on at the moment

http://www.pcw.co.uk/personal-computer-wor...oadband-3907668



I like the sound of that!

Thank you both SO much.

http://allyours.virginmedia.com/websales/product.do?id=3246
http://www.samknows.com/broadband/checker2.php

These 2 are quite good. After punching in a postcode for a development on the river in BT5 (on Virgin website on lefthand side of the page)

"Result!
Good news, you can receive a cable service in your street.
This means we can deliver our service using fibre optic cable specifically designed to carry high speed internet, digital TV and phone. It's reliable, unaffected by the weather and the quality of service is not based on how far you live from the telephone exchange - unlike all other broadband providers.
What are you waiting for? Explore Virgin Media today."

Virgin have a 2mb , 4 mb (soon to be upgraded soon to 10mb free of charge) and a 20 mb package. I assume every property in Belfast that gets Virgin fibre optic cable is able to receive 10mb ? Do not worry if unsure I can get in touch with Virgin.

Thanks

I can't get Virgin in my new place

total ******** tbh as I am a heavy user for my online gaming

Congrats Getdoon, the broadband is one thing I am really looking forward to using when I buy a place in Belfast. I work online too and having a much faster connection will be a godsend.

Northern Ireland has some of the slowest speeds of broadband in the UK but the good news is they are rolling out faster broadband over this year so things are looking very positive.

That sucks Subby, I'm stuck with a 2mb connection (Not bad) but I really need a much faster upload speed.

Subby the good news is BT are rolling out 21CN over the next year or 2 and they'll be offering speeds up to 24Mbps for all BT users

http://www.samknows.com/broadband/21cn_overview.php

You can also check the date that 21CN will be available in your area

http://www.samknows.com/broadband/checker2.php

While it may not be the quickest out here, coverage is almost complete, thanks to government grants for BT to provide this (IIRC). That's more than can be said for some rural areas in the rest of the UK.

I'm pretty happy with my 4mb that I get out here though, tbh.

P.S. low latency, not high bandwidth is what you want for interactive activities, such as gaming. I've had friends on NTL/Virgin and had shocking pings for games and spikey bandwidth provision (especially in student areas: holiday = fast, term time = slow).

any news Get???

did you get sorted...pardon the pun

I'm still looking for a broadband + TV package, no need for a home land line.....bah can't find anyone doing this in my BT13 2 QH area

Subby Virgin Media should be able to sort you out. Because you live in a non-cabled area you will need to have a BT phone line installed.

I understand that you don't need a home land line (I assume you just use your mobile like I do) but in order to get the Vrgin Media services you will have to have a BT land line installed.

I have investigated this in the past and it is cheaper for you to install the BT landline and then get the Virgin Media Broadband than it is to get the broadband from BT (I hate BT).

I think that Virgin Media will tell you that you can't get TV... but they will advise you to get a set top box so you can watch free view channels. My boyfriend lives in a similar area and gets lots of FreeView channels - you should be able to do the same.

If you are really set on a TV option... check out Sky. A colleague at work lives in a non cabled area but installed a BT landline and then got Sky TV and broadband. Whenever he was setting everything up Sky were doing an offer were they gave you M&S vouchers to cover the cost of the BT land line installation (because you have to PAY for the privilege of being with BT).

The one drawback is that this is more expensive I think.

I hope that helps. And apologies if you know all of this already.

My 2 pence... I have been on Virgin for many years. It can be fine for months but then you can get a period where it simply is shocking. In the last 2 months, we have had probably 5 days of zero service. There have been several additional hours/days where there is rather limited connection (it connects to some sites but not others). The service status line reports the problem as known and being dealt with.

When i rang to cancel, they tried to tell me I should have called the premium rate support number even though the service status was aware of the problem. So what is the point of the status line!!?? They do promise to pay back the £1 per min charge if the problem is their fault, but do you feel confident that they would do this!?

I strongly recommend against Virgin media.

Just to give a flip side to talksalot - I've been with Virgin for over 2 yrs now in S Belfast and they've been good apart from 1 or 2 hiccups that have been fixed quickly. They've also done the 'free' upgrade from 4Mb to 10Mb and I get full whack most of the time. I haven't noticed much speed throttling yet and the connection is good enough to help my score on COD4

I have both ADSL and Cable. As has already been said VM can be fine for ages and then it all goes Pete Tong big stylee. You should consider the financial impact if you lose service for a couple of days. If that is more than 250 quid then get ADSL too as a years ADSL will be about that much

Oh and for trading, bandwidth is not your real issue; its latency. You also didn't say what trading platform you intend to use. If you are using your company platform and are connectiing in over a VPN then you should know that both VM and home ADSL are not long term ideal solutions due to the fact the ISPs can and do filter/throttle whatever they like when they like. ITs not unkown for ipsec VPN traffic to be treated as low class/best effort.

Hope that helps

C

I have to agree with Parsley... I have been in my currently place (also in the sort've South Belfast/city centre area) for just over a year and use Virgin Media's cable service.

I can only think of one instance when I had connection problems.

I have had horrific experiences with BT so I always recommend Virgin... But I guess it all comes down to personal choice and personal experiences

Within work we use virgin, they had a period of some 12 hrs down time that was due to them messing up an upgrade to the belfast server!

My sister as it at home and has had a few weekends with no service.

But I have had a day here and there without adsl service.

so you will always get some degree of down time no matter what the option!

I had Virgin in my last house and had no problems at all with them.

I just despise BT and Sky for the prices as I was getting land line, broadband and TV for £30 a month wth virgin...gonna cost me nearer 50 a month for similar setup va BT and Sky

I was with Orange Broadband (South Belfast) and had horrific connection issues - many times, I simply could not get online at all.

Whereas, my parents (Glengormley) have BT Broadband and it has always been very reliable for me.

Yes I plan both Virgin Cable and DSL as a back-up (best ADSL provider?).

And yes using company platform over a VPN linked to my work-station in London.

Will trade 1 week in 4 in B'fast to start with and see.

Subby - Havent got an apartment sorted yet but am actively only looking at those that can get Virgin broadband, should have something in place in about a month.

Hi - just an update

Girlfriend has been flat rental hunting for the last month. In line with what Muffy has stated on the NI forums rents do seem to have risen, a really nice 2 bed apartment built a year ago in desirable street in BT9 will be around £700 to rent. Nothing hurts more than giving so much away in rent so here is hoping the prices get falling in the next 18 months so this is the last place I have to rent!!

Think I may need a SDSL line for my Stockmarket Trading from home (link to London through a VPN)
something like 'Option 3 SDSL Premium'
http://www.creativeonlinemedia.com/services/index.html

The Malone exchange is enabled for SDSL so no probs and apartment is close by.

KEY POINT;
Does anyone know if a rented an apartment would have any problems getting an SDSL line? Does it involve much installation in and around the apartment over just say the installation of Virgin cable broadband OR BT phone line + BT broadband? Would you need to seek permission from owner???? (which you wouldnt do if you were installing virgin cable broadband for instance)

Or is the installation process relatively the same for both and the only difference the 'invisible' difference in performance between home and business broadband.

Cheers

Cable is probably the way forward, however, once you have it installed you have pay for instalation, and sit out the full term before changing again, and you might be missing out on some deals which use the BT phoneline, Keep shopping around and get yourself the right package for your needs and pocket.

Hi

Yeah I will be taking Virgin broadband and I may also need a SDSL line for my Stockmarket Trading from home (link to London through a VPN)
something like 'Option 3 SDSL Premium'
http://www.creativeonlinemedia.com/services/index.html

What I am asking is does anyone know if a rented an apartment would have any problems getting an SDSL line?

I suppose that would depend on the landlord giving you consent?

You should maybe talk to these guys to see how a connection like that can be made Zen

thanks mnc

Not sure about residential but I know for our work (Belfast City centre) we had to get a brand new SDSL line installed separate from our other voice and ADSL lines. SDSL uses both channels (or something like that) of the line so you won't get any voice calls over the same line - unlike ADSL. You'd probably then end up with a cable box, normal BT phoneline that supports ADSL, and a separate SDSL line - not sure if you can then cancel the normal bt phoneline or not...

Personally we went with creative as per the link you mentioned previously. BT engineers installed the line but we paid all fees to Creative. I'd recommend them - very good service - and I don't work for them before someone accuses me ;-)

Hi.

Just as an update since I started this thread;

I have a lovely flat rental sorted now with the girlfriend in South Belfast - £300k to buy or £700 to rent ;-). Good quality new build which seems a scarcity these days!
So after 18 months of effectively commuting between Belfast and London and seeing very little of the girlfriend I can now spend some time with her while trading stockmarkets in Belfast.
The platform I use for trading the stockmarkets is X_TRADER PRO

I WAS THINKING ABOUT GETTING A 2MB SDSL LINE FOR TRADING THE MARKETS THROUGH VPN WITH MY WORKSTATION IN LONDON?
SUCH AS http://www.eclipse.net.uk/index.cfm?id=business_sdsl

WHAT DOES THE INSTALLATION PROCESS INVOLVE SEEING AS IT IS RENTED ACCOMODATION AND NOT A PROPERTY I OWN? Would there be any issues installing SDSL ie landlords permission???

I have BT phone line now installed with ISP websites now recognising the number. This has made it much more easier to see what ISP Providers I can receive etc than a week ago.

Property is just 447 metres in a straight line from the ‘Belfast Malone’ exchange
http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange/NIMAL

broadband availability;

BT Wholesale ADSL
BT Wholesale ADSL Max
BT Wholesale SDSL
TalkTalk (CPW) LLU
Virgin Media (Cable)

You are connected to the Belfast Malone telephone exchange.
ADSL is available in your area
Your exchange is also enabled for ADSL Max services

According to BT Wholesale, your phone line should be able to support a 2Mbps or greater ADSL connection.

According to the phone number checker on websites like
www.plus.net
www.eclipse.net.uk
I could receive ADSL - up to 6.5mb
So, it appears ADSL will be somewhere between 2mb and 6.5mb

this would enable me ADSL such as
http://www.demon.net/demon/products/internetaccess/businessbroadband/business2000/Technical%20info

BT SDSL broadband availability

http://www.adslchecker.bt.com/pls/sdsl/SDSLChecker.AddressOutput
I am being told I could receive 2mb SDSL

In your opinion would I be better off going for SDSL??????????
such as SDSL 2000??
http://www.eclipse.net.uk/index.cfm?id=business_sdsl

Also I see Belfast Malone should have WBC services (ADSL2+) available by the 31st of March 2009 (So I should also be in a better position by 31/03/09 as the Belfast Malone exchange will be 21CN broadband enabled.)

Thanks folks your incredible help as always.

Regards
GETDOON

Im not sure you would benifit from SDSL upload speeds, as i doubt you would be using a lot bandwidth. But it does have a max contention ratio of 10:1 which should keep the ping times low, I believe bt business is normally 20:1.

worth a punt.....get the landlord to go 1/2ers on the BT install cost of 125 quid. I chanced my arm and she agreed and wrote me a cheque for 80

as for your connection. BT do SME(Small Medium Enterprises) packages that might be also worth a look. Plus points for SDLS is the reliability I suppose but that is offset by the cost. The BT SDLS service would also allow you to dial into your businesses Virtual Private N....oh sorry you know about that anyway

I'm fairly sure that real time updating is what you'll be needing and unless you're transferring big files or large data packets do you really need the SDSL?

lots to think about but as the old saying goes...."The decision is yourrrrrrrrrrrrrs"

I'm not sure you need to worry quite as much as you are about the speed of your connection. Modern broadband connections tend to have a latency to London well under 100ms from NI (likely 50ms or under that from Belfast).

Bandwidth wise, considering broadband can stream reasonable quality video (interactive TV), I don't think you would have any problems running an application which is remote networking aware.

Reliability also tends to be very good, as long as you go with a reputable provider.

Of course, if you want the best solution and money is no object, your own, non-contended, SDSL line would be an option, but I'd say it was completely overkill. You may also find a business (or even standard) broadband connection delivers better performance for the majority of the time, as it is capable of higher speeds.

Cable would be the only one I would steer away from, if consistency is an issue. The technology behind the way it works means you're connection will always be contended and may suffer at peak times. I've heard of people having terrible connections in student areas for this reason (think downloading videos all day!). However, it is very fast when it's working well. I just perhaps wouldn't trust it for your requirement.

EDIT: one last thing - SDSL will give you a higher upload speed at the expense of download speed. If 2mb upload and download is more useful to you than 0.5mb up, 8mb down, you would benefit there too. It's a shame there are no ADSL2+ providers in NI yet (AFAIK), as they give 2mb up and up to 24mb down, on a standard residential package. I had this in Southampton and it was great.

think BT are testing it now with a roll out in 2009....can't remember, will try to dig p the piece I read

traktion,, subby, trebor21 - thankyou so very much.

so basically i should look for a business ADSL Max business broadband package with a low contention ratio?

this is what my IT department were saying in London and I just wanted to chek with all you gret folks with a better knowledge of the IT situation in Belfast.

any suggestions? perhaps;
http://www.btbroadbandoffice.com/broadband...d_out_more_BTBB
Anyone know any business broadband ADSL Max providers in Belfast with a 10:1 contention ratio?

Then hopefully by March we can all upgrade to ADSL2+;

http://www.samknows.com/broadband/checker2.php

"You are connected to the Belfast Malone telephone exchange.
ADSL is available in your area
Your exchange is also enabled for ADSL Max services
Your exchange should have WBC services (ADSL2+) available by the 31st of March 2009"

I would think low contention from a reputable ISP would be adequate, over absolute contention figures. Obviously, the less contended, the better, but there is more to broadband performance than pure ADSL contention. ADSL contention is only one part of the chain. You also need to have an ISP which has good external connectivity, good reliability and technical support (just in case!).

As a result, contention is only one part of the picture. You may have a low contention connection too your ISP, but then the ISP may have lousy connectivity to the rest of the internet. The chain is only as strong as the weakest link, so you have to look at the whole package. Take a look here for more info: http://usertools.plus.net/tutorials/id/11

I use my broadband for web development work from home, including large uploads, downloads, voip etc. I can't work (easily) without it and it needs to perform well enough to not slow me down. Out in the sticks here, I get about 3.5mb down, 0.5mb up and a latency of roughly 60ms to London. I use Zen's home package (http://www.zen.co.uk/) and have done at other addresses too. They have always been top class, high speed and have great technical support, for when there is a fault. The office package will definitely be just as good, but I'm not sure whether I'd notice the extra performance, as their base package is so good to start with.

Personally, I'd avoid BT like the plague whenever possible. You need them to provide the link from your house to your ISP (no unbundling the local loops in NI yet, AFAIK), but I'd use them for this and only this. Their support for their phone lines is totally unacceptable and I could well imagine there ISP support is just as awful.

hi folks

heading over to belfast tonight. few drinks round the cathedral quarter sat night then primal scream @ st georges market sunday.

i am setting up my workstation over weekend - i have installed business broadband with Zen Broadband for my stockmarket trading.

However I need broadband for my web surfing (i want to keep Zen purely for trading ). Now I was going to get virgin cable but problems with getting landlord/builder/2 flats below permission to run a cable up the wall.

I have also tried 3 mobile broadband but the signal is very poor.

Anyone any ideas

- can i have a second phone line installed and what would the cost be?
- alternatively i pick up quite a few secured wireless networks as most people in my block seen to have broadband, so would consider offering neighbours say £20 a month to work off their broadband.

any help much appreciated!

there's ways around it to get it for free

for a BT install it's £125 +VAT as I had to get it done when I moved in, landlord went 1/2's on it though so not all bad.

ive already one bt line installed, can i have second?

No problem getting extra lines , we have three . Two for business and one private line , we have two broadband routers with different providers as the original AOL set up was so unreliable we got another provider and are going to cancel AOL when the contract is up

Sounds like good advice. You should have 2 lines wired to your house as standard. The second one is usually left unused, but it is always wired in (AFAIK) in case it is needed. As they are separate copper wires, you shouldn't have any problems with interference etc.

I also know someone who recently cancelled AOL internet. They're cheap, but not very cheerful, from what I'm lead to believe!

I take it you'll connect your business PC to the business line and use another PC to connect to the personal line? You would need two ADSL routers, one configured for each ADSL line. You would then need to connect to the appropriate router, with the appropriate machine, either by wireless or LAN cable. If you want the business line to be perfect, I'd use a LAN cable btw - wireless is great 99% of the time, but the connection resets occasionally (at the most annoying moments, sometimes!)

P.S. Not been out in the Cathedral quarter yet, but I heard it's a good place to drink. Any recommendations for good pubs?

AOL is the WORST ISP you can get, anyone reading this be aware that AOL puts SO much crap on your PC that you don't need and rather uniquely, AOL also monitors what you browse more than other ISP's.

If you're that end of town mate try the Northern Whig for a drink, be aware though it's bunged with the "young professionals" till about 7pm when they go home to change out of their suits


Whig is pricey too

Don't you mean home to their rabbit hutch to cry over the credit card bill

I have a broadband question, I'm stuck on a 1mb line at the moment (but I know my line can take at least 2mb)

If I phoned up to upgrade can they look into how much bandwidth I'm using?

I'm asking because I'm worried that if they find out how much bandwidth I'm using they'll cap my account (even though it's supposed to be unlimited broadband)

I think using over 300GB per month may be taking the piss out of their fair use policy

I downloaded 60 gig in 35 hours and Virgin put me on throttle down for a week.....64k connection

300 gig a month...is hardcore.....ha ha nice one

Fastest internet connection in belfast will be in the titanic quarter apartments once they are up and running.

If thats not a reason to buy one, i dont know what is.

That sucks!

64k! They might as well have reduced you to dialup!

My max speed is only 120k

Normally I can get 400-500kb/sec downloading so it's ok as long as I don't go overboard during peak hours. During 9am-3pm (off peak hours) I set my manager to download 20GIG+ a day

Nice! I can't wait until I get a fast connection. Are you on a 5mb line?

I'd love to have one of those 20mb lines, that would be really sweet!

Hmmmm - so, it could possibly be construed that if you in the end get required to pay full contracted purchase price, a justification could be used to support that argument would be that they will provide the fastest connection in Belfast?

If prices get reduced should the connection speed be downgraded likewise?

I have an 8 M...."up to" 8 MB line, so I get around 5

the adsl zen business broadband line is not good enough for handling my trading, it aint too bad but badly handles economic figures and the 230pm wall street opening hour. looking to probably downgrade to zen home broadband package and get a second bt line

any advantage to getting a business line vs residential line?
secondly do i need new wire-ing and new sockets etc or can they install into the existing socket box?

cheers!

will cost more for a business line in rental but you can claim back VAT etc on bills

I'd get a new re-wire done anyway from the point of entry to teh building to your workstration

will cost more for a business line in rental but you can claim back VAT etc on bills

I'd get a new re-wire done anyway from the point of entry to teh building to your workstration