| MedMan |
| (regular) |
| Tue Sep 02 2003 05:00 PM |
|
Re: BT's Midband
|
I am moving to a remote country area with no chance of Broadband for the foreseeable future so I have looked into the question of Midband.
It is not really fair to say it costs £35/month as that includes your phone line. Given that most folks would want a phone line as well as Internet access the true cost is £25/month. However, that's still expensive for a 128kB link, especially when you consider that you only get 128kB when the 'intelligent' software decides you need it. The rest of the time you only get 64kB. Even more to the point, you only get 150 hours/month at 64kB or 75 hours at 64kB. Now that IS a rip off!
Midband is potentially useful for folks like me miles from anywhere. I would pay £35/month but only if BT address the following issues:
Access should be unlimited or, if not unlimited, at least 200 hours/month at 128kB
The system need to support an always-on email connection. Very little bandwidth would be needed for this.
The system needs to support 'inward bumping' as well as outward bumping. (If someone picks up a phone in the house to make a call whilst you are using a 128kB link the system bumps you down to 64kB to allow you to make the call. However, if someone try to call you whilst you are using a 128kB link they get the engaged call as there is no inward bumping.)