250Kbps broadband speed

[#1]

Hello all
I was wondering if anyone could help me with a couple of questions i have about broadband connections.
we have recently moved house and got the phone line activated (mainly so we can use internet & play games etc..) and signed up to plusnets way pro package at £19.99
but when put our new phone number in to the adsl speed checker it came up with this, I'm very worried that we wont be able to have a stable internet connection
Your exchange is ADSL enabled, and our initial test on your line indicates that your line should be able to have an ADSL broadband service that provides a line rate up to 1Mbps. However due to the length of your line the 1Mbps service may require an engineer visit who will, where possible, supply the broadband service.
Our initial test on your line indicates that your line may not support a reliable ADSL Max broadband service, with current technology. However, an order for 250Kbps broadband speed will still be accepted, but an engineer may need to visit who will, where possible, supply the service.
Our initial test on your line indicates that your line may not support a reliable ADSL WBC broadband service, with current technology. However, an order for 250Kbps broadband speed will still be accepted, but an engineer may need to visit who will, where possible, supply the service.
What i would like to know is would this connection be okay still for playing games such as warhammer online and warcraft with low latency and what would the download speeds be like?

[#2]

Hiya,
Firstly remember that's a really rough guide.  It might be a bit faster than that   Any idea how far away from the exchange you are?
Online gaming should still be fine on a 1Mbps connection.  It doesn't send that much data, so your gaming speeds should be absolutely fine.

[#3]

Thanks for the quick reply
I would say I'm about  2 kilometers away but that just a rough guess (no good with distances) strange thing is.. a neighbour a few doors down have a connection of 2.5mbps

[#4]

2.5Mbps is a lot better than 1
The number checker is notoriously pessimistic.

[#5]

I can concur with James that you don't need a high throughput line, just a stable one. (except for downloading those pesky patches :()
However, if your line really is that long then you will almost certainly have interleaving applied, which will put your first-hop pings at around 30-40ms instead of 10-20ms
World of Warcraft is still playable even with pings in the low hundreds (I used to regularly play at 250ms).  I would assume that Warhammer Online will also be suitably resilient to higher pings.
FPS games like COD4 and CS: Source may be affected more, but should still be playable.
As James says, it's only an estimate and you may be pleasantly surprised at the quality of your line.
I would certainly look at options such as the ADSLNation Faceplate or an iPlate to squeeze the best possible performance out of your internal wiring.
Basically, let the order proceed.  Once you are activated, post the line stats from your router and we should be able to advise what steps you can perform to optimise your line.
B.

[#6]

Thanks Guys, I'll let you know how i get on and post the results later once the line gets activated (hopefully with good results, fingers crossed) 

[#7]

you could try this to find out what you might get http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/adslchecker.php

[#8]

Usura,
Just to give you an idea about how good the checker is, here's what it says for my line:
Fixed ADSL: 2048 kbps (2 Mb) (My line was outside the threshold for a 2Mbps fixed service)
DSL Max :  3000 kbps (3 Mb) (I got 4.5Mbps)
21CN WBC : 3500 kbps (3.5 Mb) (I get 10.9Mbps)

[#9]

Thing is, it refers back to BT's database.
(which is notoriously variable in its accuracy).
My line was and still is rated at 6meg but I always got 8 with a huge margin on ADSL Max (and now get 21 on ADSL2+)

[#10]

I've just tried the link kindly provided by Pierre http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/adslchecker.php and it came up with the following... I guess its just a matter of waiting and hoping now : /
If I can only have a 1mb connection, what is the maximum download speed per second I'll be able to get?

Distance:- Direct:    1.78 km
(appx)* By Road: 2.74 km
Status : 
ADSL enabled : June 11, 2003
DSL Max enabled:  March 31, 2006
SDSL enabled : Not Enabled
21CN due : (PSTN) No Info
21CN WBC (Broadband) Not available
Fixed ADSL:  1024 kbps (1 Mb) 
DSL Max :  0 kbps (0 Mb) 
21CN WBC : Not Available
Fixed:  Long line green for 1Mbps, Red for 2Mbps
radsl:  Line has over 75dB loss, ADSL unlikely, but will be tested by an engineer on-site
MAX:  Max may not be available - tests pending
SDSL:  Exchange Not Enabled
TPON:  TPON/Fibre not recorded
Check:  The check identified another service on your line which may prevent you from ordering a new ADSL connection. Examples are : Existing adsl connection, DACs, LLU, TPON etc
Most likely reason unknown.

[#11]

1Mbps is about 120KB/s (kilobytes).
Given that line length, I'd expect you to get a fair bit better.

[#12]

Quote from: Jameseh

1Mbps is about 120KB/s (kilobytes). Given that line length, I'd expect you to get a fair bit better.

Thats good news, I thought 1Mbps would be around 50KB/s but if I can get over 120KB/s that would be even better
I'd just like to say thanks to everyone for all the comments you've posted , I'm a lot more optimistic about my internet connection now, I'll let you know how i get on

[#13]

Hi,
just to give you an idea, I used to have a 2Mb connection and 4 people could play BF2142 over it at the same time connecting to a gaming server on the internet. The pings were all very low and the connection was very stable. I am about the same distance from the exchange as you are and get 2.5 to 3.5Mb real speed on my ADSL Max connection but it is a bit of a luck of the draw for what you would end up with.

[#14]

Hi everyone, not sure if i should have started a new post. I just want to give you a update on my situation.
Got my internet connection up and running this morning and it looks like I have a 1.5mb connection so not too bad i guess. I was wondering if there is anything i can do to improve it though? My router is reporting the following information about my line in the master test socket and normal socket....
Normal telephone socket
Line Mode: G.dmt
Latency Type: Interleave
Line Coding: Trellis Off
Line Rate: 1824(downstream)  448 (upstream)
Noise Margin: 6.1db (downstream)  18.0db (upstream)
Line Attenuation: 50.0db (downstream) 31.5db (upstream)
Output Power: 11.9 dBm (downstream)  16.8 dBm (upstream
i get 1561 kbps download and 380 kbps upload and 49ms ping on speedtest.net

Master Test Socket
Line Mode: G.dmt
Latency Type: Interleave
Line Coding: Trellis Off
Line Rate: 3328 (downstream)  448 (upstream)
Noise Margin: 5.9db (downstream)  18.0db (upstream)
Line Attenuation: 50.0db (downstream) 31.5db (upstream)
Output Power: 11.9 dBm (downstream)  18.4 dBm (upstream
i get 1823 kbps download and 380 kbps upload and 49ms ping on speedtest.net

Any help would be fantastic
Cheers

[#15]

You should, in theory, be able to get a bit more than that. There is nothing much you can do during the first ten days after the connection is activated, as this is the learning period during which the exchange is trying to get the best stable rate. During this period it is a good idea to reboot your router once a day (but no more). After the ten days is over see what you have ended up with. There may  then be some tweaks you can do to improve things. See <a href="http://www.plus.net/support/broadband/troubleshooting/rwin_guide.shtml">here</a>.