O/T Karoo Lightstream speeds

Hi has anyone got it yet?

Its just been switched on in my area and im not sure wether to upgrade ...

I do stream a lot of stuff and download films etc

I was wondering if it helps with pic quality and buffering for streaming live football on wizwig etc

Cheers if you can advise

 

I have it but I can't answer any of your questions. It downloads my on demand stuff much quicker though.

 

If you have hold ups, say need to pause for a few seconds at the start of a film to let it get ahead, maybe it could be worthwhile.

If you start your stream/on demand programme and it plays faultlessly start to finish it's a waste of money on that front.

Also worth considering, if you do get small hold ups, are they annoying enough to be worth the extra cost to you?

There will be a noticeable difference in your download speed, so when you actually download a film you will probably get it done 2/3 times quicker depending on your current speed. Again is that worth the extra cost? Do you download films in a hurry?

I don't know what you're paying or the price of fibre optic up there, obviously. If the difference is peanuts you may as well.

You're picture quality will not change at all.

 

Cheers i watch most football on flash sites at about 200kbps but with fibre i could try streaming really high quality stuff at 2000kbps and get near HD quality , there for saving money on sky sports and BT subs

 

I am a bit pissed off, I am in Pock and have BT broadband which should allow me to watch BT sport free, but you need minimum 5MGB. I am only getting 2MGB, so cannot access it, though it say that Wilberfoss sub station has now up graded to fiber optic, but so far it has not been rolled out to everyone in the area.

 

I don't know what speed you're currently on but copper wire should be able to hand a 2mbps stream perfectly fine, mine does. Also, if you're on about for city games, it's only about 5 times a season one of those HQ streams is available, they only seem to do them for the top clubs these days and they're always in bloody Russian.

 

True thats a good point Hats

 

BT Broadband in Pock is easily fast enough to watch BT Sports without issue.

 

Well I am in Barmby Moor and cannot access it, what speed do you get?

 

Just tested at 2.4Mbps.

 

OK cheers, I will give it a try again, because when I couldn't access it before, I called BT and they said you needed at least 5Mbps to get it.

 

You can stream at 2000kbps - 3000kbps but it'll still stall and buffer because of network traffic as usual.

 

So if i had fibre id still have probs with stalling and buffering due to the network traffic?
Im not sure what you mean, thought fibre would stop all that....?

 

If the server hosting the stream experiences too much network traffic, it's output will stall and buffer regardless of your connection speed. At least that's how I understand it, I'm happy to be corrected.

 

Oh right, sure things will get better, we are still in the early days of football streaming i suppose

 

We have lightstream and the speeds are excellent to be fair. Easily over 100mbps download and usually over 40mbps upload

 

Lightstreams crazy fast and the speeds are guaranteed rather than 'up to' speeds. If you pay for 100Mbps you get 100Mbps to your house. They can guarantee 350Mbps if you pay enough for it, that makes it three times faster than any other fibre in the country, and 10 times faster than the vast majority of BT/TalkTalk/Sky's fibre (because they mostly use fibre/copper hybrid).

It isn't affected by network traffic on the ISP, but like anything it would indeed buffer if the server itself was struggling. That might happen on dodgy streams but it's unlikely with reputable sites like iPlayer.

Perhaps the best thing about Fibre to the Home services is that there's no copper involved and it's a digital light signal all the way, so it's way more reliable and not affected by electrical noise.

With KC it's an extra £5 to get Lightstream, that doubles your usage allowance and you get the top of the range router and everything installed for free. If you're on a really old package, or pay for the phone and Internet separately, then you could actually save money and get Lightstream.

 

How much do you pay a month PLT ? A fiver extra sounds like a deal for those speeds

 

I don't have Lightstream, it isn't in my area yet.

I pay £30/month for 35GB plus calls etc.
For £35/month I'd get Lightstream, 70GB with the new router it requires plus calls etc.
Line rental is also included though I don't understand why some ISPs don't include that, as if it's ever optional.

There are different packages with more usage which cost more obviously.