BigPipe's UFB contention ratio.

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › BigPipe's UFB contention ratio.

jimbob79

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#204520 5-Oct-2016 13:37

So my friend who knows a lot about NZ's internet circuits, pipes etc. Told me to avoid BigPipe for UFB because they have one of the worst contention ratio for international traffic out of all of NZ's ISP.

He said typically most ISP have a contention ratio of 10:1 to 23:1 and that BigPipe has a 50:1 or even high.

This is how they [BigPipe] are able to keep there cost low.

Is there any truth behind what he is saying? I could not find and evidence of this and I don't think even published on ISP's websites.

Thanks.

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#1645923 5-Oct-2016 13:52

Goes fast for me when I use it? When was last at the cousins on 200/200 it was geting near that on 8 threads off my server in europe. Not tested it again since the gig has come about.

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deltadelta

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#1645926 5-Oct-2016 13:58

Can you ask your friend what ISPs have the lowest contention ratios? :D

lucky015

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#1645928 5-Oct-2016 14:02

I've always heard and found the opposite, Rock solid speeds both local and international.

The results from truenet look quite good to match, Good speeds, Less sudden huge drops in speed and unlike a couple of the other highly ranked providers they dont do any dodgy traffic management to maintain it.

https://truenet.nz/International-speed

kingjj

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#1645929 5-Oct-2016 14:02

What did he have to say about MyRepublic by chance? That could well indicate his level of 'knowledge' on the industry.

jimbob79

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#1645930 5-Oct-2016 14:05

deltadelta: Can you ask your friend what ISPs have the lowest contention ratios? :D

He would say SNAP, now 2 Degrees. Also he use to rip sh*t out spark.

Dynamic

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#1645934 5-Oct-2016 14:09

That is probably commercially sensitive information that they would not share publicly.

If 'everyone' moves from 100mbps to 1gbps UFB, no ISP is going to go out and buy 10x the bandwidth from their upstream provider so would this have an effect on contention ratios? I think so.

My BigPipe connection works beautifully and I have no complaints about speed at all. Any frustration with international downloads is more commonly throttling on the source server.

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NonprayingMantis

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#1645937 5-Oct-2016 14:14

jimbob79:

So my friend who knows a lot about NZ's internet circuits, pipes etc. Told me to avoid BigPipe for UFB because they have one of the worst contention ratio for international traffic out of all of NZ's ISP.

He said typically most ISP have a contention ratio of 10:1 to 23:1 and that BigPipe has a 50:1 or even high.

This is how they [BigPipe] are able to keep there cost low.

Is there any truth behind what he is saying? I could not find and evidence of this and I don't think even published on ISP's websites.

Thanks.

if he knew anything at all about how NZ internet works then he/she would know that contention ratio is basically meaningless when it comes to NZ.

To illustrate:

MyRepublic's claim of "buying more bandwidth per user than any other ISP" is the same as saying "We have best contention ratio". (that's the layman's version of contention ratio) And we all know the MyRepublic network absolutely sucks because that bears no relationship to the actual performance.

so your friend is either incompetent or badly informed. I wonder which one...

Flickky

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#1645939 5-Oct-2016 14:16

Not going to go in to network specifics on a public forum but can confidently say this is not the case, quite the opposite. Customers don't have issues with international traffic speed or routing, and the fact that we have a very small number of threads about these kind of issues on GZ alongside our internal support tickets show this. We're able to keep costs low due to factors like having digital only support (self service + email/social) and not spending time developing and maintaining capped plans.

Also if your friend does work close to those links I think he'd be in a fair amount of trouble (if not losing his job) if word got out that he was giving this information out and you were posting it on a public forum, given that this is pretty commercially sensitive stuff.

Lias

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#1645942 5-Oct-2016 14:26

Your friend is either misinformed, or simply talking manure.

I'm a geek, a gamer, a dad, a Quic user, and an IT Professional. I have a full rack home lab, size 15 feet, an epic beard and Asperger's. I'm a bit of a Cypherpunk, who believes information wants to be free and the Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it. If you use my Quic signup you can also use the code R570394EKGIZ8 for free setup.

jimbob79

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#1645943 5-Oct-2016 14:27

Flickky:

Not going to go in to network specifics on a public forum but can confidently this is not the case, quite the opposite. Customers don't have issues with international traffic speed or routing, and the fact that we have a very small number of threads about these kind of issues on GZ alongside our internal support tickets show this. We're able to keep costs low due to factors like having digital only support (self service + email/social) and not spending time developing and maintaining capped plans.

Also if your friend does work close to those links I think he'd be in a fair amount of trouble (if not losing his job) if word got out that he was giving this information out and you were posting it on a public forum, given that this is pretty commercially sensitive stuff.

Thanks for that update. It's a good thing that at the time he was self-employed as a consultant for customers who had datacenters & remote sites which required high availability with multiple circuits from different providers. He would work closely with a variety of providers and draw up exclusive contracts and was able to know who was the suitable providers depending on region .

Also I did not know that contention ratio was such a sensitive subject.

jimbob79

673 posts

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#1645944 5-Oct-2016 14:30

Also the reason I was asking was because I'm thinking of ditching VF Cable in favor of UFB as it's now available at my address. WooHoo!

Shindig

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#1645958 5-Oct-2016 14:46

International or local access. I've never had an issue on any plan ive been on with BigPipe.

The response from the horses mouth says it all.

I say, BigPipe keep doing what your doing!

Do we need a group hug?

The little things make the biggest difference.

Shindig

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#1645959 5-Oct-2016 14:47

jimbob79:

Also the reason I was asking was because I'm thinking of ditching VF Cable in favor of UFB as it's now available at my address. WooHoo!

Just look through the BigPipe forum mate, even some of the negative comments and how BigPipe themselves have responded.

I doubt you'll be unsatisfied with their service.

The little things make the biggest difference.

richms

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#1645963 5-Oct-2016 14:52

jimbob79:

Also the reason I was asking was because I'm thinking of ditching VF Cable in favor of UFB as it's now available at my address. WooHoo!

Do it. No contracts and stuff so if you for some reason are not happy then its easy to move to another UFB provider once installed.

Just dont jump the gun and tell VF where to go until you have it installed and working, because the UFB install process is well known for getting held up with neighbours permission and also pole problems in Wellington.

Richard rich.ms

michaelmurfy

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#1645965 5-Oct-2016 14:58

Just do it. I'm more than happy with them and their support is great too (even though @flickky is a massive troll). Trust me, you'll never see any issues with international speeds.

I moved from 2degrees to them - and would forever and always be with BigPipe as they've never asked me to reboot my router when there is an issue or asked me to do things I've already done.

Not that issues really happen much... Use the $20 off in my signature.

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