Windows 7 - ADSL Technologies - Speed, distance and DSLAMS

Hi,

I have to move house in the next couple of weeks. I'm in eastern Melbourne, Vic Australia. I currently have cable Internet and have speeds of around 19.67 mbps (2.4MBps) on average.

The place I might have to move to only has ADSL technology. The area is 50 - 60 years old.

ADSL is copper, end to end - Right?

According to some data I found on the 'net I can expect signal, levels of around 70DB, at 6km from the local exchange as a crow flies, god knows how long in the real round trip.

At 70DB I'd be looking at around 1000kpbs (125KBps) speeds.

Can anyone confirm my numbers?

Are DSLAMs only in the exchanges? Are there any devices between exchange and endpoint that improve speed?

I currently pay $60 per month for 150gigs at 2.4MBps. It looks as if I will be paying the same price for around about 4%, or 1/25th of the speed.

If we have 4 people using the Internet playing online games, downloading using torrents, and through web downloads, running email and surfing, with ping sensitive games like PS3 games, Black Ops, Modern Warfare, Steam CCS etc, what sort of experience can I expect?

I suspect Optus sales guys will know nothing technically, and the technical guys won't really be able to tell me. Optus sell the product as "Superfast", but that only really applies if you live next door to the exchange...

I'd appreciate any thoughts on this..

thanks
Tanya

I can't really help as I'm in the UK and have no experience of how things are done in Australia with regards broadband.

As you mentioned a lot depends on how far from the exchange you are and how old the wiring is for the connection. Also there is the ratio fact, how many are subscribed to the service and is it throttled at peak times. With ADSL over here you usually have to have filters put on the phone sockets inside the property so it splits the signal between voice and digital.

Do you know of anyone who is in the area you are moving to that you could ask about how good or bad the service is.

Sorry I couldn't help more, maybe someone from Australia who's a member here may be able to give you a better idea.

Some info: Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia