Finally Sure have upgraded all of Guernsey’s internet users to a universal 8Mbit service.

This brings Guernsey in line with more reasonable pricing that many users in the UK get. For example, BT Broadband offers unlimited data for £25.60 per month on their Option 3 tarriff (the majority of it’s users can only get an ‘up-to’ 8Mbit service: their 20Mbit network only covers a small amount of the country).

Also, upload speeds have been increased to 512kbps, a much more reasonable upload speed that will make sending large emails and uploading photos a lot quicker.

The full details are available on Sure’s Website, where pricing has remained the same for all options.

The Broadband Pro service also gets a major upgrade, with a speed jump to 20Mbits. I still think that £49.99 a month is much too expensive. Sure should offer 2 consumer broadband speeds, such as 8Mbit and 16Mbits, but with the ‘consumer’ 40/1 contention, rather than the Pro’s 20/1 (which naturally would be more expensive anyway).

If you think that in the past few years we have had the speed increased from 1, then to 2, then to 4, now to 8, that C&W are actually doing more than they need to – they didn’t have to give everyone a free upgrade when you’re still paying the same price, but they did. So thank you Sure.

Cable & Wireless have recently increased the upload speed for Sure Broadband users to 384 kbps. This is an increase of 128 kbps from the previous speed.

Although it appears only a small increase, it will be welcomed by many, especially users running devices such as Slingboxes, which rely on fast upload speeds to serve video content. Also people with Home Servers or uploading videos may see an increase in speed.

However, all of this upgrading appears to be having an effect on the C&W network: Download speeds are now frequently in the 3.5 Mbps range, and actual upload speeds appear to be no quicker than around 330 kbps.

It seems odd that although internet speeds are still very slow compared to UK standards (in their ‘up to’ speeds, at least), the network is already starting to show its toll in terms of contention and available bandwidth to end users. I hate to think what might happen if Sure switch to a universal 8 Mbps service. This could see actual internet speeds running a lot slower than advertised.

I just checked on Speedtest.net, and my connection is now 4 Mbps! The upgrade wasn’t meant to happen until 1st May, so either it’s early, or Sure are just testing the network. Lets hope it’s the first one.

Update @ 7pm: I have run a few more Speedtests, and have discovered that speeds have dropped to about 3.2 Mbps. It appears that although the speeds have been bumped up, the 40:1 contention ratio is causing slowdowns during those peak evening periods. As speeds get higher, users will probably notice larger variations in Internet speed at different times of day, dependent on network load.

Leave comments if you are experiencing the same in your area of Guernsey

With less than a month to go until the 4 Mbps upgrade for Guernsey broadband customers, Sure has posted new pricing plans on their website.

The current Anytime plan stays at £24.99 pm and has been rebranded “Sure Broadband”, with the speed being bumped up to 4 Mbps. However, to my disappointment, the upload speed remains fixed at 256 kbps. I was hoping for a bump to at least 512 kbps so that my home Slingbox will work better abroad.

Sure have scrapped the two tier Pro Broadband plans in favour of one plan, now called “Broadband Pro”. It offers the same 8 Mbps download and 768 kbps upload, but with a price of £49.99. This, in my opinion, is still massively overpriced,  but it is a reduction nonetheless.

So, overall, slightly disappointing. I was rather hoping that the Pro broadband would be set at or under a £40 price point, but it is still too pricey for home users having to pay out nearly £600 a year for what many in the UK would consider expensive for the speed you are getting.

I hope the pricing gets cheaper if/when sure introduce ADSL2+ services.

It may be long overdue, but finally Cable & Wireless (I mean, Sure) have decided to upgrade all standard users on the 2Mbit connection to 4 Mbits this May. Although many in the UK have access to 50Mbit cable, in Guernsey, we are stuck in a time warp in terms of internet.

Yes, many people say it is more expensive on an island, etc etc, but Jersey has much faster speeds compared to Guernsey, so I still don’t see why it has taken so long. But at least it’s now on its way…

Another exciting prospect is that of ADSL2+. While it is unlikely that C&W will launch a service offering 24 Mbits like Sky broadband in the UK, it opens up the door for faster services in the future (the current ADSL only supports a theoretical maximum of 8 Mbits)

Of course, we will have to wait until C&W announce new pricing (if any) until anyone can draw firm conclusions.