Broadband speeds Explained
Although ‘high-speed’ means that we don’t place a ‘cap’ on your download/upload speeds, there are still other factors which will affect your online experience, including:
- How far away your house is from your local telephone exchange
- The equipment in the exchange
- The condition of the wiring to and in your house
- The capability of your hardware e.g. modem
- Network congestion
- Traffic prioritisation
Slingshot prioritises traffic in the following order –
- VOIP
- Gaming
- Browsing
- Streaming
- Local traffic
- File sharing, including Peer-to-Peer (P2P)
Why does Slingshot prioritise traffic? We do this because attended traffic (i.e. when you are most likely to be in front of your computer) is considered more important than unattended traffic e.g. downloading a movie which can be scheduled for later – remember to make the most of our FREE off-peak periods!
What happens when I exceed my data allowance? If you are on a 'capped' plan (e.g. Basic, Express, Explorer, Navigator or Elite) and exceed your data allowance, your connection will be slowed down to 'dial-up speeds' until your next bill date or you can top-up your allowance by buying an additional 'Data Block'. Any unused Data Blocks will roll-over to the next month and only expire after 12 months. Alternatively, The All You Can Eat plan offered customers a way to enjoy the internet without worrying about data caps. All You Can Eat was designed for households which have many people sharing the same connection but only want to pay one fixed price per month. However, customers on this plan should be aware that due to its users being more likely to be 'power users' and maximise the bandwidth allocated to the plan (determined by the number of subscribers on it) it is more likely that the speeds experienced (limited as per our prioritisation rules described above) will be slower than those experienced by someone on one of our capped plans. The All You Can Eat promotion ended on Thursday 31st March 2011.