8Mbps Upgrade FAQ

When will 8Mbps* Broadband services be available?
Up to 8Mbps services are now available to new customers. We are also in the process of upgrading existing customers to the faster services. They should have received a letter detailing how this will work in advance of the upgrades starting.
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Will I definitely be able to receive an up to 8Mb service, and if so, can I tell what speed I’m likely to get?
Up to 8Mb services are going to be available to over 99% of UK homes and businesses.
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What benefits will I get from download speeds of up to 8Mbps*?
Download speeds of up to 8Mbps* means that using the Internet will be significantly faster for most customers. You should see a significant improvement in anything that involves sending or receiving large amounts of data. So whilst you may not see much change to low bandwidth tasks such as browsing the web or sending email, there are many things that will improve considerably such as

downloading large files
sending or receiving emails with file attachments
video or music streaming
running several computers over the same connection at the same time

Upstream speeds will also improve, which will make sending large files or email much faster. Home and HomeOffice services will see upstream speeds increase from 256Kbps up to a maximum of 448Kbps. Demon Business Broadband customers will see upstream speeds increase from 256Kbps up to a maximum of 832Kbps.

I am an existing customer. Will my Broadband service be upgraded?
All Solo, Total, Total Mac, Home, HomeOffice and Business Broadband customers will be automatically upgraded to our new faster Broadband services*. Demon Express Plus and Pro customers will not be automatically upgraded but will be able to opt in to a free upgrade should they wish. Customers with this service will be given the option to receive a free wireless router to replace the one currently supplied with their Plus or Pro service.

Existing Product	New Product
Home 500/1000/2000	Home 8000
Solo/Total/Mac/HomeOffice 500/1000/2000	HomeOffice 8000
Business 500	Business 2000
Business 1000	Business 4000
Business 2000	Business 8000
Demon Express Plus and Pro	No change, free upgrade to Business Broadband on request
Premier Express, Premier ADSL and Premier SDSL	No change

All existing customers will receive a separate communication before their service is upgraded.

I am an existing customer. When can I expect my service to be upgraded?
British Telecommunications plc (BT) will only upgrade a limited amount of connections per week, so we cannot upgrade all our existing Broadband customers at once.
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Can I request a priority upgrade to the new high-speed Broadband service?
No. Priority upgrades will not be made available.
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Why are Demon Express Plus and Pro customers not being automatically upgraded to an up to 8Mbps* service?
Demon Express Plus and Express Pro services include a BT managed router that will no longer be managed should the customer move to the new higher speed services. Customers with this service will be given the option to receive a free wireless router to replace the one currently supplied with their service.
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What download speeds can I expect?
The new Home 8000 and HomeOffice 8000 services are variable speed products which will provide customers with the fastest connection their line can support, up to a maximum downstream line speed of 8128Kbps*. The actual line speed your connection will support is subject to conditions and depends primarily on how far away from the exchange you are and the quality of the line connecting your home or business to the exchange. There are several other factors that can also have an impact - your Broadband equipment lengthy extension cables and even interference from other electronic devices can all have an affect on the connection speed.

Demon Business Broadband customers will be upgraded to the services shown in the above table, with maximum download speeds of 2Mbps*, 4Mbps* and 8Mbps*, depending on the service you currently have (please see table above).
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What are the contention ratios of the new products?
In the past, Demon Broadband services have been contended at 50:1 (Solo/Total/Home/ Home Office) or 20:1 (Demon Business Broadband). As we move to up to 8Mbps* products we can no longer provide an exact contention ratio - because BT does not provide us with this information.

However, as the UK moves towards faster Broadband speeds, the network will become more congested and, as a result, contention will impact more people. So while the average speeds our customers experience will improve, there will be more variation in speed during busy periods, especially for customers with residential products.

Demon Business Broadband customers will see less variation in speed during peak usage periods because their traffic will receive priority treatment across the network.
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What is line speed and is it different to throughput speed?
Line speed refers to the speed at which your Broadband equipment is physically able to connect to your local exchange. Throughput speed refers to how quickly data is passing through your line. The maximum possible download throughput is 7150Kbps. Whilst line speed will be constant, the throughput speeds you achieve when downloading or uploading can vary greatly depending on factors such as contention with other Broadband users at that particular time of day, and the speed of the site you are accessing. We cannot guarantee the throughput you will get, regardless of the line speed you achieve.
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I’ve heard of a feature called Interleaving. What is it, and will it affect me?
Interleaving is a technology that is designed to improve the stability and reliability of Broadband services. For this reason, we have chosen to enable this feature on your Broadband service to give our customers as smooth a transition to up to 8Mb services as possible.
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Do I need to do anything to assist the 10 day stabilisation period of the service?
To optimise your line speed and throughput during the 10 day stabilisation period:

Completely disconnect and reconnect your Broadband equipment at least once a day. For USB modem users, this means rebooting your computer. For customers using a router, you should power off the router for one minute, then power it on and allow it to reconnect. Please ensure you have saved any recent configuration changes (i.e. password) to the router.
Ensure every telephone socket on your line with a phone, sky TV box or fax machine etc. is properly filtered using a microfilter. We recommend that you connect your Broadband equipment directly in to the master socket rather than via an extension socket or cable, as internal wiring problems can detrimentally affect the line speed you achieve.
You may need to update the firmware/drivers on your router/modem in order to achieve the best possible speeds for your line. We recommend customers that have purchased their own equipment check with the equipment manufacturer. If we supplied your equipment, you will not need to update it, unless you are using a SpeedTouch USB modem that is indicating a speed above 4Mb when you connect. In this case, please visit http://www.speedtouch.co.uk/330.asp to download and install the latest drivers for your modem, as this may improve the throughput speeds you achieve when downloading data.

Is there anything I can do to improve my line/synch speed?
The two main factors that determine your line/synch speed are the length and quality of the telephone line from your premises to the BT exchange, and internal wiring and equipment setup might be impacting the quality of your line. Obviously, there is little you can do to change the characteristics of the line between your premises and the BT exchange, but inside your premises, you need to consider the following:

The length and quality of any extensions that run from your master socket.
Ensuring all telephone sockets that have telephony equipment of any kind attached (phones, fax machines, satellite decoders) are connected via a microfilter. The exception to this rule are customers with a Broadband specific face-plate on their master socket (which has a socket to connect the DSL port of your router modem to as well as a normal phone socket). These customers would not normally need filters on their other sockets.
The router/modem you are using. Typically, most Customer Premises Equipment (or CPE) should be capable of synching with the BT exchange at the full 8Mb line speed, but you should check this with any equipment user guide instructions that you have.
Other electrical devices that may cause interference. Christmas tree lights for example are a surprisingly common cause of problems.

I am using the new service, and am experiencing some short breaks in my connection. Why is this?
During the first 10 days following your upgrade, your line goes through an adjustment period in order to give you the best service possible in the long term. As a result, there may be a number of times during the day when your line changes speed, and as a result, your connectivity to the Internet may freeze for up to a minute. We recommend you do not call the Helpdesk unless your service has been down for over an hour. Even after the initial 10 day period, your service may occasionally adjust so that you are connected to the local exchange at the highest reliable speed for your line.
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Will there be any restrictions placed on the new higher speed services?
To ensure that we can offer faster speeds* without increasing prices, or over congesting our network, we need to take steps to ensure that the activities of very heavy users won't affect everyone else.

To do this we will be implementing a Fair Usage Policy. Home and HomeOffice customers that breach the download usage limits we consider to be fair will see their download speeds restricted during peak usage periods. If restricted, customers will still be able to use their connection for web browsing and email. There will not be any additional charges for exceeding the download limit.

This will only affect customers continuously downloading large volumes of data, which we estimate is less than 1% of our customer base.

Demon Business Broadband customers will not be subject to a Fair Usage Policy.
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Is the Fair Usage Policy the same as introducing a Usage Cap?
Demon Broadband have always believed that our customers should be able to use the Internet freely and as a result have avoided implementing Usage Caps. This has always been our stated policy and we are keen to maintain this position.

However we are aware that introducing the new high speed ADSL services will enable our customers to increase substantially the amount of data which they can download in a short space of time. Sadly, a small number of our customers are likely to abuse the new services by downloading vast amounts of data at peak times. This behaviour impacts on the rest of our customers by limiting the amount of bandwidth available across the network and means that many customers will experience a degradation of service due to the download behaviour of a handful of users.

As a result we intend to introduce a Fair Usage Policy, to ensure that all our users continue to experience a continued high level of service with their new higher speed Broadband services. This is not the same as a Usage Cap. If a customer exceeds the set limits their service will not be suspended nor will they be charged for their additional usage. However if a customer exceeds the limits of the Fair Usage Policy then their service will run at a reduced speed during peak usage times to allow the rest of our customers unhindered access to the Internet. No extra fees will apply.
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Will I be affected by the Fair Usage Policy?
The Fair Usage Policy will only effect very heavy users. Below is a practical guide to how different user types will or won't be affected.

Customers that use their connection for email and web browsing for at least 8 hours every day of the week would NOT be affected.
Gamers would NOT be affected - even if they played for several hours every day of the week.
Customers that download reasonably large amounts of music and video would NOT be affected. For example a thousand music tracks and 5 films every month would not be considered unfair usage.
Customers that consistently download exceptionally large amounts of data over a rolling 30 day period WILL be affected. For example continually using file sharing applications for the majority of the day over a number of weeks.

What happens if I exceed fair usage?
If you do exceed what is considered to be fair usage over a 30 day period your download speed will be reduced during the period of 9am - 10pm. Your usage will be monitored on a rolling 30 day basis and as soon as usage returns to acceptable levels, restrictions will be removed. At no time will your connection be disabled or additional charges applied.
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Since my present contract with Demon does not include any capping or curtailing of services in any way, will you be notifying me in writing of any changes to my existing contract, to enable me to either accept or refuse said changes?
We will be sending new T's & C's but not new contracts. The introduction of the Fair Usage Policy is within the boundaries of our T's & C's
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If I no longer want to stay with Demon because of the change to the Fair Usage policy can I cancel?
Customers who are no longer in contract can cancel their services in the usual way.

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I pay for my service on an annual basis; does this make a difference?
This is a service upgrade for all customers whether they pay on an annual or a monthly basis.
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Will anything change on my bill?
The upgrade is free of charge. The product name which currently appears on your bill will change to the name of your new higher-speed service.
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Will I have to sign another 12 month contract?
Your service will not be subject to a new 12 month contract - this is a free upgrade that we are offering to all of our Broadband customers. All other customer requested upgrades at any other time will remain subject to a new minimum 12 month contract.
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Will the new service cost more?
No. The upgrade is free of charge and the charge for the new service will remain the same as your current service charge.
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What is the difference between Demon Home and Demon HomeOffice services?
Demon Home has been designed for residential users and offers a great package of basic features suitable for home users. Demon HomeOffice has been developed primarily for home workers and is our professional/consumer product; it includes additional business functionality such as a static IP address, web space, Electronic Fax to Email and lo-call rate technical support.

The Up to 8Mbps Fair Usage Policy has been designed to apply different usage limits for each of the Demon Broadband services: Demon Home 8000 will have a lower limit than that set for Demon HomeOffice 8000.
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Will my service name change with the service upgrade?
Yes. The name of the product you are using will be changing. This means that the product name on your bill will also change.
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If I am using my Broadband connection when the change is made, and my service goes down, do I reconnect as normal?
We expect that the maximum downtime during an upgrade will be 30 minutes, during which time it will not be possible to reconnect to your service. Upgrades will be carried out between 00:00 and 06:00 hours in order to minimise any inconvenience. After the upgrade you will be able to connect to your new higher-speed service. For the first hour following the upgrade your service will attempt to stabilise at the maximum speed your line can support.
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Do I need to make any changes to my computer, modem or router?
This is a network upgrade and you will not need to reset your equipment. However, some customers using older modems provided by THUS may need to download a software update in order to get the maximum speed that their line will support. THUS supplied routers will support up to 8Mbps* line speeds.

If you are using a router or modem not supplied by THUS you should check with the manufacturer that it will support up to 8Mbps* services.
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Will my hostname, email and web space be affected?
No, they will not be affected.
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Can I migrate back to my old fixed rate 500Mbps / 1Mbps / 2Mbps Home / Home Office product, or upgrade to a Business broadband service which does not have an FUP?
Unfortunately, customers are unable to downgrade back to their original service as these products are no longer offered. In the best interests of all Demon customers it is not possible to upgrade to a Business broadband service once fair usage restrictions have been applied.
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What would happen if I were to refuse the upgrade?
Customers are not able to opt out of the upgrade. All existing Solo / Total / Mac / Home / Home Office and Business 500/1000/2000 customers will be automatically upgraded. If after the upgrade the customer feels that there has been deterioration to their service they will be allowed to move back to a rate limited product.

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*Refers to maximum downstream line speeds only. The actual speed you experience will be subject to conditions and depend on a number of factors, including your distance from the telephone exchange and the quality of the wiring in between.