Phew!

Bit of a late post, but I thought I'd let people know im back up and running at home. My internet line has finally been sorted, and I'm very relieved to say the least! I'm amazed how long it has taken, especially when I'm using the same internet service provider as before - Jazztel. I was starting to fall out of love with Spain from the stress this has given me, but I'm happy to say my passion has returned to this chilled out City I am lucky enough to live in. I try not to let things bother me that are out of my control, but they really were testing me with this! This is the life of a trader though, where we are faced with unfortunate incidients from time to time.

I must be living closer to the exchange where the signal gets sent to, as the speeds I'm getting are faster than my old apartment, which is a pleasant suprise:



It's great to know that trading is very much possible in most countries in Europe. It gives me options to live basically anywhere I choose, but for now I'm very happy in Spain. These are very impressive speeds through a phone line, and I dont think in the UK you could get these speeds through our old copper wires we still use. The demand for super fast internet is very high in the UK, but we are well behind the times with our old systems we still have in place. I know we have cable/fibre optic but we have got some cathing up to do with most of the world. Lithuania/Latvia and Sweden are rated the top in Europe. Check this out on the top countries per download I recently found http://www.speedtest.net/global.php.
Have a look where us British rate next to other countries in the world. It might open your eyes to what other people can get their hands on!

I think it's impreritive for you to trade successfully on a regular basis with a fast, solid connection. I'm not going to pretend to be an expert, but I know enough to know what you need to trade with no problems.

Downloads speeds aren't massively important, I think anything from 6 mb/s or higher is sufficient. Also anything from 400 kb/s or above on your upload rate should also be fine.

However ping is very important to us pre-race traders - This is how fast a signal is sent and received from the source. 100 m/s or lower is perfect, but again anything upto 200 m/s is fine. Obviously the lower the ping the better!

I use a website called www.speedtest.bbmax.co.uk for quick speed tests.
Anyone reading this should test there speeds, and if they are lower than the rates I suggested, I would recommend you look into getting a faster line if you want to take trading seriously. There are many stressful things we tackle daily trying to make money on Betfair, don't let your internet speeds be an extra burden. Simply search for the best line you can :)

Also I really wouldn't recommend trading off a wireless connection if possible. Plug an ethernet cable straight into your modem/computer just to stablise the line, and reduce any drop outs that could occur. The line will be more solid and with a fast internet line you should not occur any freezes and refresh errors. If there is, it will be probably coming from Betfair's end and meaning everyones suffering the same as you.

Looking forward to getting back into the 'groove'