[Closed] Fibre optic broadband - facts, fiction & realistic expectations...

bt are installing mine on friday they told me 40
ill let you know..............in about a months time when they finally activate it if its anything like getting our broadband installed!

ADLS2+ is up to 24 if you are next to the exchange it gets slower the further you are away.

FTTC is Fibre to the Cabinet and your speed will depend on the copper length from your house to the cabinet. BT offer upto 40 or 80 sync speed on FTTC. I assume others will do the same.

The FTTH (fibre to the Home) is a fibre cable all the way to your house and you should get the full 100, but I think installation costs are through the roof.

Edit : p.s. I am on 5.5 at the moment and moving to FTTC next week on an estimated 44!

We've had cable for years, currently I'm paying for (and getting) 10MB. I could have upto 100MB.

TBH - we can have 2 laptops and an XBox (with XBox live running) on WiFi, plus phones etc - and no problems whatsoever, so I wouldn't bother paying for any more.

we pay for 30mb/s on virgin and receive 32mb/s which soom will be doubled for free to 60. however I would recommend getting virgin 20mb as this will be trebled for free to 60

Is there anywhere to find out which areas will get Fibre? Details seem a bit thin on the ground 😕

http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/consumerProducts/displayTopic.do?topicId=29017

Edit: Turns out that's to that good there is somewhere I found a few month back gave you an idea.

All redundant in my case... Too far away from a small exchange to ever get upgraded to fibre, or to get a decent speed on ADSL. Currently on about 1.5MBps

Ah got it.

http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/consumer/assets/fibre_map/index.html

Gives a better idea.

woody try this [url= http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange_search ]http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange_search[/url] put your number in

says my exchange is FTTC enabled 30/09/12

Cheers Drac - [url= http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/consumer/assets/fibre_map/index.html ]this[/url] link suggests my local exchange is already enabled, but BT say I can't have it. Presumably that means they still need to dig up the road or summink.

Cheers

well the download speed can be 'claimed' to be whatever, but if the 'source' code cannot upload at the same speed then it doesn't matter 1 iota, I wouldn't worry about the 'claims' just undersand that in general your connection should be faster........

Could be more info here.

http://bt.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/13922/c/346

Virgin here, pay for 20 meg and regularly get just over 20 meg through the ethernet. But if i'm using the router i regularly get just under 20 meg......

Pretty much all "consumer" services that are advertised as being over fibre are FTTC. Assuming that the cabinet to house distance is the same (it may well not be), Virgin "should" be able to offer higher speeds as they use coax cable, which should offer lower loss.

Best way to find out is to ask your neighbours what service they have and what speeds they get. Proper fibre to the home is eye-wateringly expensive: hyperoptic might be able to hook you up if you're willing to pay a fortune for the connection, although their pricing (per month) is very reasonable.

Things start to get really crazy if you need dedicated bandwidth: I heard recently that a dedicated 100Mb/s connection (in Canada) is $10k per month.

Edit: Turns out that's to that good there is somewhere I found a few month back gave you an idea.

Translation?

I still find that pretty much everything I do that requires high download speeds is limited by the other end anyway, sitting way below my lines capable speed of 8 meg even off-peak. Not sure I really see the point.

Translation?

Dyslexia and Mac Book auto correction are a bad combination. 😳

I understood it 🙂

I read it as:

"Turns out that's not that good. Here is somewhere I found a few month back, should give you an idea."

When I was at BT 7 or 8 years ago they were talking about FTTP (fibre to the premises).

Isn't FTTC what Telewest/Blueyonder/Virgin have been doing since they launched? And copper from the cab?

When I was at BT 7 or 8 years ago they were talking about FTTP (fibre to the premises).

I knew someone who worked at BT who was talking about FTTP about 16 years ago, then the government of the time IIRC said they had to share their kit with other people (or else they had an infrastructure monopoly) and this dented the business sufficiently that they changed tack and left the old copper in instead. Shame, could have been pretty advanced by now!

That's how I read it Woody until Jamie highlighted it.

Yup Fibre optic been spoken about for decades now, I remember reading about it as a kid and was a touch over 8 years ago. There was little point then though but now so many households have internet access it makes sense.

There was little point then though but now so many households have internet access it makes sense.

I think the point was they predicted the increase in traffic expected and were going to roll it out to all households for futureproofing, but a slightly misguided policy stuffed it. It was an active project/plan that got shelved, rather than "ooh we have this stuff, look what we could do in future with it".

Sadly Coffeking I was referring to aphex as 8 years ago I was far from being a kid then too.

Ok so I have the FTTC service via Plusnet, which is essentially BT. When it's good it's good but sometimes it is slow. For example at 9pm I checked my upload speed on speedtest.net and I was getting around 8Mbps which is rubbish. Check it now 11:30pm and it's up to 38Mbps.

I'm guessing that it's a contention issue at peak time. Prior to this I was with Talk-Talk and got a regluar 4Mbps. So even when this is slow it's way faster.

Overall it's costing me a couple of quid a month extra so I'd say go for it. It's great downloading Gigs of data quickly. Do note though that as someone has already said you do semetimes find the speed is limited by the server at the other end not being able to push it out to you quick enough.

FTTC is available from lots of ISPs now, and has been for best part of 2 years.

FTTP still isn't sorted as a product available to ISPs yet. Later this year is my understanding.

TBH, FTTP will give 100 meg down (and poss up). But there's now an 80/20 FTTC product variant available, which is where a lot of the ISP action will be.

I'm guessing that it's a contention issue at peak time. Prior to this I was with Talk-Talk and got a regluar 4Mbps. So even when this is slow it's way faster.

Did TalkTalk offer you a fibre upgrade when you left?

[url= http://www.broadbandspeedchecker.co.uk/broadband_speed_in_my_area.aspx# ]http://www.broadbandspeedchecker.co.uk/broadband_speed_in_my_area.aspx#[/url]

That can be useful to see what other companies are giving in your area. We went from normal broadband to BT Infinity - I believe this is how the internet should behave now! Over 10 times quicker than we had, which is worth a couple of ££ per month to us.

[i]then the government of the time IIRC said they had to share their kit with other people (or else they had an infrastructure monopoly) and this dented the business sufficiently that they changed tack and left the old copper in instead. Shame, could have been pretty advanced by now![/i]

That has happened, and this is why you can get copper broadband with loads of suppliers, and FTTC via several. ISPs can install their own equipment in our exchanges, we even rent duct space to other companies now, although this is not reciprocated by Virgin! FTTP as far as I know has largely been put on the backburner as its so much more efficient to use FTTC, new builds may get FTTP. I essentially install FTTP for businesses (which is the dedicated bandwidth Choron mentioned) and it is slow to install, it takes on average 10-15hrs/ on average for myself and a colleague to install a typical new provide, and we work hard. FTTP would probably be a bit quicker as I would be working in one area intensively before moving on. FTTC is one installation to the cab and suddenly you've done several hundred properties.

FTTC is great unless BT Wholesale decide to do all the cabinets in your area except yours. The exchange is marked as "done" and as far as I can see will never be revisited.

The only way I would be able to get fast broadband is to do a deal with people who live behind me who are connected to the right cabinet.

Planning to go for FTTC with Plusnet. Price is same as current package, or a few quid more to include free telephone calls.

Not sure if Plusnet are offering FTTP just yet, even though they are a BT subsidiary.

Anyone know what the installation costs are for FTTP?

Also, having praised the Billion BiPac 7800N wireless modem router on here recently, I would be reluctant to accept Plusnet's offer of a Netgear N150WNR100.

Anyone used their existing router in preference to a new one supplied for the fibre upgrade???

One of my IT guys has Virgin at home and gets 48M.

Not sure if Plusnet are offering FTTP just yet, even though they are a BT subsidiary.

No-one is.

I find this quite interesting. I get 6.5Mb and find it perfectly fast enough for streaming HD movies. I don't do online gaming; is that what you need higher speeds for?

EDIT - although I could do with faster uploads

That has happened, and this is why you can get copper broadband with loads of suppliers, and FTTC via several. ISPs can install their own equipment in our exchanges, we even rent duct space to other companies now,

This "local loop unbundling".

What happened was that BT had to put all its infrastructure into its division, Openreach (who Spooky works for).

Openreach has to sell its products to ISPs on an equivalent basis - i.e. it can't charge BT Retail or BT Wholesale preferential rates. But.... Openreach is still the monopoly provider of exchanges and "the last mile", so it's not a wholly free market.

I work for an ISP, and the bane of my life is Openreach - even though we're the customer, we're treated like the supplier..!

I was told we would get around 32Mbit/s, the lowest I've had is 26Mbit/s and the highest 36Mbit/s. It normally stays above 30Mbit/s.

One thing that I do find strange is that despite the data rate being 10 times what it was previously I still get buffering on iPlayer, even on standard definition. I mostly upgraded to avoid this but it doesn't seem to have made much if any difference.

Anyone used their existing router in preference to a new one supplied for the fibre upgrade???

Is it a combined modem/router? If so, you'll have to use it - the output from the master socket (the NTE5) isn't ADSL, but VDSL.

If it's a separate modem and router - which they certainly were to begin with - then the router will need to be compatible with the modem.

Oh, and you'll need to have power sockets near to the NTE5. If not, the engineer should move the NTE5 for you. Can't run it from extension sockets (as there's a VDSL specific faceplate put onto the NTE5).

I was told we would get around 32Mbit/s, the lowest I've had is 26Mbit/s and the highest 36Mbit/s. It normally stays above 30Mbit/s.

You can't actually measure the real "speed" at home - this can only be done by your ISP using the Openreach speed checker it has as part of the platform betwen the ISP and Openreach.

Your issue might also be a server problem elsewhere on the delivery of iplayer.

One thing that I do find strange is that despite the data rate being 10 times what it was previously I still get buffering on iPlayer, even on standard definition.

Really!!? As per my previous post, my "up to" 8Mb line gives me HD streaming through iPlayer, Netflix etc with [u]very[/u] rare buffering. Are there other factors at play for you?

Looked into upgrading with Talk-Talk and it worked out more expensive than going with PlusNet. Also just signed up to the 80/20 trial so in theory 80Mbps download and 20Mbps upload. Should be interesting.

You can't actually measure the real "speed" at home

I understand that your saying that speedtest.net (or similar) is a bit of a rough guide rather than an accurate measurement but what sort of margin of error are we talking about?

I understand that your saying that speedtest.net (or similar) is a bit of a rough guide rather than an accurate measurement but what sort of margin of error are we talking about?

TBH, I'm only a lawyer (been working on fibre for nearly 2 years though...). I'll find out from one of the geeks some time.

Looked into upgrading with Talk-Talk and it worked out more expensive than going with PlusNet. Also just signed up to the 80/20 trial so in theory 80Mbps download and 20Mbps upload. Should be interesting.

Fair enough. Would be interested to see if that remains true when 80/20 is for sale (it's imminently available as a retail product).

Solid 38mbps for me for over a year. Moving next month, back to 3mbit ADSL even though the exchange is set up for Infinity.

Really!!? As per my previous post, my "up to" 8Mb line gives me HD streaming through iPlayer, Netflix etc with very rare buffering. Are there other factors at play for you?

Yeah really, not sure why I'd make that up!

More often than not iPlayer buffers for about 15 seconds after playing for around 5-15 minutes. Last time i used it it did this but then also did a very short 1-3 second buffer around 6 times during a one hour programme.

It seems likely that there are other factors in play, but I've no idea what they might be, any suggestions gratefully received.

Yeah really, not sure why I'd make that up!

Sorry. It was more my surprise than questioning you 🙂

I'm with Zen who make a big deal about not traffic shaping. I wonder if that is more relevant than out and out download speed. I can watch iPlayer with no buffering at all at 6.5Mbps download speeds

Decided to upgrade my plusnet package. Will see what 30mb works like

My BT Broadband was changed to infinity a couple of weeks ago. The whole process took about an hour and the new broadband was working before the engineer left.
Download speed appeared to increase from 2mb to 20mb using a wireless connection. However, connecting the laptop to the home hub using the supplied cable improved things loads more. Well worth the £2 extra a month.

Very happy with BT Infinity, 30+ mb over wireless, 40+ mb ethernet, 8 mb upstream, and I've just heard they're speeding up to 70mb. I know people have had gripes with BT but I've always found them pretty good.

Just for info the upgraded 80/20 FTTC is giving me 74.76 Mb/s download and 16.19 Mb/s upload.

Yeah really, not sure why I'd make that up!

More often than not iPlayer buffers for about 15 seconds after playing for around 5-15 minutes. Last time i used it it did this but then also did a very short 1-3 second buffer around 6 times during a one hour programme.

It seems likely that there are other factors in play, but I've no idea what they might be, any suggestions gratefully received.

Must be other factors at play, I can watch a full HD iplayer programme on my mobile via wifi on an 8mb normal BB line without buffering pauses.

I'm on the verge of signing up to Virgin for their 30Mb service, the missus signed up with AOL last year for some un-known reason, and it's been staggeringly slow...

People whinging about 4Mb? I dream of those dizzying speeds try 0.6Mb/s, average speeds and regular service dropouts and a support line that just ask you to log a speed test and then do sweet FA to address the problems Nah we're done with them...

Are Virgin as Shit hot as many people have told me?

I'm seriously Keen even if they 'Only' deliver 10Mb that would be awsome... I'm half tempted by their 60Mb service is it guaranteed to be above 30Mb/s though?

I spoke with one of the Virgin engineers the other week who informed me. The virgin exchange in the town I live in is supposed to handle 250 users. It is actually handling 1000 users and was due to be upgraded 6-8 years ago, and this is why the broadband isn't that great all the time.

This is why Virgin in Yate is pretty shit at times, but still miles better than BT lines. 😉

Are Virgin as Shit hot as many people have told me?

From various posts on here, it seems that it depends on where you live to some extent.

For me here in Bristol, they've been great. In 7 years with them I can recall it being down only twice and the speeds are consistently good and reasonably close (say 75% IIRC) to what they advertise.

My mum's on the lowest rated virgin broadband deal I think she gets something like 12Mbits/s. She had a problem with intermittently losing the connection a couple of times at the end of last week. Phoned up the help line and after a short while they'd arranged to have an engineer out to look at the problem on Tuesday. He supplied a new combined cable modem and router to replace her two separate units and everything's been hunky dory since.

I thought that was pretty decent service, no need to rant or rave just described the problem and they sorted it out pretty quickly.

I'm in Reading, So big town not really in the sticks I should expect good servic from them then... Right I'm off home early to sort it out!

Headline sync speed is irrelevant if your ISP is traffic shaping, QOSing etc. Iplayer, ITV player, Sky Player, Netflix et al are killing ISPs who typically sell cheap and historically oversubscribe their networks, so the cheaper ISPs are throttling that traffic.

well bt guy installed today

getting 37 wired, 26 wireless

quite happy considering its the same price as my old 6megs or so on a 10meg deal