Your internet BB speed ?

[citoyen]

Apparently, fibre is due to reach our cabinet at the end of June. Yippee!

Of course, we're still nearly a mile from our cabinet so we won't get the full benefit.

Does anyone know what kind of speed I should be able to expect in this situation? I'm undecided whether it will be worth signing up - I would need to know that we'll get enough of a speed increase to merit the cost...

d.

[hellymedic]

You might not have to pay much (or anything) extra if you're already with BT, though you could get roped into a longer contract.
The BT website can give you an estimated speedfor your phone number but I don't know how accurate this is; it was wildly optimistic (3-8Mbps) in the time before we had Infinity and consistently connected at 2Mbps.
We now have a theoretical maximum of 38Mbps and have achieved this at times.

[citoyen]

You might not have to pay much (or anything) extra if you're already with BT, though you could get roped into a longer contract.

We're with Sky at the moment, mainly because we've got a cheap bundle with the TV and phone. Our current internet speed isn't worth paying more than a couple of quid a month for, and BT were asking well over the odds. Sky are also offering an Infinity-style package, but whether it's worth signing up for depends on what kind of speed we're likely to get and how much they'd charge...

The BT website can give you an estimated speedfor your phone number but I don't know how accurate this is; it was wildly optimistic (3-8Mbps) in the time before we had Infinity and consistently connected at 2Mbps.

Yes, "wildly optimistic" is my experience also... I don't mind being tied into a contract as long as I know what I'm letting myself in for before I sign on the dotted line...

We now have a theoretical maximum of 38Mbps and have achieved this at times.

Woo! Lucky you.

d.

[hellymedic]

What about Virgin? Is your street cabled for them? Ours is but I have resisted them thus far.

[citoyen]

Hmph. I want to throw stuff at the telly every time an ad for Virgin comes on. What's the point of advertising something to people who couldn't even use your product if they wanted to? I thought telly advertising was different in each region, so it's not like they need to advertise it round here - unless they're doing it deliberately to taunt me.

Bastard Bloody Branson.

d.

[hellymedic]

We are TV-free but inundated with junkmail for Virgin. Friend a few miles away disappointed with speeds on Virgin Business BB. My brother is satisfied with Virgin but had year-long battle with Another Telco.
They are all Shite.

[ian]

Hmph. I want to throw stuff at the telly every time an ad for Virgin comes on. What's the point of advertising something to people who couldn't even use your product if they wanted to? I thought telly advertising was different in each region, so it's not like they need to advertise it round here - unless they're doing it deliberately to taunt me.

Bastard Bloody Branson.

d.

They shove their broadband and tv advertising through my door about once a week. I did call them once to 'sign up' for their service. They've been checking availability for about 14 months now...

I could have told me that their little cables don't snake down my street.

[Chris S]

We are far away though.

I'm not. I can see the exchange from my lounge window.



I think it's all Plusnet can manage.

[Aidan]

Aidan, I got BT Infinity last month. Yacf loads faster, vids on YouTube and BBC News still stutter and stop. BT Home Hub is mediocre kit, BT Desktop Help is a pile of poo and the nice OpenReach engineer snipped my landline phone extension cables.
It's been a mixed blessing...
Hope your overall experience is more positive than mine!

Helly, I'm afraid I'm expecting pretty much what you got!   Previous experience tells me I should leave well alone, but the lure of more speed when we have 4 people connected is too strong!!

Fingers crossed

[hellymedic]

Aidan, I got BT Infinity last month. Yacf loads faster, vids on YouTube and BBC News still stutter and stop. BT Home Hub is mediocre kit, BT Desktop Help is a pile of poo and the nice OpenReach engineer snipped my landline phone extension cables.
It's been a mixed blessing...
Hope your overall experience is more positive than mine!

Helly, I'm afraid I'm expecting pretty much what you got!   Previous experience tells me I should leave well alone, but the lure of more speed when we have 4 people connected is too strong!!

Fingers crossed

I'd agree you 'need' Infinity. You may also find fettling skills, patience, a broad band dongle and a stiff drink useful.
You really shouldn't need all this but
Telcos are all a pile of poop.
Good Luck!

[simonp]

I am now getting about 17Mbps from Virgin Media Cable in Cambridge, as they've upgraded me to 20Mbps (for free). Nice.

[CAMRAMan]

I've just got 20.5Mbps from Virgin in Warwick - on the 30Mbps service. The limiting factor is the old modem I have. They're sending me a new "Superhub" to get it up to 30Mbps on Tuesday & I get a no extra charge doubling of speed in July.

Only 1.12Mbps upload though.

[Wombat]

Currently getting about 21Mbps on virgin's freshly upgraded 20Mbps service, and the usual 1.1ish upload.  I do have the new superhub thingy, which is a Netgear modem/wifi router in one box.  Also easy to switch off the wifi for a tiny energy saving.  They sent me the superhub, 'cos I whinged about poor connection times, and they pinged the existing modem and pronounced it duff.  Reasonably happy with them over the years.

[CAMRAMan]

OK, fitted & activated the Virgin Super Hub today and am now getting 29.03Mbps download & 1.94 upload. Quite an improvement.

[hellymedic]

I visited my parents today, some 5km away.
They're on BT but don't have Infinity.
I borrowed Mum's (wireless) laptop and did a speedtest.
Ping 15ms 17MB down, 0.87 up.

[citoyen]

I've been wondering about this, since we're apparently due to get FTTC very soon...

Is all data traffic routed through the fibre where it exists, or only for those customers on Infinity or equivalent? If the former, we should see a drastic improvement in our BB speed even if we don't sign up for Infinity. If the latter, we'll have to continue to put up with our feeble long-distance copper connection or fork out for the high-speed service.

d.

[tatanab]

Changed to BT Infinity a few weeks ago, they phoned and it was marginally cheaper than my existing Bt deal.  The test on installation showed 18MB, I do not remember what the upload figure was.

[ian]

They're still promising it'll be here at the end of June. Not heard a peep. I've been hanging around the cabinet at the end of the road. Looks the same to me. I reckon they're gearing up to disappoint me at the very last moment.

[Jaded]

We're getting Fibre to the cabinet soon, I know this because the town is crawling with BT type people and some new cabinets are going in too.

It is supposed to be live at the end of June, but I think that is unlikely just now.

[Chris S]

I'm guessing something happened at the Diss exchange recently as I'd noticed my router claiming a theoretical 23Mb instead of the usual 7Mb. In a speedtest.net check, I was still only getting 3Mb.

But I remembered from this good forum that getting a line test is a good way to get your hardware at the exchange rebooted, so I did that. And now this:



 

[rusky]

My Virgin connection is so bad, speedtest won't load

[Canardly]

Seems ok atm.

[L CC]

sigh.



(If we're around 50miles from That London I've been taking the wrong roads).
No2Son & I will need to move after the summer (empty nesting, sob) and I've just added "better BB speed" to the list of Needs Wants.

[ian]

Hurrah, it's the end of June, FTC is here. I should be buried under sixty throbbing megabytes of kitten pictures and clothes-negative ladies.

Oh, hold on, the BT website now says 30th September.

Cocks.

[citoyen]

Snap.