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Adding Broadband on existing analogue line - mixed messages!

caroandrew — Fri, 09 Aug 2024 17:36:05 GMT

My mother lives in a block of retirement apartments on the 2nd floor. She has a standard copper landline - currently with Talk Talk - and I am trying to add Broadband. Talk Talk offer this but the download is less than 10Mbps and she wants to use a Firestick on her smart TV However if I check on Openreach they state that ADSL up to 24MBps is available. When I go to BT and put in her address/postcode all they offer is Broadband over 4G - at a very high cost. Using the various comparison sites I get a variety of confusing answers, some offer Fibre, others Broadband over the local 4G mobile networks EE & 3. And often when I follow through on some of these 'deals' they throw up errors. Why doesnt BT (and others) offer a standard broadband (non fibre) if it is available? I dont understand what is going on! Any suggestions?

Re: Adding Broadband on existing analogue line - mixed messages!

naylor2006 — Fri, 09 Aug 2024 20:31:14 GMT

Might be interesting to check out her address here:

BT Broadband (btwholesale.com)

Post the info here but remove the address, will give a better idea of what is available from a higher level.

"Up to 24Mbps" means that I'm afraid, I think my parents are the same but get 8Mbps.....old copper infra.

10Mbps tbh will be okay for a Firestick, maybe not the 4K titles but 10Mbps will get through most content without issue.

Re: Adding Broadband on existing analogue line - mixed messages!

caroandrew — Sat, 10 Aug 2024 13:44:02 GMT

Thanks for your response, It more or less confirms what Im thinking. This is the result from the address check

Re: Adding Broadband on existing analogue line - mixed messages!

iniltous — Sat, 10 Aug 2024 14:04:51 GMT

60 to 80Mb would be available if the FTTC ‘cabinet’ wasn’t at capacity ( its showing ‘waiting list’ ) so ADSL2 is the only current option, and the predicted speed for that is up to 8Mb .

FTTC cabinet capacity is dynamic, as people join and leave the service , the cab will vary between showing ‘available’ and ‘waiting list’ , so you could keep an eye on the availability and order FTTC if the cabinet status changes to available , otherwise it’s ADSL2 and 8Mb , only you can decide if that’s OK , FWIW , when I was on 3Mb ADSL ( 5Km line length ) it was OK for most things , but obviously is pretty slow by today standards.

The theoretical maximum for ADSL2+ is 24Mb , but that’s not really achievable even with the shortest possible line , 17Mb is what most providers state as an average speed ( upto 17Mb ) but as your predicted speed is much lower .

ADSL is a rate adaptive system , longer lines slow speeds , your line length gives a prediction of 8Mb , that’s probably OK for most things apart from 4K video streams ( HD consumes around 5Mb )

Re: Adding Broadband on existing analogue line - mixed messages!

caroandrew — Sat, 10 Aug 2024 15:36:34 GMT

Thank you very much. That has clarified what is going on. I guess the comparison sites show Fibre at the address - until you click through and they check it properly and realise there is no capacity. I think I will investigate Broadband over the mobile network, but even that is only 4G in the area Im looking at.

Thank you once again.