This topic

Fibre 2 minimum speed

borderline — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 17:55:20 GMT

I got an email from BT saying I'm paying the standard price. They offer me Fibre 2, 74mb download speed (34mbps guaranteed and 20 mbps upload) for a few pound less of what I pay now. I'm already on Fibre 2, the only difference is that my package says 72Mbps guarantee.

if I took the new offer, will it be times I will have well under 72mbps since it says 34mbps guaranteed?

Re: Fibre 2 minimum speed

licquorice — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 18:01:19 GMT

Offers don't change the laws of physics.

Re: Fibre 2 minimum speed

WSH — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 18:40:21 GMT

Are you sure that is not an offer to upgrade to Fibre 2 on Full Fibre?

If it is, the speed on Full Fibre is much more reliable. If the package says 74, 74 is almost certainly what'll get, all the time.

It sounds very much like my initial offer when I upgraded from Part Fibre (FTTC/VDSL) to Full Fibre (FTTP).

Re: Fibre 2 minimum speed

borderline — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 18:49:18 GMT

no, it says 'All plans shown use Part-fibre technology'
I can't have full fibre, landlord said they don't want holes in the building .
I can't risk to go to down to 34mbps , I work from home and I need the speed

Re: Fibre 2 minimum speed

borderline — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 18:51:01 GMT

@ licquorice meaning ?

Re: Fibre 2 minimum speed

licquorice — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 18:51:42 GMT

Meaning the speed you get is governed by the laws of physics not some abitrary offer.

What you get now is what you will get whatever you do.

Re: Fibre 2 minimum speed

iniltous — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 18:57:43 GMT

I’d check how your service is currently working , it’s possible, that if your Fibre 2 is suffering from a line fault , not sufficient to stop it working completely but reducing your speed from it’s usual 70-80Mb (and 72Mb minimum speed guarantee) to (for arguments sake ) 40Mb , then when they come to offer a renewal it’s based on your lines actual performance (rather than it’s previous performance or geographic location calculation) , so the MSG is 32Mb ….fix the line problem, the speed goes back up to 70-80Mb and the MSG follows to 72Mb .

If you do a speed test and your speed is fine , ( getting what you would normally expect 70-80Mb) then BT don’t slow the line down to match the ‘incorrect’ MSG of 32Mb , you continue to get the speeds you always got …., it’s possible for you to have a problem that needs fixing , 40Mb instead of the usual 80Mb without you realising it .

Another way to establish if you have an issue is look at your router connection statistics, in particular the line sync rate and maximum attainable speed .

Re: Fibre 2 minimum speed

borderline — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 19:05:37 GMT

I think the speed is fine.. the speed test shows

DOWNLOAD Mbps

74.46

UPLOAD Mbps

15.39

Re: Fibre 2 minimum speed

iniltous — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 20:09:21 GMT

In which case the MSG seems to just be an error , but it’s pretty irrelevant, your speed won’t change if you renew just because the MSG is wrong (although it’s weird that it is wrong ) 34Mb is more in line with what you’d expect if you had or were looking at BT Essential broadband which is 40Mb .
The only potential issue is if you took the deal on offer and 34Mb was recorded as the minimum, if you had a fault in the future that reduced your speed from 74Mb to (for arguments sake ) 50Mb , you could have a problem getting the fault accepted as the speed is still above that inaccurate MSG of 34Mb and they could say the speed is above the minimum so no problem , even though it’s much less than you were getting , but it’s very unlikely to ever be an issue .
You can always call or look at the website for your address and check what the current MSG is or would be (if you were a new customer first example) perhaps that will show 72Mb and it’s only that email that’s wrong .

Re: Fibre 2 minimum speed

borderline — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 20:38:09 GMT

when I look at the BT site if I was a new customer , under my address only gives me Full Fibre deals, and yes there is one 74mbps with 34mbps guaranteed

the link BT directly sent me only shows Part Fibre deals with the 74mbps with 34mbps guaranteed, plus 2 Halos also at 34mbps guaranteed.

Re: Fibre 2 minimum speed

iniltous — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 22:09:56 GMT

Try a neighbours address to see if they would also get the same 34Mb MSG on a F2 (80Mb) profile.

TBH , if your address has FTTP available, then renewal will come with the requirement to take FTTP , rather than continuing with your current FTTC , so you would have available much faster speeds than F2 (80Mb) and for very little extra expenditure.

FWIW , my area has recently been upgraded to FTTP , and although less than a year into a 24 month deal , renewing is available , and 150Mb ( sold inexplicably as Full Fibre 100 ) is the same cost as 80Mb , so it would be ridiculous to take 80Mb in thise circumstances, and 500Mb is only £1 more , so irrespective of the MSG on FTTC being way off your actual recorded FTTC speed , it’s pretty irrelevant in that its based on FTTC anyway , and you will be getting FTTP if it’s available , what’s more there is no rate adaption on FTTP , in other words unlike FTTC where the longer the line , the slower the speed (although you must be pretty close to the cabinet if you get 70Mb+) with FTTP you pretty much get the headline speed of the package you buy , there is no speed reduction because of distance, so this minimum speed guarantee issue is pretty irrelevant.

Re: Fibre 2 minimum speed

borderline — Mon, 24 Aug 2026 09:16:46 GMT

neighbours address gives me the same full fibre options.

I want full fibre but my landlord said no , so I'll be stuck with part fibre forever, paying more for less

Re: Fibre 2 minimum speed

licquorice — Mon, 24 Aug 2026 09:20:44 GMT

Landlord is an idiot and will eventually severely restrict his ability to let the property.

Re: Fibre 2 minimum speed

borderline — Mon, 24 Aug 2026 09:28:14 GMT

yes but new tenants will see FF is available in my area but once they move in they will see their flat doesn't have it, unless they ask directly to the landlord before

Re: Fibre 2 minimum speed

WSH — Mon, 24 Aug 2026 09:36:35 GMT

Although it will be many years yet, eventually copper will be stopped altogether, so he is only putting off the inevitable.

Re: Fibre 2 minimum speed

iniltous — Mon, 24 Aug 2026 10:15:01 GMT

The fact that full fibre is available and it’s only the landlord intransigence that’s stopping you get it may be a problem if you renew or even swap providers as many providers will see FTTP as available and expect you to take advantage of it , normally the way to stay on FTTC is by allowing the existing deal to move into an ‘out of contract basis’ , and a monthly notice to quit arrangement , this keeps your FTTC service on it’s current terms going although it’s an irrational fear you have about the minimum speed guarantee , that would at least keep your MSG as it is , but clearly you miss out on the better prices being inside a new minimum term gives you , let alone the benefits FTTP would give you .

I’d explore what getting FTTP into your flat actually entails , in some situations there will be little or no disruption, and no evidence when done , and as stated your landlord needs to accept that this move is inevitable long term so avoiding it is pointless.
What type of flat is it , an apartment complex recently built , a converted house , a former local authority development built in the 1960’s through to the 1990s , there are multiple ways MDU are ‘upgraded’ to FTTP , your landlord probably has no real need to expect any negative impact on their property.
You could put your address in here and see what the survey and installation method for FTTP would be , assuming you think the landlord could be persuaded .
https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL/AddressHome

Re: Fibre 2 minimum speed

borderline — Mon, 24 Aug 2026 10:45:44 GMT

I'm out of contract already but the email I was sent offered me to renew

This is a flat above a shop. When I entered my house number , it wouldn't let me add the letter A for our building. without the A is the shop below (shop is 460, we are 460A) so the results below might be for the shop below us

Re: Fibre 2 minimum speed

iniltous — Mon, 24 Aug 2026 12:04:13 GMT

Unfortunately this is getting a little complex , if your address ( the flat with an ‘A’ suffix) doesn’t appear on that checker , then ordering FTTP may be impossible in the short term , the fact it doesn’t show up also is puzzling in that how did the copper service get installed in the first place .

What address shows up on your bill 460 or 460A , and does your address appear on the Royal Mail post coder checker , and is the flat liable for its own council tax etc , as often , especially with flats above shops etc , the flat being rented out was historically something if an ‘off the books’ income for the owner .

In some respects, if you have had a renewal offer , and it’s acceptable (price wise) and it’s only the MSG that worries you, as stated , the MSG isn’t a limit , or imposed on your line , that continues to work exactly as it does now , it’s only if a fault occurred knocking the speed from 70+ Mb that they may say well the MSG is 34Mb and the line is doing in excess of that .

Depending on how much you wanted to take this , barring in mind the landlord may never agree anyway , you would first need to check the flat is properly registered as a separate dwelling for council tax etc, has its own utility bill for electric, water etc and is visible on the RM website ( this may be the case ) then approach Openreach to get the address looked at as far as FTTP availability, then it may be possible to order FTTP .

I suspect that way back , the copper service was fitted using the shop address , the installer back then told to put the line in the flat above , things were much more informal back then , today if the address doesn’t appear you would normally get a ‘computer says No’ type response.

Re: Fibre 2 minimum speed

borderline — Mon, 24 Aug 2026 12:27:42 GMT

Billing address is 460A, and it shows up on the Royal Mail address checker. We are 3 flats above this shop, flat 1, 2 and 3. We pay CTax individually . When I first moved in many years ago, Council Tax was paid by landlord for the whole building, later the council said it had to be paid individually and since then we do, this was like 15 years ago or more

Not sure why my flat doesn't appear on the BT checker then . A few months ago I was moved from old landline to Digital Voice

Re: Fibre 2 minimum speed

iniltous — Mon, 24 Aug 2026 14:01:36 GMT

As stated , depending on how far you want to go , you could fill in this Formwize,

https://www.openreach.com/forms/fibre-broadband-availability---customer-form

specifically the section relating to ‘my neighbours can get FTTP but I can’t ‘ , that should prompt Openreach to see why that is , and possibly add the missing addresses ( no guarantee on that though ) when they get back to you , if your address then appears on the BTw checker then you should be able to order FTTP , but non of that gets around your landlord not agreeing to it installed , and as your original worry wasn’t actually about that but a misunderstanding about minimum speed guarantees , only you know if it’s worth pursuing , presumably you and your neighbour flats should be on the BTw site as , Flat 1 460A Whatever St , Flat 2, 460A Whatever St , Flat 3 etc , or however they appear on the council tax records and the RM website , it’s worth checking the BTw site for your postcode in case the addresses are in there but in a different format.