Fibre 1

[Bagpuss1977]

Hi All,

I wonder if you can help.

We currently have ADSL broadband at our house wired to a cabinet 1.5 miles away. We are currently out of contract with BT. They are offering new packages with some interesting download speeds.

We currently have the following:

Current Deal

BROADBAND UNLIMITED
Your download speed range 3Mb - 5Mb
Upload speed 1Mb
Your Stay Fast Guarantee 1Mb

BT Home Hub 4

Offered

FIBRE 1
8Mb - 15Mb
Download speed range

1Mb Upload speed

5Mb Stay Fast Guarantee

Actual Speeds

4.4Mb Download
0.2Mb Upload

I'm trying to understand the tech behind the new offer. Have there been some vast improvements recently?

How are they able to offer vastly improved download speeds?

Thanks in advance

Jason

[licquorice]

No improvements to technology but previously FTTC would not be offered for speeds as low as that, you would be kept on ADSL. However, there is a drive to switch customers away from ADSL, which is fed from the exchange (not the cabinet) so that the equipment can be turned off.

8Mb -15Mb sounds a bit optimistic for that sort of distance from the cabinet but might be possible.

[Bagpuss1977]

Thanks for the response,

Would we see any improvement do you think?

I'd rather not give BT any more money, considering the shocking amount of problems we've had with them.

[licquorice]

Its hard to say, you won't know the exact speed until it is connected, but with a stayfast guarantee of 5Mb it should be faster than your current service as the stayfast is usually very pessimistic.

If you enter your phone number in the checker https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL and post a screenshot of the result we will have a better idea of what is possible. Edit out your phone number from the screenshot before posting.

[Bagpuss1977]

[licquorice]

As you can see from the checker, you are currently getting around 9M (9.48M observed on the 15/8) and could possibly get up to 17M but, as I said previously, that will only be discovered once you are connected. Your current ADSL speed is higher than estimated but that doesn't necessarily mean that VDSL speed would also be faster than estimated.

Your call really, but not sure you would notice a massive difference between 9M and 17M but it depends on what you are using the service for.