Fibre 900 - Feeling misled

[seanasay]

So now I discover after subscribing to fibre 900 that unless I’m connected via Ethernet then I won’t get anywhere near the quoted 900mb speed.

I feel a little mislead here and would have opted for a lesser product had I know that I’d also have to purchase my own Wi-Fi ) capable mesh network kit for several hundred quid..

What is the timeline for by swapping out hardware to match the service?

[busterboy1]

So now I discover after subscribing to fibre 900 that unless I’m connected via Ethernet then I won’t get anywhere near the quoted 900mb speed.

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I thought it was common knowledge that even WiFi 6 will not achieve 900Mbps so you really haven't done your homework Sean. 😉

CAT5e or CAT6 cable from the  router to you're devices you will quite easily once setup subject to a problem.

[yorkspark]

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@seanasaywrote:

So now I discover after subscribing to fibre 900 that unless I’m connected via Ethernet then I won’t get anywhere near the quoted 900mb speed. That's a well known fact surely. Very few routers/devices have the capability, its more for bandwith to allow more devices to have greater speed.

I feel a little mislead here and would have opted for a lesser product had I know that I’d also have to purchase my own Wi-Fi ) capable mesh network kit for several hundred quid.. Bear in mind that your speed is also limited by the wireless network card in the product using the wifi, ie an iphone 7 will max out at about 460Mbps no matter what connection speed you have.

What is the timeline for by swapping out hardware to match the service? You will need a router capable of the higher speeds, and of course new devices ie laptops,ipads etc with wireless network cards capable of the higher speeds

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[Forthay]

If rumours are true then there’s supposed to be another hub on the way but nothing official. Even if it did support Wi-fi 6 you’re right the Wi-fi clients would need to support it too meaning cash to shell out.

I can understand why you feel misled, maybe you could discuss with the sales team and ask for a regrade downwards?

Even if it’s a bit of a false economy I like the idea of being on the fibre 900 (after being on 300 and 500)  and even with all the headaches I’ve got with it I’m going to stick with it.

[seanasay]

I’m sure there will be.  My point is that BT are selling a service to everyone without explanation of the limitation. They say 900mb not 900mb but only if you use a wired connection.  That’s my beef.   For fibre to the cabinet they don’t say up to 56mbps where your hardware allows do they?

if they do release a new hub no doubt I’ll be asked to pay for that too.

It’s a triumph of marketing over what the average punter will realise. My laptop does have a Wi-Fi 6 card so arguments about what Wi-Fi 6 will achieve aside, I am limitations by the BT equipment not the openreach service....  

I guarantee that as they roll this out there will be a wave of similarly unhappy 

[supertedster]

Your connection is only as fast as the computers connection on the other end!

The real benefit is the increased bandwidth, multiple users streaming at the same time.

Otherwise, I suspect that just doing speed-tests would get old pretty fast, faster than your connection even!

[pippincp]

@seanasay  There is no ISP in this country who guarantees wireless speeds. I doubt there is one anywhere in the world. Of course if you know of one please link to the relevant page showing the guarantee.

It is your responsibility to know the capability of any device you chose to use, not the ISP.

[seanasay]

Its a BT Hub  issued by BT specifically for this service.....  They know fine well it’s not going to deliver what they promise and they have chosen to exclude this detail from their sales patter...

Im well aware of the options I have including purchasing thirds party mesh wireless at several hundred quid.  It’s a triumph of marketing hype 

[gadget192]

It most certainly can achieve it's advertised throughput - it's just that a single wireless client isn't able to receive data at that rate.

If you had multiple wireless clients or a 1G connected Ethernet device you would be able to utilise the full 900M. Even then, you'd need a PCIe 3.0 NVMe SSD to be able to write data at that speed.

I'll accept that the WIFI 5 (802.1ac) advertised throughput is confusing for the average person - 1300M per channel is available to the network but in the real world each connected device would get more like 500M depending on the hardware on the client.

Put simply, 900M is currently overkill for a single user connection. If you had been clear about that to BT sales and they still said you would benefit from the extra then you may have an argument that it was missold. If you bought it through the website and selected the options yourself then I can't really see it being BT's fault. If you're still in the first month or so of the contract you might be able to get it regraded down to 300M perhaps. Worth asking anyway.

[david39ni]

Sorry but If you where into these speeds and services you would do research like I done, I was with virgin so I am lucky i had a netgear nighthawk which I will reuse for bt it was my own.

Instead of complaining get a basic router it can connect directly into the network connection on the wall.