New FTTP Connection Query

[tasmanuk]

Hello. I have recently signed up to the 900 mb/s FTTP package from BT and it is being installed in a week or so. However after reading a lot of posts here I am wondering if I am actually going to get those speeds and if it is worth going for the 300 mb/s package instead. I will only be using the SH2 router for now but am looking at getting ethernet cable run from where the connection enters my house, over to my office which is the other side of the house. I like the stay fast guarantee of 450 that the 900 package gives you but I believe that is the line connection speed rather than what my devices connect with.

My question is, if I get the 900 package now, and find that I am not getting decent speeds, can I downgrade to the 300 package within the 14 day cooling off period? However if I go for 300 will my speeds just drop even more using wifi or if I can get 300 using the 900 package will I at least be able to get 300 by getting the 300 package?

[pippincp]

It is impossible to say what speeds you will get wirelessly, there are too many variables not least are your devices capable of 300Mb wirelessly?

You can upgrade/downgrade during the 14 day period. A wired connection will always give you the best speeds.

[licquorice]

The fundamental question is what speed do you need.

Unless you have a house full of people all streaming different UHD channels, do you actually need all that speed?

Your actual wifi speed itself won't change because of lower sync speed, it is entirely independent. Throughput is limited by the slowest link in the chain, broadband or wifi.

[tasmanuk]

This is sort of why I think 900 may be overkill if I am just using wifi for now (I guess I can always upgrade my package with BT later). Devices using wifi are latest iPad and iPhone 12, Apple TV 4K, Xbox Series X, PS5, iMac (3 years old) and LG Smart TV (2 years old). 

[tasmanuk]

To be honest, probably not. My wife still watches SD tv and thinks it is acceptable 🙂

I however want to be able to stream 4K movies on my Apple TV and not wait for days (on my current 10 mb/s connection) for game downloads to download. Also there was only £2 a month difference between the 500 and 900 package, which is why I went for the top one. I never checked what the 300 one would have cost.

[licquorice]

4K streaming only needs minimum of 25M but 50M preferable.

[Will168]

@tasmanuk It is certainly possible to get 900 mbps on it. I can get that when wired in and on wireless I can typically get 350-420 mbps throughout the house using a Deco M9 mesh. You can see both wired and wireless speed test results that I just ran.

I have seen on this community that some people seem to struggle to get decent speeds out of the faster FTTP packages and I guess there are a variety of reasons. Any time I run a wired speed test, I get 900/110.

Is the 900 mbps overkill? For me, certainly! I have three gigabit switches, one on each floor of the house, just to have as many devices wired in as possible, to attempt to make the most of it. But I doubt there is any point in a normal day when more than 200 mbps is being used at any one time. 300 mbps would have been enough for me, but I did my FTTP switch as part of a home move last year and the 900 mbps and 300 mbps packages were the same price, so obviously went for the 900 mbps. I think normally, the difference is £10 per month.

Do you need the 900 mbps? Only you can determine that. You'd have to be hammering it fairly often to notice 300 mbps being a bottleneck.

Either way, both packages are really fast and nothing ever needs to load or buffer, which is very nice!

The upload speed on the 900 mbps is 100 mbps vs 50 mbps on the 300 mbps package. That might make the difference for some people.

I'm sure you'll be impressed with the download speeds whichever way you decide to go

WifiWired

[tasmanuk]

Thankyou. That is very useful. I think if I could get over 400 download using the SH2 on wifi I would be very happy. Then I could decide whether to get ethernet cable laid through my house or instead buy one of those fancy Asus or Netgear routers that seem to do a better job than the BT one. I will see what it is like for a few days and make a decision then on whether to downgrade to 300 while I am in my cooling off period. I'm sure 300 will be enough and as I currently have an upload speed of 1 mb/s (on a good day) then even 50 up will be a massive improvement. It's possible the price difference will be really small so maybe worth sticking with the higher speeds though.

[Will168]

@tasmanuk No problem! Note that the 400 mbps over wifi was on the Deco mesh, not the SH2. Typically, I can get around 350-380 mbps on the SH2 over wifi and is not as consistent across the whole house. In some corners of the house, it can be around 280 mbps (all internal walls in the house are stud walls, not solid).

For reference, my SH2 is running firmware v0.24.04.11017-BT and although I see a lot of complaints about how temperamental the BT hubs are, I've never had any issues with them in the past, except the wifi range on my previous HomeHub. But when I moved into a bigger house last yeah, I decided the Deco mesh was a worthwhile investment. 

As you said, there's no harm in getting the SH2 setup and seeing how it goes for you first before deciding whether or not to fork out for the fancier routers. Although if wifi range and speed stability is important, I would definitely consider a mesh option...I'm extremely impressed with how well the one I have performs.

[tasmanuk]

I didn't know what Mesh was so have now looked into it. Seems more useful than standard range extenders. So many choices though when I look at the options to buy. I looked at the Deco on Amazon and bizarrely a 3 pack was £150 (which seems reasonable) whereas the 2 pack was £240. Not wifi 6 enabled for those prices but not sure if I need that.