Why is my Internet worse than my neighbours?

[Keith_Beddoe]

The speed is going to be the same with BT and Sky. If you are not happy with the actual speed that you get with BT, after your service is activated, then you have 14 days to cancel and move, but do not expect anything faster, its the physical limitation of the line.

[emshepemil]

I'm moving in soon so I'll be testing all of this as soon as I can. The router will be plugged directly into what I believe is the master socket (I've included a photo of it because I'm absolutely clueless and it might not be for all I know lol), then ethernet will be run to the PCs. If it's not an internal issue, how would I go about testing if it's an external issue without a landline? And is reporting it as easy as calling up BT?

 

[emshepemil]

If the best BT quote they can provide is 30-36mbps, how can Sky offer 36-51mbps? If I stay with BTs 32mbps would it be capped to the 36mbps max or could it go higher?

I'm very confused as to how Sky could give me a minimum speed guarantee of 32mbps when BT can only provide 28mbps as a guarantee and not get much higher than sky's minimum guarantee as "the best I can probably get" according to the customer service person on the phone.

[iniltous]

As stated , the speed will be the same regardless of the ISP , after all it’s the same Openreach equipment used by the ISP , you shouldn’t get too fixated on the predicted speed , and its nonsense that different ISP produce wildly varying estimates for the same address , so if Sky are predicting much better speed ( for exactly the same line and equipment ) than BT there is obviously an error somewhere…….no ISP limits the speed available, the line / equipment delivers what it’s capable of , so if the BT estimate is unduly pessimistic, that doesn’t alter what the line will deliver….if the line is capable of ( for example ) 75Mb and you ‘buy’ the 80Mb product, then every provider will deliver 75Mb , including BT , even if the estimate was 35Mb for one provider and 75Mb for the other .

The way you presented the question suggested you already had service ( hence the suggestion to read the router statistics, that’s the best way to check the lines potential against it’s actual sync speed )  , not some arbitrary estimate, but obviously if you haven’t ordered from anyone you can’t do that , but don’t be swayed by the prediction, it doesn’t matter if one is optimistic and another pessimistic, the line is the same , the  FTTC equipment is the  , and therefore it follows that the performance is the same,  from whoever you chose to use  .

[emshepemil]

My BT broadband switches from my current address to the new address on the 10th so I'll check the router statistics then.

I more meant if I'm with the 32-36mbps package, will I be not be able to get more than 36mbps as that's not what I'm paying for even if the line is OK and could maybe get up to 40+mbps?

I kind of need it explained like I'm 5 because I'm really struggling to understand this 

[licquorice]

The laws of physics determine speed, not some estimate by an ISP. We need to see the router stats before making any pronouncement as to any possible fault.

Until then, everything is just conjecture.

[iniltous]

If you are currently with BT , to avoid early termination charges ( assuming you are within a minimum term at the old address ) continuing with BT makes sense ( financially ) , Sky can’t magically make the line work better than anyone else , that would be like saying a new Vauxhall Corsa supplied by one dealer is faster than the same model/spec supplied by a rival dealer …they are the same car , even if one dealer said their car is faster , it isn’t .

As stated , once you are in the new place , you will know what speed you are getting , that is obviously better than some prediction, if at that point you feel that what you get is way off the speeds near neighbours get ( or what they are predicted to get ) , look at you router stats and post them here , that way , if a fault is indicated by the router stats , you are in a position to report a problem , there is a very good chance the speed will be much better than you expect and it’s only a ‘dodgy’ speed estimate that’s giving you cause for concern,

the alternative is to use someone else like Sky  , pay BT the early termination charges, ETC ( for ending your contract early ) and if the new provider supplies a good speed , that’s the same as what BT would have supplied, and if it’s disappointingly slow , you go onto that ISP customers forum and ask them to interpret that ISP router statistics …you won’t know until you are in the property and have a working broadband if it’s working to full potential or is hampered by a fault 

[emshepemil]

So in theory if everything is fine it might be possible to get a little bit more than what I've been quoted on the website? Even if I'm only paying for up to 36mbps?

[licquorice]

There is no 36M package, you are either on fibre 1 up to 55M or fibre2 up to 80M.

As stated several times, until we see your router stats we don't know what your line is capable of.

Have you asked the present owners what speeds they get or are you the first occupant?

[rbz5416]

@licquorice 

Fibre Essentials is still being offered.

@emshepemil 

Here's an example of what you'll be looking for.

In this instance the maximum rate the line could sync at was 59Mb, but as can be seen, it was banded to a lower rate. So you may find similar when you move in, if all BT will offer is the Essentials. These scenarios were often previously resolved by a team of Moderators on these forums, but BT got rid of them all.

Your difficulty then will be trying to convince someone that higher speeds are available when Computer Says No. I have no idea how you would go about that now.