Broadband for my in-laws

[milleniumaire]

I am looking to arrange for my in-laws to get broadband.  They are currently BT phone only customers and have never had broadband before, living in a house that was built around 40 years ago.

My brother-in-law contacted BT and was told a site survey would need to be done to determine if fibre could be installed. I wasn't sure this was absolutely necessary, so spoke to one of their neighbours who are also BT customers, with broadband.  They explained they'd had a fibre cable installed via the same route (underground) that the original BT cable used.

I live in the same village and have been with BT for phone and broadband for many years, currently getting their Infinity 1 package.  We have an overground BT cable into our house and it was my understanding that this was a copper cable, not fibre.  Our house was built 24 years ago.  It is very possible that at some stage the cable was upgraded to fibre as when we moved to BT broadband some years ago, a BT engineer had to visit and change the master socket, however, I wasn't ware that he also changed the cable coming into the house.

How do I tell if I have a copper of fibre cable?

The reason I ask, is I'm not sure my in-laws actually need fibre.  Wouldn't broadband over their existing copper cable be sufficient or is this something BT are looking to upgrade anyway, and which may result in cheaper broadband?

Thanks for your help in clarifying things for me.

[-Richie-]

Prise wise, BT charge the same for the broadband packages no matter how it's delivered, if you take Fibre 1 that is FTTC (Fibre to the Cabinet) then it would cost the same as Fibre 1 that is FTTP (Fibre to the premises).

FTTP is more reliable, it's newer technology, adding broadband will also see your in-laws changed to Digital Voice most likely but they'd be migrated within the next couple of years regardless due to the old copper PSTN network being phased out.

[jac_95]

@milleniumaire Can you post the results of https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com please (minus address or phone number)

Example:

[milleniumaire]

@jac_95 thanks for the link and here's the result.

[milleniumaire]

And here's the details for my telephone line, which is the same exchange and cabinet as my in-laws:

[jac_95]

@milleniumaire Yes so FTTP Full fibre available to the property and a duct and pull rope is waiting for the fibre drop cable to be pulled to the property. Full fibre will usually take precedence if available over other products so for your in-laws it is likely they will get full fibre (FTTP) broadband.

[milleniumaire]

@jac_95 thanks for the information.

So, comparing the two reports, it looks like we currently both have the same copper cable into the house, however my in-laws are able to upgrade to FTTP.

Given than I'm on Infinity 1 over copper cable and this copes with 4 adults using the internet I wouldn't have thought that FTTP was an absolute necessity for my in-laws as their internet usage will be much lower, actually, it will only be used by a Ring Doorbell, which is the only reason we are considering installing broadband so that we can monitor who visits their house.

The current BT prices for fibre broadband see quite high, given I'm paying around £27 per month for both line rental and Infinity 1 broadband over 24 months!

[jac_95]

@milleniumaire With full fibre broadband you don't need to go to the full top package. Price wise unless you add on extra benefits there shouldn't be much of a price comparison between FTTC or FTTP as the industry is wanting to push and promote FTTP. What package have they gone for?

For new customers I see the following deals for FTTP Full Fibre:

Vs For new customers I see the following deals for FTTC (copper from cabinet top property):

Also to note there are also social tariffs available too if they qualify for that too: https://www.bt.com/broadband/home-essentials

[licquorice]

It is not a question of whether FTTP is necessary or not, that is the medium that will be used for all broadband in the future and broadband via copper is being phased out. Fibre is a far more reliable medium than copper and is priced exactly the same.

[milleniumaire]

@jac_95 thanks for the price comparisons, as you say, they are the same, regardless of fibre to the home or copper to the home.

@licquorice I appreciate what you are saying, but I've been with BT broadband for over 10 years and can't remember a single outage, so that is a pretty good indication that FTTC is adequate.  Since Covid, I've been working from home and I'm an IT Consultant, so I spend a good 8 hours a day online without issue using my "old" copper connection.

You guys have now cleared up my confusion.  I had thought that the higher prices I was seeing were due to BT charging more for FTTP and that was the reason they were keen to upgrade my in-laws line, but I now see that these are the standard BT prices and I have just managed to negotiate a better deal for my own line rental and broadband connection.

Given that all we want to do is install a Ring Doorbell and enable us to get alerts/video stream when someone approaches the in-laws door, paying an additional £20 per month for BT broadband, compared to their current £13'ish line rental bill seems expensive, so I will be shopping around.

Thanks again for your help.