Broadband speeds what do you get ?

[daveh75]

Ha, just over 50% of people have FTTP available in one form or another (around 30% of we're just talking Openreach) but parts of Asia have had 1gbps for a number of years now!

It Premises, not people, but as of yesterday it's 57% now.

Whilst 78% of UK premises have access to Gigabit options now, largely because of VMs rollout of DOCSIS 3.1

 

[flashgordon1952]

Its BT here fast fiber 4 others live here. all using internet so made a check and get 220 Mps and upload of 95 Mps that is not the fastest service you can get here , But i was getting 76mps and 17 mps fiber Sky . rural

 

[giggsy1977]

It Premises, not people, but as of yesterday it's 57% now.

Whilst 78% of UK premises have access to Gigabit options now, largely because of VMs rollout of DOCSIS 3.1

That's the coax hybrid isn't it? Will that go beyond 1gbps or will Virgin need to add more hardware? I'm assuming pure fibre will likely be able to handle higher speeds in the future?

 

[flashgordon1952]

does seem to vary here okay it is a Sunday Miday now 290 mps download 105 upload

 

[daveh75]

That's the coax hybrid isn't it? Will that go beyond 1gbps or will Virgin need to add more hardware?

Yes it's mostly HFC. You won't see anymore upgrades to their HFC network now though.

All the recent deployments that were done under project lightning expansion were RFoG and that itself (will & is) being upgraded to XGS-PON.

All current and future deployments are now being done under the Nexfibre JV wholesale platform and is XGS-PON.

I'm assuming pure fibre will likely be able to handle higher speeds in the future?

Yes.

XGS-PON is capable of providing 10Gbps symmetrical connections.

 

[JDL]

I live in West Wales, Ceredigion. I'm living in a Farmhouse, down quite a long track. The phone line down our track was replaced by Openreach last summer.
We've been here for over ten years now. Our broadband has been getting slower and more erratic this year.
During the last two months or so, it's been deteriorating. I just did a speed check and it's down to 0.8 Mb/S.
However, I'm reluctant to worry or moan about it.

 

[giggsy1977]

I live in West Wales, Ceredigion. I'm living in a Farmhouse, down quite a long track. The phone line down our track was replaced by Openreach last summer.
We've been here for over ten years now. Our broadband has been getting slower and more erratic this year.
During the last two months or so, it's been deteriorating. I just did a speed check and it's down to 0.8 Mb/S.
However, I'm reluctant to worry or moan about it.

If you don't have a need for faster Internet and it works for you then that's good. If you do want something faster then there may be options out there that suit. 4G/5G if in a good signal area or satellite broadband (if it's still a thing, although somewhat expensive).

 

[Friesiansam]

I live in West Wales, Ceredigion. I'm living in a Farmhouse, down quite a long track. The phone line down our track was replaced by Openreach last summer.
We've been here for over ten years now. Our broadband has been getting slower and more erratic this year.
During the last two months or so, it's been deteriorating. I just did a speed check and it's down to 0.8 Mb/S.
However, I'm reluctant to worry or moan about it.

Does your braodband contract specify a minimum guaranteed speed? If it does, you are surely not getting it, so you have the right to insist it is fixed.

 

[Roger_A]

Zero at the moment since Saturday evening. My ISP is chasing Openreach as it is a network problem but it’s infuriating to be down so long - and they’re changing to voip for phone use.
Normally we get about 39Mbps which meets our needs although I could double that for an extra £3 per month.

 

[JDL]

Does your braodband contract specify a minimum guaranteed speed? If it does, you are surely not getting it, so you have the right to insist it is fixed.

I don't think they're willing to specify a speed. My twin Brother deals with it, I'll ask him. Something else that has happened a few times, is he'll try to change supplier, they'll promise better performance, then they'll phone back a few days later and say that they're sorry but they can't give us a contract to supply us after all.
I think he's in the process of changing again, he's been promised better performance, it's supposed to go over in 10 days to this new one, but he's heard nothing from them and it's been about 3 or 4 days now, since they agreed to the switch over.

 

[JDL]

Does your braodband contract specify a minimum guaranteed speed? If it does, you are surely not getting it, so you have the right to insist it is fixed.

Thanks, actually I think it was 0.8 Kb/S but a message came with the speed check saying that it's extrenely slow and some things are likey to not work at all as a result.
My twin brother deals with that and he's meant to be changing over to someone else, who's said it'll be 69 something or other per second. Thing is though he made the agreement 3 or 4 days ago, the switch over was suoposed to be 10 days from the agreement day but he's heard nothing back yet.

 

[JDL]

If you don't have a need for faster Internet and it works for you then that's good. If you do want something faster then there may be options out there that suit. 4G/5G if in a good signal area or satellite broadband (if it's still a thing, although somewhat expensive).

The thing is with our place is the valley is so deep that we have no mobile phone signal, I can't connect to mobile data until I walk a hundred yards up a hill on the farm or drive about a mile up another hill.
We thought about satelite broadband but a friend not far away tried that and it didn't work all that well for him.
We do try our best to live with the frequent problems with our broadband but sometimes it causes genuine difficulties, and anxiety sets in for a little while.

 

[daveh75]

I don't think they're willing to specify a speed. My twin Brother deals with it, I'll ask him. Something else that has happened a few times, is he'll try to change supplier, they'll promise better performance, then they'll phone back a few days later and say that they're sorry but they can't give us a contract to supply us after all.
I think he's in the process of changing again, he's been promised better performance, it's supposed to go over in 10 days to this new one, but he's heard nothing from them and it's been about 3 or 4 days now, since they agreed to the switch over.

If it's one of the bigger ISPs then they're obligated to provide you with a minimum speed guarantee and if it drops below the guarantee and they can't fix it they have to release you from your contract.

Broadband speeds: what you need to know

Get a guaranteed speed today when you shop around for a new broadband deal.

www.ofcom.org.uk

The fact that other ISPs have declined to supply you in the past though means they know your line/local infrastructure is poor and don't want to be bound by the speed guarantee, so changing ISP is unlikely to improve your situation much unfortunately

The other option is, BT (& KComm in Hull) are bound by Ofcom's USO to provide everyone with a minimum internet connection of 10Mbps down, 1 Mbps up.

The only downside being they're only obligated to spend £3.4k on infrastructure to do so, anymore than that and you'd have to pay the excess if you wanted to go down this route.

Your right to request a decent broadband service: What you need to know

Everything you need to know about your right to request a decent broadband service.

www.ofcom.org.uk

Though I know they have provided 4/5G and satellite solutions to deliver their USOs under the £3.4k limit in some cases.

As you're in Wales it's probably worth investigating what, if any solutions/funding the Welsh government can provide.

 

[JDL]

If it's one of the bigger ISPs then they're obligated to provide you with a minimum speed guarantee and if it drops below the guarantee and they can't fix it they have to release you from your contract.

Broadband speeds: what you need to know

Get a guaranteed speed today when you shop around for a new broadband deal.

www.ofcom.org.uk

The fact that other ISPs have declined to supply you in the past though means they know your line/local infrastructure is poor and don't want to be bound by the speed guarantee, so changing ISP is unlikely to improve your situation much unfortunately

The other option is, BT (& KComm in Hull) are bound by Ofcom's USO to provide everyone with a minimum internet connection of 10Mbps down, 1 Mbps up.

The only downside being they're only obligated to spend £3.4k on infrastructure to do so, anymore than that and you'd have to pay the excess if you wanted to go down this route.

Your right to request a decent broadband service: What you need to know

Everything you need to know about your right to request a decent broadband service.

www.ofcom.org.uk

Though I know they have provided 4/5G and satellite solutions to deliver their USOs under the £3.4k limit in some cases.

As you're in Wales it's probably worth investigating what, if any solutions/funding the Welsh government can provide.

Thanks for the information. Our internet's deteriorated quite significantly in the last year and our landline has just gone dead.
I contacted a neighbour. She lives a mile and a half away next to the A486. Fibre Optic was installed along that road about two years ago, yet her internet also got very bad and erratic earlier this year. She just upgraded to Sky with a new Sky TV and Sky are now doing her broadband. Suddenly her speeds are up again but her phone's dead today as well as ours.

 

[My2Cents]

In 2022 I was living in a small village in North Yorkshire. We had B4RN. Only £30 a month with 1 Gig download AND upload. Month to month (no contract) and no connection fee (as it was already hooked up).
BT can go suck eggs with their 24 month contracts.

 

[jjbomber]

In 2022 I was living in a small village in North Yorkshire. We had B4RN. Only £30 a month with 1 Gig download AND upload. Month to month (no contract) and no connection fee (as it was already hooked up).
BT can go suck eggs with their 24 month contracts.

They can do 8000Mbps broadband, but you have to pay £360 for installation over 12 months and £150 a month.

Does anyone know what speed mobile phones work at? I've been told they can work at 1,000Mbps wi-fi for the latest models. Are tablets and laptops the same?

 

[abacus]

They can do 8000Mbps broadband, but you have to pay £360 for installation over 12 months and £150 a month.

Does anyone know what speed mobile phones work at? I've been told they can work at 1,000Mbps wi-fi for the latest models. Are tablets and laptops the same?

Yes, but you are still limited to the speed that comes into your house for the internet connection. (Even supplied routers by your ISP have faster Wi-Fi speeds then the fastest home fibre broadband)

Bill

 

[jjbomber]

Yes, but you are still limited to the speed that comes into your house for the internet connection. (Even supplied routers by your ISP have faster Wi-Fi speeds then the fastest home fibre broadband)

Bill

So if I have 1,000mbps broadband coming into my home, I can get 1,000Mbps wi-fi on my phone/laptop/tablet? I assume that is best case scenario, sitting in the same room as the router. If I'm upstairs, behind a few walls with 17 other things using the internet, it'll be slower.
Are those mesh 6 routers? When B4RN quote 8,000Mbps, would that need a more powerful route than a 5Ghz one from BT?

 

[abacus]

So if I have 1,000mbps broadband coming into my home, I can get 1,000Mbps wi-fi on my phone/laptop/tablet? I assume that is best case scenario, sitting in the same room as the router. If I'm upstairs, behind a few walls with 17 other things using the internet, it'll be slower.
Are those mesh 6 routers? When B4RN quote 8,000Mbps, would that need a more powerful route than a 5Ghz one from BT?

If you buy a mesh system, you just plug one of them into your routers network port and place the others in positions to improve the range, you can then disable the wireless system in your router and just connect your equipment to the mesh system.
Your equipment will determine how fast it can receive the data and at what speed. (Most modern stuff is superfast on Wi-Fi)

Bill

 

[Jasonovich]

Virgin Media is giving me Hyper Fibre 1.3GB, I'm averaging any thing between 900mb to 1.1GB bandwith.
Hopefully they'll be more competition in the near future.

 

[abacus]

Virgin Media is giving me Hyper Fibre 1.3GB, I'm averaging any thing between 900mb to 1.1GB bandwith.
Hopefully they'll be more competition in the near future.

But do you need it or would a cheaper download speed be better. (You need a boatload of users in the house or continually making large downloads to require those sorts of speeds at present)

Bill

 

[jjbomber]

But do you need it or would a cheaper download speed be better. (You need a boatload of users in the house or continually making large downloads to require those sorts of speeds at present)

Bill

But this is what we are trying to ask you Bill. If phones, laptops and PCs can operate at 1,000Mbps, surely it's common sense to have broadband of at least 1,000Mbps?

 

[Friesiansam]

But this is what we are trying to ask you Bill. If phones, laptops and PCs can operate at 1,000Mbps, surely it's common sense to have broadband of at least 1,000Mbps?

That depends on your actual needs. For my wife and I, 1000mbps would be overkill, 150 to 300mbps would be great and, cheaper. We do sometimes make big downloads but, too rarely to make it worth worrying about it. However, FTTP is supposed to be coming our way this year so, we'll see what the pricing is like.

 

[jjbomber]

That depends on your actual needs. For my wife and I, 1000mbps would be overkill, 150 to 300mbps would be great and, cheaper. We do sometimes make big downloads but, too rarely to make it worth worrying about it. However, FTTP is supposed to be coming our way this year so, we'll see what the pricing is like.

I'm in the same boat. FTTP is supposed to be coming here in the next few months. It'll be cheaper than I'm paying for 70Mbps at the moment, but £10 more than 150Mbps. The latest toy, HiFi Rose, can take a Gigabit ethernet, so I know what I'll end up getting! However, for the sake of £10 a month, I'd get it anyway, so the laptops, mobiles and tablets can max out as well.

 

[daveh75]

The latest toy, HiFi Rose, can take a Gigabit ethernet, so I know what I'll end up getting! However, for the sake of £10 a month, I'd get it anyway, so the laptops, mobiles and tablets can max out as well.

Just because it has got a Gigabit connection doesn't mean it will use or even need all that bandwidth.

Audio streaming uses very little bandwidth

Even a uncompressed CD rip only requires just over 1Mbps.

The only time it's Gigabit connection is really going to be useful would be for transfering your music library to/from it's Harddrive from say a PC/NAS over your LAN for example, and broadband speed is irrelevant in that scenario.

And you aren't going to "max out" other devices either.

Most people don't really need 1Gbps+ connection in a domestic setting.