Upgrading to BT's Fibre Service

GWR-Kris · February 05, 2013, 11:26:36 AM

First off this is about the Fibre Serive through normal phone line not Virgins fibre optic service.

I'm currently with Sky for everything, phone, line, BB and Sky. Im getting around 4-6mb BB service and recently BT sent a letter through about their fibre service. Which offered better speeds.

Has anyone upgraded to this new BT Fibre, Whats peoples opinions on it. Is it worth it. I would prefer to get it through SKY than BT, but BT has a better offer.

tim-pelican · February 05, 2013, 12:28:42 PM

The technology works, typically with a lot less of the "up to" problems than ADSL, in part because the copper runs are shorter and so less variable. (Neither BT nor Virgin run fibre to your house). The copper to my house gets about 6M on ADSL "up to 24M", whether BT or Sky; my FTTC lines both get around 40M down / 10M up, and I know plenty of people on the 80/20 service who are getting very close to that.

My ISP service is provided by my employer, so I can't comment on what BT Residential actually provide on top of the connectivity.

Except for Virgin, any ISP you buy fibre from (including BT Residential, the part of BT that sells to you) will be using BT Openreach to connect from your house to the exchange, so the technical capability should be the same. You're doing the right thing by looking at the package, pricing, how good the service is, etc.

Is it worth it? I'd say definitely yes. The extra downstream is nice, but the extra upstream is a total game-changer, if you ever upload photos, videos, send emails with large attachements, work from home on a VPN, etc.

Karhedron · February 05, 2013, 01:21:25 PM

We got BT infinity installed just last week and I have to say I was very impressed with the service. The engineer came and connected up the new Hub and we were up and running very quickly. They also gave some handy devices that enable us to use ethernet through the plug socket. These are perfect if you have devices that are not wireless. Again these were very easy to use and we had the whole lot up and running in less than an hour.

I have not checked the download speed but it is fast enough to stream HD content directly to the TV with no buffering so I am quite happy.

Tank · February 05, 2013, 02:12:05 PM

Another BT Infinity user here. I had the normal BT Broadband but got less than a megabyte, or even less most of the time. It also cut out every few minutes - so I couldn't so some things on the forum. Once BT Infinity came out we ordered it and have never looked back. We've never had less that 38mbps, and it's never disconnected. Also the wifi is a lot more powerful than the other 'BT Hubs' that we had previously.

Well worth every penny in my eyes.

Fratton · February 05, 2013, 05:34:17 PM

Having major connection issues at the moment

and may be inquiring with BT about this myself

Calnefoxile · February 05, 2013, 05:34:48 PM

Stop bragging you lot.

I can't get Infinity because I'm directly connected to our local exchange as I live within 1/2 a mile (as the crow flies) of the exchange, and BT won't pay for the connection, apparantly I have to lobby my local MP to get the Council to pay for it.

Ahh well will have to stick with ADSL for the time being.

Regards

Neal.

Fratton · February 05, 2013, 05:38:59 PM

BT infinity availible where i am from March 13th, hmmmmmm, the mrs might end me for that one but the trick is to make it her idea

GlenP · February 05, 2013, 05:56:27 PM

I will be ordering mine in a week's time! Just waiting for the contract with BT to expire (I moved into a new-build 18 months ago and it was the only way to get free line installation) and I'll then hunt around for the best deal. PlusNet are favourites at the moment.

I get about 2.8Mb at the moment (on a 2Mb line - I must be the only person in the UK to get significantly better speeds than promised) so I reckon it's well worth upgrading.

Glen

GWR-Kris · February 06, 2013, 08:31:05 AM

So do you keep the exisitng copper line or will they replace it for a fresh one.

As im with Sky do I need to tell them if i move to BT or just place the order. Do I need the MAC code from Sky?

Chinahand · February 06, 2013, 10:01:47 AM

I've had BT Infinity for 4 months now and I can't speak too highly of it. So far I've had no down times (touch wood) and I'm getting a Download speed of 23.2 Mb and Upload speed of 2.41 Mb. Their Desktop Help programme is also very good for sorting out any problems you might get.

jonclox · February 12, 2013, 09:46:40 AM

Our BT exchange is one of two Hampshire rural exchanges that have 'won' connection to HS broadband link up by spring of this year.
Within the last 2 weeks a HS cabinet has been installed oposite us so I shall be watching this thread with interest as I want to get a descent connection speed ASAP

GlenP · February 12, 2013, 06:01:56 PM

I placed the order today! Installation is a week Friday so fingers crosses.

I went with PlusNet in the end as the uplift for unlimited data was a lot less than with BT. I suspect my download volumes will be increasing significantly.

Glen

drchips42 · February 15, 2013, 11:13:05 AM

BT Fibre to the cabinet is only as good as the cables that come from your local phone exchange box. BT cant say if these lines will be good or bad .. hence they say you may get 10 Mb etc.. There are also issues with VPN over this system , it's not perfect but it's a cheap fill in for now. The ideal solution is to get Fibre direct to your house.

tim-pelican · February 15, 2013, 12:37:05 PM

Quote from: drchips42 on February 15, 2013, 11:13:05 AM
BT Fibre to the cabinet is only as good as the cables that come from your local phone exchange box.

Well, the cables from the *street cabinet*, not the exchange (hence the 'fibre to the cabinet'). These are typically much shorter than the copper all the way back to the exchange, so less to go wrong. That's essentially all FTTC is - moving the DSLAM from the exchange to cabinet, which in turn lets you run VDSL instead of ADSL.

Quote
There are also issues with VPN over this system , it's not perfect but it's a cheap fill in for now.

Assuming you're talking about the 1492-byte MTU issue I'm seeing mentioned in several forums, it's a router and / or config issue, not a BT one. The BT FTTC product is perfectly capable of carrying unfragmented 1500-byte IP packets in a 1508-byte PPPoE packet; if either your router or your ISP can't deal with mini-jumbo frames, then change the offender.

Quote
The ideal solution is to get Fibre direct to your house.

I hope you have deep pockets or a lot of patience

FTTP-on-demand is out there, but you're looking at north of £1500 install, and still thousands a year for the fibre loop, before your ISP starts charging you on top for bandwidth consumed.

drchips42 · February 16, 2013, 09:02:36 AM

"Assuming you're talking about the 1492-byte MTU issue I'm seeing mentioned in several forums, it's a router and / or config issue, not a BT one.

Ahh a BT worker LOL, The router is normally BT's own .. so unless you train folk to use there own router , then there always will be that " black " area that has to be addressed.