Fibre Optic Broadband - is it worth it?

[Westdene Seagull]

BT supply the fibre for whoever you are with so normally it will always be an Openreach engineer who installs it. Virgin do have there own coverage but not in all areas so they also sub off Bt as well

To clarify this - Virgin have their own fibre within a majority of the B&H area.

 

[luge]

Here in sunny Crowborough BT have recently installed fibre optic broadband. On currrent set up I am usually getting around 3.5 kbps although it can be a bit variable. Those of you who are connected to fibre optic does it do what it says on the box and if I connect via wifi to a wireless server how much difference will it make to my speeds. We can have up to two PC/laptop connected plus ipods x 2.

Huge. I work all over the country and for one of my clients used to have to go edit my material (I work in TV/ads) in Manchester as that's where they are based. Now I do this from home and send up the finished piece and download extra footage on the fly... All high res full HD material. Changed my life, more time at home and cos I am saving them kit costs I get paid double on those days (still 1/3 cheaper for them). It also saves me about 120 quid exes!


Get it!

 

[piersa]

Yes, if it is available, you download stuff, then get it.

 

[Shropshire Seagull]

BT supply the fibre for whoever you are with so normally it will always be an Openreach engineer who installs it. Virgin do have there own coverage but not in all areas so they also sub off Bt as well

Okay, I'm with virgin [have been for 10 years] but do not live in a virgin cable area - I get basic broadband down the BT copper wires and because I'm just over 3 miles from the nearest telephone exchange, my download is circa 1Mb.

Now I know BT have completed installation of fibre to my nearest road-side green box so infinity is available at my address.

I can't see anywhere on the virgin site an option for me to upgrade to a fibre option with them, they just say virgin media fibre not available in my area.

I really want fast b/b but would like to keep my same email address - so I think my questions / options are ....

1/ Can virgin give me fibre b/b using BT fibre?

if no ...
2/ Can I switch to BT Infinity but keep my @virgin.net email address?

if no ...
3/ Who am I best switching to - I'd like circa 40 Mb download

 

[clippedgull]

Okay, I'm with virgin [have been for 10 years] but do not live in a virgin cable area - I get basic broadband down the BT copper wires and because I'm just over 3 miles from the nearest telephone exchange, my download is circa 1Mb.

Now I know BT have completed installation of fibre to my nearest road-side green box so infinity is available at my address.

I can't see anywhere on the virgin site an option for me to upgrade to a fibre option with them, they just say virgin media fibre not available in my area.

I really want fast b/b but would like to keep my same email address - so I think my questions / options are ....

1/ Can virgin give me fibre b/b using BT fibre?

if no ...
2/ Can I switch to BT Infinity but keep my @virgin.net email address?

if no ...
3/ Who am I best switching to - I'd like circa 40 Mb download

1: No.

2: No! A guy in the same area where I live is moving from Virgin (ADSL) to BT Fibre and has been told by Virgin that his Virgin email address will no longer be accessible when the changeover happens.

3: How long is a piece of string?!! I guess BT is as good a choice as anyone.

 

[pigbite]

I hate BT but went with Infinity 'cos they had the best deal at the time.

There were a few hiccups getting it installed and we had no BB for a couple of days. They gave us free BT WiFi logins for the duration which was OK but not ideal.

It's been up and running for 6 months+ now and is fantastic. We cannot get more than around 40mbps but get >36 consistently. We use on demand services all the time and have had pretty much no problems.

Still hate BT and know that if I had to sort any problems out it would be a nightmare but the service itself is really good.

Well recommended if you use on demand/gaming and/or have kids. BTSport is useless though.

 

[Pretty pink fairy]

BT supply the fibre for whoever you are with so normally it will always be an Openreach engineer who installs it. Virgin do have there own coverage but not in all areas so they also sub off Bt as well

you keep believing that about BT, couldn't run a piss up , I WONT GO INTO DETAIL BUT TO SAY I GOT LET DOWN WAS AN UNDERSTATEMENT S
regards
DR

 

[Scoffers]

I use my BT Fibre for working from home, Love Film streaming and gaming and it is just fantastic.

 

[Since1982]

BT Infinity here in Hassocks. Very quick and painless install. 50p a month more. Very quick to download films, stream live tv. Overall excellent.

 

[portslade seagull]

you keep believing that about BT, couldn't run a piss up , I WONT GO INTO DETAIL BUT TO SAY I GOT LET DOWN WAS AN UNDERSTATEMENT S
regards
DR

Believe what ??

 

[perseus]

I am stuck w/o fibre on BT and it is too slow. Uploads are particularly bad. 10% of the time, it is so slow it is impossible to use. Wired in connection as BT wi-fi doesn't work properly either in my part of Shoreham.

Then the modem broke and it did not work at all for a week.

I need to change. Recommendations please?

PS: Noone scores a curler for Cardiff at Upton Park.

 

[perseus]

Any insiders for BT to say why they are not installing fibre-optic in some areas?

 

[Uncle Buck]

Just image the speeds you would get if we had proper fibre to the home, rather than a bit of fibre, then copper on the last run.

 

[Springal]

Any insiders for BT to say why they are not installing fibre-optic in some areas?

Cost

 

[Pretty pink fairy]

Believe what ??

that an open reach engineer will install it
regards
DR

 

[Comedy Steve]

BT Infinity here in Hassocks. Very quick and painless install. 50p a month more. Very quick to download films, stream live tv. Overall excellent.

I'm being told it's not getting rolled out in hassocks until the end of the year? (Sky & Zen). Although they are already accepting orders. Is it just that BT has it first?

 

[Since1982]

Guess so. Had it for about 6 months now.

 

[Springal]

'Anyone' can do fibre not just BT.

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/ is a useful site

 

[Shropshire Seagull]

'Anyone' can do fibre not just BT.

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/ is a useful site

Well BT don't allow virgin to use their fibre, probably as its their biggest competitor.

Anyway, I made the switch from virgin copper to BT Infinity 2 which completed last Monday.
The openreach engineer was superb, I have an "office" downstairs and a wired network in the house so it was very important for me to have the homehub 5 [gateway/modem] located in my office. He relocated my master socket into my loft so that the extension that runs to my office could be converted to a data only extension. All I had to do was link up from a phone-only socket in the hallway to reconnect my office phone.

Having got accustomed to the 1Mb download speed I now have 50Mb at the gateway and can watch streams / youtube etc without the persistent freeze every few seconds. I've also connected my Humax PVR to my network and am now finding my way round the iPlayer option. Something I could never have realistically watched before fibre.

Maybe I was just lucky, but from requesting my MAC from virgin to the Openreach engineer finishing my install and setup was under two weeks and its fair to say I'm delighted and only regret not doing it sooner.

Oh, and the x 50 speed improvement is costing my about £3 less per month = no brainer.

 

[pasty]

Help for a techno-thickie-numpty please - how do I test my Mbps ?