Does fibre cure BT's constipation?

Like so many others, I've been wittering for ages about speed on btinternet, but we've never felt able to face the hassle of changing e-mail addresses etc. We're now informed that our contract doesn't expire until 07/2011 anyway and, despite BT's shortcomings, if we want to duck out before then it will cost (thanks, guys).

Although BT trumpets that ADSL gives up to 20mb/s, the service we actually receive varies between 1.3mb/s and 3.2mb/s. After many contacts and much faffing, BT always fall back on our distance from the exchange. TB's slowspot map confirms that the whole of our locality is poorly served.

But latest info is that long delayed FTTC will be available here, at a cost, from 31/03/2011, and BT website refers to Infinity speeds of ''up to 40mb/s".

In view of BT's previous BS in adverts, I'd be interested to read what performance you folks who have transferred to fibre actually receive in the way of speed etc.

Thanks!

This will again vary on a distance, but this time it will be the distance from your cabinet.

What does the bt checker estimate your infinity speed to be?

In reply to a post by spranglebolt:

We're now informed that our contract doesn't expire until 07/2011 anyway and, despite BT's shortcomings, if we want to duck out before then it will cost (thanks, guys).

You chose to sign up for that package. BT are always up front about the length of their contracts and it's not usually difficult to work out that there's a penalty clause.

Although BT trumpets that ADSL gives up to 20mb/s, the service we actually receive varies between 1.3mb/s and 3.2mb/s. After many contacts and much faffing, BT always fall back on our distance from the exchange. TB's slowspot map confirms that the whole of our locality is poorly served.

Yes, that's what 'up to' means in this context. That's been established ever since ADSL Max became available nearly a decade ago.

But latest info is that long delayed FTTC will be available here, at a cost, from 31/03/2011, and BT website refers to Infinity speeds of ''up to 40mb/s".

Yup. Same deal. By moving the equipment closer you should get faster connection speeds but the actual speed it depends where your nearest cabinet is.

However connection speed is only part of the problem. That only indicates how fast data flows between you and the cabinet/exchange. There can be more problems after the exchange especially with products based on BT's wholesale system (as BT Infinity is).

Upgrading to FTTC might mean you move from a Ford Escort to a Ferrari but if you're doing all your travelling in rush hour on crowded roads you won't hit your stop speed very often. In theory your ISP (BT in this case) can just order more capacity. In practice for a variety of reasons that costs a lot of money. The nature of the UK Internet market is such that most people want to pay as little as possible. That means ISPs have the choice of running at a loss or running a service that slows when everyone piles on. My concern is that BT are pricing Infinity very low for what it claims to be. Either it's going to turn out to be God awful or else there will be a big price hike once they've got people hooked.

I'm with an ISP that chooses to ensure it always has ample capacity. It also seems to ensure that they never make a profit. Just not enough people willing to pay enough for a decent service.

Maybe BT have the right idea. Get people to realise how useful a fast connection is then make them pay a proper price for it. Unfortunately I think Ofcom will have something to say about that

Edited by Andrue (Mon 14-Feb-11 13:19:34)

Daniel,
Thank you for your response. Sadly, entering BT speedcheck estimate through their Infiinity area doesn't yet give any speed indication. It just reverts to the Total figure of 2.5mb/s - rarely achieved..Indeed it says that Infinity is not currently due to be rolled out in the area. However elsewhere in BT's website the 31/03/2011 date is quoted.

Rather a plonky response I fear, Andrue.

When signing a contract one anticipates reasonably good faith on the part of a supplier. So if 'up to 20mb/s' is quoted and 90% of punters receive 18mb/s, or even 15mb/s, I would agree with you wholeheartedly. However I maintain that if you get less than 3mb/s (<15% of what is advertised), as do many, many customer - trawl the forum - then this is merely hiding behind words. It's a copout, bordering on misrepresentation.

But obviously we ain't going to agree.

I am, of course aware that there will still be cable from the cabinet and that there could still be a measure of contention in the immediate area.

there's a world of difference between a fixed speed 20M connection running at 3M and a variable rate connection that is capable of up to 20M (subject to the line length etc) doing the same.

We seem to have lost the ability to express this difference in words and hence people that are star struck by advertising inevitably feel let down.

The minimum committed rate from you to the exchange on Infinity is 20M or the line speed, whichever is lower. Below 15M isn't provided at the moment (may have changed) so yes you'll get a faster link to the exchange if you can get FTTC.

You can change your email address to one that never changes, at your own pace with no hassle. Then you can change ISPs without that worry.

See my ISP-independent web/email page. I need to update it as I believe these days you can host the "domain" email on google so only the domain to pay for, not mail hosting.

In reply to a post by spranglebolt:

I am, of course aware that there will still be cable from the cabinet and that there could still be a measure of contention in the immediate area.

Actually I'd expect the contention to be near the ISP in the link that connects them to BT's network but local contention is also a possibility.

As for connection speed:It's all been said before. The behaviour of xDSL over distance is well documented and well known. Your idea of a guarantee would just have killed of xDSL - or limited it to a select few within close proximity to the exchange. That's the way it used to be back when we had fixed speeds. ADSL max allowed far more people to be connected because it worked on a 'plug it in and see what you get' strategy. Unfortunately there's proved to be no straightforward way to describe that in adverts.

The moral is:Don't blindly believe adverts. At least by asking the question here you've had the sense to ask the questions that the adverts failed to answer

In reply to a post by spranglebolt:

Daniel,
Thank you for your response. Sadly, entering BT speedcheck estimate through their Infiinity area doesn't yet give any speed indication. It just reverts to the Total figure of 2.5mb/s - rarely achieved..Indeed it says that Infinity is not currently due to be rolled out in the area. However elsewhere in BT's website the 31/03/2011 date is quoted.

That may mean your cabinet is not going to be upgraded. Unfortunately just because your exchange gets upgraded doesn't mean that you will. If you live in a satellite village on the outskirts you may well be ignored. It comes down to how many connections a cabinet handles. A cabinet in the middle of a housing estate can generate the revenue to justify the investment. A cabinet in the middle of a village often can't.

From memory I'm about 350m from the cabinet and get around 38Mb downstream and 8Mb upstream. Hope that helps.