Fibre is coming, what Provider for my needs?

Hopefully I've posted this in the right section, I don't use this forum much these days. Coming home yesterday the street in front of the house was covered in wires and asking the BT guys there they told us that fibre was coming early next year. Was very surprised as I thought it was end of next year. Luckily Im with ADSL24 and not on contract so I can switch to a New provider and get Fibre.

I've worked out Im 160 meters from the closest cabinet I know of, so I should be in for high speeds. ADSL24 lets you see what you've used in month and in total for upload and download I'm around 80GB-100GB a month but Im guessing that will go up on fibre. So realistically I'd want a good unlimited package. Im not wanting to spend too much either, I've noticed some ISP's seem to charge a fortune!

I've narrowed it down and I think Plusnet would be the best way to go. I have a few questions though:
1. Is the traffic managed? or is it managed in such a way that it would be intrusive on typical tasks such as downloading app updates in iTunes, streaming videos on youtube or downloading games and updates on consoles? Online chat told me it wasn't but then in the FAQ it says it is? Also will the usage amounts that I have be acceptable by there standards? I don't consider it very high usage but I might be wrong.

2. Is the provided fibre equipment good? I want to be able to connect wired and wireless devices to it. And in the future upgrade to a few router with wireless AC.

3. Is there a better provider for the money that people would recommend? Or does plusnet come highly recommended.


Thank you for any help thats given.

Absolutely the right forum as it opens you to other ISP suggestions. Your questions may be better answered in the Plusnet forum but nearly all the fibre users there come here as well. (Note - cross-posting there would be frowned on by the moderators).

1)
The traffic management is hard to explain clearly, especially in a live chat. Even the FAQ system on the subject I found almost impenetrable until I knew (sort of!) the answers LOL.

Think in very broad terms rather than the specific uses you list. As you will have discovered, Plusnet classify traffic types into various stream types. Things that are time-dependent are in the top one, Titanium. On the domestic rather than business product that covers VOIP and actual gaming.

Stuff that we all expect to work as fast as possible goes into Gold or Gold-plated, and includes browsing, email, live/catchup TV streaming, YouTube streaming and so on.

Downloads such as game or app updates depend to some extent on where they are downloaded from. They may go in Gold or Silver, or if via P2P they will go into Bronze. Your online chat host could easily have got in a mess there.

All P2P goes in Bronze, so that it cannot wreak havoc on your connection if you have several users doing different things at the same time.

Silver, coming above Bronze, is a catchall to save anything unrecognised from being killed by P2P.

You may not have found this excellent article by a senior Plusnet staffer.

1A)
No problems with your usage. Many doing far more than that these days and Plusnet capacity managers monitor the overall load throughout the system daily. Some of the data is published, one of my favourite pages being this one. Many of us have also supplied them with the Live Link to our BQM graph, with these all shown on this page.

2)
At the moment all fibre connection use Openreach kit up to the Openreach-supplied modem. As of 31 December Openreach will allow ISPs to supply approved kit to their customers instead, but what Plusnet have planned I don't know. Knowing them, nothing immediately. BT and Sky have jumped the gun and are already supplying combined modem/routers of the kind you are used to.

Many of us feel that on FTTC even more than on ADSLx a separate modem and router is better. For exactly the sort of reason you suggest - ability to upgrade the router later. I just did that.

Plusnet currently supply a 582n router which is adequate for wired use but many of us aren't keen on its wireless capability. I started with a third party one I bought before joining Plusnet and only used the Plusnet one when mine failed. I almost always use only wireless and after a few months decided to replace it.

It's worth taking the Plusnet one for the cost of the postage, as at least it works and a spare is a good idea these days. Try it and see for a while perhaps.

3)
The ones I suggest as a short list amaze even me! Plusnet first, else I wouldn't be with them, BT Infinity, and Sky. A couple whose judgement I respect have even found TalkTalk OK, but I didn't say that . I wouldn't go near them. (I used to say the same about Plusnet when I was with O2).

The niche ISPs such as AAISP, IDNet, Zen, Aquiss, vivacity, xilo/uno also seem fine, but in most cases more expensive.

Cheers.

Your usage is likely to rise considerably, just because it is so much faster. On line entertainment is good and cloud storage easy quick and reliable.

I have no ideal what the ADSL24 options are, but I found another Enta reseller expensive, largely because of Enta I think.

I echo what Robertos says about Plusnet, They have one other facility he did not mention and that is the availability of a fixed IP address, which may or may not be useful to you.

I have a fixed IP address purely so I can run tbb's BQM. A one-off cost of £5 is nothing.

IIRC ADSL24 supplied one as standard, as do several of the premium ISPs. Most ISPs supply dynamic with a significant monthly charge for static.

Cheers for the Great answer Roberto.

I think Plusnet will be the way to go. Do you have there home phone service aswel? My folks have always used BT ( I Live with my parents) but I suggested Plusnets home phone as it would work out cheaper than what we pay now and still get unlimited calls all the time. If you are with them for your phone have you had any issues?

I've found my netgear router (N300) has a WAN port so Im guessing I can just connect up the fibre modem with it. It's not the best router but I can look at others in the future.

Does anyone have any experience when it comes to the installs as we have a wired extension coming off the master socket which is placed on the upstairs landing. I've read on the FAQ it won't be an issue it'll just take longer to do the install. Also due to the location of the master socket I'll need a data extension put in as the router needs to be in my room to allow for ethernet connections( I Have my skybox, PS3 connected wired, and I'll probably connect my computer wired to ensure a high speed). Has anyone had one of these extensions, and are they ok with doing them?

Cheers
Ashley

Ummm.

No problems, but don't jump in and order until there's been a discussion here about the Data Extension Kit. My main concern is your parent's may not like an engineer tacking that wherever, and with most ISPs (including Plusnet) you do have to order it as well. It does apparently show up during the online order process, and is currently free.

Things may change on 31 Dec.

I'm off now for several hours so can't go into detail. Lots of Christmas Cards still to write!

Thanks for the info again. I'll play it safe and give them a call before ordering. My folks won't be fussed about the data extension as the wire will run either under the carpet to my room as does the current wire for the net or above the door frames and into my room. It's only from the landing window ledge to my room not far.

Hopefully it'll stay free, but it's all stuff I'll have to find out once fibre is up and running here I guess. As long as I know plusnet is a good choice for ISP Im happy. The only other way I'd go is BT themselves but Im not really keen on doing that as I've always avoided them for ADSL, not hearing great stuff but that was a long time ago.