FTTP is finally here, which one should I choose for latency?

Hi, FTTP (Openreach) has just been rolled out to my area (East Midlands, Nottinghamshire), and I'm looking to upgrade (broadband only), I'm currently using Zen FTTC.

I only care about having the most stable connection with the lowest possible latency to Frankfurt/Amsterdam servers (ping 185.60.112.157)

These are my options (Full Fibre 900):

Zen
£55, no price increase
18 month contract
450 Mbps min
Static IP

Aquiss
£41.25, no price increase
12 month contract
Static IP

TalkTalk
£47.25, no price increase
24 month contract
725 Mbps min.
2 Amazon eero pro 6 routers that I can possibly sell for £110 total
Dynamic IP

Plusnet
£43.99, price increases 31st March
24 month contract
500 Mbps min.
Paid static IP

BT
£44.99, price increases 31st March
24 month contract
700 Mbps min.
Dynamic IP

Sky
£44, price may increase
18 month contract
600 Mbps min.
Dynamic IP

Vodafone
£38, increases each April
24 month contract
455 Mbps min.
Dynamic IP

Idnet
£57, no price increase
12 month contract
500 Mbps min.
Static IP

EE
£44.99, price increases 31st March
24 month contract
700 Mbps min.
Dynamic IP

Does it matter how many Public Peering Exchange Points (IXPs) and Interconnection Facilities (ICFs) ISP has in terms of latency? BT and TalkTalk seem to have the most of both according to PeerDB.

If IXPs and ICFs do not matter, Aquiss seems to be the best option in terms of price/contract time, should I just go with that (or Zen if they can match the price)?

Edited by sven55 (Tue 13-Feb-24 20:15:46)

In reply to a post by sven55:

Aquiss seems to be the best option in terms of price/contract time

That price is the 'equivalent' of £55 a month but 50% off for the first 6. After a year its £55. I prefer to stop longer but you could jump after 12 months. AFAIK Zen won't do a deal, the price they quote is the price everyone gets.
I've been looking too and some of your prices (BT) are cheaper than I've seen. Maybe more regional pricing?

You say "dynamic IP" but are these dynamic, public IP addresses (e.g. BT) or some sort of CGNAT service, where your router will never see a public IPv4 address?

I would certainly choose something that does not use CGNAT, even if you don't mind a dynamic IP address.

In reply to a post by sven55:

Does it matter how many Public Peering Exchange Points (IXPs) and Interconnection Facilities (ICFs) ISP has in terms of latency?

No. Even if a small ISP just gets its connectivity from one or two upstream ISPs (autonomous systems = ASes) then it will use the peering of those.

In reply to a post by sven55:

If IXPs and ICFs do not matter, Aquiss seems to be the best option in terms of price/contract time

I'm on Aquiss and very happy with them. Remember that the BT/Plusnet prices in increase in April by 7.9%, and then increase again the following April, by which time they're almost the same.

I say this to everyone: if you are genuinely cost sensitive, to the point where £5 or £10 per month factors into your purchasing decision, then consider whether you really need a gigabit, and whether in fact you'd be fine with 500M or 300M. Or why not buy 500M and see how you get on?

300M will download 1.5GB in 40 seconds; 900M reduces this to 13 seconds. Is it worth the extra? In any case, wifi is usually the bottleneck once you go much over 300M.

Having 110M upload instead of 50M would be nice, but in practice it doesn't make much difference to me whether it takes 3 minutes or 7 minutes to upload a 2.5GB file. Either way I still have to do something else while it happens.

In short, I would take 300M from Aquiss over 900M from BT any day of the week. I get my static IPv4 and IPv6, and I get responsive UK-based support should I need it.

In reply to a post by daern:

You say "dynamic IP" but are these dynamic, public IP addresses (e.g. BT) or some sort of CGNAT service, where your router will never see a public IPv4 address?

I would certainly choose something that does not use CGNAT, even if you don't mind a dynamic IP address.

None of the providers quoted use CGNAT on their fixed line broadband.

I can give you personal experience of three on your list PlusNet, TT and VF, and if price is an issue PN is the best of the three.

Like you I've been looking around for a new ISP as issue with current one and I've opted for Sky but if I knew what I know now, on that list, I would have gone with Aquiss, dealing I have had with them, highly impressed.

Aquiss - wired network, to the IP address in question:
PING 185.60.112.157 (185.60.112.157) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 185.60.112.157: icmp_seq=1 ttl=243 time=22.9 ms
64 bytes from 185.60.112.157: icmp_seq=2 ttl=243 time=21.8 ms
64 bytes from 185.60.112.157: icmp_seq=3 ttl=243 time=22.0 ms
64 bytes from 185.60.112.157: icmp_seq=4 ttl=243 time=21.6 ms
64 bytes from 185.60.112.157: icmp_seq=5 ttl=243 time=21.6 ms
64 bytes from 185.60.112.157: icmp_seq=6 ttl=243 time=21.2 ms
64 bytes from 185.60.112.157: icmp_seq=7 ttl=243 time=22.0 ms
64 bytes from 185.60.112.157: icmp_seq=8 ttl=243 time=21.9 ms
64 bytes from 185.60.112.157: icmp_seq=9 ttl=243 time=22.0 ms
64 bytes from 185.60.112.157: icmp_seq=10 ttl=243 time=21.7 ms
64 bytes from 185.60.112.157: icmp_seq=11 ttl=243 time=21.9 ms
64 bytes from 185.60.112.157: icmp_seq=12 ttl=243 time=21.9 ms
64 bytes from 185.60.112.157: icmp_seq=13 ttl=243 time=21.8 ms
64 bytes from 185.60.112.157: icmp_seq=14 ttl=243 time=21.6 ms
64 bytes from 185.60.112.157: icmp_seq=15 ttl=243 time=21.3 ms
64 bytes from 185.60.112.157: icmp_seq=16 ttl=243 time=21.7 ms
64 bytes from 185.60.112.157: icmp_seq=17 ttl=243 time=21.7 ms
64 bytes from 185.60.112.157: icmp_seq=18 ttl=243 time=21.7 ms
64 bytes from 185.60.112.157: icmp_seq=19 ttl=243 time=21.5 ms
64 bytes from 185.60.112.157: icmp_seq=20 ttl=243 time=21.6 ms

I am about 60km from Edinburgh and well pleased with Aquiss.

For comparison, ping across my network:
PING 10.40.41.48 (10.40.41.48) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 10.40.41.48: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.756 ms
64 bytes from 10.40.41.48: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=0.595 ms
64 bytes from 10.40.41.48: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=0.579 ms
64 bytes from 10.40.41.48: icmp_seq=4 ttl=64 time=1.06 ms
64 bytes from 10.40.41.48: icmp_seq=5 ttl=64 time=0.645 ms
64 bytes from 10.40.41.48: icmp_seq=6 ttl=64 time=0.647 ms
64 bytes from 10.40.41.48: icmp_seq=7 ttl=64 time=1.15 ms
64 bytes from 10.40.41.48: icmp_seq=8 ttl=64 time=0.608 ms
64 bytes from 10.40.41.48: icmp_seq=9 ttl=64 time=0.648 ms
64 bytes from 10.40.41.48: icmp_seq=10 ttl=64 time=0.313 ms
64 bytes from 10.40.41.48: icmp_seq=11 ttl=64 time=1.08 ms
64 bytes from 10.40.41.48: icmp_seq=12 ttl=64 time=0.607 ms
64 bytes from 10.40.41.48: icmp_seq=13 ttl=64 time=0.630 ms
64 bytes from 10.40.41.48: icmp_seq=14 ttl=64 time=0.649 ms
64 bytes from 10.40.41.48: icmp_seq=15 ttl=64 time=0.304 ms
64 bytes from 10.40.41.48: icmp_seq=16 ttl=64 time=0.605 ms
64 bytes from 10.40.41.48: icmp_seq=17 ttl=64 time=0.613 ms
64 bytes from 10.40.41.48: icmp_seq=18 ttl=64 time=0.614 ms
64 bytes from 10.40.41.48: icmp_seq=19 ttl=64 time=1.17 ms
64 bytes from 10.40.41.48: icmp_seq=20 ttl=64 time=0.621 ms

Check out Uno. https://www.uno.uk/

Very highly rated ISP. FTTP products available on BT Openreach and Vodafone LLU.

Static IP's, excellent customer service.

Edited by wolvesmad (Wed 14-Feb-24 15:15:05)

In reply to a post by wolvesmad:

Check out Uno. https://www.uno.uk/

Very highly rated ISP. FTTP products available on BT Openreach and Vodafone LLU.

Static IP's, excellent customer service.

Careful of their prices, they are another ISP who show plus VAT pricing on their site. You also need phone number to get a price so if you don't have...

In reply to a post by Woolwich:

In reply to a post by sven55:

Aquiss seems to be the best option in terms of price/contract time

That price is the 'equivalent' of £55 a month but 50% off for the first 6. After a year its £55. I prefer to stop longer but you could jump after 12 months. AFAIK Zen won't do a deal, the price they quote is the price everyone gets.
I've been looking too and some of your prices (BT) are cheaper than I've seen. Maybe more regional pricing?

They won't match the price, but they said I could get 2 months for free.

In reply to a post by daern:

You say "dynamic IP" but are these dynamic, public IP addresses (e.g. BT) or some sort of CGNAT service, where your router will never see a public IPv4 address?

I would certainly choose something that does not use CGNAT, even if you don't mind a dynamic IP address.

I have no clue if they use CGNAT.

In reply to a post by candlerb:

I'm on Aquiss and very happy with them. Remember that the BT/Plusnet prices in increase in April by 7.9%, and then increase again the following April, by which time they're almost the same.

I say this to everyone: if you are genuinely cost sensitive, to the point where £5 or £10 per month factors into your purchasing decision, then consider whether you really need a gigabit, and whether in fact you'd be fine with 500M or 300M. Or why not buy 500M and see how you get on?

300M will download 1.5GB in 40 seconds; 900M reduces this to 13 seconds. Is it worth the extra? In any case, wifi is usually the bottleneck once you go much over 300M.

Having 110M upload instead of 50M would be nice, but in practice it doesn't make much difference to me whether it takes 3 minutes or 7 minutes to upload a 2.5GB file. Either way I still have to do something else while it happens.

In short, I would take 300M from Aquiss over 900M from BT any day of the week. I get my static IPv4 and IPv6, and I get responsive UK-based support should I need it.

I'm just trying to save anything I can if it's possible to do it without hurting the quality.

In reply to a post by DFScale:

Aquiss - wired network, to the IP address in question:
PING 185.60.112.157 (185.60.112.157) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 185.60.112.157: icmp_seq=1 ttl=243 time=22.9 ms


I am about 60km from Edinburgh and well pleased with Aquiss.

For comparison, ping across my network:
PING 10.40.41.48 (10.40.41.48) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 10.40.41.48: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.756 ms

This seems pretty good considering it's from Edinburgh, I'm getting the exact same numbers at my place.

Thanks for the replies, I'll be going with Aquiss next month.