Local exchange info check??

Hi al
years back i recall samknows was the site to use to check what broadband was at your local exchange. this seems to be gone now so what can i use these days to see what services are in my new area?

thanks

As a starter you could use the broadband map on this very website.

Ignore your local exchange, it's not relevant for determining broadband availability. I'm glad that Samknows page has gone because it's not been relevant for a decade and was causing confusion.

Check your address on the Openreach, CityFibre and Virgin Media websites and on any altnets that you can see evidence for in your local area.

In reply to a post by rizla2k:

whatcan i use these days to see what services are in my new area?

Try https://bidb.uk as well as the search on the front page of this website. (www.thinkbroadband.com)

BIDB stands for Better Internet DashBoard

In reply to a post by ian72:

As a starter you could use the broadband map on this very website.

https://labs.thinkbroadband.com/local/index.php

this may have more info about somer bits.. as others said not really FTTP thing though.

Thanks for all the info guys

I've had a look at it seems pretty limited here despite being on the outer edge of a big city. I have stuck with BT in the past but they appear to give me the following estimation of speeds...

45-50Mbps
download speed

8 - 9Mbps upload

This really sucks. Is it just an estimate and am i likely to get 80mbps? £31 a month for 45 - 50 mbps would really suck!

Think Broadbands coming up with the same too..

Average in XXXXXX in the last 12 months

Download: 37.6 Mbps
Upload: 8.8 Mbps

Surely not?

Edited by rizla2k (Fri 21-Mar-25 23:42:07)

Maybe you will get an FTTP service one day. See.

Yes it would be nice although up to now i've only had FTTC anyway so im not missing much if i can match 80mbps but anything less would be really annoying

It's strange as i've lived out in the countryside and managed to get 80mbit yet this new place which is on the outskirts of a big city seems to be slower?

It's not really strange as the speed you get on an FTTC connection is governed by your distance from the green street cabinet and not by population density or rural/urban considerations. If you have had the full 80Mbps in a rural location you have been lucky enough to be located close to the cabinet. With your proposed urban location you are a lot further from the cabinet.

If/when you get the chance to go to FTTP, in normal domestic use your line will support the full line speed no matter how far you are from any infrastructure connection. It is a contended service so if another user saturates the fibre then your speed may suffer due to congestion but this is not a common event.

In reply to a post by rizla2k:

This really sucks. Is it just an estimate and am i likely to get 80mbps? £31 a month for 45 - 50 mbps would really suck!

You're likely to get what it predicts.

The predictions come from a model which takes into account the type and length of your line, i.e. the loop distance from the cabinet to your property. It can also take into account previously-seen speeds on FTTC at that particular property.

You *might* get a bit faster, but you could just as well get slower.

45-50Mbps is not a bad speed. I used to get 25-30Mbps on FTTC (and 4Mbps upload).

You can get a rough idea of FTTC speed based on line length from the cabinet here:
https://www.increasebroadbandspeed.co.uk/chart-of-bt...

As people have migrating from ADSL to FTTC, speeds have also been reducing due to crosstalk:
https://www.increasebroadbandspeed.co.uk/2014/vector...

Openreach chose not to pay to turn on vectoring except in a few limited areas.

Thanks for the info!

Sky seem to estimate a faster speed.

49 - 70 MbpsMegabits per second
Estimated download speed

12 - 19 MbpsMegabits per second
Estimated upload speed

41 MbpsMegabits per second
Minimum speed guarantee

Could be sales patter though and I'd really like to use BT ideally. If I'm looking at the right cabinet my home is 0.6km from the cabinet so not bad.


I get the keys next friday would i be wise to put in the order now for broadband? how long does activation take tpically?

In reply to a post by rizla2k:

I get the keys next friday would i be wise to put in the order now for broadband? how long does activation take tpically?

I have just had to rebook an Openreach appointment for an FTTP install (long story) on the 19th March (this Wed just gone) and the soonest appointment was 8th April.

I expect a copper order to be much quicker than that. FTTP is in high demand, FTTC is declining rapidly

BT and Sky will deliver exactly the same sync speed, as it's the same infrastructure.

The only difference which matters is the "Minimum speed guarantee", since this is the speed below which you can report a fault. If it falls below this they'll probably make an engineer visit to try to resolve the problem - but if that doesn't work, most likely they'll just release you from your contract (which doesn't really help you, since any provider you switch to will also deliver the same speed).