i used to get about 8mbps on aol adsl and moved to bt infinity2 and i now get 75mbps download and 18mbps upload, yes the cost went from £13.50pm to £26pm but for me it is well worth the extra cost

In reply to a post by Chrysalis:

had a look at allpay and to me £15 a month for 2mbit is too high, whilst £20 or so for a 80mbit FTTC service but lets say 30-40mbit assuming a not great line. Is much better value, £5 extra for a speed thats 20 times as fast. 2mbit wont cut it for things like hd netflix its a speed thats now dated.

£18 for 5, £29 for 10, but then you don't need a phone line with that.
It is not for everyone, but then again Allpay was set up for people in the sticks who can not get decent ADSL, never mind FTTC. i doubt there is many people in the city that have Allpay , certainly now that FTTC is available.

To be honest, with all the filtering and site banning that the larger suppliers are doing I am glad that I choose allpay, now even plusnet is putting filters in. If you can get past them or not is not the issue, it is the fact they are there and they there.

The other issue for me is that I just prefer the smaller suppliers. contract for Allpay is coming to the end in around 5 months, but I think I will stay as I am. I got the option to go back to 5 to save money if money becomes a issue, try downgrading on other providers.
Before i updated to the 10 Megabits, I was using Netflix on the 5 and it was ok, i would get around medium HD as it was called then, but then i am the only one in the house and no one else is using my broadband.

speed is not a big issue for me as long a si can watch netflix.

FTTC will have variances in line performance but the average speed on FTTC is way higher than ADSL averages,

No doubt,, but6 FTTC is not it's cracked up to be, so far I have only seen two that gets the speeds they was promised and strange enough they are both EE. Othe others, Bt, plusnet and a Sky all seems to be below the spec I expected., next door neighbour for instance on BT FTTC, gets 20Mb/. which while higher than the 2 they was getting with ADSL, is still pretty poor, since we was told this technology would offer super high speed. but then it is BT after all and they don't seem to do anythign right. when we first had ADSL in this country, we was still behind other countries.

In reply to a post by zyborg47:

the reduction in line length can't be the only reason for the faster speed, I know people right next to the exchange on ADSL and depending on who they are with can get between 12 and 23Mbp/s, so it must also be due different technology as well.

Yes & No!

On face value, any reduction in Line Length will improve ADSL.

However, not all connections are the same!

Some of the possible considerations:-
1) Depends on Line Length, NOT geographical proximity to the Exchange (cable could be routed all over the place before it gets to the Premises)
2) Number of joints & quality of the joints (particularly if old cable) in the cable
3) Any possibility all or part of the cable is routed through Aluminium, rather than Copper.
4) Any possible external interference to the external cable.
5) Then we start listing any issues that maybe creating issues within the actual User's Premises!

With respect to FTTC, I don't have specific knowledge but my understanding is that the local copper connection (i.e. from the Cabinet to the Home) is operated using VDSL Technology, which can provide the much faster speeds, than ADSL, but it clearly can only operate over relatively short distances (hence the Fibre Part of the circuit to get to the Cabinet).

The reduction in line length isn't the only reason. VDSL uses much higher frequencies to achieve high data rates but the drop off for these is quite sharp so the speed drop over distance is high hence the reduction in line length to the cabinet whilst not being the sole reason, is a requirement for the technology to work.

Regarding Allpay. This is a very localised service and is in no way comparable to BT.
I'm very happy with Infinity2 service. It has been 100% faultless for me. The speed has dropped off slightly from 80mbit to 70mbit over a year due to crosstalk but this is more bandwidth than I know what to do with.

Edited by smouty (Thu 23-Jan-14 08:33:11)

wow i think i'm glad i upgraded as the diffence it will make is awesome. I download a fair amount depending on what games i decide to buy and what shows my girlfriend likes to watch while i play them!?! Sky go is the best invention EVER!!!!

I have located another 'fttc cabinet' around 0.3 (in the car reset mileometer!) from my house so hope fully that should mean ever faster speed with everything taken into account here of course?!

Another thing to note re my current speed.... 0.75 sky are saying i have an external fault on my line which needs to be fixed by openreach?! We'll see!?!

In reply to a post by logansfolly:

I have located another 'fttc cabinet' around 0.3 (in the car reset mileometer!) from my house so hope fully that should mean ever faster speed with everything taken into account here of course?!

Only if that is the cabinet you are connected to! You still don't seem to have actually done the BT wholesale check, as advised several times, and that would tell you which cabinet you are connected to, amongst other things.

In reply to a post by kasg:

In reply to a post by logansfolly:

I have located another 'fttc cabinet' around 0.3 (in the car reset mileometer!) from my house so hope fully that should mean ever faster speed with everything taken into account here of course?!

Only if that is the cabinet you are connected to! You still don't seem to have actually done the BT wholesale check, as advised several times, and that would tell you which cabinet you are connected to, amongst other things.

Sorry... i have done that, checked and i am connected to 'cabinet 29' but as there are no numbers on the cabinets i see little use in this information. Imo estimate are not so accurate so i wanted to ask of peoples actual increases and or experience's.

In reply to a post by logansfolly:

Sorry... i have done that, checked and i am connected to 'cabinet 29' but as there are no numbers on the cabinets i see little use in this information. Imo estimate are not so accurate so i wanted to ask of peoples actual increases and or experience's.

The FTTC estimates are pretty accurate on the whole. You should find the cabinet number on the old cabinet located near the FTTC cabinet.

Until BT overcome crosstalk, or replace their old copper with something better, their FTTC customers will continue to lose data transfer rates over that last copper section. Like VM, BT are generally only selling a hybrid connection, unless you pay for FTTP. One advantage BT have is that the way their local network is designed. Nobody shares your copper line. It enables a more symmetrical connection than VM's. I envy the potential for 20Mb upstream. However, on Virgin's FTTN , fibre to the node, I get the full 120Mb I pay for. Coax cable is far more able to maintain full speed even whilst carrying HD and 3D TV. Indeed because VM configure their modems to take 133Mb, I get 126Mb at all times. 7Mb is lost to overheads.

ATM I have a choice between BT and VM. On balance if I were moving from ADSL I would go for VM rather than an ISP using BT lines. (Sorry if you don't have that choice.) This is mostly because of excellent TV and utterly reliable connections with latency around 9ms. Traffic management is now well on its way out, the SuperHub 2 is brilliant and we get a free upgrade to 152Mb soon.

Edited by deleted (Thu 23-Jan-14 13:00:39)

In reply to a post by logansfolly:

i am connected to 'cabinet 29' but as there are no numbers on the cabinets i see little use in this information.

As has been said, no numbers on the FTTC cabinets, but almost always on the phone cabinet.

Imo estimate are not so accurate so i wanted to ask of peoples actual increases and or experience's.

A damn sight more accurate than the ones you make yourself, and nobody else's are relevant in any way at all.
_{Edit - typos.}

Edited by RobertoS (Thu 23-Jan-14 13:27:48)