If a person wants to stay in their home until the day they die then increasing the homes value won't be seen as a benefit as they would never realise it.

Also, if they want video conferencing then they may not need it full screen. If you only have a quarter of the screen displaying video then SD density requires much less bandwidth as there are fewer pixels to cover. Also of course they will see a better quality their end as it will be the download that delivers them the video - it will be the other end that has lower quality and therefore why should they pay to increase the quality for the other person?

Whilst your arguments are reasonable for many people they won't cut if for others - both of those arguments can be easily argued down by someone in their 60's who don't see the benefit of higher speeds. If the current speed is "good enough" and they don't want to sell their house then any extra money spent would be seen as wasted.

I think we often forget that not everyone is interested in broadband or the internet (especially the older generation), most of us on this forum post because we are interested in it and a few take it to the next level with what they are prepared to spend to get the very best available. This is no different from car enthusiasts who want and are prepared to pay for the very best cars although a cheap car will normally get you from A to B but just a little slower and the journey will probably be a little less comfortable.

My Mum is in her 70's and in the early days I paid for her Internet until she agreed with the benefit. These days she does have FTTP with an 80Mbps service but there are many in the same age group (and other age groups) that don't see the benefit. My hairdresser is in her 50's and doesn't have Internet or a computer - she just uses a smartphone and even then mostly for text and calls.

Personally I have FTTP and a 150Mbps package. I now can get the top package (wasn't available until a couple of weeks ago) but I don't see the point. We are a house of 4. I work in IT, both myself and my wife work from home, son is an avid console gamer and daughter of course is in to all things social media and video streaming. I could upgrade to a higher speed package but can't really justify it at the moment. If a house like mine doesn't need more than 150Mbps then a house with one or two people over 70 that use relatively little Internet aren't going to be rushing to upgrade a basic ADSL/FTTC connection.

In reply to a post by jabuzzard:

I would note in my neck of the woods there was a bit of a fuss about some FTTPoD pricing that was on ispreview some time ago now. One of the houses came up for sale offers over £650k very nice, but as far as I can make out was withdrawn from the market after about a year and the BT wholesale checker still shows it with awful broadband.. The words "cut nose spite face" come to mine.

They would probably still be waiting for it to be installed even if they did order it

In reply to a post by R0NSKI:

In reply to a post by jabuzzard:

I would note in my neck of the woods there was a bit of a fuss about some FTTPoD pricing that was on ispreview some time ago now. One of the houses came up for sale offers over £650k very nice, but as far as I can make out was withdrawn from the market after about a year and the BT wholesale checker still shows it with awful broadband.. The words "cut nose spite face" come to mine.

They would probably still be waiting for it to be installed even if they did order it

Also is their any proof it didn't sell because of not having full fibre, it sounds like £650k for a house in that area may be a bit pricey compared to other parts of the UK where you can't even buy a pole barn for the same money.

In reply to a post by dect:

Also is their any proof it didn't sell because of not having full fibre, it sounds like £650k for a house in that area may be a bit pricey compared to other parts of the UK where you can't even buy a pole barn for the same money.

No there is no proof. On the other hand what's the market for a period detached property with 5 bedrooms and land, that has naff broadband? I don't imagine that many elderly people not interested in broadband are going to downsize to such a property.

I would argue that 5 bedrooms suggest kids, which means decent broadband is going to be on high on the wanted list.

For all I know they may have decided to stump up the money rather than move. I would imagine that moving would cost more than paying for FTTPoD.

In reply to a post by ian72:

If a person wants to stay in their home until the day they die then increasing the homes value won't be seen as a benefit as they would never realise it.

On the other hand there are numerous reasons why even if you want and plan to stay in your home till you die that, circumstances change and it is no longer possible or even desired. At that point extra equity in your home and the ability to sell it quick is likely to be very welcome.

Alternatively it might be that you could stay in your home but need some equity release to do so. Again having additional equity in your home would be beneficial.

Turning down the option to boost the value of your home for such a modest sum is under almost all circumstances a stupid thing to do. I know I could persuade my 76 year old mother on this easily. Just because you are elderly does not make you stupid. However it is not an angle they might have considered which is why I suggested it as a tactic to take with those that might otherwise not be interested.

Even if it does not work with all of them, you might find it works with enough to smooth things out.

In reply to a post by jabuzzard:

Alternatively it might be that you could stay in your home but need some equity release to do so. Again having additional equity in your home would be beneficial.

You're assuming that the mortgage valuer will give a different valuation based on the broadband speed.

You can call people "stupid" (your word, used multiple times) for choosing not to take a particular course of action, but the cost/benefit equation is different for each person. They are free to take whatever course of action suits them best, and I don't think they should be berated for that.

Maybe people are also "stupid" to believe Boris' promise that everyone will have gigabit broadband by 2025 - but some do. Why pay for something you're going to get anyway?

In reply to a post by jabuzzard:

what's the market for a period detached property with 5 bedrooms and land, that has naff broadband?

In my area a minimum of £1.75m if 5 bed properties near me are anything to go by, buyers are typically found in about 4 weeks.

Hi Moonraker

Just wondered how you were getting on with this as I am in a similar situation where I have now revised a CFP quote to cover the whole village ?

For my first estimate it was 200k for 50 or so houses ( 2 streets ) which was unviable, so after speaking to the OR REM I put in a quote request for covering the whole village.

Similar to yours, the intial quote has come back at £460k to cover around 770 premises and may be turned into a demand led scheme ( just waiting for confirmation ) which is going to need around 40% uptake to cover with vouchers.

Just wondered how you were getting on with yours ?

Thanks
Tikka69

J