Talk talk Super Fibre or BT Inifinity?

Morning,

Look for some info and general guidance as i cant make my mind up.

Im currently with O2 who give me a stable 16mb down. They've been great but fibre optic broadband has recently been enabled at my cabinet.

After researching whats available, i'm left with 2 options.

Talk Talk and their Super Fibre 80/20 service (they quoted me 72.2mb down for my phone number) for £43 a month.

...or BT Infinity 40/10 for around £40 a month

Now normally i wouldn't touch either company with anyones bargepole but i would definitely love the extra speed for what amounts to £13 more a month than what im currently paying.

So who should i go with? Talk Talk seem the best on paper but i cant find any reviews for their product and ive read countless horror stories about how rubbish their customer service is. BT are a little safer as i already have my phone line with them but their CS isnt glowing, however reviews of BT Infinity have been generally positive.

Is there anyone out there who currently use either of these services that can help me make a better informed decision?

Many thanks.

PS. Apologies if this is posted in the wrong place.

Edited by deleted (Fri 30-Mar-12 09:35:56)

There isn't a live 80/20 service yet, only trials. It will be live for all ISPs on 10 April, and I believe it will be a free upgrade on BT Infinity. Don't take my word for the "free" though!

Are you bothered about upstream speed, and how much allowance do you need? Are you a Sky TV customer? They will be in the market on 12 April, product details I don't know.

Wonder why Talk Talk are quoting 72.2down and 20up then (on both their website and when i phoned)?

I'm looking for unlimited usage as that's what i have now so thats been factored in to the prices above. Upstream isn't a massive factor but anything faster than the 0.9mb i currently get will be a massive bonus.

When i phoned BT they said there were no plans to bring their faster 100mb connection to my area in the near future. Is the 80/20 a different thing then?

I'm not a Sky customer no. Am i right in thinking that all current fibre services are using the Infinity lines anyway?

Thanks for your response RobertoS.

Edited by deleted (Fri 30-Mar-12 09:44:37)

BT Infinity and Talk Talk will both be using Openreach FTTC.

Openreach FTTC is being upgraded from "up to 40" to "up to 80". Soon.

Many ISPs are offering service using Openreach FTTC if you don't like the two above.

Ive had a look at Plusnet, Zen, Eclipse and Aquiss (sp) but they're either more expensive, not as good for the money or dont have unlimited usage.

Just trying to get an idea of who to go for out of these 2 really. I could wait for Sky to see what they are offering but surely it would be similar to whats on offer here seen as they're reselling the same product.

fibre.sky.com/shop/broadband-talk/broadband-options/sky-fibre-broadband/

they aren't reselling the same product, they're offering a range of packages that use the same connection technology. Factors like price and GB allowances vary as you have found, along with Traffic Management that may be present on "unlimited" services (and others).

Sky and Talk Talk will use different networks from the BT exchange to the internet and both are different to that used by BT.

In reply to a post by Buzz23:

Wonder why Talk Talk are quoting 72.2down and 20up then (on both their website and when i phoned)?

The answer to that is surely part of the equation, as it could be true from 10 April but certainly not before. See later in this post as to why.

I'm looking for unlimited usage as that's what i have now so thats been factored in to the prices above. Upstream isn't a massive factor but anything faster than the 0.9mb i currently get will be a massive bonus.

So you use more than 120GB in peak time?

When i phoned BT they said there were no plans to bring their faster 100mb connection to my area in the near future. Is the 80/20 a different thing then?

Yes. The 100Mbps is FTTP which is very different. 80/20 is just a straight upgrade of the 40/10 Openreach FTTC product.

I'm not a Sky customer no. Am i right in thinking that all current fibre services are using the Infinity lines anyway?

Completely wrong, and one of the many thousand victims of BT's misleading advertising.

BT Group fibre to the cabinet is an Openreach product. They own everything from you to the exchange. The Openreach product is called Generic Ethernet Access.

At the exchange this is handed over to Communications Providers/ISPs as an Ethernet link. BT Wholesale, who supply all landline ISPs except TalkTalk and Sky, take that link into their exchange kit and onward to their backhaul.

Infinity is just the BT Retail FTTC product, as Total Broadband is their ADSLx one. Nobody else sells Total Broadband, and nobody else sells Infinity, but there are plenty of other Openreach/BT Wholesale FTTC suppliers.

TalkTalk also take that feed into their existing LLU kit in order to get it to their existing backhaul, but they have far less control over it than they do with their ADSL2+ LLU. It is not true LLU. On LLU they have control all the way to your house. On GEA they only have control from when it hits their kit as an ethernet connection.

Sky will be doing the same as TT.

(I got interrupted for half an hour while typing this, so if anyone else has posted anything similar, apologies to them).

Cheers RobertoS,

Ok so, by the time i get it installed Talk Talk could theoretically offer me that quoted speed as its going to take longer than 10 days to go through. I have to wait another 4 days so O2 dont charge me £15 for using the MAC they gave me

However BT will probably at some point be upgrading to 80/20 for free as you said in your other post. 40/10 will be fast enough for me in the meantime and knowing that there's an upgrade in the pipeline is good.

I have used more than 120gb a month yes, i generally do my downloading after work (5pm) and with my current connection being unlimited i'd rather carry on with the same and not have the chance of going over with my usage.

As im already with BT for a phone i think the safer option would be Infinity then. The only other annoying thing is their 18 month contract!...

Don't forget Quidco and TopCashback.

If its free on Infinity, then I will defo be doing a predatory pricing article.