Moving - how on earth do I know who will offer best speeds?

Bit of a long story so bear with me.

We live in a village, we have BT Infinity here at home.

We are moving to my Mum's old house (she passed away suddenly) which is about 3mi away, out into the country, phone line from the same exchange - in our village.

The cabinet there is listed as "Enabled Area", and when I called BT to change our service, they said that fibre would 'probably' be enabled soon. However, when I queried whether this house would actually *get* fibre I was told they couldn't check that until the cabinet is enabled.

Currently, BT say they can offer 1.5-3MBps (ouch) on the line that exists there. Now, if I knew that fibre was getting switched on in 3mos and is going to be available there, I'd live with it until fibre arrived! However, is it even realistic to think the house will get fibre - is it too far away? If so, there are 2 LLU's at the exchange, TalkTalk and Sky. Sky says they estimate 1.8-11.8MBps (big range!). I haven't checked TalkTalk, used to be with them and wasn't impressed with their customer service.

Mum used to use EntaNet as a provider and got ~6MBps according to my brother, she had mentioned this speed to him - I know she used to stream Netflix and so on. As far as I understand it they are not an LLU so will have used BT's equipment?

Basically, I am very confused, I want to get the best possible speed for this place, but how can I possibly know who will give me that until I'm already in a contract? And my Mum isn't here to ask about it all. If anyone can give me any advice it would be much appreciated.

Speed is a combination of line characteristics and technology. The line characteristics are the same no matter who you choose.

As for the technology it is possible that it is still an ADSL1 exchange for BT wholesale but an ADSL2+ exchange for Sky/Talktalk (they have their own kit).

The estimates are just estimates. Until it is connected you won't know (unless someone already lives there and has BB in which case you might be able to get the information from them as to the line stats).

If the BT estimates are remotely right then you won't get much faster than that even on ADSL2+.

Sky like to exaggerate the available line speeds. They still insist I should be getting between 11 and 15 mbs. I get 3.9 and thats almost double what neighbours get.

BT say I can get between 1mb and 2.5mb which is far more realistic.

This should tell you what's available

If you goto https://www.btwholesale.com/includes/adsl/main.html and use the address checker this will give you ADSL based estimates for connection speed.

In terms of fibre - generally never gamble on vague promises as too often staff given well meaning but incorrect advice.

Best bet is if you can tell us the exchange name and cabinet number that the properties address gives, we can then tell you more about what might become available and likely speeds (from seeing where cabinet is and then you can judge the distance to it and that will tell you whether good or bad fibre speeds are likely)

Thanks all. Had a brainwave, one of hubby's friends just started with OpenReach a few weeks ago. I gave him the cabinet number and he told me the location, and that it's already been upgraded, but just hasn't been officially connected yet. Plus I gave him the new address and he said although we will get a big loss (about 50%) it will still be far faster than current broadband, so it's all good!

Cool so long as they are correct - urging some caution have in the past seen even senior people in BT Group get things a little confused.

Remember, the copper path from house to cabinet to exchange will be EXACTLY the same irrespective of which ISP you choose. So the attenuation and noise levels will be exactly the same.

Of te two estimates given, I would be more inclined to believe the BT one - you have already commented on the range Sky have given. Then you say you mum was getting ~6Mbps with Entanet so there is a good chance the BT estimate will be a little low (they often are).

Are you in or out of contract on Infinity? If you are still in-contract then staying with BT will certainly be easier.