Will my speed be slower with a different ISP?

We are 3 miles from the Tomatin exchange (NSTTN) so unlikely we will ever get fibre. We have been with ADSL24/Coms.com/Timico for a few years and get between 4.5 and 5.5 Mbps. I am thinking about changing to BT unlimited, however when I check the speed available it says 1.5 Mbps. Does this mean my speed would drop? As there are 235 residential premises and 18 non-residential premises it�s likely that the majority are with BT so would that mean more contention and hence a slower speed?

The underlying infraastructure will not change, however teh termination at te exchange may do - from one line card to another. So, your speed should not change drastically. There might be a minor up or down change caused by the change of termination - if you understand termination impedances which can vary slightly you would understand why.

Do not worry about contention - it is unlikely to have any effect especially as teh exchange has fibre back haul.

And who says you will not get FTTC? There are exchanges only slightly larger than yours where it has been rolled out - Rhynie is one example.

Thanks for the reply.

I'm thinking that because of the distance from the exchange we won't get fibre. There are just six properties in the glen.

Check that the technology is the same. Sometimes BT don't have ADSL2+ whereas LLU operators do.

Assuming samknows is up to date there is no LLU and no BTW ADSL2+. Some areas with FTTC.

The OP needs to check using this checker to see if their number has FTTC available, but I get the feeling they are already using that checker. Speeds should be basically unchanged on migration.

In reply to a post by andyfr:

Thanks for the reply.

I'm thinking that because of the distance from the exchange we won't get fibre. There are just six properties in the glen.

FTTC availability has nothing to do with how far you are from your exchange, its based on your local PCP cabinet being connected to a new fibre cabinet and according to Digital Scotland the Tomatin area has FTTC availability. What does the BT checker say for your number?
Edit: RobertoS beat me to it!

Edited by deleted (Fri 06-May-16 15:14:52)

So, you are well out of the village!


I hear that the Findhorn is doing pretty well for salmon this year.

Yes that's the checker I'm using. It says that fibre isn't available when I check.

In reply to a post by MHC:

So, you are well out of the village!


I hear that the Findhorn is doing pretty well for salmon this year.

Yes, not far from the Findhorn.

If I go on to the OR site it says:

Your cabinet is enabled for Superfast fibre however you're not able to order fibre just yet. This might be because the length of the line is too long to get Superfast speeds. We're actively looking at other options.

One little tweak that the OP might want to think of is using a router that allows the SNR margin to be tweaked. If it's a stable connection, then by dropping that to (say) 3dB it might squeeze out about 0.5-1 mbps.

Not, of course, related to the original issue of course. If it's all non-LLU stuff then the sync rate should be much the same whoever the ISP is.

nb I'll guess that OR have probably put an FTTC cabinet in for EO lines for that exchange and that's maybe what the OP's lines are connected too. Whether this is the sort of scenario what BT are exploring so-called "long reach" VDSL would be interesting to know. It's conceivable that with a bout of doubling up of pairs and different use of the spectrum 10mbps would be achievable over three miles+

That's interesting! I did notice the OR engineers inspecting the poles a few months ago.

Get in touch with Highlands and Islands Enterprise (BDUK) they should be able to advise you what (if anything) is planned for your property.
[email protected]

Edited by deleted (Fri 06-May-16 17:55:21)

Thanks, I will get in touch.

See if this is of any help you can use your number or put Tomatin/or your postcode in the locality tab, whatever:-

https://www.telecom-tariffs.co.uk/codelook.htm

In reply to a post by TheEulerID:

It's conceivable that with a bout of doubling up of pairs and different use of the spectrum 10mbps would be achievable over three miles+

Problem with doubling up pairs is that any difference in length can upset the signal as there will be phase differences and similarly if different pairs have different impedance characteristics then again there can be problems.