Switching to TalkTalks network

I have a few questions about TalkTalk that I would like to know the answers to before looking further into switching to TalkTalk, so any answers/insights would be heavily appreciated.

I am currently on BTs 80/20mb FTTC service and thinking about switching to TalkTalks 80/20mb FTTC, and then onto TalkTalks FTTP 1000mb FTTP later on.

At a preliminary look, the TalkTalk 80/20mb FTTC looks great for cost savings and the TalkTalk 1000mb FTTP looks great in terms of speed, however, I know other things affect the connection, with things like congestion, poor transit and peering agreements, poor latency and high packet loss, etc playing a part.


Basically, does anyone know if TalkTalk has any drastically/material differences in their network topology/the calibre of their network, that could be considered a downgrade in comparison to BTs network?

I'm wondering about things like, if I can expect the same effective grade/standard/calibre/quality as BTs network, so better if not the same, performance of things like peering, transit and backhaul arrangements, packet loss and latency, actual throughput to the internet, and any throttling or capacity/congestion issues.

From what I can see, the main difference in terms of internet access is the lack of IPv6, but I was hoping to find some people to share their insights/experiences.


I would appreciate any help.

Are you in an area where TalkTalk have their own FTTP network then ?

Yes, they are currently building it near me in York

They're calling it "UFO" for "Ultra Fibre Optic" if I recall correctly

Be interesting to see what the 1000 package is a month.

OK, just checking, as they don�t currently offer anything over Openreach provided FTTP.

Have you found the TalkTalk specific part of the forum ? You might get informed opinion from users of their current offerings there.

There's not a huge dfference between BT Wholesale (whom BT Retail use) and TalkTalk networks. Both will provide similar speeds and latency assuming there's no congestion anywhere.

If TalkTalk will bring FTTP to you within the next 12 months, then it it might be better to wait until its ready and move directly to that instead of moving to TalkTalk FTTC first - their FTTC services run on 18 month min terms.

Their 1 Gig down/up service is £25 pm, around the same price as their 80/20 FTTC service:

https://www.talktalk.co.uk/shop/ufo/broadband

£25 for 900Mb....oh my!
I am spending £107.21 for 60mb down for 2 services combined!

Something not right with this country at all.

In reply to a post by derekdel:

£25 for 900Mb....oh my!
I am spending £107.21 for 60mb down for 2 services combined!

Something not right with this country at all.

Its because TalkTalk have cut out the 'middle-man' (Openreach) for their York FTTP rollout hence they can sell it at a very competitive price. Some might say £25 pm for 1 Gig symmetrical is way too cheap but I'm sure TalkTalk's bean counters have done their sums. Likewise B4RN sell the same speeds on their FTTP network for £30 pm, again bypassing Openreach.

In reply to a post by baby_frogmella:

There's not a huge dfference between BT Wholesale (whom BT Retail use) and TalkTalk networks. Both will provide similar speeds and latency assuming there's no congestion anywhere.

If TalkTalk will bring FTTP to you within the next 12 months, then it it might be better to wait until its ready and move directly to that instead of moving to TalkTalk FTTC first - their FTTC services run on 18 month min terms.

Their 1 Gig down/up service is £25 pm, around the same price as their 80/20 FTTC service:

https://www.talktalk.co.uk/shop/ufo/broadband

WOW That's an amazing deal at £25 per month.

Edited by busterboy (Sun 07-Apr-19 09:43:57)

But haven�t previous providers shown that the �pile it high, and sell it cheap� model doesn�t equate to good product .......

I wonder how much bandwidth is being allocated for the backhaul ?