Broadband speed versus provider question

Hi All

A question I'd always wanted answering. Up until last year I used Virgin media but issues with the router that they refused to attend to meant I changed provider to Talk Talk. With Virgin I got a rapid 70+ MBps but with TalkTalk I only get about 30.

Virgin were using their Fibre network to obtain fast speeds, but TalkTalk are seemingly using the local exchange to get broadband to my house. If I was to change again to BT or Sky or PlusNet am I right in thinking that the broadband method is the same as TalkTalk so the speed would be the same?

Thanks
Richard

In reply to a post by richsdixon:

If I was to change again to BT or Sky or PlusNet am I right in thinking that the broadband method is the same as TalkTalk so the speed would be the same?

You should post the statistics from your router/modem.but it is likely.

If you really need more speed, virgin may be the only option. What was the problem? You can set the SuperHub to modem mode and plug in a third party router, I'm using an Asus RT-AX88U for WiFi 6 support with my Virgin Hub 3.

From a technology perspective in the home broadband there are a number of providers of infrastructure - the two big ones are Openreach and Virgin. There are other players like Cityfibre, Gigaclear, B4RN, HyperOptic, etc but they tend to have smaller coverage at present.

Virgin use their own network - part fibre and part coax (some areas of the country are moving to full fibre). The coax technology that Virgin use continues to be upgraded and can in many areas provide very high speeds now (you;ll see on their website that they currently display packages up to 500Mb but the coax can go faster).

Openreach use a number of technologies as they have been gradually changing tech over the years. Many of the technologies use the copper cables that were originally installed for telephony - these include ADSL (slow by modern standards), VDSL/FTTC (quicker but limited by distance from cabinet), G.Fast (upgrade to VDSL but still dependent on distance to cabinet) and FTTP (fastest, currently have packages up to 1Gb). FTTP is only available to a small percentage of the country.

The providers you mention (TalkTalk, BT, Sky and PlusNet) all resell the Openreach services (although there are nuances as to how they do that which can make a difference to the end user experience).

Most people at present only have VDSL/FTTC available from Openreach - they are rolling out FTTP but it is going to take time.

The other providers I mention mostly have their own FTTP networks but they are limited in numbers.

You can then also add mobile networks - in slow broadband areas the mobile network may provider faster speeds that are more useful. BT own EE so provide their mobile through that network but most (or all) of the major networks now have competitively priced unlimited data packages.

Then you also have wifi networks that can provide connection via wifi rather than using cables. These tend to be very localised and somewhat sparse in availability.

There is satellite to add to the mix if you really can't get anything else but this tends to be expensive, slow and very high latency. This is a real last ditch selection at present - new satellite service might improve some of this but latency is always going to be high as it has a long way to travel.

You will be on a fibre to the cab connection with talk talk.
If the speed you are getting is broadly in line with the talk talk estimate it's going to be similar to BT, Sky, plusnet etc

Thanks very much for this - it was kind of what I was expecting. I have broadband here in Blackheath at 25 MBps with TalkTalk but the same package in Whitstable where a family member lives is 55 MBps so I presume the "distance to cabinet" is further in Blackheath.

I've started doing a lot of downloading of data for work so was wondering about changing provider - looks like maybe I'll have to head back to Virgin to get some more robust download speeds !

Edited by deleted (Thu 16-Jul-20 12:34:52)

There will be people in Blackheath that are right next to the cabinet and others probably that are further away than you are. It is down to where the cabinet you are connected to is compared to your house - it isn't a specific thing to compare between towns as equally in Whistable on your family members cabinet there will likely be people a long way from the cabinet.

Thanks - so I'm guessing in Blackheath it's back to Virgin or bust !

Unless there are other plans then for your property that is likely the case - but your property will not be representative of the whole of Blackheath.

Re ...I've started doing a lot of downloading of data for work.

Have they asked you to work from home ?, if so I would expect a decent firm to offer to pay towards your connection or pay for a 'Leased Lines or Dedicated Internet Access'.

Be realistic - do you really know many firms installing *leased lines* into the homes of their staff?