Broadband speeds - moving house

Hi,

We are looking to move house, from an urban area to a house that is in a semi-rural area. As we are doing research we are trying to work out what the broadband speeds are going to be like there. Information from the major providers seems to suggest we’d get 20-36mbps download with a minimum of 17mbps and 5-7mbps upload speeds. What we don’t know is if this is going to be enough. Currently we get 70-90mbps download and 9-10mbps upload speeds.
Usage wise both my husband and I work from home, requiring video calling. We also often have music/TV streaming on multiple devices at the same time as the video calls. Would we have issues at the predicted speeds? If we can’t get decent broadband it will be a deal breaker on an otherwise amazing property so need to make sure we are making the right decision,

Thanks

Post the results of an online availability checker please.

Like https://www.bt.com/broadband/availability/ for instance.

Here it is
https://www.bt.com/broadband/availability/?s_cid=con...

Unfortunately your posted link just leads to the general page, not your results.

That's basically a problem with their output not being linkable.

This forum also has a problem on dealing with the output even if BT got it right. .

For this forum the best solution is for you to take a screenshot of the output from the enquiry, then upload it to a site which may be in your webspace, (not advisable unless you really understand the risks), or the likes of one listed here. The most popular seems to be imgur. Then give us the link to your upload.

All the best to you.

I can’t seem the photo sharing site to work on my phone, but here’s the information from the BT broadband availability checker for the address:

Fibre 1 package is best available
Download speed range 20-36mb
Stay fast guarantee 17mb
Upload speed range 5-7mb

What I am trying to find out is whether this would be enough speed to meet our requirements as described in OP or whether we will have issues with slow broadband.

10 years ago i'd probably say I dont care, but today it would be like saying there's no mains gas or water.
If you dont have children you might cope for now.
But for me, unless there was something better 100% guaranteed coming along for the area i'd skip it, i know what its like to have no speed, what might be ok now will slowly get worse and worse.

In reply to a post by Ladybird27:

I can’t seem the photo sharing site to work on my phone, but here’s the information from the BT broadband availability checker for the address:

Fibre 1 package is best available
Download speed range 20-36mb
Stay fast guarantee 17mb
Upload speed range 5-7mb

What I am trying to find out is whether this would be enough speed to meet our requirements as described in OP or whether we will have issues with slow broadband.

If you do have your heart set on the property and decide that the existing bandwidth will not be enough, there are some more expensive options potentially available to give better speeds. The availability checker should tell you whether FTTPoD is available. You would have to bear the costs of this installation to bring the optic fibre right to your house. These are likely to be several thousand pounds but would future-proof you for a number of years. You may even be able to get one or two neighbours who would be fed from the same cable to join in and then you can share the installation costs. Be aware that the FTTPoD installation process could possibly take you as far as next summer (2022) to complete.

You could also install a second FTTC Fibre 1 line and have the two lines bonded to combine the two throughputs. That would be probably be considerably cheaper than FTTPoD and could take you to somewhere close to your existing arrangements.

You can do quite a lot with 20Mbits but if work requires downloading large files it may be a limiting factor. The upload could be an issue particularly for video calls and especially if it coincides with high utilisation and streaming.
This could be alleviated by having 2 lines and using one solely for work. Broadband is getting so cheap now it makes little difference considering the overall cost of moving.

Have you asked the current owners what speeds they actually get on their broadband? it may be better or worse than you think.

Its clear that 20-36 is less the 70-80 so everything may not be possible at the same time, I would suggest you think if you actually need to stream music/tv at the same time as you and your husband work from home. Would you consider getting a 4G routers (if a good signal is available in the area) and assign less important devices to it.

You try factoring it into your offer for the property. You could get a desktop survey for FTTPoD and then knock that off the asking price and make it clear to the sellers why you are making the offer you are.

There is some risk in that the full survey cost for the FTTPoD could be more (it could also be less), and it would likely be next year before it went live so you would probably need some sort of interim solution either 4G or second line.

Given that many FTTPoD installations seem to be more than £10K, and some substantially more, then unless the housing market is flat or the house significantly over priced then it is likely that the offer would be rejected.

For 1 person beyond waiting a bit if work involves receiving or sending Gigabit packages the speeds sound good.

For two people so long as the other person does not upload or download massive files when in a video call should still be good, i.e. with a bit of cooperation will work.

The suggested two lines is useful and particularly if you go with different ISP as when one is having problems the other may well keep working.

In reply to a post by dect:

Have you asked the current owners what speeds they actually get on their broadband? it may be better or worse than you think.

If you know the phone number of the house - which you can get from the BT Phonebook if you know the surname and they're not ex-directory - then enter it at https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com and it will show you the *actual* speeds achieved recently under the heading "Observed Speeds".

Here's mine, which might be relevant since I get very similar predicted speeds to yours:

VDSL Range A (Clean) 35.5 24.9 6 4.3 22 Available Available --
VDSL Range B (Impacted) 34.5 21.2 6 3.6 17.7 Available Available

Observed Speeds VDSL
Max Observed Downstream Speed 30.81
Max Observed Upstream Speed 3.84
Observed Date 2020-12-23

You'll only see this if the current occupiers have an FTTC broadband service of course. ADSL figures aren't useful, and if they take ADSL from an LLU provider (e.g. Talktalk) then it won't even recognise the phone number.

For me, moving from a house where I got 70/17 was a very noticeable step down, especially for uploads. But it was really the house we wanted.

In the end, I got FTTPoD installed: the cost was considerable (but still less than stamp duty) and I got a business voucher towards it. I think I was lucky to get in early in 2018: based on reports from forum users, the typical cost of FTTPoD appears to have increased substantially since then.

I kept the FTTC line to keep business and home usage separate for accounting purposes - and it also means I have a backup, although the FTTP has not failed once, whilst FTTC has several times.

In reply to a post by ian72:

Given that many FTTPoD installations seem to be more than £10K, and some substantially more, then unless the housing market is flat or the house significantly over priced then it is likely that the offer would be rejected.

Without knowing the price of the new house (it may be £100k or £5m) and the cost of FTTPoD its just speculation what the seller would do.

Edited by deleted (Mon 18-Jan-21 12:22:25)

I would agree it's speculation. Imagine you put an offer in on a house and the survey came back that their is lead water supply piping that is not the water boards responsibility and you knocked £10k of the offer price as a result. Substandard utilities is substandard utilities, whether it be water, gas, electric, sewer or in 2021 internet.

If the house was valued knowing that there was a water pipe problem then you would be unlikely to get money off. If the house is valued based on the current broadband speeds then as I said earlier if the market is good in the area then it is unlikely the seller would reduce price as they would probably wait for a buyer who isn't concerned at the Internet speeds (and it isn't as if the speeds are 500Kbps, the speed would be considered good enough for many buyers.

It is speculation but the chances of getting much of a reduction for a known state is unlikely except in a poor market - prices are still at present increasing and the market seems fairly buoyant in many areas.

I haven't bought property in ten years without first checking out the comms services available.

Ten years ago that made me part of a small minority. The events of 2020 have, I think, made many who have little interest in technology for its own sake appreciate the importance of a decent connection. It's likely that some other potential buyers will pass on a property with a poor connection, or make lower offers.

That's of little practical benefit, as when negotiating a lower price you rely on all the other buyers seeing the same defect in the property. In this case, at 30/5, many will consider it 'good enough'. It would, for example, sustain two people watching HD Netflix simultaneously. A video call on top of that should be fine, but if someone else is uploading heavily you'd start to have problems.

Personally, I would budget for two connections to give yourself some breathing room and fault tolerance.

Ladybird27 - if you are able to provide a more detailed location, there may be information on network upgrade plans, wireless ISPs in the area etc. that helpful people can point you to.

True but the events of 2020 have dramatically shrunk the pool of people willing to purchase a house with poor broadband. Further depending on the house type for example (let's say something marketed as a family home) then the pool of people willing to purchase such houses with poor broadband will have shrunk even further.

You loose nothing in trying with an appropriately offer, because if the house is not suitable as is you are not going to be making a purchase anyway.

The other option if you really really want that particular property is (assuming you have spare equity) take a bigger mortgage and keep some equity for home improvements, which can include better broadband. Plenty of people moving into a house will spend more on a new kitchen and bathroom than installing FTTPoD.

Plug a iphone into charge while you on a video call and its game over as the iphone will suck that 5Mb upload dry doing a backup. A laptop suddenly wants to update office or windows and again that'll use as many sessions as it likes and the download is stuffed.
I spent a fortune over the years on equipment to manage albeit a much slower 5Mb/1Mb ADSL service its a nightmare I dont want that ever again and tbh a 30/5 service wouldnt do it for me.

I agree more people now look at broadband for a purchase. But, if the house is in the right place and the right type than I think a fair number of people would still buy the house despite have "poor" broadband - and the broadband at this house isn't that poor.

If the house market is such that there are other suitable places with better broadband then the OP should go for those instead. But, if there choices are limited then they may just have to make do with the broadband that is there - which is what they were trying to ask with their opening question around whether it is enough for their needs. Trying to get the buyers to reduce price may be possible if they don't have other buyers but doing it on the basis of buying FTTPoD may not solve the problem as costs for FTTPoD vary wildly and as others have said it could take more than a year to get it installed which may just be too long if the connection is not fast enough for what they need now.

In reply to a post by candlerb:

In reply to a post by dect:

Have you asked the current owners what speeds they actually get on their broadband? it may be better or worse than you think.

If you know the phone number of the house - which you can get from the BT Phonebook if you know the surname and they're not ex-directory - then enter it at https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com and it will show you the *actual* speeds achieved recently under the heading "Observed Speeds".

Easier to use the Address option I think.

The address option for me doesn't give the observed speeds, I only get that by using the phone number.

Ah!

At the moment we are bumbling along at 4.5/0.6, at this speed we can have Zoom calls whilst still browsing internet, and stream youtube HD whilst still browsing internet, not sure if trying to Zoom and stream youtube HD would work fine, but gives you some idea that a couple of video calls, or video call and streaming HD should work OK at your predicted speeds. but as others have said shifting large files about might impact this. Also as others have said many (most?) properties are able to have a second line without problems, so if the property is ideal in all other respects then that is an option.