BT faster broadband is it worth changing?

Hi looking for some advice, I live quite far out in the sticks and currently receive a speed of about 1.1mps (on a good day) on a standard BT broadband package. Ive just noticed on the bt retail website i am now eligable for their BT Faster broadband package with an estimated speed of 10.5mbs i had a check on the BT wholesale availability checker too with the same estimate. My question is how likely am I to receive anything near the 10.5mbs estimated or would it be a lot closer to what i currently get?

We had the standard package and got around 2.2mps from an 8 mps service. When Horsham upgaded to infinity we were one of the few houses that couldn't get it. We were offered Faster Broadbad up to 20 mps and went for it. Speed rose to 10-16 mps afterwards, mainly near the top end. Makes things like I player and sky go much better. Watched Top Gear on a 23 inch monitor with very little pixelation last weekend.

I hope this helps

Also depends on why you are getting the speed you are now.

1 and 2 Meg may mean the old fixed speed services, i.e. never upgraded to the rate adaptive up to 8Meg products.

A rate adaptive line getting 1 Meg should be an attenuation of 58dB or more and almost impossible to get 10 Meg from that.

Short answer, tell us the downstream attenuation from your existing modem, connection speed and noise figures.

thanks for you reply in response.. the figures ive got at the moment are:

SNR margin 18db
Attenuation 51db
and a downstream line rate 1152kbps

HI

Your current SNR will be keeping your speed down. Ask for an SNR rest. This will set it to 6dB which should give you a good few more megs speed.

Jojo

You appear to be on the old fixed rate 1 Meg service, so switching to an up to 8Meg product rather than old 1 Meg would give you a boost.

A speed range of 3300Kbps to 5600Kbps from ADSL2+ (upto 24 Meg), and perhaps only 0.5 to 1 Meg slower on ADSL.

10 Meg is very very unlikely.

Can you paste what that BT Wholesale checker said please? And/or tell us the exchange.

What's the upstream rate? 288kbps?

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

10 Meg is very very unlikely.

Think OP is being offered BT Faster BB with Fibre, the one offered to those who cannot get > 15 Meg with BT Infinity.

I agree ^^

Thanks for all your responses in respone to your other questions my upstream rate is 288 and below is a copy past of the BT wholesale checkers results:

Your exchange is ADSL enabled, and our initial test on your line indicates that your line should be able to have an ADSL broadband service that provides a fixed line speed up to 2Mbps.

Our test also indicates that your line currently supports an estimated ADSL Max broadband line speed of 1.5Mbps; typically the line speed would range between 1Mbps and 2.5Mbps.

Our test also indicates that your line currently supports an estimated ADSL2+ broadband line speed of 2Mbps; typically the line speed would range between 1Mbps and 3.5Mbps. Our test also indicates that your line could support an estimated ADSL 2+ Annex-M broadband upstream line speed of 500Kbps and downstream line speed of 2Mbps; typically the downstream speed would range between 1Mbps and 3.5Mbps.

Our test also indicates that your line currently supports a fibre technology with an estimated WBC FTTC Broadband where consumers have received downstream line speed of 10.5Mbps and upstream line speed of 1Mbps.

The actual stable line speed supportable will be determined during the first 10 days of use. This speed may change over time, to ensure line stability is maintained.

If you decide to place an order, a further test will be performed to confirm if your line is suitable for the service you wish to purchase.

Thank you for your interest.

Please note that postcode and address check results are indicative only. Most accurate results can be obtained from a telephone number check.
Note: If you already have a Broadband service enabled on this line and you want to switch service providers, you will need to contact both your current provider and your new provider to get your service changed over new and existing service provider to have this service transferred.

As others said it looks likely that the offer is the FTTC service, which shortens the amount of copper by providing broadband from the green cabinet.

In all likelihood it will run faster than the 10 Meg they estimate. Even if 10 Meg that is more than enough for any video streams that are available today and likely for the next few years.

If the price is OK, go for it . Probably a new 18-month minimum term though.

Hi I also had 1.5meg and upgraded to faster broadband. I got 24 meg!!!! Actually faster than the 50 meg fibre optic via virgin I had before I moved - brilliant!

DO IT! I have found the estimates very conservative for the service...

My friend lives on a farm with a dirt track to their house. They got 128 kbps - that's 0.1 mbps on a their line. They couldn't even sync at certain times.

They got offered the BT fibre broadband - well the 'faster' service like yourselves. This predicted them 6 mbps. They are now getting 14mbps down

Definitely worth the move. & The estimate was very conservative.