Help understanding FTTC Speed estimates are so low

I am able to upgrade to FTTC service for my property. I have a few questions which I hope some of you knowledgeable types can help with.

1) Currently I have been estimated speeds of Up to 32.2 Mbps Down and Up to 5.9 Up. Will this be the maximum speed I will be able to achieve or will it go faster? is it capped at this rate at the cabinet?

2) What are the chances that this speed estimation will increase in the near future?

3) Will I now be able to get FoD service when it becomes more commercially viable in the near future as I am on a FTTC enabled cabinet?

4) Can I upgrade to a faster service if I pay a little more like ask to be put onto the 80/20 unlimited package even though I have been estimated at 32Mbps / 6Mbps?

5) Am I better off sticking with Sky or switching over onto PN or over onto BT for higher speed rates

6) Do you think as the service is so new in my area is why the estimation of speed is so low compared to other types of FTTC services like the 80/20 packages. (which is available in the next street to mine)

7) Could it just ba a case of supply and demand at present which has dictated the speeds they are currently offering me? Do you think they are just waiting for more users to come onto my cabinet and then bump the speeds up higher?

8) What does Fibre Multicast mean/do/provide?

9) How long does it take to move from a fully unbundled services providers LLU network over onto PlusNet Fibre service (approx).

Have you got any hints or tips I should look out for if I decide to take the plunge and move to PN (Good Deals, etc)?

Thanks for any help/comments/advise !

Here is my Availability Checker stats

Available Products
Featured Products
WBC FTTC Up to 32.2 Up to 5.9 -- Available
WBC ADSL 2+ Up to 8 -- 5.5 to 15 Available
WBC ADSL 2+ Annex M Up to 8 Up to 1 5.5 to 15 Available
ADSL Max Up to 3.5 -- 2.5 to 6.5 Available
WBC Fixed Rate 2 -- -- Available
Fixed Rate 2 -- -- Available
Other Offerings
Fibre Multicast -- -- -- Available

In reply to a post by majika2007:

I am able to upgrade to FTTC service for my property. I have a few questions which I hope some of you knowledgeable types can help with.

1) Currently I have been estimated speeds of Up to 32.2 Mbps Down and Up to 5.9 Up. Will this be the maximum speed I will be able to achieve or will it go faster? is it capped at this rate at the cabinet?

It is determined by your (copper) distance from the cabinet, instead of the distance from the exchange like ADSLx is.

A lot of people get quite a bit more than the estimate if it is a newish cabinet, but over time it can drop to around the estimate.

A few unlucky people get below the estimate right from the beginning. It could be they have line problems, but not bad enough for Openreach to fix them .

2) What are the chances that this speed estimation will increase in the near future?

Nil. In the long term, it may benefit from "vectoring", which is being discussed a lot at the moment in this forum. For example, see this current thread which covers about all that is known here about it.

3) Will I now be able to get FoD service when it becomes more commercially viable in the near future as I am on a FTTC enabled cabinet?

Yes, but it could be a high installation cost. And subject to survey.

4) Can I upgrade to a faster service if I pay a little more like ask to be put onto the 80/20 unlimited package even though I have been estimated at 32Mbps / 6Mbps?

No - see above explanation re the distance from the cabinet and vectoring.

5) Am I better off sticking with Sky or switching over onto PN or over onto BT for higher speed rates

That's very difficult to answer. In my opinion Plusnet is the best alternative to Sky, but which of them is the better for you I have no real idea.

6) Do you think as the service is so new in my area is why the estimation of speed is so low compared to other types of FTTC services like the 80/20 packages. (which is available in the next street to mine).

I think you will find the 80/20 service is available to you - just Sky don't advertise it. You have to ring them up to get it. But as I've said, it makes no difference to you speedwise, as all it does is remove the artificial cap of the 40Mbps one. It doesn't add anything to the underlying capability of the line - no different frequencies or anything, unlike ADSL v ADSL2+.

7) Could it just ba a case of supply and demand at present which has dictated the speeds they are currently offering me? Do you think they are just waiting for more users to come onto my cabinet and then bump the speeds up higher?

No. See earlier.

8) What does Fibre Multicast mean/do/provide?

I know roughly, but pass for now.

9) How long does it take to move from a fully unbundled services providers LLU network over onto PlusNet Fibre service (approx).

That's the tricky one . You need to get one of the Digital Care team involved as apparently there is a glitch somewhere in the BT Wholesale or Openreach systems that make this messy. It's supposed to be dead easy, but isn't. I can post over in the Community forums for you to alert them to it if you like, but that might be the middle of tomorrow before I do. They are Mon-Fri people really as well, unlike the normal support who are 24/7 but I don't think could sort this question.

Edited by RobertoS (Fri 26-Apr-13 23:42:42)

Fibre multicast an option that will enable linear tv over the fibre network, ie live TV So likely to mean BT YouView boxes will have access to extra sports channels . Linked to a news item I did on Bt wholesale tv service this week

Thanks a lot guys, thats why I love this place. excellent response times and expert advide/info.

With regards to informing the Digital Care Team I think i will hold on that for just a moment until I figure a couple of things out.

Thanks again lads

Let us know if you need any more help .

Are there any companies who offer the FoD service yet?

Can I go to Openreach directly and see what the score is regarding this as I assume I would need to have a survey of some type anyway to find out if FoD is viable for my Line/property, etc..?

I know this sounds stupid but does Openreach have a retail side or is that just BT/Plusnet. I want to see if I can cut the middle man out of the equation, kind of thing?

*EDIT*
P.S I am living in Wales and not in a city or anything like that so HyperOptic is out of the question atm

Edited by majika2007 (Sat 27-Apr-13 13:51:26)

It's supposed to be available for wholesalers to order from today. The first take-up will I expect be BT Wholesale, followed by BT Retail using the BTW service.

All the others, a case of ring next week and ask, I suppose.

You cannot deal with Openreach, nor with BT Wholesale. It has to be a retail ISP.

Edited by RobertoS (Sat 27-Apr-13 14:57:57)

Hi,
There is no middle man so to speak, as everyone will be buying there services from BT wholesale, and it makes no difference if you went with BT Retail, plusnet Zen us or anyone else.

Two more days to go and FoD will not be nationally available at initial launch

Oh I see, so give it a little time to begin to start to see the retail versions of FoD trickle through to consumer market.

It was said that I cant deal directly with BTO / BTW. So, does this still apply to businesses ? Can business wishing to bypass retail ISP deal with BTO directly?