Best FTTP isp - openreach cabling - gaming mainly

Hi all,

I apologise if this is similar to other posts but ive been reading and couldnt find anything specifically aimed at this. I live in a new build property with fttp from bt so openreach. I have the ont cabled in the house and have used bt since i lived here. Theyve been great but my current deal has expired and when im looking at renewal deals things like fibre 500 are £70 and fibre 900 is £80 - when new customer prices are £55. Its an absolute joke and ive made a complaint about this too.

I assume as its openreach, will i get any better latency / service through different providers or are they all the same? I am only really concerned about latency/ packet loss etc rather than raw speed as mainly use it for gaming. Also lots of teams calls/ meetings working from home so want the service to be reliable.

BT has been great for me but the price rises are putting me off.

Is there any worse service with other providers, like sky, vodafone, plusnet talktalk etc?

Over Openreach infrastructure, not all ISP's are equal:

• Some use BT for connection to the wider internet, some use other providers such as CityFibre for this
• Some give you a locked router, others let you provide your own
• Some use CGNAT, others use a public IPv4 address for your connection which can change, others give you a static IPv4 address
• Some don't give you IPv6 at all, others give you an IPv6 address for your connection which can change, others give you a static IPv6 address
• Some have knowledgeable tech support, others are script readers

I used to have FTTC which ran at 40M with input for an OR technician and then moved to the sticks where my only option was 30M wireless [OK I could have had 60M, but it was expensive]. On speed and throughput this was fine, but I hated the CGNAT. I even managed a 5 way zoom with 4 channels originating on my connection, which worked fine. I actually don't need more than 30M

Now I have fibre at 160M [Aquiss], chosen because it is more than I have ever had but at the price of the 30M wireless. It is great, I have static IPv4, no CGNAT and a static /56 ipv6 block. Plus very responsive tech support, not that I have had any issues, just a request to give me an IPv6 block and a question about how the IPv6 is set up in about 10 weeks so far.

The short of this is that there is more to an internet connection than pure speed and if you stay away from the big names, you can spend the same money on a lower speed which does everything you want just as well, but gives you a better product with better support without gouging you over in contract price rises.

Is there a clear list of who use cityfibre who use bt?

Ideally id stay with BT but not at the prices theyre offering me. I only really care about decent reliability, ping/ latency and service. I am not sure whether ipv4 or ipv6 matters to me, i am obviously quite tech dumb in that respect! I would like to maybe switch to a different router than the one given but i think most providers allow that.

Is there any general guide on who is best?

Im happy to stick to bigger names like sky/vodafone/plusnet/talktalk or even EE but it baffles me why bt is so poor price.

Yes here's a list of ISPs that use the CityFibre network. https://cityfibre.com/homes/broadband-providers
These are the list of ISPs you can join using CityFibre.
https://www.openreach.com/fibre-broadband/fttp-provi...
And these are some of the ISPs that use the Openreach FTTP network. But it's difficult to tell what lowest ping you will get because a lot of times one ISP might be good for one area but not so good for another. Some ISPs might give you lower latency for your area and more to another.

Without experimenting you'll never know. I guess you will found out with use. I guess the most important thing is a stable internet connection and being able to portforward, which ofcourse is essential when you want online gaming peer-to-peer and not just joining dedicated servers. ISPs that use CGNAT should be avoided unless they can offer to remove it.

There's also the case of the router that you get supplied with. Some ISPs might simply perform worse because they are providing cheap, low quality routers but their network is otherwise great.

Have BT already stated they won’t budge on price , it’s pretty common to get at least the new customer price if calling retentions and threatening to leave stating the reason as BT’s uncompetitive price , for this reason it’s a good idea to have competitors prices to hand, ready to quote

Edited by Iniltous (Mon 08-Apr-24 19:40:14)

In reply to a post by jasonht87:

I assume as its openreach, will i get any better latency / service through different providers or are they all the same? I am only really concerned about latency/ packet loss etc rather than raw speed as mainly use it for gaming. Also lots of teams calls/ meetings working from home so want the service to be reliable.

BT has been great for me but the price rises are putting me off.

Is there any worse service with other providers, like sky, vodafone, plusnet talktalk etc?

Latency-wise they'll all be within 2ms of each other, except possibly Vodafone or Zen who may route your session via Glasgow or Manchester.

Plusnet is pretty decent basic service, no voice. Talktalk is fine network-wise, but just pray you never need to talk to any of their customer service people.

I use Aquiss and they've been good. For the couple of service issues I've had they've responded quickly and openly (the problems seem to have been down to BT Wholesale). You have the advantage of a 12-month contract, first 6 months half price, and no automatic post-contract price rise - but you have to supply your own router.

Why not look at PlusNet? 900Mbps for £45 and 500Mbps £35 .... I have had their FTTP at one property for a year without issue.

Or EE could be another option. Could even be that BT are using higher prices to encourage consumers to go with EE instead of BT.

The only place where Openreach and Cityfibre may meet I believe is in the ducts which area sometimes shared, but Cityfibre infrastructutre is not Openreach.

The providers that use Openreach fibre but do their own backhaul from the exchanges are the likes of Zen, Sky, Talktalk, and some others.