Which could be FTTP or distance-dependent ADSL2+.

Actually it's a 7Mb ADSL2+ (that's all I know)
Also with fibre can I still open/forward ports as I am used to doing with my normal router/connection?

In reply to a post by clang:

Actually it's a 7Mb ADSL2+ (that's all I know)

That is dependent on your distance from your telephone exchange then. FTTC brings mini-versions of the exchange broadband equipment to a local distribution point (cabinet) usually much closer to the premises than the exchange.

The link from the exchange to that cabinet is fibre optic so not affected by the distances involved in this context. So only the pre-existing copper from the local distribution point to the premises has any slowing effect.

For example, on ADSL2+ my connection speed was around 6Mbps, with download speeds 4-4Mbps or so.Upstream connection around 1Mbps. On FTTC I connect at 54/14Mbps with real speeds to match.

FTTP(remises) brings it into the home, but is only being rolled out to a few areas, for the next few years. However "Fibre on Demand" should be released during this year, where for a fairly large installation fee, (£500-£1500 is talked about), in FTTC-enabled areas it will be possible to get FTTP installed. (Direct connection by fibre to the fibre spine that feeds the FTTC cabinets).

That is distance-independent and gives fixed connection speeds. Real world download speeds depend on the ISP capacity and the output capacity of the target websites.

Also with fibre can I still open/forward ports as I am used to doing with my normal router/connection?

You may need to get a better router than the ones some ISPs offer free. I don't need to play with ports so can't advise, but it is possible, and many people on these forums do it.

OK so looking at the sky offers it seems I have to get the "Weekend calls" in order to get the unlimited fiber package, which is a bit of a deal breaker for me since I don't like paying for something I don't use.

Now I'm left with the well represented PLUSNET (thanks RobertoS) and Xilo which I know nothing about.

Has anyone had any experience with the latter ISP?

Edit:
Only downside I see of plusnet is I have to get a 18 month contract which is a bit long since I will probably move again in 9 months.

Edited by deleted (Tue 22-Jan-13 12:56:56)

You will need to pay voice line rental to someone for any of the xDSL options

Standard per month price is £14 to 15, some are less e.g. Primus

It's odd that nobody has commented on Xilo, (also known as "uno"). There are quite a high number of its customers on here, and the owner posts with the nick uno.

Nearly all reports are that is it good, with excellent support. Just like all ISPs however, there is the occasional discontented user. Very few of those. Try asking about them in the Resellers forum.

Plusnet Unlimited, with the 18 month contract - at any time you can buy out the remaining months at £5.75pm, rather than the full £19.99. If within the first 12 months of the eighteen and you've taken the "free" router, you have to pay for that as well.

Somewhere around in the T & Cs I think there is a free House Move option as well, which may be relevant. I haven't the patience to look right now .
_{Edit - typos.}

Edited by RobertoS (Tue 22-Jan-13 15:50:37)

erm... do you work for plusnet?

LOL.
Nope. Just that when I change ISP I do look into things carefully, as you are doing.

Four years ago I wouldn't have touched them with a barge-pole as both the traffic management and support appeared to be dreadful. They seem to have turned all that round, especially over the last couple of years. Particularly noticeable is the excellent support from the reps here and on the Community Forums, when first line support has failed to sort out a slightly complex issue.

Difficulties with first-line do crop up. With well over half a million customers and at budget prices, that isn't surprising - though for routine queries they seem as good as any smaller niche ISP and better than the bigger boys who tend to have script monkeys, often overseas and sometimes unintelligible.

When I went from an O2 LLU ADSL2+ connection to fibre, I chose safety, at a premium price, with IDNet. That contract ran out after 12 months, (February 2012), and I didn't like the very high prices for not much apparent benefit to me. By then Plusnet had FTTC products, and in the end I sort of tossed up between them and BT Infinity.

A single phone call to sales at both, asking for more information, was rather conclusive!

I feel I made the right choice, as the wheels seem to be coming off Infinity, which was still getting high praise a year ago.

Mid-contract with Plusnet I upgraded from my £16.49pm product to the £19.99 one, just for the sake of a small, unnecessary, speed increase. Just for the heck of it. Connection speeds in my sig. That didn't increase the contract length.

Then in December the new Unlimited one at the same price came along, so mid-January, 11 months into my 18-month term, I upgraded. That meant restarting the 18 months and I was not in the least bothered.

The ISPs I have had in recent years:

- Prodigynet. Excellent for a while, and recommendable, then went downhill fairly rapidly, so I left. A year later they went bust.
- Newnet. The service itself really good. Support nice and pleasant, but toothless and useless when BT Wholesale were intractable over a problem I had. Highly recommendable for the broadband, medium for CS. Now absorbed into a bigger group and I wouldn't recommend them any more.
- O2 LLU. Went to them after initial reservations about LLU, when I started to exceed my allowance on O2 and the next step up was more than I wanted to pay. Superb service and support. I recommended them strongly for a long time, leaving for FTTC and to get rid of a long-standing phone line problem. (A problem between the cabinet and the exchange that FTTC bypasses). Their next product lineup had much less going for it, with lots of throttling and usage caps. Slightly better now but not a place I would recommend any longer.
- IDNet. See above.

Happier ?

And Xilo - I haven't a bad word to say about them, unlike some other ISPs. Just not what I would choose.

Sorry for the late reply and thanks for the lengthy answer.
Plusnet has a 18 month contract but I think I'll be moving again in 9 months (although I'm not sure about it) so it wouldn't be convenient for me to commit to such a long contract.
12 months is also too long but if I find nothing else I will have to go with that kind of contract.

Despite all this another issue has really put my FTTC crave to a halt: my distance from the exchange point.
It's nearly 2km! I thought it was a close distance but according to this page my FTTC would slow down to a crawl!

Maybe it's best for me to continue using an adsl2?

P.s. Xilo needs me to have a pre-existing landline which seems not to be there so they are out of the equation...

Thank you

Edit: found bt's wholesale checker and once I input my postcode the results are really appalling... What a pity it seems it will go slower than where I am now... 6mb. *sighs and sobs*

Edited by deleted (Thu 24-Jan-13 21:34:55)

I think you may have missed the Plusnet contract buyout terms I gave you in this post.

A link to the BT Wholesale checker doesn't show us your results, just the entry page . Did it mention FTTC? (A copy and paste of what it says is best).

You say 2km from th exchange point. What exactly do you mean by that? The exchange serves a large number of cabinets.

On ADSLx it is your distance from the exchange that matters. On FTTC it is your distance from the cabinet. Almost always much less.