What broadband speed are you getting?

[Swotty]

Seeing so many ads about "real" broadband speed and "full fibre" broadband speed claims which seems quote in the small print speeds of 20mb or 80Mb and just wondered what you're all really getting?

 

[whitenemesis]

With BT and getting approx 50mb, perfectly fine for streaming 4k films etc.

 

[davymead]

Running five separate speed checks, the average would seem to indicate a download speed of 27 Mbps.
Using an EE portable mini-wifi BTW.

 

[FlorinM]

I have a Fiber 1 package from BT, and I usually get the advertised speed of:
* 30mbps down
* 6 mbps up

 

[rich1068]

Sorry if I'm telling you stuff you already know but...

Regular broadband - copper wire from the exchange to the cabinet and then to your house. Can be up to about 10 Mbps but length of copper and other factors will reduce this
Superfast fibre (or other names) - fibre from the exchange to the cabinet and then copper to your house. Can be up to 70ish Mbps but again length of the copper from the cabinet is a factor. Still loads faster than regular broadband.
Full fibre - fibre all the way from the exchange to your house. Sky's the limit with speed. Up to 900 Mbps or more.

We had broadband (about 8 Mbps) then FTTC (about 65 Mbps) and now have FTTH and enjoy 300Mbps.

 

[fourwheels]

We are with Plusnet, getting around 55 - 60 mb.
Fibre to the kerbside but not the house because cables here are mostly underground

 

[whitenemesis]

We had broadband (about 8 Mbps) then FTTC (about 65 Mbps) and now have FTTH and enjoy 300Mbps.

And what tangible benefits does the massive increase give?

 

[Benzowner]

With Virgin and currently on 135.6 Mbps Fibre to my front garden then copper in to the house.

 

[fourwheels]

Many years ago we used to get 0.5mb, that was painful.
Now we never question broadband, it just works.
2 iPhones, 2 iPads, desktop, smart tv, Sky they are all faultless.
Also we have to use wi-fi calling because there is basically no mobile signal here for any service.

 

[Dippo]

BT, FTTC, download 73.5, upload 18.7.

I'm about 75 yards from the cabinet, which is about 150 yards from the exchange.

 

[IanW]

We're on the 'Unlimited Fibre' package from PlusNet, £39.20 pcm. This is ADSL to a roadside cabinet a few hundred yards away, then optical fibre back to the access point.
Speeds are:
Ethernet (wired): 37.00 Mbit/s download, 8.93 Mbit/s upload, 9msec 'PING'.
Wifi (about 3m from the hub): 10.82 Mbit/s download, 4.67 Mbit/s upload, 11 ms 'PING'.

It looks like the PlusNet hub's wifi could try a little harder...

Tests done using Broadband Speed Checker.

Ian.

 

[ToeKnee]

Just done a check, on my mobile in the lounge via WiFi, router is upstairs in the office.

 

[HappytalkAgain]

Many years ago we used to get 0.5mb, that was painful.
Now we never question broadband, it just works.
2 iPhones, 2 iPads, desktop, smart tv, Sky they are all faultless.
Also we have to use wi-fi calling because there is basically no mobile signal here for any service.

Same here. When it went from the 0.5 to around 20 we realised just how much faster/better devices work. Now it’s sitting at around 45mb and everything is lightening fast.

Same as you WiFi calling is essential due to next to no coverage in our little village that signal forgot.

It amazing me just how we take everything for granted. Only seems 5 minutes ago that we have dial-up and our first every computer. Imagine going back to that???

I’ve a mate in the centre of Manchester who has 400mb. My little mind can’t comprehend how much better that can be compared to ours seeing how ours works perfectly fine. Difference between rural and city life I guess. Although you couldn’t pay me to swap

 

[HappytalkAgain]

Just done a check, on my mobile in the lounge via WiFi, router is upstairs in the office.
View attachment 142335

Prepare yourself for the incoming ‘Sky haters’.

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

Around 800 from Hyperoptic. It's nominally 1gb but is slowed by Wifi through the walls.

See Rich1068's explanation of FTTH, FTTC etc. above.

 

[fabes]

I dislike Virgin Media, but have been with them for well over a decade as the BB is actually very reliable and very fast


This is on the 300MB package

I have a WiFi 6 mesh system plugged into that for all but my personal desktop / gaming PC
God, I dislike Virgin (customer services and pricing ) apart from this though

 

[markjay]

With ADSL and FTTC, distance from the exchange or street cabin (respectively) dictates the bandwidth. The max possible is 24/1 or 20/2 for ADSL, and 80/20 for FTTC (down/up).

With FTTP aka '100% fibre', the limit is currently 1000/1000 (10Gb in future), but keep in mind that this isn't dedicated bandwidth i.e. the bandwidth is shared with other subscribers in your area. Still, with FTTP you'd typically get in practice the full nominal bandwidth you bought.

Also please note that these bandwidth figures apply to a PC fitted with Gigabit NIC and connected by Ethernet cable directly to the ISP router, not to WiFi devices.

 

[Swotty]

Thanks - I asked because we're out here in the sticks in SW France. When we arrived 16 years ago we got 2Mb and the neighbours 100m further away couldn't even get broadband. We're 2 km from a village of c. 1300 souls.

Speed gradually improved until last year when we were getting between 6 and 9 Mb.

We now have fibre which has been laid along the main roads but not yet out along the side roads ,,,, but out here it's who you know and we just happen to live along the chemin leading to the former Mayor's place and his successor, who is his neighbour. Knock on the door and asked if we wanted to be connected ....... 870Mb upload and download. Including inclusive calls worldwide and to mobiles in France plus French tv, €53 pcm, around £47 with Orange. Netflix etc available but not included.

Possible downside is all the lines are overground from the main road, so winter may be challenging.

More than useful for us, but a friend up the road works from home doing reviews of techie stuff. It's transformed his work. Young chap and pleased for him.

Our place has thick stone walls and not everywhere can get the signal from the main router. Does anyone know if you can split the incoming cable 2 ways and then add a new router, please? Logistically that would be far easier than wiring in a second router to the first. Thanks.

p.s. seriously impressed with the knowledge on here!

 

[MikeInWimbledon]

French prices make Brits gulp but you are where you are. Only other people living in France can throw light on that.

For private use, any speed faster than 50 mb is normally irrelevant. Is your provider offering a slower speed through the cable? If the most you want to do is watch video feeds, 50's plenty.

Your router problem is a red herring. You'll get a new Super Duper router with the connection, your old one won't be up to the job. The new one will offer faster protocols. Just ask your neighbour what happens with their router and speed loss through their walls. Beyond their recommended fast router, there's also an option of Mesh WIFI, but worry about that if, as and when.

Specifically answering your question, people don't "split" a fibre cable, assuming it's FTTH or FTTP (same thing: end to end fibre). If you want two connections, you get two fibre connections. But see above.

It's only with FTTC (Fibre to the (Roadside) Cabinet) that you might do multiple copper connections between your home and the "Cabinet" down the road. But from what you've said about that 850mb speed and price, I'm sure you've been offered FTTH.

Don't understand your passing comment about cabling running overground from the roadside: do you mean risk of damage?

It's five decades since I debugged some TC code for IBM Hursley, so I've seen TC speeds improve a bit. But the folk on here have all kinds of arcane knowledge.

 

[m80]

I think we can get 50Mb, per week, on a good week.

I gave up on the call centres who needed me to dismantle the house each time I rang.