How good is Fibre?

[#1]

From reading the posts in here it sounds like its not all sweetness and light like its supposed to be, that its not internet nirvana.
The house we're moving to in a month has a lousy ADSL line speed (1.5Mbit) - but that's Cheltenham for you. We don't have fibre yet but its pencilled in for some time next year (yeah right, I'll believe that when I see it). Obivously Fibre would seem to be the sensible way for us to move but the posts in here don't seem to be too encouraging - with people reporting flaky speeds, apparently incompetent/ignorant BT installation engineers and other such problems.
Please tell me that it really is a good sensible replacement for copper ADSL.

[#2]

It IS a good sensible replacement for copper ADSL. You only really get posts from the unhappy minority on here, and not from the silent majority. It is probably worth bearing in mind that fibre is still fairly new, and that even though it has been trialled it is still settling down as a product i.e. it will likely get slicker on average as time goes on.
My experience has been that the installation was actually very smooth - in fact better than expected. I get speeds about 2.5x what I had on ADSL (though I had hoped for 3x), and 1.5x the monthly allowance, for almost the same price.
From memory Virgin cable has a presence in Chelt, and there may be some LLU operators too. Either would be a good alternative to ADSL in the absence of fibre, if they are available at your new house...

[#3]

I had big troubles getting fibre installed because of problems within BT Wholesale -  it took over 3 months from placing the initial order to the engineer arriving. Story here.  In my experience it's good - throughput usually 35M, dropping no lower than the mid 20s at peak times, with an average ping of 12ms.  On ADSL2 I used to get about 4M throughput and 35ms ping.
It seems that the modem can overheat if it's lying flat, with the overheating reducing speeds significantly.  Mine is mounted vertically, no problems so far.
It would be interesting to get the Plusnet figures for the ratio of satisfied fibre users to those with problems, and similar for ADSL users.  I wonder if they dare let us know? 
Anyway, I'd say go for it.

[#4]

I originally had VDSL installed in June 2010 with another ISP who will remain nameless (hate calling it fibre, because its still last-mile copper) but anyway, it was a great alternative to ADSL2+ for me due to the distance I am away from my exchange, 5Mbit ADSL2+ vs 36Mbit FTTC - no competition. Especially since VM cable isn't available here, not that I would touch them with a 200ft barge pole even if they were.
Not to mention the huge boost to upload speeds, OK the ISP I had offered the 10Mbit upload option, but 2Mbit is ample for my needs, and is a great boost from 448Kbit.
For the vast majority of my year with that ISP, my connection was flawless, and super speedy, with low pings, no packet loss and high throughput at all times. However, due to their eventual incompetence and their refusal to issue me with a MAC, I had to put a cease order in and have just ordered a new FTTC connection from PN. It will be interesting to see how PN compare to them.
It's going to be a pleasant surprise for the engineer when he turns up at my door, only to find that all the work has already been completed by the engineer that installed the original connection over a year ago. As has been mentioned the modem supplied can overheat lying flat, mine sits vertically to avoid it.
Pros
Higher download speed
Higher Upload speed
Lower Pings
Cons (and these are small ones at that)
Modem prone to overheating
Requires an engineer visit
No modem/routers in one unit on the market yet.

[#5]

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No modem/routers in one unit on the market yet.

Wrong.
VDSL 2 modem/Router
Personally, i like keeping the modem + router seperate, when theyre together i would imagine heavy LAN load would cause issues with WAN speed (slow processor + lots of gbit =  )

With fault found...

With a fault on FTTC i was getting 3x what I got on ADSL when it was working perfectly.
Having said that the other line I have at the same premesis (both master sockets are next to each other) has had 37mbit, and hits that constantly 
Definitely go with it when its available imho.

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apparently incompetent/ignorant BT installation engineers and other such problems.

That always happens, fortunately the engineer I had come had been to the premesis at least 4 times (thanks to faults) ... its probably bad when your on first name terms with your engineer, and know how many sugars he has in his tea.... 
Regards

[#6]

Quote from: AxeMurderer

From memory Virgin cable has a presence in Chelt, and there may be some LLU operators too. Either would be a good alternative to ADSL in the absence of fibre, if they are available at your new house...

Oh they do, but I've had so many problems with Virgin cable TV that I'd rather not trust them with my broadband  - too many eggs in one basket and all that. I'm quite happy with PN - I've got my phone with them and the package I've got fits my needs quite well so I'd rather stay with them if I can..

[#7]

The BT HomeHub 3 is a all in one router wireless hub right? Has any one used that with plusnet ?
James

[#8]

Yes it's a router with a built in ADSL modem but no VDSL modem so still have to use the Openreach modem for FTTC

[#9]

However, if your 'buying' the unit - buying One of these may be a better option.
Regards

[#10]

While you may not like virgin, if you want speeds greater than 1.5Mb any time soon, they can deliver them (provided they cover your new house). That is because they use a different technology to ADSL i.e. a separate cable feed. LLU operators may also be able to deliver better speeds - but check first as they still use the same line to your house.
Failing that, you'll have to live with 1.5Mb, give or take, until fibre is available.

[#11]

Quote

While you may not like virgin, if you want speeds greater than 1.5Mb any time soon

Whilst I agree with your sentiment AxeMurderer - they *SHOULD* be able to supply speeds of greater...
Thats not always the case, with an oversubscribed network - and poor network management.
Shoddy pings at the expense of decent speed are not uncommon.... conversely Great pings at the expense of throughput aren't either.
Regards