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Is it worth upgrading to fibre?

hedgerow
Newbie
Posts: 9
Registered: ‎15-01-2016

Is it worth upgrading to fibre?

After spending the day reading through posts here and in the fibre department. I had not realisedhow many negatives the Plusnet people get. I was looking at upgrading from Basic wire to fibre but I do wonder if its worth it. Some of the speeds people are suggesting they are getting I match on a copper wire and a bad router.

 

What are your suggestions, fibre or no fibre?

6 REPLIES 6
JayG
Pro
Posts: 1,145
Thanks: 143
Fixes: 6
Registered: ‎30-10-2011

Re: Is it worth upgrading to fibre?

Firstly, a broadband forum isn't the place to get a balanced view about the reliability of any ISP's products, ADSL or Fibre  - the overwhelming number of posts are from people with problems.

Secondly, and also depending on what Fibre speed you could expect to get, are your personal circumstances - I live alone so don't have to share my bandwidth with kids or other housemates, so my roughly 10Mbps ADSL is perfectly adequate for my needs.

bmc
Hero
Posts: 3,176
Thanks: 993
Fixes: 48
Registered: ‎28-02-2017

Re: Is it worth upgrading to fibre?

First thing to do is to look at the DSL Checker to see what speeds are available.

http://www.dslchecker.bt.com/adsl/adslchecker.welcome

 

Brian

hedgerow
Newbie
Posts: 9
Registered: ‎15-01-2016

Re: Is it worth upgrading to fibre?

good points, I went off to money saving expert to and the same is there as well.

 

my main bug is that untill i spend the extra money and agree to the extra costs I am not sure what speeds I am going to get, its all a little fudge.

 

As I live in a dense urban area band width is usually slower than the countryside due to the amount of people on it. The highest I can get is 2.8Mbps  down and .9 mbps up, and thats at 5am when everyone is asleep, its slower than that durring  the daytime!

 

The issue I have is that the extra cost to upgrade to fibre is it worth it. I dont get the fibre to the house or router on they box in the street the rest is cable, so I am still limited by copper cable, so do I just stay on copper full stop, or chance supplier and find someone with a better system of install?

Alex
Community Veteran
Posts: 5,500
Thanks: 921
Fixes: 13
Registered: ‎05-04-2007

Re: Is it worth upgrading to fibre?

Firstly check the speeds you are getting now and what the checker says you are likely to get.

It'll also tell you what exchange you are connected to - you'll probably know the location. I think a site like Sam Knows here will tell also you. So put your postcode in to get an idea of where it is.

If you are far from the exchange, like it is for my parents case, then it is definitely worth it.

I think we were getting something bad like 1Mb/sec before. The final straw was when I needed to download a 180Mb file, which by today's standards is not big. I got fed up (doesn't take me long), and used the good old 4G data tethering trick which was faster.

Also I have members of the family to need to work from home, after various complaints from my sister, I had to upgrade given the old connection speeds.

Worked for us, hopefully it will for you too.

Baldrick1
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 11,586
Thanks: 5,154
Fixes: 414
Registered: ‎30-06-2016

Re: Is it worth upgrading to fibre?

@hedgerow

You can get a very good estimation of your likely speed by doing as bmc suggests in his post earlier and putting your phone number into the dsl checker. This will depend on the quality of the line and the distance fron the street cabinet. With the speeds you are currently getting you are obviously a long way from your telephone exchange so you may be pleasantly surprised. You also need to ask yourself what speed you really want. Also whether cable is available in your area. You pays your money and makes your choice.

For the record, don't kid yourself that people in rural areas get a better FTTC service. We're ripped off with unjustified extra charges. Also cabinets are fewer and hence tend to be further away.

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Gandalf
Community Gaffer
Community Gaffer
Posts: 26,548
Thanks: 10,227
Fixes: 1,596
Registered: ‎21-04-2017

Re: Is it worth upgrading to fibre?

From looking at your speed estimates of between 57mbps to 79mbps I'd expect a really big improvement on what your speed is at the moment. I've had a look into your account and it seems that your fibre order wasn't put through to our suppliers automatically when you called us to upgrade your service.

 

I'm resubmitting the order now and I'll update you by e-mail when I'm done.

Apologies for the inconvenience caused by the inevitable delay to your upgrade.

From 31st October 2022, I no longer have a regular presence here as I’ve moved on to a new role.
Anoush Mortazavi
Plusnet