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FTTC is here, but slow. What does the future hold?

Rickenbacker
Newbie
Posts: 3
Registered: ‎10-12-2013

FTTC is here, but slow. What does the future hold?

Well, I've now had FTTC for a year. When I moved ISP and from ADSL to FTTC the downstream speed almost tripled, from ~3.8 to ~10, and upstream became ~25% slower, it went from ~.85 mbps to ~.65. There is as far as I know nothing Plusnet can do about it, I'm getting the speeds the BT wholesale checker says I should get. Nevertheless, it does feel slightly unfair to be paying the same amount of money as other users who are getting 8 times the bandwidth I'm getting due to the "distance to the cabinet" lottery.
Having said that, based on the bandwidth I am getting it would seem I'm on "FTTC Range B (Impacted)" rather than "FTTC Range A (Clean)". Is there anything that BT/Plusnet can do with regards to that (other than digging up all the roads where my cable lies)?
I'm guessing BT isn't going to do anything about this sort of situation for the foreseeable future where I live, I'm assuming they are more interested in actually rolling out FTTC in areas that don't have it at all.
Does anyone know or know of rumours as to what the future holds for people like me? I guess the only thing BT could do to make my internet life better would be to install another cabinet closer to me or FTTP might become available?
2 REPLIES 2
LinnPlusnet
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 1,686
Registered: ‎03-02-2014

Re: FTTC is here, but slow. What does the future hold?

Hi Rickenbacker,
I understand where you're coming from when you say that you feel that you're paying the same as other people who can get faster speeds than you. It may be worth having a look at our new packages? - Unlimited Fibre (up to 38Mbps) is £14.99 per month. I would suggest giving our Customer Options team a call to see if they can offer you any deals. They can be contacted on 0800 013 2632 or 0330 123 9197.
They're open:
Monday to Friday: 9.00am - 8.00pm (Except Bank Holidays)
Saturday: 9.00am - 5.30pm
Unfortunately you are correct in saying that there isn't anything that we can do to improve the cabling and that BT Openreach will be focusing on delivering FTTC to people who don't already have it.
The bad news is that if you're already able to get FTTC this generally means that you will be unable to get FTTP. There are some circumstances where we've seen that customers able to get FTTP On Demand, however, this is extremely costly.
Sorry for the bad news Sad
Melancholie
Grafter
Posts: 451
Thanks: 1
Registered: ‎23-07-2013

Re: FTTC is here, but slow. What does the future hold?

BT have no intention of improving your service any time soon. This would cost money which is far better, in BT Group's eyes, spent on football rights and shareholder dividends. The bare minimum was spent delivering FTTC to you and from everything I've read BT consider that to be job done for a few years.
Come back around 2020, when if you were in a Virgin Media area you'd probably be on 500Mb, if you were in the middle of nowhere in Lancashire had spent 5 years on 1Gb, and in a HyperOptic area had been on 1Gb for a few years.
Alternatively write to your council and MP asking if they've investigated CityFibre or another alternative infrastructure provider who are willing to make the required investment.