BT Fibre Optic Broadband package

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Reidy36

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Having real issues with the broadband as of late. Using Firefox and even when i have 1-2 tabs open, it can take an age for the page to load.

As an example, the photos on this page:
http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=437220

Took about 2 minutes to load.

We have an old AOL contract and think that with the current situation, even just the upgrade to a little faster would benefit, but thought why not go Fibre Optic.

The only concern is the boss used to be with BT and reason she left was due to the little extra expenses that were added on to the phone. As I have never used BT I was hoping for some advice.

Is it worth paying the extra and going the whole hog?
 
Would love to know what she thought the little extra were, you pay for line rental and broadband, depending on package calls are free, that's it , what else can there be ?
 
I hate myself for saying this, but the Talktalk fibre package suits me very well. When I checked it worked out cheaper than BT.
 
I am not sure what phone package she had, but said that the extra costs were 2-3 times more expensive than the line rental.
Will look at talk talk, do you know what their coverage is like?
 
I had talktalk broadband, not fibre optic, and couldn't wait until the two year contract was up so I could get away from them. The speed was good when it was working. I spent many an evening on phone to their help line which was worse than useless. Back with BT now and had no problems. They are not cheapest around or fastest where i am but never had a problem with them.
 
I've had inifity for 9 months with no problems, nor any extra expenses. Average speed of 58mb and a very happy customer.

No problems recommending them here :)
 
We had TalkTalk and it was fine while it was working, but it was a nightmare to get a couple of outages sorted out. A lot of frustration with the offshore help desk, and they eventually told us there must be a fault in the local exchange and they couldn't get access to it, so we would have to get someone else to fix it.

We're on BT now. Bit slow (about 1.5 mbs), but it seems to be reliable. They've offered us Infinity by year end but we turned it down. Can't afford it.
 
In my experience BT is a rock solid connection but moved to talktalk as its significantly cheaper. Found the supplied router to be a ok but deterioted rapidly after 4months to the point of constant drop outs. Changed the router and had a pretty good connection since. Also change the DNS settings to Google's DNS it helps a lot with page load speeds I've found.
 
I've had Bt's fibre to the premises for a few months now, not one single drop out and apart from the home hub 3 being broke to start with its been great. 38mbs down and 9mbs up at any time of the day.
 
First, check that fibre is available in your area. If it is, chances are others can supply. So, like with anything else, shop around.

The technology will be the same no matter who you go with. For me, the choice would be down to cost and customer service. Try UW for some win win.
 
BT were definitely the cheapest for unlimited fibre to the curb. Everyone else is either hideously expensive or has silly caps on their tariffs. I also found that whilst line rental tends to be a little higher, the call charges are lower with BT. I pay £20 per month for unlimited calls any time of the day.
 
arad85 said:
BT were definitely the cheapest for unlimited fibre to the curb. Everyone else is either hideously expensive or has silly caps on their tariffs. I also found that whilst line rental tends to be a little higher, the call charges are lower with BT. I pay £20 per month for unlimited calls any time of the day.
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Eh? Not here on Planet Earth.

BT are not the cheapest. Their line rental IS the highest, as is their call charges. They have always been the most expensive with the call charges. Oh, and I get unlimited calls any time of the week to standard numbers (and some) for nowt!
 
Had nothing but trouble with Talktalk, to the point where the only way to have any internet access was to change suppliers to BT....despite TT blaming my router and internal line (even though an engineer checked them as fine) the day I changed suppliers internet access was fully restored and I've not had a single problem since.

Just upgraded to Infinity, nice neat installation, helpful engineer and no problems so far...IMHO it's worth paying a little more not to have to deal with the useless TT customer service on a daily basis:bang:

Simon
 
2blue4u said:
Eh? Not here on Planet Earth.

BT are not the cheapest. Their line rental IS the highest, as is their call charges. They have always been the most expensive with the call charges. Oh, and I get unlimited calls any time of the week to standard numbers (and some) for nowt!
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The £26/month is the best value FTTC broadband available. It has the least restrictions and is on the fastest connection (e.g. Sky are a 40/2 service, BT is an 80/20 one). Ergo, it is "the cheapest with good features & Ts&Cs".

Since we had a year with Virgin (where hidden charges mounted up on the calls and their BB was pants) I have always had my phone contract from BT and Internet from whoever provides the best deal for my needs. I am basically limited to BT as you can't really find phone-only deals these days.... So, phone only, they are the cheapest ;)
 
arad85 said:
I am basically limited to BT as you can't really find phone-only deals these days.... So, phone only, they are the cheapest ;)
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Me no understand :thinking:

There are plenty of suppliers for 'phone only'. And I'd love to know who charges less for calls than my supplier as I get free calls 24/7 and, no, I don't pay an inclusive calls premium.
 
BT Infinity 2 here. No problems.

W/E and evening calls included.
When I joined you got flick pro included (think that still applies)
Included WIFi with fon
All the usual extras Anti-virus, online storage and a BT Yahoo account. Etc.Etc.
 
2blue4u said:
Me no understand :thinking:

There are plenty of suppliers for 'phone only'. And I'd love to know who charges less for calls than my supplier as I get free calls 24/7 and, no, I don't pay an inclusive calls premium.
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Perhaps you could point me at some as I can't find them. The requirement is free calls at any time and ability to have FTTC with a supplier of my choice.
 
I wanted the fasted fibre optic so I pay top-end for BT's pacakge and its worth it as I steam,download,xbox,smart tv and onlive (which streams full games with no lag) all at once and never slow down.

I am outside the exchange so get 79.1mb on average.

Your images loaded instantly to that thread.

If you go talk talk option you dont get the speed as the next door neighbours have found out.

You pay for what you get.
 
Talk talk are fine until you want to leave, then they are a ****ing nightmare, in my experience anyway.

Happy BT user now
 
simonkit said:
Had nothing but trouble with Talktalk, to the point where the only way to have any internet access was to change suppliers to BT....despite TT blaming my router and internal line (even though an engineer checked them as fine) the day I changed suppliers internet access was fully restored and I've not had a single problem since.

Just upgraded to Infinity, nice neat installation, helpful engineer and no problems so far...IMHO it's worth paying a little more not to have to deal with the useless TT customer service on a daily basis:bang:

Simon
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I couldn't agree more.. I had same problems almost from day one and gave up calling help desk in the end
 
Apologies for bringing up Talktalk, I suspected they'd be in for a kicking.

It is true that they have issues with their customer service. The one time in 3 years I had to call them with an issue, it did seem to take ages - but then at work BT have been no better. Actually it turned out my ADSL filter was starting to fail - never heard that happening before.

I now get a steady 39.2Gb/8Gb to my router upstairs, running a cat5 from the BT Infinity box downstairs. In the three months I have had it, no drop in speed, no issues. I purchased a Netgear router to swap out the rather unattractive TT white one and that actually caused the network to slow down. Before you ask, all the settings were correct. Now back with the TT router.

I wonder actually how often the issue IS within the customers home? Obviously no one here is stupid enough to call with a problem that they should have diagnosed, by my days as a SysAdmin were filled with pillocks that should never never own or use IT kit.

With TT you get what you pay for. You get a BT box to the master socket, a BT engineer to fit it and a cheap but seemingly reliable sevice.
 
i have recently upgraded to fibre ended up having to stay with Bt due to us needing a true unlimited downloads all the others had fair usage limited unlimited packages roflol
fibre had just become available first time I have ever had a decent down load speed
personally I think they are all crap when it comes to customer service
 
I agree with the above you do have to make sure all bases are covered at home. I nearly gave up with talk talk but it was the naff router i was supplied with that was packing in.

Btw i think AOL are prob the worst ISP so I'd get shot and try another. If it doesn't work out you have a set time in which to cancel.

Also ISP's are obliged to tell you what speed you can expect and you can look this up quickly on their websites.

I may be wrong but i think fibre is a bit overkill. If moneys no object fine but I get 11megabits down from my connection i find it pretty quick even with 3 *** sharing it.
 
sharris86 said:
I may be wrong but i think fibre is a bit overkill. If moneys no object fine but I get 11megabits down from my connection i find it pretty quick even with 3 *** sharing it.
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Speed is dependent on the length of copper between you and the exchange. In my case it was about 4km giving me a 4Mbit/1Mbit connection.

Now with fibre to the cabinet it's about 400metres which is good for a 70/20 connection. The speed is noticeable when viewing videos on line - buffering is a thing of the past even for HD clips now. Plus software downloads are pretty quick too. I can normally pull in a 700Mbyte image in a few minutes.
 
Tulipone said:
Actually it turned out my ADSL filter was starting to fail - never heard that happening before.
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filters failing can be pretty common. always the first thing to replace if you start having issues.

Rebel t3i said:
i have recently upgraded to fibre ended up having to stay with Bt due to us needing a true unlimited downloads all the others had fair usage limited unlimited packages roflol
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sky. unlimited.
 
I looked at the sky deals but you needed to have sky tv which I haven't had since 2004 and don't want or need or want to pay for
 
Rebel t3i said:
I looked at the sky deals but you needed to have sky tv which I haven't had since 2004 and don't want or need or want to pay for
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Me too, currently get BT Vision which is extremely poor imho. Basically Freeview with on-demand content bolted onto it. Barely gets updated. Contract ends in March but I will just be going to a freeview card in my htpc and all the tv goodyness the internet has to offer :nuts:
 
my BT vision wouldn't work with my BT internet connection speed
spent 18 months complaining and getting nowhere I started off with 3 meg it went up to 6 and them ran at 1 and they did fooook all to fix it lol
Then fibre landed in my area ended up having to file a complaint in order to get my bt fibre upgrade they had been renewing my contract every time I had complained and my 12 month contract had become 3 years roflol
sorted now only taken 2 years lol
You have to love call centres
 
Rebel t3i said:
my BT vision wouldn't work with my BT internet connection speed
spent 18 months complaining and getting nowhere I started off with 3 meg it went up to 6 and them ran at 1 and they did fooook all to fix it lol
Then fibre landed in my area ended up having to file a complaint in order to get my bt fibre upgrade they had been renewing my contract every time I had complained and my 12 month contract had become 3 years roflol
sorted now only taken 2 years lol
You have to love call centres
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I pay a lot for my internet (2x BT prices). I do however have a support centre based in the UK staffed by people who know what they are talking about. I had a problem here which took a week or so to trace (a number of people were seeing it - essentially between mid-day and 5:30pm, I'd get 10% throughput), but it turned out there was a fault in their routing equipment. What was nice was talking to a group of 2 or 3 people who had knowledge of the problem and who were able to chase it through to the end. I hate to think how many calls I'd have had to make to a call centre - talking with a different person every time and having to explain the problem every time....
 
arad85 said:
I pay a lot for my internet (2x BT prices). I do however have a support centre based in the UK staffed by people who know what they are talking about. I had a problem here which took a week or so to trace (a number of people were seeing it - essentially between mid-day and 5:30pm, I'd get 10% throughput), but it turned out there was a fault in their routing equipment. What was nice was talking to a group of 2 or 3 people who had knowledge of the problem and who were able to chase it through to the end. I hate to think how many calls I'd have had to make to a call centre - talking with a different person every time and having to explain the problem every time....
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Trouble with a lot of us is we like to think we are getting a deal, so will equate cheapest to best and then whinge like fury on internet forums that the pittance we pay doesn't get us top quality support ;)

"You only get what you pay for" was once a phrase in common use. It is still true today though, particularly with regard to internet service provision.
 
they promise us the world and we end up with a world of hassel lol
 
Must agree about the Talk Talk call centres, luckily only needed them a couple of times in the years since Freeserve.

Otherwise a perfectly stable provider and much cheaper than most others.
 
arad85 said:
Speed is dependent on the length of copper between you and the exchange. In my case it was about 4km giving me a 4Mbit/1Mbit connection.

Now with fibre to the cabinet it's about 400metres which is good for a 70/20 connection. The speed is noticeable when viewing videos on line - buffering is a thing of the past even for HD clips now. Plus software downloads are pretty quick too. I can normally pull in a 700Mbyte image in a few minutes.
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I know this is a moron question, but just can confirmation. The cabinet is that one of those green ones that you see in random areas? If so, deep joy, i could almost throw a stone to the one near us.
 
Reidy36 said:
I know this is a moron question, but just can confirmation. The cabinet is that one of those green ones that you see in random areas? If so, deep joy, i could almost throw a stone to the one near us.
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If you're looking for fibre, then the cabinet you see should have a poster stuck on it telling everyone that it's a fibre cabinet. No stick-on, no fibre.
 
2blue4u said:
If you're looking for fibre, then the cabinet you see should have a poster stuck on it telling everyone that it's a fibre cabinet. No stick-on, no fibre.
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Thats not good then. Even when it says i can get fibre in my area, must be one somewhere.

I have seen on one of those maps, someone local has a fast connection.

Just had a look on one of the map jobbies, and looks good. My local exchange is about 1200m away,but what is good is the BT speeds that others have in the area.

Check it out:

http://www.uswitch.com/broadband/sp...me_castlecombe drive_download_4_all_12153_6_1

A second test, just for fairness:
http://www.uswitch.com/broadband/sp...=broadband_speed&postcode=SW19+6RX&advanced=1
 
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