Should I upgrade to Infinity fibre
Should I upgrade to Infinity fibre
I have BT Standard Broadband with a BTHub6 (Smart? Router).
Living room TV (some way from router) works fine 95% of the time to receive Netflix etc. Other Broadband use with laptop ipads etc satisfactory. Only two OAPs in the house.
I rather assume the TV performance for Netfilx etc depends on the efficiency of the Router not the Broadband speed.
Is there any point in upgrading to BT Infinity Fibre?
Living room TV (some way from router) works fine 95% of the time to receive Netflix etc. Other Broadband use with laptop ipads etc satisfactory. Only two OAPs in the house.
I rather assume the TV performance for Netfilx etc depends on the efficiency of the Router not the Broadband speed.
Is there any point in upgrading to BT Infinity Fibre?
Depends what your actual broadband speed is now. You need to test it with a PC or laptop wired directly to the router, wireless will give a false reading as it's limited by the wireless speed. If you're on ADSL 2 I think the max is 24MB,which is plenty for your use case. Depends almost entirely on your distance from the exchange though.
Fibre is definitely worth the extra if you have multiple devices in simultaneous use and your wired speed is under 10MB or so. We got it because standard ADSL only gave 1MB and with 5 in the house we needed the bandwidth. Now we have 36MB and no issues.
Bear in mind also that the max wireless bandwidth over 802.11g is 56Mbytes or about 6MB and it's shared across all devices. We have a second WiFi access point (a reconfigured router) for this reason, the kids have one and we have the other.
Fibre is definitely worth the extra if you have multiple devices in simultaneous use and your wired speed is under 10MB or so. We got it because standard ADSL only gave 1MB and with 5 in the house we needed the bandwidth. Now we have 36MB and no issues.
Bear in mind also that the max wireless bandwidth over 802.11g is 56Mbytes or about 6MB and it's shared across all devices. We have a second WiFi access point (a reconfigured router) for this reason, the kids have one and we have the other.
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My understanding was that BT hh6 (Wi-fi router) was fibre optic - albeit using FTTC. We have the HH6 and it works fine throughout our large house upstairs and downstairs although being a modern house all the upstairs walls are simple wooden structures and not bricks and mortar. Works well, works all the time. We are two ‘older’ users with no kids so our usage is modest. The HH is next to the master socket, which is next to the smart telly so the telly is connected directly to the HH by a short cable. Prior to that the telly was connected to the HH via Wi-fi - worked very well all the time. We watch Netflix effortlessly in HD. We are paying for the basic BT fibre optic package - infinity 1. Over the last 12 months they have upgraded us from 35Mbps to 55Mbps and last week they said they had upgraded us to 75Mbps all done automatically with no requests from us and no increase in our monthly payment. The basic 35Mbps package was always fine for us and our usage, and I would not have paid for any of these upgrades. Unless you anticipate lots and lots of usage I’d go for the base package. BT are always doing deals, especially to attract new customers or to retain existing customers who are about to go ‘out of contract’ so if you decide to stick with BT I’d give them a call and very gently grasp their testicles.
As a starting point why not test your existing up/down broadband speed using BT’s speed checker:
BTW Performance Test
As a starting point why not test your existing up/down broadband speed using BT’s speed checker:
BTW Performance Test
Thanks so far.
My ipad speed tester (SpeedSmart) indicates 4.5 Mbps / 1.74 Mbps (on the wifi)
and the BTW one above is 4.41 Mbps and .98 Mbps (hard wired)
i.e. Rubbish.
However, even so, we can use the TV for Netflix most of the time (no idea why!)
Will have a think
My ipad speed tester (SpeedSmart) indicates 4.5 Mbps / 1.74 Mbps (on the wifi)
and the BTW one above is 4.41 Mbps and .98 Mbps (hard wired)
i.e. Rubbish.
However, even so, we can use the TV for Netflix most of the time (no idea why!)
Will have a think
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https://help.netflix.com/en/node/306
I was quite surprised at the excellence of the service. Had infinity1 for about a year. 'Up to' 76 Mbps promised. Yeah, right! But actually, the service varies between 66 and 72. Oops, just checked and it's gone down t0 59 tonight. Lowest for a while.
And that's wireless, at the end of about 100 metres of overhead copper.
And that's wireless, at the end of about 100 metres of overhead copper.
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I was quite surprised at the excellence of the service. Had infinity1 for about a year. 'Up to' 76 Mbps promised. Yeah, right! But actually, the service varies between 66 and 72. Oops, just checked and it's gone down t0 59 tonight. Lowest for a while.
And that's wireless, at the end of about 100 metres of overhead copper.
And that's wireless, at the end of about 100 metres of overhead copper.
BT Infinity 2 offers speeds up to 76Mbps. Strikes me if you are getting speeds > 52 Mbps (as I am) then we should both be pleased with ourselves considering we're not paying for that level of service.
But BT Infinity (1) only offers speeds up to 52Mbps so you seem to be getting what you're paying for or am I missing something?
BT Infinity 2 offers speeds up to 76Mbps. Strikes me if you are getting speeds > 52 Mbps (as I am) then we should both be pleased with ourselves considering we're not paying for that level of service.
BT Infinity 2 offers speeds up to 76Mbps. Strikes me if you are getting speeds > 52 Mbps (as I am) then we should both be pleased with ourselves considering we're not paying for that level of service.
Just for information I have now upgraded.
Speeds now 53Mb/s and 9Mb/s whereas before 4.5Mb/s 1.7Mb/s
Strange as we notice no difference? My wife keeps asking me if we have upgraded.
TV with Neflix OK and other internet access as before.
I suppose it would be useful if we had teenagers in the house instead of two OAPs!
Speeds now 53Mb/s and 9Mb/s whereas before 4.5Mb/s 1.7Mb/s
Strange as we notice no difference? My wife keeps asking me if we have upgraded.
TV with Neflix OK and other internet access as before.
I suppose it would be useful if we had teenagers in the house instead of two OAPs!
FWIW - we have a sky-fibre connection that typically gives 11-12Mbaud (because we don't live in some inner-city hovel!), and we have no problem with two seperate netflix accounts being used simultaneously.
PDR
We upgraded to FTTC a couple of years back, when BT were doing a "special" offer. Infinity 2 unlimited.
Unlike some of the other commercial turds that sell you stuff, we are still on the "special" and I have never seen BT cheaper than we get it. So right now, I am a fan of BT. Unlike about 6 years ago.....
Like OP, mainly 2 oaps, but when the children come over, we need the mbps.
Unlike some of the other commercial turds that sell you stuff, we are still on the "special" and I have never seen BT cheaper than we get it. So right now, I am a fan of BT. Unlike about 6 years ago.....
Like OP, mainly 2 oaps, but when the children come over, we need the mbps.
Tabs please !
I'm on 77.6 Mb/s in the middle of nowhere.
Awesome !
Awesome !
Tabs please !
oh bugger, it's got slower
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