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-   -   Should I upgrade to Infinity fibre (https://www.pprune.org/computer-internet-issues-troubleshooting/601506-should-i-upgrade-infinity-fibre.html)

Mike6567 5th November 2017 12:08

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?

andytug 5th November 2017 13:15

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.

yellowtriumph 5th November 2017 13:30

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

Mike6567 5th November 2017 18:30

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

yellowtriumph 5th November 2017 19:05


Originally Posted by Mike6567 (Post 9947574)
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

If you look at this Netflix help page, you'll see that you're just 'squeaking in' bit rate wise for their service!

https://help.netflix.com/en/node/306

jimtherev 5th November 2017 22:48

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.

yellowtriumph 6th November 2017 00:10


Originally Posted by jimtherev (Post 9947811)
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.

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.

jimtherev 6th November 2017 08:46


Originally Posted by yellowtriumph (Post 9947861)
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.

I'm *certainly* not complaining!

Mike6567 30th November 2017 14:58

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!

Tone 30th November 2017 15:38

Do you want to borrow a couple of teenagers?

dukiematic 30th November 2017 16:06

"MBaud"...love it

Ancient Observer 30th November 2017 16:57

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.

B Fraser 30th November 2017 18:59

I'm on 77.6 Mb/s in the middle of nowhere.

Awesome !

B Fraser 30th November 2017 19:05

https://www.speedcheckerapi.com/Images/283426298.jpg

oh bugger, it's got slower:{

yellowtriumph 30th November 2017 20:28


Originally Posted by B Fraser (Post 9974596)
I'm on 77.6 Mb/s in the middle of nowhere.

Awesome !

Out of curiosity I looked up where the middle of nowhere is. I’ve obviously led a sheltered life as I had no idea.


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