BT are upgading my area to fiber

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Does this mean I will then be able to get Virgin fiber as well or do Virgin install their own fiber cables?

Thanks for any help.
 
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BT currently use a crappy thin piece of copper all the way from the exchange.
Some places are getting fibre all the way. ftth
Most places are getting fibre to the cab, and keep the existing copper pair to your home. fttc

Virgin use fibre most of the way and then a bit of coaxial copper cable to your house.

I would probably take cable if I could get it over standard ADSL2+, 50/50 if you live near the cab and can get fttc, However I would definitely go with full fibre (ftth) if that were available.
 
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If you're moving into new-build areas, there's a much better chance of getting cable or FTTH. If not, (and like me, you don't have Virgin cable in the area) then FTTC is the best you can hope for, and even 25-30mbps wouldn't be too shabby.

Unfortunately, most people are unlikely to ever get FTTH or cable if they don't already have it because none of the companies wants to start ripping up unless it clearly costs in for them to do so.
 
Soldato
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BT say I can order FTTC now, estimating 22mb down and 10mb up. I just need a job lol.

Though I would be worried about being tied in for 18 months with BT.
 
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Soldato
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BT say I can order FTTH now, estimating 22mb down and 10mb up. I just need a job lol.

Though I would be worried about being tied in for 18 months with BT.

Note their estimates are way off. People are getting much better connections. However, unfortunately due to their lowball estimates, if you get the 22Mb connection (i.e. some kind of problem on the line) you can't complain.
 
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Surely thats FTTC NOT FTTH - with it being VDSL

Oops, edit :p

Note their estimates are way off. People are getting much better connections. However, unfortunately due to their lowball estimates, if you get the 22Mb connection (i.e. some kind of problem on the line) you can't complain.

Could be really good then, my line is quite good for the distance with ADSL.

How are BT with newsgroups? All I need is to be able to download probably 50-60Gb a month and have a low ping and I'll be happy.
 
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Oops, edit :p



Could be really good then, my line is quite good for the distance with ADSL.

How are BT with newsgroups? All I need is to be able to download probably 50-60Gb a month and have a low ping and I'll be happy.

As far as I know there's a 100GB limit, but they don't throttle until you reach the cap so you should be OK if that's all you grab.
Ping wise people on the thinkbroadband forums are reporting that their pings are pretty much the same as normal ADSL.
 
Soldato
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You speed only varies if your a distance from the cabinet your house is wired too.

If its right outside your house ud probably get just about the max of 40mb evne if its 500m away you would prob get 35 at the least lol.
 
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BT have pushed their upgrade date to September now. Which doesn't really matter as I wasn't going to subscribe to them. But I just had an Email from Virgin letting me know they are upgrading my area at the end of July.

Thanks for the help.
 
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As far as I know there's a 100GB limit, but they don't throttle until you reach the cap so you should be OK if that's all you grab.
Ping wise people on the thinkbroadband forums are reporting that their pings are pretty much the same as normal ADSL.

yep, I got an email a few days ago saying I had gone over the 100GB limit for June (I had no idea i downloaded so much) so i was capped between 5pm and midnight

I only have a 1.5Mbps connection, but they have also installed Fiber optic in my area and friday i am being upgraded to 17.5mbps downstream

not sure how i will manage to not go over 100gb every month now
 
Soldato
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Note their estimates are way off. People are getting much better connections. However, unfortunately due to their lowball estimates, if you get the 22Mb connection (i.e. some kind of problem on the line) you can't complain.

http://www.leyingitout.co.uk/2010/03/contention-still-a-big-player-in-fttc-sync-speeds/

The speeds you get on FTTC are apparently dependant on how many people are on the service on each cab. Early adopters will see 35Mb/s+ but that will drop to the 22Mb/s that BT service quotes once the cab is 30% full even if they are close to the cab.
Whether BT will add a second cab once the first reaches 30%, or if the speeds will be allowed to drop further is yet to be seen, but knowing BT ...

This isn't a bandwidth limit of the fibre back from the cab to the exchange, but a limitation of the VDSL hardware in the cab itself.

This is why we need fibre to the home, It's all very well to harp on about "Superspeed Broadband" but as soon as people actually start adopting it speeds are going to drop significantly.
 
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