UK 'Full Fibre' broadband

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red assassin
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Re: UK 'Full Fibre' broadband

Post by red assassin » Sat, 15. Jan 22, 10:09

exogenesis wrote:
Sat, 15. Jan 22, 00:37
red assassin, thanks, so I see these:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-ZenWiFi-W ... B083QSG6QK
6.6 Gbps WiFi (it says), up to 230 sq m, £230
(I think they're saying : remove the BT router & connect this direct to the modem,
possibly requires two for this? https://www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-ZenWiFi-W ... B082T48132 £400)

and

eero pro
https://www.amazon.co.uk/amazon-eero-6/dp/B086PL9KPT
900 Mbps, up to 140 m², £97

Or more probably eero pro 6
https://www.amazon.co.uk/eero-pro-mesh- ... B07WFJCSYX
up to 1Gbs, 190 sq.m, £172, "now has 'UK compatability' " (PPPoE - or something, whatever that is).
(maybe connects to modem as primary router)

All with available extenders, if required.

Looks hopeful, but for me, a few too many numerical specs (that don't necessarily mean much to me),
but anyway I pushed the button & now have to look forward to buying one of the above + setup....
Yeah, our setup has our Virgin cable modem/router combo unit set to "modem only" mode and connected to one mesh node via ethernet. Then we have two more mesh nodes, one in each of our offices, with our gaming desktops and work laptops hooked up via ethernet to the mesh nodes. Everything else in the house just connects to the WiFi. You'd presumably want something similar with your BT connection, though I don't know exactly what the modem/router setup they provide looks like.
Gavrushka wrote:
Sat, 15. Jan 22, 08:36
I think I must be the only muppet who uses physical ethernet connections wherever I can. - Back in the noughties, my company built and developed an 350 square metre church in which I lived for some time. - I had the electrician install ethernet points in every room, and there was this huge patch board in a cloakroom... - I have *NO IDEA* what that was for! - But the upshot was, it was ridiculously cheap to install the cabling while the rewire was taking place, so I am perplexed as to why it isn't standard to put ethernet points in new houses / during rewires as standard.

I do get how essential quality wifi is, but surely devices like TVs, Sky boxes, desktop computers and the like could benefit from direct ethernet connection. - I know modern modems seem to have less ethernet ports, but you can still use quality switch boxes next to the router to connect a mass of devices with ethernet.
I would love to have real ethernet, and if I'm ever building or renovating a place I'll get it fitted for sure. But that's often not really an option.

There are also some problems: my parents' place has ethernet to every room, but a combination of time and some corner cutting by the installers has meant that a bunch of the lines don't work, or don't work reliably. And they're not run down nice cable ducts you can pull another cable through easily. So they've ended up on a BT mesh WiFi setup regardless of having ethernet in theory everywhere!
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Re: UK 'Full Fibre' broadband

Post by CBJ » Sat, 15. Jan 22, 10:49

Gavrushka wrote:
Sat, 15. Jan 22, 08:36
I think I must be the only muppet who uses physical ethernet connections wherever I can... I had the electrician install ethernet points in every room...
Nope, me too. If we're muppets, can we be Statler and Waldorf?

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Re: UK 'Full Fibre' broadband

Post by jlehtone » Sat, 15. Jan 22, 12:24

CBJ wrote:
Sat, 15. Jan 22, 10:49
Gavrushka wrote:
Sat, 15. Jan 22, 08:36
I think I must be the only muppet who uses physical ethernet connections wherever I can... I had the electrician install ethernet points in every room...
Nope, me too. If we're muppets, can we be Statler and Waldorf?
Definitely not the only one. Those two are the nicest muppets, so you two would suite the role.

One can never have too many cables. Two "cable drops" to each point.

A cable to center of ceiling would be nice too. Put a wireless Access Point (WAP) there and supply power to it through that ethernet cable (PoE, Power over Ethernet). The PoE power injector could be integrated into switch or router, or just hide in the "cloakroom". That (central location) should give good Wi-Fi coverage and one cable is relatively easy to hide.

red assassin wrote:
Sat, 15. Jan 22, 10:09
There are also some problems: my parents' place has ethernet to every room, but a combination of time and some corner cutting by the installers has meant that a bunch of the lines don't work, or don't work reliably.
Had electricians to renovate an apartment. Ordered cabling to three rooms. Two per room. They sort of did it: one room had two, the other two just one each. Extra communication was required to get it right.

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Re: UK 'Full Fibre' broadband

Post by pjknibbs » Sat, 15. Jan 22, 13:44

CBJ wrote:
Sat, 15. Jan 22, 10:49
Nope, me too. If we're muppets, can we be Statler and Waldorf?
I drilled a hole in my dining room ceiling so I could run a cable upstairs for my gaming PC--looks hideous but it does the job!

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Re: UK 'Full Fibre' broadband

Post by euclid » Sat, 15. Jan 22, 13:47

Missus using wifi for her tablet and her notebook. Everything else in our home LAN is using cables.

But one a related topic: I wonder if the congestion rate still is an issue if it comes to connection speed. Several years ago I've decided to go with a BT business contract because the congestion rate was 4 (rather than 50 for the domestic version). Nowadays they either do not know the congestion rate or they do not disclose it. Maybe it's not an issue anymore?

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Re: UK 'Full Fibre' broadband

Post by Gavrushka » Sat, 15. Jan 22, 16:56

CBJ wrote:
Sat, 15. Jan 22, 10:49
Gavrushka wrote:
Sat, 15. Jan 22, 08:36
I think I must be the only muppet who uses physical ethernet connections wherever I can... I had the electrician install ethernet points in every room...
Nope, me too. If we're muppets, can we be Statler and Waldorf?
That pair have been my role models throughout my adult life, so that's a yes from me.
“Man, my poor head is battered,” Ed said.

“That explains its unusual shape,” Styanar said, grinning openly now. “Although it does little to illuminate just why your jowls are so flaccid or why you have quite so many chins.”

“I…” Had she just called him fat? “I am just a different species, that’s all.”

“Well nature sure does have a sense of humour then,” Styanar said. “Shall we go inside? It’d not be a good idea for me to be spotted by others.”

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Re: UK 'Full Fibre' broadband

Post by Chips » Thu, 20. Jan 22, 17:19

exogenesis wrote:
Thu, 13. Jan 22, 23:50
I don't know how many people here from the UK have upgraded to 'full' fibre.

I'm with BT, & seems to me they've just got 'spammy' with emails about
'upgrade to full fibre 100' (BT Halo 3), for £0 extra a month.
You know, those 'time is running out' style of emails.
No so long ago they wanted more money to do the same.

As a believer in <if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is>,
I was wondering about their motivation.
I'd assume you'd have to read the small print really intently. Such as whether it's a new 2 year contract (or longer?), whether it may be free to upgrade at your current price but if you cancel it's for the new contract duration buy out.

I have 250 up/down with proper fibre; meaning I don't even have line rental (I can have VoIP phone but why bother). It could be 1Gbs if I wanted to pay for it, but I didn't as I've no idea what I'd use it for. The odd time it'd make a difference - such as it could cut major game download times by 1/4, but... I download large games once every few months and the 10 minutes I may save isn't worth £15 a month every month just for the odd occasion.

Main thing with special offers is getting new long contracts signed afaik. I'd assume (without seeing your offer) it's a free upgrade, it's 24 month new contract, and the price rises after 6 months to its normal price... or a combo of those types of things.

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Re: UK 'Full Fibre' broadband

Post by exogenesis » Fri, 21. Jan 22, 21:36

You're right it's 24 month contract, but only RPI (+ a small bit) price rises per year,
no sudden hike - as far as I know.

I've read all the small print after Alan pointed out the real difference in what they were offering,
gone for the most 'expensive' £5 extra/month (on top of current ~£60).

Got all the gear already delivered, even has an 'Alexa phone',
not sure what to do with that (haven't got Alexa, can't abide talking computers :))

When I get it installed soon (& assuming fibre exists, or will soon),
will have to think of what the hell to use 900 Mb bandwidth for...

Currently here we've got 5 weeks of bad traffic jams/queues on the busy road outside,
as Virgin does it cable 'roadworks' thing, BT will probably do the same soon (or maybe already have).

Surprised at the proponderance of people saying they would rather have/have-got cabled
ethernet in the house, rather than wifi.
Is that just a reliablility thing, or sticking with the 'devil you know', or the cost of 1Mb+ wifi gear ?

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Re: UK 'Full Fibre' broadband

Post by jlehtone » Sat, 22. Jan 22, 00:33

Reliability and lack of noise. On my wire there is only my traffic. Even now, past midnight, my phone detects over a dozen Wi-Fi Access Points. Granted, mine have stronger signal and not all APs use same/overlapping channels.

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Re: UK 'Full Fibre' broadband

Post by felter » Sat, 22. Jan 22, 01:26

I use Ethernet as well, it runs up one side of the house through two ceilings into the loft over to the other side of the house and down through another ceiling into my room, I hate Wifi and I use it only when I have to. I even have my fire TV stick wired up to the Ethernet, as sometimes it would buffer when using Wifi, no such issues with Ethernet.
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Re: UK 'Full Fibre' broadband

Post by Redvers Ganderpoke » Sat, 22. Jan 22, 13:46

exogenesis wrote:
Fri, 21. Jan 22, 21:36
You're right it's 24 month contract, but only RPI (+ a small bit) price rises per year,
no sudden hike - as far as I know.
RPI is the highest it been for a long time (Dec 5.4%), the little bit is usually 3.5 to 4% so you could be looking at an increase of around 9ish%.
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Re: UK 'Full Fibre' broadband

Post by Chips » Sun, 23. Jan 22, 12:21

Crikey, think mine at full 1Gbs would have been £40, and Hyperoptic claim new customers could have that for £35 a month. Of course, they probably just serve cities. £60 or £65 is a *lot* of money, but its everyone's choice what to spend their money on! :)

The classic of any deal is selling you something you don't need, and won't use (i.e. convincing you to go bigger for a bit more money). Reading small print is always useful, as my example Hyperoptic.. while it's a 2 year contract, that rises to £60 a month after 2 years unless you do something about it. The majority probably won't, so for Hyperoptic you tempt them in with a seemingly great deal (and no line rental cost is a big plus too) and they're probably never going to remember or choose to move as they'll be so hooked on their unnecessarily (at present) super super fast fibre.

The company wants you to take the max possible, as with any service, the average are not likely to remotely need it, so it's just extra money. As for why it was offered, I imagine locking you into a 2 year contract when the competitor is moving into the area and *may* have stolen a customer, was the motivation. Probably the same reason they send any existing customers deals regardless of competitors - locking someone in for 2 years at a slightly lower price vs losing that customer, it's better to grab them again.

Either way, as long as you're happy with what you've got and what you're paying for, then that's all that matters :) It's not always "if an offer is too good...", as long as you've read everything and are happy then all's good. Even then, think you get a 14 day cooling off period under distance (online) selling regulations?

Plusnet, who supply my parents slow "fibre", recently said they were out of contract and may not be getting the best deal now (I pay for their internet). Funnily enough, it'd cost me £1 more per month and lock me into a 24 month contract if I follow plusnet's advice. I think i'll stick to the out-of-contract current pricing unless something changes; I can cancel with a months notice and therefore zero charges, while also saving a quid. The saving isn't the issue, it's that 2 year "you'll have to pay a forfeit" lock-in I'm sidestepping. It's completely unnecessary to lock my parents into 2 years of plusnet for absolutely zero gain.

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Re: UK 'Full Fibre' broadband

Post by exogenesis » Tue, 8. Feb 22, 00:54

Yeah, guess it's relatively expensive c.f. say minimal fibre @ say 150 Mbps,
but seems reasonable value, if you (/I) actually use the bandwidth.

Got it installed today & measured at 891 Mbps (ethernet cabled),
BT engineer took a photo of the speed-test screen since it was the fastest he'd seen.

Just paid £50 for a faster (than 10 yr old) wi-fi PCI card should give maybe 500, he says hopefully.

Just got to figure out what to use it for
(thought maybe I ought to go & buy 10 kids who play online game all day or something)

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