Post by Chris on Mar 22, 2015 16:43:54 GMT
With the "old" broadband you had almost no choice, you ordered broadband and had to accept whatever service the ISP's could provide, and out here in Appleby Magna that was not a great deal - although the price was the same as everyone else.
Now that fibre optic broadband is available in Appleby Magna you have a choice - so which fibre package do you order ? The choice isn't just which ISP, but which package from which ISP is best for you.
The main difference between the various offering is the download and upload speeds - everyone seems to want the fastest download they can get. The names of the packages vary, so I will just use the speeds ...........................
As far as I know at the moment only BT and TalkTalk offer fibre in Appleby Magna. Sky may have fibre available as they have recently installed some equipment in the Measham exchange (but information is a little difficult to find).
BT offer 3 different "flavours" (downstream/upstream) - 80/20, 40/10 and 40/2
While TT offer just 2 options - 80/20 and 40/2
Although the services are 80/-- and 40/-- they are often marketed as being 78 Mbps and 38 Mbps.
When you are considering fibre get an estimate of your downstream speed. Your distance from the Parkfield Crescent junction with Measham Road (by road) is key as that is the location of the Appleby Magna fibre enabled cabinet. If that speed estimate is below 38 Mbps then there is no point in buying any 80/20 service because your download speed will not go any faster. If you can't get 38 Mbps out of the line not much point in paying for 78 Mbps.
Here in Garton Close there have been estimates from both BT & TT, "up to 31 Mbps" is quoted by both. So the 40/-- services are the best we can realistically get for downstream speed.
"Ordinary" ADSL broadband upstream speed is theoretically around 1 Mbps, so an upgrade to 2 Mbps with the 40/2 packages isn't that much of an improvement, but ok for most people, unless you regularly want to upload multiple large photos or streaming video.
So for a lot of people in Appleby maybe the BT 40/10 would be the best option as that seems to give a good downstream and upstream boost without overkill - but just my thoughts. You obviously have to consider the fibre product versus the price. What may be best for performance may not be best for your bank account - and beware router delivery and fibre "installation" charges.
But whoever you buy your broadband from, all fibre services, performance, fault fixing etc. is the responsibility of BT OpenReach.
Just for the record I use TalkTalk.