How is BT Infinity?

tazwhoever

In September 2011, BT Infinity would come to my area. At the moment, I am with VM, and hopefully I will go with BT Infinity plus UK calls. Also, I don’t have a BT line at the mo. Those who have BT Infinity, what are your experiences?

Thanks

crazyguy

very good and quick on the internet !

Would not change providers now !

Mark_In_Hampshire

It's "up to 40Mbps down" and "up to 2Mbps up" (or "up to 10Mbps up" if you opt for the higher priced services)

Unlike cable, the speed will depend on the length and quality of the line from the cabinet to your house.

If it's 100m long you might see the headline speeds.

If it's 1500m long, downstream will probably come in at about 20Mbps though take up and cross talk may cause that to drop in the future - too early to say yet.

If the line can't do 15Mbps it can't be supplied as "BT Infinity" at all, though other providers offer a service and BT have introduced a lower grade option for such lines.

Generally from what I see downstream varies from about 15Mbps to 35Mbps and upstream will rarely reach higher than 8Mbps on the 10Mbps package.

So if you have e.g. 20Mbps cable then Infinity might be faster or slower downstream and the same upstream - or better on the 10Mbps up packages.

If you have 50Mbps cable then it will be slower downstream (unless you're in a particularly congested area) and probably about the same upstream or perhaps a little quicker again with the 10Mbps up packages.

Note that BT Infinity is traffic managed (like Virgin Media). P2P will be useless with Infinity. The same service is available from other providers on an unthrottled basis for a much higher fee.

Rachel_123

it's been great for me, we're ages away from our exchange and were getting less than 1meg (with be). Now getting 36 down and 5 up according to speedtest.net (this used to timeout before lol). I hate BT normally but they haven't annoyed me yet and I'm actually quite impressed. It is however our only choice as Virgin don't supply our area.

hareng

Same here did have IP profile of sub .3meg over winter months.
Not with BT but i have a consistent 32 to 37.3 meg download 24hrs a day 6km from the exchange. HD 1080 no problem at all in peak times.

I would never ever go with BT, do a search of the things they do, Phorm was one, now renamed.
There are a least 15 other providers, 'infinitty' is just a brand name for the FTTC service. In other words you an go any where you like and get the same networked service with several companies that look after you. Try phoning BT!

The other problem is that BT is pushing hard this 'infinity' (FTTC) not many of their staff have had the training.

WhenInRome_3

hareng wrote: »

80 no problem at all in peak times.

I would never ever go with BT, do a search of the things they do, Phorm was one, now renamed.
There are a least 15 other providers,

Hi - Not knowing the market that well - can you advise who the other providers are whom I could get this service from as have similar concerns about BT.

Thanks,
Simon

spyhunter

WhenInRome wrote: »

Hi - Not knowing the market that well - can you advise who the other providers are whom I could get this service from as have similar concerns about BT.

Thanks,
Simon

its a couple of months old but here shows most other fttc providers. Prices may have changed so check the provider websites https://spreadsheets0.google.com/pub?hl=en&hl=en&key=0AquiMM6uTUUzdHl4RGRZcnE1WWw0SVlLcVlzQWZuVFE&output=html

basill

After years with Pipex (Talktalk now?), far enough from the exchange to limit download speeds to around 2 meg and no cable in our area I was delighted when BT offered their infinity service.
Despite the bad reputation I was desperate for a speed boost and signed up immediately. The cabinet is much closer than the exchange and speed tests generally indicate about 38 meg download and 2 up.

A week or so after my install download speeds dropped to about 2 meg a big enough difference to easily notice. I had a go with the troubleshooting tools on the website and eventually called in, expecting the worst. Amazingly the call was answered promptly and the operator ran some tests and told me the problem was exchange based and being worked on. The service did recover and has been fine since. A little googling revealed the problem was very wide spread but at least I remained connected.

BT broadband support has a dreadful reputation BUT they do at least answer the phone, something I never had much luck with once Pipex had been taken over.

I think the infinity or BT FTTC service is now available from other ISPs now so shop around. I`m happy with the service but I was in at the top of the market so I will be looking for a better deal once my tie in is over.

B

MoneyWasting_Expert

I used to use Pipex, they were like a premium service but I found there intenet to be total !!!!! Tempted by BT they estimate 36 down 9 up for me. Currently using Sky Broadband get 9-12 MB down has been pretty good for the past 3 years, far superior to Pipex.

Gordon_Hose

We get Infinity in our town next March. I'll definitely be taking it up.

basill

MoneyWasting_Expert wrote: »

I used to use Pipex, they were like a premium service but I found there intenet to be total !!!!! Tempted by BT they estimate 36 down 9 up for me. Currently using Sky Broadband get 9-12 MB down has been pretty good for the past 3 years, far superior to Pipex.

I agree Pipex went down hill badly over the las few years, I only stayed because they kept reducing their prices when asked...
From what I have read on the net BT`s Infinity speed estimates are usually slightly conservative, you sound like you are close enough to the cabinet to get almost the full 40 meg. I think our estimate was 36 meg and the best speed test result we have had is 38.5.

B