Fibre Optic Broadband - is it much better?

gmxdude

Hi,

I am currently with plusnet and pay £6.49 per month for 10GB allowance. I normally use all my allowance and have limited access for the last week. So I need over 10GB so am considering Broadband Unlimited with PlusNet for £9.99 per month.

My main question is I am also considering plusnet Essentials Fibre Optics but would I see the benefit using a laptop? In other words does the computer need to be attached using a cable to see the full benefit? So with a laptop using fibre optics would you see much of a difference?

Also, other than plusnet is there any other options open to me?

Thanks in advance.

Gordon_Hose

You should see a speed increase. You can connect your laptop to the router via wireless or with an Ethernet cable, same way you can now. You'll lose a small amount of speed connecting via wireless, but you would anyway regardless of the broadband delivery method.

pullenuk

The different from ADSL to FTTC can be huge. Mine went from 12mb to 58mb download speed. So yes if you use the internet a lot, especially video its worth it.

macman

Your wireless connection runs faster than even fibre can feed it, though ethernet would be faster in theory.
In practice, it's the old copper wire from street cab to property that remains the bottleneck, and that won't change.

HappyMJ

I'm with plus.net fibre...Speed test via wireless I get 26Mbps (I'm in a quite an overloaded wireless area with more than 10 wireless networks nearby) and speed test via ethernet I get 36Mbps. It is quicker being wired...but...I browse the net quite a lot during the day and use close to 40GB per month and save only on average 4 minutes of time per day waiting for pages to download. Is it worth it? In my opinion...Yes...

For video I could stream when I was on ADSL anyway at 8Mbps so having fibre made little difference to time savings.

burytec

Great question & I agree the answer is quite simply yes. However I think its important to be aware of the fact that the mainstream fibre optic broadband available for general consumer use is in supplied & maintained by one company. This currently means that no matter who choose as your supplier the install will be carried out by BT Openreach. So as you are essentially getting the same product, it really makes a lot of sense to shop around for the deal. Further more you should really try to go for an unlimited or above 50Gb monthly download option.

Gordon_Hose

It also depends on where the cabinet you're connected to is located. If it's some distance away the uplift in speed may not be much more than a half decent ADSL connection.

gmxdude

The cabinet I would be connected to is 3 short streets away and in a straight line would be about 600 yards away. If you were driving to it, it would be about 1200 yards away.

I am looking for broadband only with 20GB usage tops using Fibre Optics.

Would PlusNet be my best option with their Essential Fibre Optics which costs £15.99/month for upto 40GB.