Need fibre optic broadband but no virgin in area, is BT infinity the best?

wenger08

As the title says i want fibre optic broadband. I have been with virgin for years and their fibre optic broadband was brilliant.

I need a good internet speed because i work online so i dont want a slow connection that drops out or hangs.

I do download abit, but not loads. Although i cant put an exact figure on it because it varies but maybe 10-20GB a month sometimes.

I do stream alot, i watch football, sky go and things like that on my pc.

Is BT infinity my best option? I have read some horror shows on here and tbh when i called them up their customer service was rubbish and they didnt make me feel very wanted as a new customer.

What are my options, is it only BT or SKY? I thought Sky just used a BT line anyway......so wouldnt it be better to go to BT direct?

Thanks

yangptangkipperbang

wenger08 wrote: »

Is BT infinity my best option? I have read some horror shows on here and tbh when i called them up their customer service was rubbish and they didnt make me feel very wanted as a new customer.

I moved to BT Infinity2 about 18 months ago - absolutely no regrets whatsoever. (72.55 mbs at this very moment !)
Don't forget that for every complaint about BT that you see on MSE there are many, many thousands who have no problems and get a superb service all round. This applies to just about any ISP.

I had 4 years of top class BB from O2, problems arose and they were just useless - my emails/phone calls were totally ignored. Their call centres/help (joke !!) desks in Scotland, Yorkshire and NI were as bad as BT's in Bombay ! I honestly got the impression they just didn't care - there were plenty more suckers out there for them to harvest !! I moved....................

kwikbreaks

10-20GB of downloads isn't heavy but the additional streaming will probably push you into needing an unlimited product.

Just search to find who resells the FTTC product. Certainly you can get versions of it from the big ISPs (BT Sky TalkTalk) but others provide it too.

Taking Infinity from BT Retail offers no advantage over any of the other resellers because Ofcom don't let BTw and Openreach favour them over others reselling their products.

VisionMan

Infinity rocks! But as kwikbreaks said, with the additional speeds and improvements in performance, you'd be best to go for an unlimited package. Oh and you can get internet TV too. And that addition costs peanuts compared to Sky or VM.

wenger08

kwikbreaks wrote: »

10-20GB of downloads isn't heavy but the additional streaming will probably push you into needing an unlimited product.

Just search to find who resells the FTTC product. Certainly you can get versions of it from the big ISPs (BT Sky TalkTalk) but others provide it too.

Taking Infinity from BT Retail offers no advantage over any of the other resellers because Ofcom don't let BTw and Openreach favour them over others reselling their products.

Thanks for all the sugesstions

What is FTTC please?

I have been thinking about BT infinity 2 because of the fact i stream so often.

I didnt quite understand the last paragraph, do you mean that there would be no difference between SKY fibre optic and BT infinity?

wenger08

VisionMan wrote: »

Infinity rocks! But as kwikbreaks said, with the additional speeds and improvements in performance, you'd be best to go for an unlimited package. Oh and you can get internet TV too. And that addition costs peanuts compared to Sky or VM.

Thanks

Can you explain the internet TV thing a little more please? That sounds interesting.

VisionMan

wenger08 wrote: »

Thanks

Can you explain the internet TV thing a little more please? That sounds interesting.

BT offers internet BT TV (and TalkTalk do to). The top package for everything costs £15 for both on demand and 18 live channels too. £3 extra for HD, but the PSB HD channels (101 - 107) come at no additional cost.

101 - BBC One HD England**
102 - BBC Two HD**
103 - ITV HD**
104 - Channel 4 HD**
105 - BBC Three HD**
106 - BBC Four HD**
107 - BBC News HD**
407 - Watch
408 - GOLD
409 - Alibi
417 - Comedy Central
413 - TLC
414 - Discovery
415 - Animal Planet
419 - Sy Fy
420 - Universal
421 - E!
422 - FOX
423 - Nat Geo
424 - NatGeo WILD
425 - MTV
432 - History
433 - Crime & Investigation
454 - Sony Entertainment TV
513 - Eurosport 1
514 - Eurosport 2

Heres the link which shows all the additional options too -

http://bt.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/46017/kw/live%20channel%20list/c/348,6300/session/L3RpbWUvMTM5MDQyNDIxNy9zaWQvRkJoRE4xTGw%3D

kwikbreaks

FTTC means Fibre to the Cabinet and is what everybody apart from VM is selling as fibre optic broadband. The last leg is the telephone pair from the cabinet to your house.

BT Infinity and all the other FTTC offerings use exactly the same path from the house to the exchange - fibre to the cabinet and the twisted pair copper cable from there to your house. The two main LLU providers (TalkTalk and Sky) may use their own fibre from the exchange to their data centres or they may rent the same BTw fibre that Infinity and the other resellers use.

The products won't be identical but right now no FTTC product suffers much in the way of congestion so you'd probably be hard pressed to see any difference between them. The real difference will be in location and quality of suppport and customer services in general. There will also be different add-ons - for instance BT are offering free BT Sport. You need to decide on whether those differences are worth anything too.

Actually I forgot to mention that a few areas offer FTTP - the fibre goes right to your house.

Browntoa

I get 79 meg , new installs are much tidier with the new BT hub as it removes the need for a seperate modem on the wall

Stream 2 sky plus on demands with no issues over it

wenger08

Thanks once again

I guess i will have to be happy with the fibre to cabinet broadband.

Is the current best deal the one on the BT website? Or can i get a better deal via MSE (which some people seem to mention on here)

apt

Best option if your are not an existing customer is to apply to BT via Topcashback for £90odd-£150 cashback. Don't forget to claim the £50 Sainsbury voucher as well once the service is running.