What benefit from fibre?

bouicca21

Is it worth getting fibre? Or is it all a bit of oversell for the average non gaming user? I have been thinking about getting an internet tv and maybe a you view box, though presumably if the tv is linked to the net, I can do 4 OD etc anyway?

kwmlondon

When I read the title of your thread I wanted to tell you about how fibre can help you with bowel movements and reduce your risk of cancer, but now I've clicked I don't think that's the right answer. Still...

bouicca21

I've had a miserable time lately, thanks for making me laugh.

oldagetraveller

"Is it worth getting fibre? Or is it all a bit of oversell for the average non gaming user?"
Probably not worth it for just general use. Oversell? Probably there are many people who've been persuaded(conned?) into it with out really needing it.
I will not be offered a fibre connection until after hell has frozen over but find that my rural ADSL connection is more than adequate for Youtube, t.v. catch up and Netflix etc..

JJ_Egan

A lot depends upon what you use .
I get a much more stable connection on fibre and consistent speeds but don't really need above 20meg download speed .

jbainbridge

If you can watch iplayer on your computer without issue you'll probably see no benefit switching.

sinizterguy

Speed and lower ping times.

If you don't need it, it's probably not worth it.

If there is no cost, you might as well go on it.

Tropez

I'm not much of an online gamer (occasional) but I have fibre.

For Internet TV and on-demand services delivered over the Internet it is fabulous, compared to my super slow older speed of around 3Mb/s. I can use Sky on-demand services in HD and begin watching almost immediately, while Netflix and Amazon deliver content in HD with no buffering (although to be fair, Netflix was managing to deliver HD on that connection previously - Amazon and Sky though, not so much).

Downloading large files, which I personally do quite a bit - perhaps you may not - is also much better. No need to leave computers on over night to download larger files/programs.

I also like the upload speeds as I store quite a bit of information in cloud services and going from less than 1Mbp/s upload to closer to 16Mbp/s has made a much welcome difference in getting stuff into my DropBox and OneDrive.

I'd say whether it is worth it depends a lot on your habits and your current connection speed. If you're on 5Mb/s or higher and don't tend to download large files/programs then you might not actually benefit too much from having it. You should already be able to stream HD for Internet TV services. In my home, where there can be two of us wanting to stream HD at the same time, while downloading another item or two and possibly even backing some stuff up to DropBox, the speed is very useful.

duchy

Depends on what you use it for and what speed you currently get.

Some people can only get 3 meg and moving onto fibre is a revelation, if you already get 15-20 meg not so much

LazyTyper

If you are planning on getting Netflix, check out their internet connection speed recommendations.

If getting movies in HD is important to you then I'd say go for fibre, but if you are quite close to your exchange and getting decent speeds it may not be needed.

Also, I did not observe any lower ping times on any of my ADSL to FTTC upgrades.

brewerdave

I'm still waiting for someone to come up with the killer app. to really justify a fibre connection -I get ~ 16Mbps via ADSL2+ and I'm yet to find anything which won't work satisfactorily -in fact, some of the streaming bottlenecks appear to be with the originating site.
Furthermore,as the cost of fibre on my exchange will be ~ £ 14pm more than my current deal I won't be moving over in a hurry!