Broadband speed of potential house purchase

graduate

Hi

We currently have virgin media superfast broadband. Online speed checker sites tell me that we have a download speed of around 75-80 Mbps.

We stream a lot of TV via Netflix & Amazon Prime, download videos / music and connect remotely to office computers etc.

A house that we are looking to make an offer on is estimated (by sky) to have an estimated access line speed of 1.3-6.0 Mbps.

This sounds like a massive difference to me! Would we notice a real difference at these speeds and would we be able to do all the things we do currently without any issues?

Sorry if this is a naive question but have little experience in this area.

Thanks

Dr._Shoe

Not really. I get 3 up and 8 or so down and I have no problems at all streaming other than the limitations of my rather kronky and slow computer. TV programmes download about 1% in two seconds on SD and take about 3 seconds to do 1% in HD. Live streaming is not a problem.

macman

Typically to stream iPlayer you need around 2.5MBps. If fibre or cable is not available at the new address (you don't say) then you will be limited to 6Mbps at the very best-and it could be a lot lower.
Since that is based on ADSL only, you are not really comparing like with like.
Given your current usage and requirements, ADSL is unlikely to be adequate, and you'll notice a huge difference compared to VM.
What LLU options are available?

graduate

macman wrote: »

Typically to stream iPlayer you need around 2.5MBps. If fibre or cable is not available at the new address (you don't say) then you will be limited to 6Mbps at the very best-and it could be a lot lower.
Since that is based on ADSL only, you are not really comparing like with like.
Given your current usage and requirements, ADSL is unlikely to be adequate, and you'll notice a huge difference compared to VM.
What LLU options are available?

Thanks for your reply. Broadbandspeedchecker seems to show that speeds people are getting on this road are 2.32 Mbps. To be honest I'm not sure re: fibre or cable but all companies that can provide in that area say that it is 'off network' or via sky connect etc. if that helps?

Thanks

spannerzone

If you've got a family all using the internet at the same time, watching iplayer, downloading films, music and such like then you may well notice slow downs, if it's just one or two people then you might be ok.

But downloading larger files, programs, music films etc will take roughly 10 times longer if you got 6mbps at the new location or maybe worse if you got 2mbps of suchlike.

Sky Connect is the service they provide when the exchange doesn't have Sky's own equipment in it, they're reselling the BT provided service, as most likely would all other ISP's from that exchange if there's no LLU (local loop unbundling) - SamKnows exchange checker should show what the exchange can offer.

graduate

spannerzone wrote: »

Sky Connect is the service they provide when the exchange doesn't have Sky's own equipment in it, they're reselling the BT provided service, as most likely would all other ISP's from that exchange if there's no LLU (local loop unbundling) - SamKnows exchange checker should show what the exchange can offer.

Thanks for your reply. SamKnows tells me the following (not quite sure what it means?)

Broadband availability overview
ADSL:
Yes
SDSL:
No
LLU services:
No
Cable:
No
Wireless:
No

BT Wholesale information
ADSL status:
Enabled as of 14/01/2004
ADSL Max status:
Enabled as of 31/03/2006
SDSL status:
Not available
21CN WBC status:
Not available
FTTC status:
Not available
FTTP status:
Not available

Under LLU operator presence all are unavailable.

There are two of us in the house and we may be streaming content at the same time e.g. Netflix in the lounge and Spotify in another room. Sounds like we might struggle with that?

Graham1

Probably worth checking the openreach site to see if FTTC is "coming soon" (within the next 6 months) for that location. Suprisingly even some rural locations are in this category.

http://www.superfast-openreach.co.uk/where-and-when/default.aspx

brewerdave

graduate wrote: »

Under LLU operator presence all are unavailable.

There are two of us in the house and we may be streaming content at the same time e.g. Netflix in the lounge and Spotify in another room. Sounds like we might struggle with that?

Yup ...you will definitely struggle big time, at peak times you will see a lot of buffering on things like SkyGo or I player - as previous poster has said you need FTTC if two of you are going to be streaming simultaneously.

macman

No LLU and no FTTC. Sounds like a rural exchange and you are out on the fringes of ADSL range in terms of distance. Unless FTTC is coming, you are stuck with speeds that will not serve your needs.
Don't even think about Sky Connect, that's just a resold BTW product. Go for someone like Plusnet for phone and broadband, and rethink your TV requirements. If you need subscription channels, you can still get Sky TV.

graduate

Thanks everyone for your responses - your answers have been very helpful.