Buying a house with slow(ish) broadband

boldaslove

Hi all,

My partner and I have an had offer accepted on a house in a semi rural location that we love and have just found out the broadband for that specific street isn’t quite as fast as we’d hoped. As an example Vodafone is quoting the top speed as 35mpbs download and 9mpbs upload. There is superfast broadband available on the main street but it appears some of the streets just off the main road aren’t connected to that. The house we’re currently in has speeds over twice that and we still sometimes have issues with downloading and streaming although to be fair there’s 6 people living here who often stream on multiple devices at the same time. This is more of an issue for my partner as he often downloads/uploads large files for his work.

When checking the Openreach website it just says that superfast fibre broadband isn’t available yet and they plan to expand it in that area soon. I can’t find any information online about planned works - is there a way to check this somewhere? The only conclusion I’ve come to apart from asking the vendor is having a poke around the area to see if there are any notices up!

Is the speed quoted above really that bad? I’m afraid I don’t have much of a gauge as I don’t have control over utilities in our current house (we live with his parents currently). Frustratingly all the info on Rightmove, Street Checker, Uswitch etc all quote the postcode as having superfast broadband. The postcode only relates to this one street so I’m confused as to why it’d show that information.

Thanks in advance!

Robin9

As an example Vodafone is quoting the top speed as 35mpbs download and 9mpbs upload.

In my town that is superfast - I can get 10Mbs download and 0.5 Mbs upload.   No sign of fibre.

JJ_Egan

(This is more of an issue for my partner as he often downloads/uploads large files for his work.)

Needs a business contract with service level agreement s .

ciderboy2009

Up until a couple of weeks ago we only had 5Mbps down/ 0.8Mbps up.  Two of use were able to work from home and we were able to stream films on two devices simultaneously without problems (obviously not at 4k resolution).

I've just (finally!) had FTTP installed and the only time I ever notice the speed difference is when uploading things.

I would have thought that 35Mbps/9Mbps would be fine for you - particularly when you consider that actual speeds are quite often higher than those quoted.

Presumably your partner goes through a VPN for his work?  If so then does he know what the speed limits are on it?  Mine is 10Mbps both ways so any speeds faster than that don't make any difference.

Have you tried using the BT Wholesaleavailability checker to get a realistic idea of likely speeds- https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/

Rodders53

My FTTC BB is circa 30 Mbit/s down and 6-7 up.  That's fine for us, even streaming UHD to one device and normal other use concurrently.  Much better than the under 2 Mbit/s of ADSL on the same copper line.
I downloaded a satnav maps update from Ford yesterday (21MB) that - due to their server speed - took a couple of hours.  (Then another hour to unzip and transfer to a USB stick).  So up/down speed locally is at the mercy of the supply/receive servers, too.

Partner - for work - should get a business BB connection (provided by employer)? i.e. a second line for exclusive use (albeit at the same speeds, unless they want a proper leased line service).

NB the speed you quote is Superfast Broadband (fibre to the cabinet) -- you may be looking for Ultrafast Broadband (fibre to the premises). https://www.openreach.com/fibre-broadband/ultrafast-full-fibre-broadband

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littleboo

Can you clarify how many people at the new address - presumably less than 6?

onomatopoeia99

boldaslove said:

This is more of an issue for my partner as he often downloads/uploads large files for his work.

The other five people need to be considerate of how the mortgage and broadband bills are paid for, and not all try to stream on multiple devices while the connection is being used for work.  Basic common decency in a shared household.

You could could also look into line bonding, but the bargain basement consumer grade ISPs ( BT / Sky / TalkTalk etc etc) probably will look at you like you've arrived from another planet if you suggest that, because the people that answer the phones won't have a clue what you're talking about and they don't generally offer it.

brewerdave

Assuming that there are now going to be only two of you then 35/9 should be more than adequate. I manage with a download of 16Mbps for 2 * HD streams at the same time (altho 0.8 upload can be a pain for photos !!)

iniltous

The government state Superfast speed is 24Mb or better, Ofcom regard 30Mb as the minimum Superfast speed , so 35Mb by any measure is already ‘superfast’, if VF have their own network then 35 isn’t one of their recognisable tiers,  if VF simply offer Openreach products ( FTTC ) in that area, then any ISP that consumes OR FTTC should be able to offer you FTTC, not just VF , but it will be the speed the OR gives for that location.
Perhaps you can post the returns from the wholesale checker for the address ( a phone number is better but you won’t have one, and it has to be a BT WLR number anyway ) 

https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/

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