HELP! going round in circles

quantum

Why is it so hard to get actual decent information that you can compare between providers. There are loads of sites including linked by this one, that gives some info but not all when it comes to actual guaranteed data speeds. 
It's only when you go through the ordering process that you find that actually it's much less than the average that the comparison sites say. In my case the avererage is usually 10mbs but Plusnet for instance says 4mbs guaranteed! WHATT?? 
Thing is I am in a flat in the countryside so I know it's not great. But my landlady kindly lets me tag into her wifi and Speedtest shows about 14mbs. Trouble is it's patchy and comes and goes as I'm a long way from her router.
I'm certain she's not got fibre connection. SO it must be ADSL.
AM going crazy trying to find right deal from a provider that's got good customer service, yet cheap and has a short contract lenght. ANy advice would be helpful
What are you thoughts on Onestream?

onomatopoeia99

quantum said:

AM going crazy trying to find right deal from a provider that's got good customer service, yet cheap and has a short contract lenght. ANy advice would be helpful

Reason most of them are cheap is because they skimp on customer service, and they require long minimum terms to amortize the setup costs over them.  You can get two of the things you want (good CS, short minimum term) but not all three.

quantum

onomatopoeia99 said:

quantum said:

AM going crazy trying to find right deal from a provider that's got good customer service, yet cheap and has a short contract lenght. ANy advice would be helpful

Reason most of them are cheap is because they skimp on customer service, and they require long minimum terms to amortize the setup costs over them.  You can get two of the things you want (good CS, short minimum term) but not all three.

So Good customer service and short contract would rank higher - I think. 

ann_droid

Hi
https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL/telephoneHome
To see what Openreach believe they can deliver.
There appears to be a new section...

Max Observed       Downstream Speed 79.18     Upstream Speed 20

                              Observed Date 2021-02-03

It may be VDSL, a long way from the cabinet, hence the low thru-put.

aa.net.uk/broadband/home1/   will give something like this...
You are connected to cabinet 00. Your line length (from the exchange) is approximately 3454 meters.

"Superfast" VDSL (Fibre to the cabinet) up to 80Mb/s

ADSL broadband up to 5.2Mb/s

Cisco001

I think it is the cable from openreach determined the speed?
Other than that is CS and router come with it make the difference.

littleboo

Ignore the average speed, its an Ofcom requirement but isn't helpful.

quantum

So John Lewis say 2 Your estimated download speed is between 2.5 - 5 Mb, with an estimated upload speed of 1Mb.

The Minimum Guaranteed Speed for this product is 1.7 Mb. Despite the average being 10Mb

What the heck. They can offer fibre with minimum of 11.9 Mb. This sort of speed would I think be fine. 1.7Mb would surely be dreadful for streaming. The connection to the house being the same aren't they just throttling back on the standard broadband connection to make you go for a higher price package? I don't get it.

quantum

ann_droid said:

Hi
https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL/telephoneHome
To see what Openreach believe they can deliver.
There appears to be a new section...

Max Observed       Downstream Speed 79.18     Upstream Speed 20

                              Observed Date 2021-02-03

It may be VDSL, a long way from the cabinet, hence the low thru-put.

aa.net.uk/broadband/home1/   will give something like this...
You are connected to cabinet 00. Your line length (from the exchange) is approximately 3454 meters.

"Superfast" VDSL (Fibre to the cabinet) up to 80Mb/s

ADSL broadband up to 5.2Mb/s

I don't have a phone, though there is a socket from previous tenant. Don't know what all the other things are on that form.

onomatopoeia99

quantum said:

So John Lewis say 2 Your estimated download speed is between 2.5 - 5 Mb, with an estimated upload speed of 1Mb.

The Minimum Guaranteed Speed for this product is 1.7 Mb. Despite the average being 10Mb

What the heck. They can offer fibre with minimum of 11.9 Mb. This sort of speed would I think be fine. 1.7Mb would surely be dreadful for streaming. The connection to the house being the same aren't they just throttling back on the standard broadband connection to make you go for a higher price package? I don't get it.

The average is 10Mb across all their customers on the same product.  Most of them will be a lot closer to the exchange than you, so get higher speeds and increase the average.  When I moved into this house, that's what what I got on ADSL as I was over 2 miles from the exchange.

Same rule about cable length applies to "Fibre" (Fibre to the cabinet in this case) but it is the distance to the cabinet that matters, you are a considerable distance from the cabinet for the handback threshold to be 11.9Mbps.

Before you ask, you can't have cheaper than other people as you get a slower speed, the cost of providing you with the same service is the same, irrespective of the speed you get.

[Deleted User]

quantum said:

ann_droid said:

Hi
https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL/telephoneHome
To see what Openreach believe they can deliver.
There appears to be a new section...

Max Observed       Downstream Speed 79.18     Upstream Speed 20

                              Observed Date 2021-02-03

It may be VDSL, a long way from the cabinet, hence the low thru-put.

aa.net.uk/broadband/home1/   will give something like this...
You are connected to cabinet 00. Your line length (from the exchange) is approximately 3454 meters.

"Superfast" VDSL (Fibre to the cabinet) up to 80Mb/s

ADSL broadband up to 5.2Mb/s

I don't have a phone, though there is a socket from previous tenant. Don't know what all the other things are on that form.

Use this version of the form - it only requires your house number and postcode.
https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL/AddressHome