Full Fibre 100 Halo 3 with Complete Wi-Fi - £49.99pm - is it worth it?

dllive

Hi,

Id like a faster internet connection. BT have offered me a 24 month contract at £49.99pm. This is their Full Fibre 100 Halo 3 with Complete Wi-Fi package. 

I cant see why BT's offer is so much more than others - for example Plusnet Unlimited Fibre Extra which is only £24.99pm

I suppose Plusnet's package offered 64 - 72Mb estimated download speed, whereas BT's estimated download speed is 150 Mbps. But will I actually get 150 Mbps? Is there a cheaper alternative maybe?

I dont need a landline phone becuase I solely use my mobile (but I still need the line rental?) so I dont need anything related to a landline phone such as caller display etc...

Thanks

Neil49

Have you considered moving to Vodafone for your broadband. They offer high speed connections at competitive rates and there have been deals through the MSE main site via Broadband Genie with a prepaid gift card as a bonus. 

You need a "landline" as such (otherwise you wouldn't get a broadband connection) but not a phone package. 

If you are on fttp then you may find that Plusnet can't provide you with a service (they couldn't for me). Ideally go to each provider's website and put in your details to see what is available for your address. 

brewerdave

You are comparing apples with pears. The BT "offer" involves a brand new full fibre install which could give you up to 900Mbps , whereas the PN price is for "standard" FTTC via the existing phone line from the street cabinet. 
My daughter's experience of a full fibre set up (FTTP) in a new house ,is that they are getting the full rate that they are paying for, but she isn't paying as much as £49.99 pm with Sky.

littleboo

As mentioned, you arent comparing similar products. Halo 3 is backed up by an EE mobile data connection so you get continued service if the broadband fails, you also get wifi mesh discs to ensure you have good wifi coverage. These things may or may not be what you want.

dllive

brewerdave said:

You are comparing apples with pears. The BT "offer" involves a brand new full fibre install which could give you up to 900Mbps , whereas the PN price is for "standard" FTTC via the existing phone line from the street cabinet. 
My daughter's experience of a full fibre set up (FTTP) in a new house ,is that they are getting the full rate that they are paying for, but she isn't paying as much as £49.99 pm with Sky.

Ah I see - that makes sense. So Plusnet's Unlimited Fibre Extra package is only FTTC.

I wonder if 150Mbs is too much for me (considering its twice as expensive as Plusnet's 60Mbps). What would be considered a decent download rate for the average house? Theres 2 of us: one is usually on Netflix while the other is browsing online. Perhaps 60Mbs is enough? Its not like we have a big family where everyone wants to stream Netflix in their bedrooms.

shiraz99

dllive said:

brewerdave said:

You are comparing apples with pears. The BT "offer" involves a brand new full fibre install which could give you up to 900Mbps , whereas the PN price is for "standard" FTTC via the existing phone line from the street cabinet. 
My daughter's experience of a full fibre set up (FTTP) in a new house ,is that they are getting the full rate that they are paying for, but she isn't paying as much as £49.99 pm with Sky.

Ah I see - that makes sense. So Plusnet's Unlimited Fibre Extra package is only FTTC.

I wonder if 150Mbs is too much for me (considering its twice as expensive as Plusnet's 60Mbps). What would be considered a decent download rate for the average house? Theres 2 of us: one is usually on Netflix while the other is browsing online. Perhaps 60Mbs is enough? Its not like we have a big family where everyone wants to stream Netflix in their bedrooms.

60Mbps is more than enough for those needs, in fact until recently my dad was doing all that and more on an 11Mbps ADSL line quite happily. I've now upgraded it to VDSL where it now gets 45Mbps.

Have you used the BT Wholesale checker to see what sort of speeds you're likely to get via FTTC - https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL

armith

I think that most people have broadband much faster than they actually need it to be. I get by pretty well with 2 adults, both streaming different TV programmes and a bit of general internet browsing at the same time - along with a grown up child jabbering away on the internet - and me working from home in the day at times on Teams calls. My internet speed? 9mb/s down, 0.8mb/s up. The cost? £22.99 a month - with all landline phone calls thrown in (rural area, weak mobile signal).

The big advantage of FTTP would be reliability of the speed. On a bad day my speed drops to 6mb/s down - which causes a bit of buffering on streaming and my works VPN dropping from time to time.

So, with a baseline speed of 6 times what I get I think the average household would be more than fine.

HaroldWren5

dllive said:

Hi,

Id like a faster internet connection. BT have offered me a 24 month contract at £49.99pm. This is their Full Fibre 100 Halo 3 with Complete Wi-Fi package. 

I cant see why BT's offer is so much more than others - for example Plusnet Unlimited Fibre Extra which is only £24.99pm

I suppose Plusnet's package offered 64 - 72Mb estimated download speed, whereas BT's estimated download speed is 150 Mbps. But will I actually get 150 Mbps? Is there a cheaper alternative maybe?

I dont need a landline phone becuase I solely use my mobile (but I still need the line rental?) so I dont need anything related to a landline phone such as caller display etc...

Thanks

Several points to note:

1. To answer your question directly, I would say for that particular package/offer, then NO, it isn't worth it as there are better offers available on a "value for money" basis.
2. Upgrading your actual line to FULL FIBRE is however a definite bonus and well worth it. The service you get with Full Fibre is far more reliable and you usually get the quoted speed constantly.
3. You can consider a full fibre package from the various Openreach providers (the same fibre network BT uses) based upon your required speed, whether you want fixed pricing, contract length, customer service and of course price.

Given you do not need a Landline, then it makes the choice much easier as well. Full Fibre via Openreach is a brand new connection of fibre all the way to your home. The old "master socket" and telephone line become redundant. You no longer need to pay Line Rental, nor for any calling plan. 

BT (and several others) raise their price every March/April. There are certain Broadband providers who fix their price for the entire contract so you know exactly what you will pay. There are also contract lengths varying from 30 days, to 12 months, to 18 months to 24 months. 

Going for "like for like" on Full Fibre deals on Openreach, then as an example, some of the offers going about include:

TalkTalk:
Fibre 150 - £32 a month for 24 months (with price rise every year)
Fibre 900 - £49 a month for 24 months (with price rise every year)

Sky:
Ultrafast 145Mbps - £35 a month for 18 months (price rise every year)
Gigafast 900Mbps - £55 a month for 18 months (price rise every year)

Cuckoo:
"Really Fast" 115Mbps - £39.99 a month for 12 months with fixed pricing for whole 12 months"Eggceptional" 900Mbps - £54.99 a month for 12 months with fixed pricing for whole 12 months

BT: 
Full Fibre 100Mbps - £30 upfront. £35.99 a month for 24 months (with price rises every year)
Full Fibre 900Mbps - £30 upfront. £55.99 a month for 24 months (with price rises every year)

Hope that helps

matelodave

Vodafone offer 100mbits/ for around £25 a month without a phone on full fibre. 35mbit/s and 70mbit/s are a bit less and 200mbit/s is around £30. I pay £33 a month for 100mbit/s together with unlimited phone calls.

We swapped from 76mbit/s with BT earlier this year and saved around £30 a month (£360 a year, which is a lot)

Vodafone do also offer something like Halo, with a back-up dongle but obviously that costs more. In the end, decide what you need, want or can afford. TBH we dont' really need 100mbit/s, 76 was more than enough.

As others have said, full fibre is pretty consistent speed wise and we've not had any problems with the service either from BT or Vodafone.

BUFF

what are you actually getting now & what can your line actually support (check BT Wholesale site https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL) ?
I am on Plusnet's Unlimited Fibre but not Extra because the difference between what I get & what the line can support is negligible - most likely I would only gain <5Mb by going to Extra. I recently renewed & when the cs rep looked at the figures she didn't push for me to go Extra because she could see that there was no real gain for me.

dllive

BUFF said:

what are you actually getting now & what can your line actually support (check BT Wholesale site https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL) ?
I am on Plusnet's Unlimited Fibre but not Extra because the difference between what I get & what the line can support is negligible - most likely I would only gain <5Mb by going to Extra. I recently renewed & when the cs rep looked at the figures she didn't push for me to go Extra because she could see that there was no real gain for me.

Ive just done a speedtest: 34.7 download  4.1 upload

Im currently paying £54 per month with BT. (I dont remember exactly what package)

Heres a screenshot showing what my line supports (47.9?):