Downgrading from 'Super'/'Fast' Fibre to standard Fibre

nobler

I'm currently researching new providers and have noticed that several are offering their 60+Mb services at exactly the same monthly cost as the 35+Mb services, which seems odd. It's ancient history now but I felt kind of duped when I upgraded to fibre in the first place, as it was only at end of fibre contract I was told it would cost me at least £100 to revert to previous standard broadband (thereby wiping out any savings).
I'm wondering if anyone can advise if there is a similar tactic happening now? If I chose the higher speed would I then be locked into it and be obliged to stick with that speed in the future? I'm assuming there will likely be a difference in prices again at some point.
TIA

sarah1972

I was told that standard non fibre will be non existent in the future and everyone will be on fibre? 

The speeds you quote are low though? I pay £28 for 100mb full fibre. I can up or down my speed but why anyone would go slower is beyond me so I’m happy with 100 knowing I can increase it at any time.

nobler

Thanks for your reply. We manage fine with around 38Mb fibre currently so I'm not interested in paying more for a much faster service. The point of me swapping provider is to cut costs rather than upgrade, but it does seem silly to opt for 35ish if I can get 60ish for exactly the same price. Just trying to check there isn't a catch further along the line. 

MikeJXE

I questioned Fibre and apparently there is fibre and full Fibre

Fibre is to the nearest green box, full fibre is into the home

I have gone with talktalk from fibre 65 to fibre 125 that gives speeds of 130 - 160 at a lower cost because I told them I was leaving. 

sarah1972

nobler said:

Thanks for your reply. We manage fine with around 38Mb fibre currently so I'm not interested in paying more for a much faster service. The point of me swapping provider is to cut costs rather than upgrade, but it does seem silly to opt for 35ish if I can get 60ish for exactly the same price. Just trying to check there isn't a catch further along the line. 

Not sure how you manage on 38 to be honest, how much do you pay? As I said, I pay £28 for 100 x Can’t see any catches along the line for you though, you should be able to downgrade/upgrade 

Marvel1

sarah1972 said:

nobler said:

Thanks for your reply. We manage fine with around 38Mb fibre currently so I'm not interested in paying more for a much faster service. The point of me swapping provider is to cut costs rather than upgrade, but it does seem silly to opt for 35ish if I can get 60ish for exactly the same price. Just trying to check there isn't a catch further along the line. 

Not sure how you manage on 38 to be honest, how much do you pay? As I said, I pay £28 for 100 x Can’t see any catches along the line for you though, you should be able to downgrade/upgrade 

Im 38Mb and mange just fine, I stream all my TV, download games on the PS5.

I'm currently paying £23.

400ixl

sarah1972 said:

nobler said:

Thanks for your reply. We manage fine with around 38Mb fibre currently so I'm not interested in paying more for a much faster service. The point of me swapping provider is to cut costs rather than upgrade, but it does seem silly to opt for 35ish if I can get 60ish for exactly the same price. Just trying to check there isn't a catch further along the line. 

Not sure how you manage on 38 to be honest, how much do you pay? As I said, I pay £28 for 100 x Can’t see any catches along the line for you though, you should be able to downgrade/upgrade 

You can have 7 people streaming HD 1080p concurrently on 38Mb, and can stream at UHD 4K on that bandwidth as well. If you aren't a big household is can easily be more than can be consumed.

iniltous

If you are talking about Openreach based FTTC ( fibre to the cabinet ) , then depending on the provider the profiles available are ( max speeds ) 40Mb , 55Mb and 80Mb , but what the individual line can deliver is primarily based on the distance to the property from the fibre cabinet….with someone close to the cabinet , who can get 80Mb ( if they buy the higher speed profile) it  could be worth the extra cost , but  someone much further away , where the ‘long’ line itself would limit speed to say 35Mb , they  would be daft to be on anything other than the 40Mb profile,

If your line can only do speeds around 35Mb because of the distance you are from the cabinet, buying the faster profile won’t improve speed , you will still only get 35Mb on the 55Mb or 80Mb profile, but could be spending more £££ as generally the 40Mb profile is cheaper than the 55Mb or 80Mb profile.
Until FTTP is available, because the distance to the cab from your house is constant, and the equipment belongs to Openreach regardless of the ISP , changing provider won’t alter the speed, VFM and customer service probably the things to base your choice of ISP on, I wouldn’t say just price , the cheapest provider sometimes can be a bit s***.

littleboo

sarah1972 said:

nobler said:

Thanks for your reply. We manage fine with around 38Mb fibre currently so I'm not interested in paying more for a much faster service. The point of me swapping provider is to cut costs rather than upgrade, but it does seem silly to opt for 35ish if I can get 60ish for exactly the same price. Just trying to check there isn't a catch further along the line. 

Not sure how you manage on 38 to be honest, how much do you pay? As I said, I pay £28 for 100 x Can’t see any catches along the line for you though, you should be able to downgrade/upgrade 

Why do think everyone would need 100Mbps? What is your actual peak utilisation of your 100Mbps service - 90%, 60%, 50%?

nobler

iniltous said:

If you are talking about Openreach based FTTC ( fibre to the cabinet ) , then depending on the provider the profiles available are ( max speeds ) 40Mb , 55Mb and 80Mb , but what the individual line can deliver is primarily based on the distance to the property from the fibre cabinet….with someone close to the cabinet , who can get 80Mb ( if they buy the higher speed profile) it  could be worth the extra cost , but  someone much further away , where the ‘long’ line itself would limit speed to say 35Mb , they  would be daft to be on anything other than the 40Mb profile,

If your line can only do speeds around 35Mb because of the distance you are from the cabinet, buying the faster profile won’t improve speed , you will still only get 35Mb on the 55Mb or 80Mb profile, but could be spending more £££ as generally the 40Mb profile is cheaper than the 55Mb or 80Mb profile.
Until FTTP is available, because the distance to the cab from your house is constant, and the equipment belongs to Openreach regardless of the ISP , changing provider won’t alter the speed, VFM and customer service probably the things to base your choice of ISP on, I wouldn’t say just price , the cheapest provider sometimes can be a bit s***.

Thanks for your reply. Please can you clarify, can a provider offer me (and charge me accordingly) for a speed which is not actually achievable on my line? When I look at options for my postcode 100Mb is greyed out so I assume that means my fibre stops at the green cabinet.  I am being offered either 'average 38Mb' (which is also nominal speed of my current package) or 'average 67Mb' for exactly the same price. 
My original question is based on the assumption that 'average 67Mb' would be possible for me and I wanted to know if I could downgrade package at a later date without a cost attached. (I don't mean while still in contract) All firms ever do is tell you about upgrading options.
My reasons for considering changing provider are not linked to speed they are a mix of dramatically improving price and extremely poor customer service from current provider (which is why I'm not intending to bother haggling with them)

skycatcher

I think its a bit like the emperor's new clothes. The vast majority of homes don't need super fast speeds....i think it's gamers needing very low latency that require it. As stated earlier you can stream multiple hd links at 38mb so who needs more. But fibre enables much higher speeds so they need to convince us to take it up. I'm on fttc and get 80mb but as my street had been fibred i know when i go to renew I'll be forced to take fttp but can choose to have a lower speed profile at a price. It's the way we are being forced to go!