Copper from cabinet or 4g

[#1]

Hi all,

Moving shortly unfortunately to an area (CO16 8LA) that only has FTTC and copper to the house. Plusnet can only offer 18-32mb with guarantee of 16.4mb. No full fibre can be provided to address. We use Wi-Fi for browsing and streaming catch up TV, currently wireless to Firestick but I have used AV plugs (Powerplugs) before with mixed results pre full fibre. 

Do people think the broadband offered will be better than say using a 4g mobile hotspot? 4g broadband let alone 5g seems not to be supported at postcode so I guess signal is not perfect.

And is the Hub 2 router any good? I know the 2740n router was awful!

thanks

Prologica

[#2]

Look up predicted speeds on mobile networks for that postcode;
eg
https://www.1pmobile.com/coverage-checker

They too use EE Network, but the full spectrum not the restricted bandwidth PN offer.

[#3]

Thanks Gel,

The 4g coverage looks patchy indoors in particular. Doesn’t look like the site shows likely speeds though, just bad/ok/good!

Would you expect to be able to stream catch up TV without buffering over broadband at 18-32mb with the 16.4mb guaranteed?

[#4]

16.4 mb should be OK for streaming a couplevof HD channels.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/help/questions/features/hd-information

On holiday we managed to stream one HD sreams and browse the web on several devices with an 11mb FTTC connection.
Two HD streams + youtube was a bit iffy.

[#5]

Thanks @RichardB 

[#6]

@Prologica  - This might be of interest ?  - County Broadband : St Osyth Fibre Project

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[#7]

Thanks Niburu,

Thats interesting but they don’t say when! I’ve emailed them. Only 3.6 rating for them on Trustpilot. I’m intrigued how they can offer it if it’s currently copper from the cabinet and I can’t find any sign of an Openreach upgrade?

[#8]

County Broadband don't use Openreach cables or fibres, they are installing their own entirely independent FTTP fibres and manage their own network,  so you currently have to use them as your ISP if you want to use their FTTP.

However they do route their own fibres through existing Openreach ducts, strung along Openreach poles, and the customer termination pods are also mounted on Openreach poles.

Where I am (in Essex), County Broadband wired up (fibred up ?) our whole village over a couple of weeks, so now we have the choice of Openreach FTTC, or County Broadband FTTP.

When I changed ISP last week from Plusnet to A&A, I ultimately stuck with Openreach FTTC (at 79/19Mbps) because I didn't need the extra speed of FTTP, my existing FTTC reliability was good, and I wanted IPv6 and line control that A&A could provide.

[#9]

Thanks @Anonymous I didn’t know that. What is the village’s experience of the installation and the service they are getting? Has customer service been good?

[#10]

Our village was one of the first areas that County Broadband descended on and covered with FTTP,  so we were 'early adopters' and there were a couple of times where the area lost broadband for a day or so,  but those initial problems were quickly resolved, and I can't recall seeing ANY complaints posted on our village facebook group about them since then, whereas other people using BT's network still post "is the broadband down for anyone else ?" every few months.

My only interaction with 'customer service' was when County Broadband were new to this, and they have over the last year had a call centre recruitment drive and training scheme, and I understand that 'support' has been significantly invested in.

However my experience (in 2020), was that me being an awkward sod was asking them questions like -

• Can I have a /30 block of (4) static IPv4 addresses ?
• Do they support IPv6 ?
• What is the typical latency expected for the village ?
• Do they provide VoIP ?
• Can I change the downstream rate/IP_profile to control bufferbloat ?
• ... and other not typical everyday type questions

At the time, during Covid restrictions, both the supposed technically capable salesman that came to the door, and their support centre, pretty much responded with I don't understand what you are asking,  I'll have to write your questions down and have someone get back to you by email - which then never happened.

Given that it is now thrree years on, that they must be doing something right to carry on expanding, and I'm not seeing local complaints,  I'd guess that they are probably as good as any other provider, although I haven't bothered reading any recent Trustpilot reviews.

To see where County Broadband currently have coverage, this ThinkBroadband map shows active connections

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[#11]

Thanks @Anonymous that's really helpful.

[#12]

If you look at this map of your area, and then toggle the selected FTTP boxes on the right hand side

You can see Openreach FTTP is installed both sides of your postcode, in "New Way", and "Point Clear Road".

You can see an FTTP supplier that isn't Openreach or County Broadband, is in St.Osyth (and Brightlingsea)

If you double click on that speedtest result bubble, near you someone has Sky FTTC (@ 33.8/7.7), and EE(@ 26.8/5.8)

This probably doesn't help any, but is interesting to know !

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[#13]

Thanks @Anonymous that’s interesting. Just need them to head down the roads to either side to reach me! No stated plan as far as I can find though!

[#14]

@Anonymous by the way I checked Sky and despite the headline they only guarantee 5mb! Just checked EE and they guarantee 14mb so both worse than Plusnet at 16.4 guaranteed. A concern with County would be getting tied into their infrastructure for 2 years and not being able to switch.

[#15]

Moderators Note

This topic has been moved from Broadband to Everything Else