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Getting Internet to a Flat Basics? Recommendation

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 BruceM 26 Feb 2020

I've had work or free access (via free wifi) to internet for many years so know nothing about current options.  Last time I set something up was 2001 which was a Blueyonder connection delivered over a standard telephone line.  I've searched online, but most stuff confounds technical with marketing info: I understand the technical but not marketing talk, so it's hard to get some facts straight.

Have I got the following correct?  And if so, are there any recommendations for good low cost options.  Thanks heaps.

1. With the exception of Virgin Media most providers, whether fibreoptic or whatever, use those technologies only to get the signal to your street.  They then use a conventional telephone cable to get the signal into your home.  Virgin, have a propriety coax that pipes all the way to your room. (True/False?)

This implies you need a telephone line to get any internet other than Virgin.  Do you need to pay for a BT telephone line or something (I don't have any telephone) AND THEN pay for some internet provider on top?  Or does the internet provider sell you a telephone line to your house as well?  (They seem to include line rental so I assume so, but it is not clear what that really means).

I'm not even sure there is a wire telephone line to this flat.  There was a Virgin Coax type line 10 years ago when we moved in.  We've never used a conventional telephone.  There is one socket on one wall, but who knows where that goes.

2. Are these 10-11Mbs connections really worth it these days?  And is that what many people have?  Given that these are mean values, wouldn't the rate will often be about half that.  It seems you can get twice that rate for just a few pounds more per month.

I would only need one computer access at any one time, and would use it for browsing and downloading/viewing the latest Adam Ondra "Road to Tokyo" video or whatever.  Although probably realistically could need up to 2 hours of video watching per day, via youtube or whatever (HD 720p is OK no need for 4K stuff).  No gaming.

It would be good to limit costs to about £20-£25/month.

(BTW my wifi tells me people use Virgin, BT, Skye, TalkTalk, PlusNet, EE, SSE in my street so I presume I have lots of options available.)

Sorry for the dumb questions.  Any help or recommendations appreciated.

 Fiona Reid 26 Feb 2020
In reply to BruceM:

You should be able to stick your postcode into either Virgin Media or BTs broadband checker pages and find out whether they have active connections to the flat and the speed you'd be expected to get. If the lines in are really old it's possible you'll need a new line/cable. This may or may not cost you, it depends on the provider. 

After many years with Virgin we got fed up with their continued price hikes so got a new line put in so we could use Vodafone broadband. The line cost £60 to install. 

We currently pay £22 per month for broadband and phone. Our exchange can't do the super duper fibre but we can get up 27mb/s which in practice means we get about 18-25 and for us that's plenty.

 Neil Williams 26 Feb 2020
In reply to Fiona Reid:

For what it is worth fibre to the home is amazing - pretty much instant response on anything, and I've had to work from home to do large data loads for work because the connection is about 50 times faster than in our company's main head office (and I mean that literally, not figuratively).  If you can get it, get it, though it's probably unlikely in a flat.

In reply to BruceM:

You most likely have a line already going into your complex, if not already into your flat. Your provider will help you figure things out. The days of not getting what you pay for are pretty long gone, with VM I usually get more than the minimum. But as Fiona said, they will constantly try to hike your bill. 

 MB42 26 Feb 2020
In reply to BruceM:

For most providers you have to pay line rental (which actually goes to BT but is usually bundled by most providers) and the broadband, usually for both total is ~£20-30 per month. The last two times I've moved they've sent someone round to sort out the wiring when its been activated, this has been done through the broadband provider though the actual people who turn up are from BT. I didn't get charged on either occasion. I think the actual speed you get is very dependent on the usage in your area, the condition of the wiring, the setup of the exchange, and the phase of the moon so I'm not sure general comments are much help but I've not had speed issues on normal broadband now I live in a city for streaming but prior when I was more rural I did, at least in stormy weather, however fibre wasn't available there so it was irrelevant...

Anyway mostly wanted to say I'm with the Phone co-op and to give them a shout out as an alternative to the big companies. Not the absolute cheapest but competitive and have green and fair tax commitments. I've been on standard (£22 a month for line rental + broadband) for the last few years and not really had any speed issues, I've just this month opted to upgrade to fibre because they had a really good offer for long term customers (I think its ~£28 for new customers) and there's now going to be three people in the house.

 tom r 26 Feb 2020
In reply to BruceM:

If it is just you in the house and you have good mobile data, maybe consider a unlimited mobile contract and use it as a hotspot. Being doing this  the last year or so and it works well. I use aboout 70 - 80 gb a month and work from home a fair bit doing software development, so fairly data heavy. Contract is £20 a month from 3.

Post edited at 16:12
Deadeye 26 Feb 2020
In reply to BruceM:

My brief tuppence as someone who has switched away from Virgin:

- make sure your e-mail is a generic one (gmail or hotmail) so you don't get tied in.

- Virgin gouge horribly.  They call it "more for more" but it means you package will cost +6-8% year on year.  And they make it really difficult to leave cleanly.

- Unless you consume extraordinary amounts of HD concurrently, a 50Mb connection is more than ample for a family.

- Several providers do guaranteed 50Mb connections with free phone line in the prioce you quote.

- The advantage of using the majority model is it's more competitive and you can chnage easily.  Changing to/from Virgin sucks (did I mention that?)

- Currently with Vodaphone at 1/3 cost of the Virgin pack (but only 70Mb here rather than the 80 that was"100" with Virgin).

 Luke90 26 Feb 2020
In reply to purplemonkeyelephant:

> The days of not getting what you pay for are pretty long gone, with VM I usually get more than the minimum.

Not entirely true, sadly. If you're in an area with fibre to the cabinet and a short run of reasonably modern cable, yes, you're likely to often reach or exceed the package speed. In areas without fibre to the cabinet and/or with long or old cable runs to your house, unreliable connections and slow or highly variable speeds are very much still here.

OP BruceM 26 Feb 2020
In reply to BruceM:

Thank you all for your replies.  It confirms how I roughly understood things might work.

That's good to know about Virgin liking "more for more" -- or just more for them.  Probably not my kind of deal.

And very interesting about considering an unlimited mobile data plan and using a hotspot.  I assumed that desktop data rates for even just browsing, let alone video, would quickly push any mobile plan into the slow-speed capped rate, or whatever.  I suppose you could try that idea for just a month or so on a fixed bundle add-on package, or fixed time unlimited add-on package if that sort of thing is available, to see how it went.

Thanks Fiona: the BT checker does say that their superfast fibre is available to my flat address, but I guess they would just sort out a new line if the existing line didn't work that well.

 boriselbrus 26 Feb 2020
In reply to BruceM:

Just as an alternative if 4G is good where yo are then a 4G sim and router can work very well.

We have no chance of fast broadband where I am so went down this route.  I pay £20 a month for 240gb which is not throttled at all.  I think the router cost about £50 and it's just plug and play.  I reliably get 25-20mb speed, enough for 2 devices to be streaming at the same time and I don't think we have ever used more than about 150gb in a month.  No cables or installation costs either.

 sbc23 26 Feb 2020
In reply to BruceM:

You can get fast broadband (vdsl/ fttc / fibre to the cabinet / 80mbs down, 20mbs up) without paying for a telephone subscription. 

It’s termed a ‘bare copper pair’ and costs £10 rather than the typical £17-20.

Personally, I recommend Andrews and Arnold. It will cost £45-60 a month, but the service is superb. An ethical business :

https://www.aa.net.uk/broadband/why-choose-aaisp/

 lorentz 27 Feb 2020
In reply to BruceM:

Another one who would advise against Virgin purely on their aggressive pricing strategy. Yes you get the fibre speed directly into your house but every single year they'll put the price up until you're not prepared to take it anymore and you're forced to leave. It's just not worth it and for your proposed usage you really don't need it.

In late 2012 I was paying £17.50 a month (as an introductory offer.) After 6 months went up to £22.50 iirc. I'm now paying just shy of £50. That's broadband only. 100% price hike in under 8 years. I'm going to leave soon as we're doing work on the house so the cable will have to come out. I'm out of contract, so can give a months notice and can call it quits.

About 5 times a week I get missed calls from a virgin call centre, presumably trying to get me to sign up for another  contract. I block the number but another one springs up a few weeks later. 

Will follow this thread with interest!

Post edited at 09:27
OP BruceM 27 Feb 2020
In reply to lorentz:

I've been looking at reviews of providers and they are ALL absolutely atrocious.  Of course generally only people who've had problems go to the effort of leaving reviews.  So it's good to hear of these experiences in a different kind of forum.  BT also apparently get slammed for price hiking.  But not to the level that I sense you and the others here have experienced with Virgin.

But really, apart from some of the more expensive providers (like one mentioned above), most of the big names get hammered as far as apparently not delivering what they promise, yet happy to take the cash, hike the bill, and provide poor customer support.  Many reviewers say they can't wait to get rid of their current provider, but I'm not sure who they are all going to move to.

Post edited at 18:14

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