Sky Fibre Broadband Speed

[dogfonos]

Can anyone please tell me what to expect...

I've only had Virgin Media cable internet + phone service for the past 15 years or so, however the old BT copper cables still enter my property and run to a connection point inside.

The Moneysavingexpert.com Sky Fibre Broadband deal looks too good to miss so I intend to sign up for it but I'm unsure exactly what to expect. Sky confirmed that my address can receive their fibre broadband and tell me they make use of the old BT copper cables yet they quote speeds up to 38Mb/s. They assure me that, in practice, the speed will be very close to that. Is 38Mb/s even possible over the old copper cables? What's likely to be the true speed entering my property? And when the SKY engineer calls, will they need to do anything other than check/repair/replace the old BT copper cables?

Odd thing is, I believe the only optical fibre cables laid in my road are Virgin Media's so I assume the Sky fibre broadband enters the road as an electrical signal carried on copper cable. If so, where does the 'fibre' come into it? Thanks.

 

[sparkymarka]

At the cabinet

 

[Iamchamps]

Like BT and Virgin they can use the word optical as long as some where down the line there is an optical fibre. Virgin run HFC (hybrid fibre coax) which is a fibre amp that then feeds coax to further amps and houses. The docsis system used to provide the internet over this cable in theory could easily provide 1gb if everything at both ends was good. Twisted pair that any company using BTs system will struggle for any thing much over 100mb and that would be the cabinet outside your house and everything setup good.

If speed is important to you I would stick with Virgin I am on a 200mb service and get exactly that.

 

[musszzy]

Yes it's not like there is a real choice. Virgin =super fast broadband but diabolical customer service. Others much much slower but loads more choice and possibly better service. Unless you are Usain bolt of course!!

 

[dogfonos]

At the cabinet

Indeed, but I can't find out where my nearest OpenReach cabinet is therefore can't estimate the connection speed (one website gave cabinet number as 26 on my local exchange, wherever that is). There's a table here but it's useless unless I know the distance to my nearest OpenReach cabinet (26?):

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/guide/fibre-broadband.html

If speed is important to you I would stick with Virgin I am on a 200mb service and get exactly that.

Ideally I would stick with VM but I can't resist a bargain. I'd be happy with a consistent 20Mb/s (Sky advertise speed as 38Mb/s) as the Sky deal will save me about £110 in the first year compared with VM (currently around 75Mb/s with VM) - and I'll have a better 'phone package too.

Looks like I may have to re-wire internally with Cat 5 cable though and give some consideration to position of master/secondary sockets and filters which is a bit of a bore but eminently do-able. And, of course, once the new OpenReach connection is sorted, I'll have a far wider choice of ISP's in the future.