Fibreoptic broadband

[DIYspanner]

Is there any advantage of Fibreoptic broadband over standard ADSL when very close to the BT exchange?


I'm looking into this for my sister. She lives in a rural area on a farm and the local village is petitioning for a Fibreoptic sub exchange which apparently would be very close to the farm house (quarter of a mile).


I consider Talktalk a good option for value/cost and offering standard 14MB ADSL, being close to the exchange if the petition is successful, I would've thought fibreoptic would just be extravagant?

 

[AronSearle]

It really depends on what you use it for.

Streaming HD tv, downloading multi GB files, you don't need optic but you will appreciate it.

On-line gaming, browsing the net, streaming normal definition tv, a crappy ADSL will manage that, and 14mb ADSL is far from crappy.

 

[DIYspanner]

Thanks for that.



Regarding standard ADSL, I assume different ISPs can offer you a speed from the exchange to your line depending on the ISP's individual connection configuration at the exchange?

 

[mattylad]

Its usually the exact same connection no matter who the ISP is.

Generally most of it comes through BT's wiring.

 

[DIYspanner]

When I did a speed test using uswtich.com, the results indicated various ADSL speeds from ISPs.

Zen, the present provider on the line was very poor, BT was shown to be the best while the rest where shown to be within about 3Mb of each other.


I've inquire with Talktalk and they reckon from their speed, their ADSL would give about 1.8Mb which would about 100% faster than the present speed.

 

[kbdiy]

Might be worth doing some research into the contention ratio of each provider as this may well differ between them and affect your connection speed.

 

[joinerjohn]

Fibre optic all depends on what sort it is. The usual set up in this country is FTTC (fibre to the cabinet) the cable runs to a cabinet in the street, then via copper wires to your house. (and others)
The best one is FTTH (fibre to the home) where the optic cable actually comes in to your home and the converter is either installed in your computer, or extremely close by. (a rare beast in the UK)
Japan and South Korea utilise FTTH technology and have extremely fast broadband speeds, far in advance of anything we have here in the UK .