Secret Truth Behind the UK's Broadband Services!

[@techflow]

Let us know in the comments your loaded and unloaded ping's along with the provider and make the comments section useful for people deciding who to go for

[@YosefElgart]

its pain in ass now internet providers slow than the tecnology i wish you got 5/10G fiber to properly test new wifi 7 routers (that this not enabled MLO)

[@daviddrcray3802]

That's always been the case. The question is, are devices and services actually ready for mutigig. Most can just about handle 1gig. Wifi 6 can theoretically do multigig

[@jordanswabey]

So ive just did a speed test with wifi man, my speed is 35 down and 6 up my ping is 15. i pay £50 each ,onth for 50mb , i dont get anywere near the 50mb speed,

[@brysigameplay]

i can download a 10gb 4k video in 30 seconds

[@grahammacdougall2165]

The increase in "loaded" ping times is due to bufferbloat. You should use a router that supports FQ-CoDel or Cake. Setting the up/down speeds just below the max of your circuit will drastically improve loaded pings.

[@xMeta4x]

A few comments. FTTP is *not* a fibre direct from the exchange to your property. Openreach use GPON (Up to 1Gb/s), and there will be optical splitters, and ultimately multiple properties use the same "feed" fibre. Altnets (Cityfibre etc) generally don't use the same technology as Openreach. They seem to have looked to the future and are installing XGS-PON, which is up to 10Gb/s. Most of them also offer a symmetric connection, whereas Openreach's upload is restricted to between 10-20% of the full upload speed. As for DOCSIS, it is not just a coax cable. It is a hybrid coax/fibre solution, in the same way as FTTC is a hybrid twisted pair/fibre solution. Perhaps you were trying to keep it "simple", but some if this was just plain wrong.

[@DJgregBrown]

100% I on F&W networks FTTP via Hey, broadband as ISP and I also have openreach FTTP it is a true fibre line used but speed in capped at the local exchanges and it share by the whole street. Alt-nets are the only true Fibre FTTP. 900+ up and down, low ping times as well. and Price is so much lower than openreach Gigafibre ISP's. Cityfibre I hear are a little better but I am outside their caption area, but they do up to 2.5GB to home. Thankyou for the virgin info as I been trying to explain Virgin fibre cable is a due cable to my mum that think virgin had fibre 25 years ago as see always had high speed internet. She only has copper and Virgin line so is stuck getting price hit or has to downgrade to copper speed which as she works from home suck for her currently but she only has 3 years left till retirement.

[@sausagesuprise1942]

Looking for this comment after first 2 minutes of video, to find someone who knows what they are talking about. This youtuber chatting shit. I use an alt-net provider and they offer 3gbps. I know others can do up to 10gbps. Also loads of alt nets have differences in the cabling used and it's not the same as openreach. I have used virgin and have used their gig 1 service and I can wholeheartedly say it's the most unreliable crap on the market. Speeds fluctuate so much and it's reliability is just bad. I think FTTC even though a technically inferior technology is much more reliable as I found broadband to me more stable and not disconnected for so long.

[@DigisDen]

@@sausagesuprise1942 It was seriously painful to watch this shit being shovelled and less knowledgeable people digesting it and believing it. Dude hasn't the first clue about networking.

[@HarryL2020]

It seems Openreach now offer 1.8Gbps

[@d-zone]

He doesn't even know how to pronounce ethernet, not sure I trust his tech knowledge 🤣

[@gh8447]

0:57 Currently, the fastest provider in the UK though full fibre is _not_ EE. You Fibre's plans range from 150Mbps to 8Gbps - a full _five times_ faster than EE. Who would need 8Gbps in a residential setting is beyond me, but it's there if you want it.

[@HarryHoups]

Very limited rollout via you fiber though... I've been on their waitlist for 2 years with no sign of any installation

[@jamesrbrindle]

I’d take a 2gig symmetric connection in a hearbeat. I’ll have to move house to get it, they’ll never roll it out where I live. It took 3 years extra when infinity FTTC came out. I use Virgin and can get 1gig but they have no plans for FTTP here in next 5 years.

[@fwzmhmd]

Actually the fastest residential Fibre is from 'B4RN' which they provide a whopping 10Gbps 1. B4RN 10Gb for £150 p/m 2. YouFibre 8Gb for £99.99 p/m 3. Community Fibre* 3Gb for £49 p/m (which I have at home) 4. Yayzi Broadband 2.3Gb for £50 p/m Other providers max speeds are 2Gb ranging from £55 p/m to £129.99 p/m Then comes EE 1.6Gb for £69.99 p/m which is a rip off imo. *If you live in London, then you may able to sign up to Community Fibre which is reliable and affodable **Prices correct as of 27 April 2024

[@gh8447]

@@fwzmhmd Ain't that nuts?! Most people don't even have 10Gb networking in their house (I do, but that's not the point)! 😄 You Fibre originally offered 10Gbs, but they dropped it to 8Gbs for some reason. Incidentally, I wasn't claiming YF was the fastest (I couldn't be arsed doing the research to find out); I was just refuting his claim that EE was the fastest available.

[@francisuk1989]

@@fwzmhmd You have forgot Hyperoptic, ASK4 both provide 1Gb. Sadly by default both Hyperoptic and Community Fibre gives you a CGNAT type for IP addressing, Thats ok for browsing and netflix/youtube but sucks port forwarding or Gaming!

[@hegedusuk]

Upload speed is more important than you think. While you're downloading, acknowledgement packets need to be sent back (uploaded), and if the upload bandwidth is saturated already then it'll affect download. Several newer FTTP providers do 1000 Mbps upload with the 1000 download

[@unicodefox]

Barely. You only need 54 bytes per 1400 bytes (-ish, thats a pretty bad-case number), so if you're saturating a 1GBit down connection, according to my maths only ~90kbps upload is going to be used, and that's assuming you're not using TCP windows, which means you dont have to send an ACK for every packet, you can limit it to say, 1 ACK every 4 packets.

[@leexgx]

​@@unicodefoxvirgin connection here shared upload does matter (at one point I had 40% packet loss between 3pm-8pm and half of our street went back to openreach provider adsl 1-2mb as we didn't have vdsl yet) after 9 months luckily they upgraded to docsis 3.0 witch only fixed the problem because it had more bandwidth on the upstream had the FTTP virgin nodes installed recantly on each street corner (them very thin green cabs) so be upgrading to FTTPn virgin soon

[@NorthCamZ]

Finally got gigaclear in the area. 900 up and 900 down, not bad for £29 a month

[@davidw8110]

One thing to watch out for with those 1GB for 30 quid fibre plans is that many of them run CGNAT. This means that you share the same IP address as the other houses on your street. This can prevent some VOIP software and home security cameras from working. It can also prevent you from self hosting a gaming server. Most of them will let you turn off CGNAT and have your own IP, but for an additional monthly cost.

[@HA05GER]

It does happen but not all I'm with county broadband and I had issue with online gaming so asked that question specifically and was told I have my own IP.

[@justinclark7883]

just happened to us since moving to Gigaclear... argued for Fixed IP (zero cost) and all good now for cctv / plex etc...

[@DeejayJeanP]

Thank you for mentioning this! Never thought this would've been a thing but going to look into this now.

[@StealthyDrake12]

*Gb

[@ozzo1997]

I recently learnt this the hard way when trying to setup my ddns on my new befibre broadband - CGNAT meant all ports were closed and had to pay an extra £4 per month for dedicated IP, now paying £32/month for 900 symmetrical FTTP

[@patrickschottert3550]

In The Netherlands there are multiple ISPs (Delta/Odido(Old T-Mobile-Tele2)) that can give you 8 Gbps, which is INSANE

[@techflow]

That is unreal!!!

[@patrickschottert3550]

​@@techflow For just 85 Euro's. (Odido).

[@Peregrine101]

To extend this. The fiber situation in the Netherlands is a bit spotty because our biggest telco KPN kind of stopped developing their own fiber network when government stepped in and demanded they opened up their network to other ISPs (like they have to do on the POTS network). Now the old POTS network is on its last legs and they started again to roll out fiber extensively. Meanwhile other ISPs started to roll out fiber in some places. Delta and Odido have partially their own network working on ftth basis. Odido therefore is active both on their own network as well on the KPN fiber network. Delta is not. They started as a cable TV service in the province of Zeeland. They first modernized their own cable network in Zeeland and then went on to start expanding outside of Zeeland. Their biggest competitor VodafoneZiggo has had fiber up to the street cabinets for years.

[@TheDaern]

And in the UK too! I will be able to get 8Gbps within the next couple of months....

[@TheSmallRabbit]

@@techflow And mostly unusable I guess unless you have a 10Gbps network card and the Internet service you want to connect too can support it. I would say 100% of services on the internet cannot.

[@ParagramCOD]

FTTP has just been installed to my house a month ago and I got the BT 900 Package, zero complaints and its insanely more stable compared to my previous FTTC! However since I'm a new customer they installed a 2.5gb ONT, Openreach are soon to offer 1.8gbps download, BT, EE etc... are dropping them at any moment.

[@benjaminfphillips]

EE already offer the 1.8 atm.

[@ParagramCOD]

@@benjaminfphillips I know, but already in a contract with BT... hoping they offer 1.8 soon

[@TheSmallRabbit]

Ask yourself what device you will be using on the 1.8Gbps or even the 900Mbps service? Most like 99% of devices cannot operate at 900Mbps over Wifi. Try it I bet you realistically see 250Mbps or 500Mbps max. Unless your wired with a 10Gbps network card you cannot send or receive more than 1Gbps. Wifi as I state above even wifi 6 is a lot worse. Don't waste your money on anything over 300Mbps unless you have a real need too and this would mean 10 or so high capacity users all at the same time on your network. Remember most devices are mostly idle regards internet data anyway. Over a 24 hour period your network most likely runs at less than 20% of its capacity. Marketing and sales hype anything over 300Mbps for most.

[@ParagramCOD]

@@TheSmallRabbit I've got a high end PC with ethernet, trust me I use the speeds , a lot of big downloads and yes it uses the full 900+

[@benjaminfphillips]

@@TheSmallRabbit Not everyone exclusively uses wireless, or they have their own equipment at home. Even fairly basic motherboards these days can come with 2.5gbit ethernet.

[@sturdyblock]

Low Ping / latency is foremost. Don't be fooled by faster is better. Run a couple of services via Virgin DOCSIS and watch the ping times soar. The Virgin 'business' service is simply a lie. Run the exact same services via BT FTTP and the ping times are night and day. Swapping out the BT router can further improve latency. Avoid Virgin at ALL cost if you can. Their customer service is a joke, bordering on pathetic.

[@itIsI988]

Yeah avoid Virgin unless you have no other choice. The service is decent (when it works) if you use your own equipment but they're currently charging us £95 a month for 500 meg (boosted with Volt so we're actually paying for 350 meg) and an international landline which barely ever gets used. Absolute joke of a company and just take advantage of people who value their sanity enough to avoid speaking to their woeful customer service.

[@mickeyt5424]

​​@@itIsI988I've just gone on the virgin Website right now without Volt it's £35 a month for 18m with 500mbps..why are you lying? If you're an existing o2 contract customer you take the £35 and once setup you get the speed boost so 1gig for the same £35.. Again why lie?!?

[@andrewg2536]

Last time I had Virgin was being charged for phone calls I didn't make, no phone connected, never again

[@ultra1obscene]

@@itIsI988 i have 2gb up/down virgin for £80 a month..

[@LewisM1984]

At the moment my options are Virgin who I have had for over 2 years on a high speed package or I can go with someone like EE via part fibre would this just be a viable option than trying to stick with Virgin as trying to negotiate a better deal with them is an awful experience and I’m not getting anywhere and against my will they just closed off my service. Not sure where to go from here now. Fairly convinced that I actually don’t need anywhere near those speed probably anyway. We use streaming services for tele, my son plays VR and tablet and I online game a few hours a night. I can only get around 35/40mbps with EE/BT/Sky etc on part fibre options atm would this actually be ok or not? Some expert advice would be really appreciated. Thank you

[@danielscotcher]

I have been using Three 5G for a couple of years now. Used to have to reboot but it’s been fine recently. Get around 400 down and 60 up but for £20 a month that’s just fine with me

[@oootassss]

I get 1gb up and one down for £29. YouFiber

[@LeonsVlogsx]

You can actually get 100-300mbps via GFAST DSL Line (copper) if you're within a certain radius of the cabinets.

[@solidus1983]

You have to be hugging the G-Fast pod to get even close to the 300mbps speeds via DSL. You also got to account for the line, you might not even have copper but aluminium or worse still a mix of the two.

[@deang5622]

Certain distance, not radius. It's the cable length that matters, not the radius from the cabinet.

[@mitchleigh2369]

Gfast is crap tbh

[@ultra1obscene]

not all cabs are gfast enabled, they stopped rolling that out a long time ago. it was only rolled out so they could get the averages up to box tick. pretty useless service

[@Tomellingham]

Nice video, Alex. Other thing for people to remember is speed is measured differently to size - so a 1Gbps connection will download (in a perfect world) a 1GB file in 8 seconds - speed is measured in bits and storage is measured in bytes...8 bits in a byte etc. etc. I think you've covered this before. Also - there are some default settings in Windows that throttle downloads. Worth doing an overview on them. Makes a huge difference.

[@andrewdunn9307]

Virgin now offers 2 Gbps in some areas but at £85 a month for a household, I won't be taking that.

[@gorebrush]

And £140 a month once you are out of the initial contract.

[@itIsI988]

@@gorebrush Still a bargain lol they're currently billing us £95 a month for 500 Mbps with a landline.

[@Seansmit23]

VM are bonkers. I can get 2.3 Gig down and 1 Gig up here in Peterborough for £50 I am leaving VM as soon as my contract is up at the start of August.

[@TheSmallRabbit]

Before paying more than you need check what your devices can communicate with your router at over WIFI 6. The answer is less than 500Mbps mostly ! Test it and see.😀 So unless you are going to wire in your device to a 1Gbps or 10Gbps network card anything over 500Mbps is a waste of money.

[@brunoxing9060]

Just a sidenote: the latency under load is also dependent from the QoS management of both the CPE (Customer Premises Equipment) and the backhaul of the provider. For example, here in Portugal we have 2 major ISPs, NOS and MEO, which both use FTTH, although NOS still uses DOCSIS (it is migrating to FTTH tho). With some tests, where NOS uses DOCSIS (HFC) and MEO uses FTTH, under no load, the MEO FTTH connection wins, because it can provide much faster latencies than NOS HFC. However, when you insert some load in the network, for example, a speedtest, the NOS HFC performs better than MEO FTTH, although NOS uses DOCSIS. Why? Because NOS made a good job to apply a good QoS for it's network than MEO. The NOS routers and the network itself (on the last mile, and inside the backbone) were configured to prioritize traffic for UDP, VOIP and other real-time traffic in case of a pretty loaded network. MEO, on the other side, does not has those configs for that, causing a worse experience under loaded networks. Im not saying that DOCSIS is better than FTHH, none of that; what Im saying is that the technology itself helps to deliver a good speed and latency to a customer, and also the equipment and the config that is being used by the ISP enters the equation.

[@thebigguy18]

Why there is differences in speed depending on the website is because of how these providers or the CDN's interconnect into the ISP's network. They could already have the connection saturated or even be a slower interconnect than the other. You should have done a trace route to dropbox/google drive to see the differences in how/where it connects into the CDN.

[@TheSmallRabbit]

Even traceroute only uses ICMP not IP/TCP/QUIC so a better test would be a HTTP/s GET test. This is what we use to test availability on our firewalls as a working ICMP does not mean a working IP connection. ICMP is not IP. (HTTP) is IP

[@johndoe-cv4we]

While watching your from around at 10min, couldn't help but notice that your consumer unit (fuse box) seems to have some regulation issues being different branded mcb(Volex in a Hager enclosure) and a white flex entering the closure possible without a gland or flame retardant entry method. would recommend to get your CU upgraded to a metal flame proof box with surge protection and RCBOs for peace of mind

[@sarahjrandomnumbers]

Also, isn't the CU too low to the ground? Thought it had to be higher for disabled people.

[@imark7777777]

In the US a lot of companies will give you a nice download speed but a very minimal upload speed. I wish symmetrical was the standard. this has the effect of sure you might have 25 down but you have 1 up and that gets saturated which causes information not to get out to bring you a download like videos, streaming or gaming. Next the whole thing feel even slower than it is. Or in some cases unusable depending on time of day and user load on the network and on your network. I've had a few sites where there's just too many buses trying to go down a one-way street.

[@dh2032]

yep, robing Peter to pay Paul!, there selling, something that not really there, the faster on paper down load,, nocked down by the lack, full up stream link,

[@93jsaw]

IIRC this is to due available ports on a connection line. If the ports were split 50/50 the download speed would suffer significantly and the ISPs assume customers would prefer higher download speeds so the split is closer to 95/5.

[@phoenixmotorsport647]

One thing you forgot was contention ratio. It plays a major part and means that performance can vary WILDLY depending on the time of day. As an example I am currently running 500/500 fiber and I am running 8 servers as well as my pc with 7 open internet connection. My line is is running @ 520/510 with a rock solid ping of 4ms. Contention ration matters

[@zeberto1986]

5:20 just because fibre doesnt suffer as much EM interference as a copper cable doesnt reduce the mumber of problems. Fibre optic cable is notoriously fragile and can crack easily. Kinks in the cable and dust in the connectors are also potential problems. The number of packet loss issues Ive seen fixed by a field engineer cleaning the ends of the fibre is insane.

[@tdrg_]

There is a provider here in Romania that can do 10 gig for €10/month. The catch is that it’s not available almost anywhere so far. I think they use fibre, and with my 1 Gbps plan gets 1ms ping!

[@francisuk1989]

When i stayed in a Airbnb in Romania for a couple of days, They used RCS & RDS for internet and was getting close to 1Gbit. :P

[@IdkG7]

Of course it’s fibre if it’s 10 gig

[@TheSmallRabbit]

What would you connect to the 10Gbps service? Hopefully not a phone over wifi as you will only get 250mbps-500mbps :-) Unless your wired into the router at 10Gbps you are wasting your money plus the internet service you connect too will most likely be a lot less than even 1Gbps ! In real-world situations, you'll likely experience slower speeds due to factors like: Interference from other Wi-Fi networks or devices Distance from the router

[@MPsNewswatch]

Thanks for such a plain English explanation of the basics of Broadband. You've got a follow.

[@techflow]

Not a problem! Glad you liked the video 🙏🏻 welcome aboard! 🙌🏻

[@blisteringbooks2428]

We have BT, it sucks. The two weeks to connect was 6 months, only I think there is only one fibre optic strand for the whole town. It says it is fast, but at times it spools or cuts out, it can't cope with peak times. The strand eventually came from a pole as the fibre optic cable which disrupted all the traffic for weeks is Gigaclear or something.

[@DrunkDelilahBrewery]

Meg and Gig in this context is Bits - lots of folk talk about storage and file sizes in Bytes - there is of course a difference of 8. You need to be a tad clearer in your videos mate.

[@BlissfulMusicStudio]

I have 1Gbps here in London from Hyperoptic for over 3 years now.

[@Liam-sq7zn]

Hyperoptic the best

[@RicardoMusch]

Same, very very happy and if you ask they will give you a new deal when your contract runs out. I'm now on 750MB/s symmetrical up/down for not much at all.

[@WillSatchwell]

I have 2Gbit Down /1Gbit up with a ping on 7ms on Yayzi with the CityFibre Network in Coventry. With an upgrade to XGS-PON in my area soon it will go to 2.3Gbit symetrical. Not bad for £50 a month!

[@murlock666]

Yeah that's a sweet connection, Can't help but be a liitle green eyed :P I'm gagging to get an upload higher than 100Mbit.

[@eat.a.dick.google]

There's more potential for XGS-PON and CityFibre is already looking at 50G-PON.

[@TheSmallRabbit]

My new full fibre from BeFibre has a ping of 3ms. However almost all my devices cannot use the 900Mbps service as they can only communicate around 500Mbps max over even wifi 6. What device are you using to even see more than 1Gbps as it must have a 10Gbps network card and be wired/cable direct to the router. All your wifi devices will I guess be similar to mine at 500Mbps ? Any connection over 500Mbps IMO is a waste unless you are servicing a block of flats :-) Each wired into your router.

[@eat.a.dick.google]

@@TheSmallRabbit You don't have to have a 10 Gbps network card. There are also 2.5 and 5 Gbps network adapters. Wifi 6 is capable of a peak of around 800 Mbps with a 2x2 client. Wifi 6E is capable of over 1.6 Gbps. Wifi 7 is capable of well over 3 Gbps. Also having a higher speed connection isn't just about one device at a higher rate of speed. Think concurrency with multiple devices downloading at the same time. It's not a waste for people know what they're doing.

[@eat.a.dick.google]

@@TheSmallRabbit Wifi is capable of faster speeds than that. Wifi 6 peaks around 800 Mbps. Wifi 6E at over 1.5 Gbps. You don't have to have 10 Gbps NIC, 2.5 and 5 Gbps also exist. Quite cheap. Faster speeds are definitely not a waste. Just because you don't use something does not mean others do not.

[@topmandog1]

2:31 dont you mean fttp vs docsis, cause fttc is what virgin use for docsis

[@Seansmit23]

Depends on the area. Here in Peterborough the network is old as shit and VM's network here is RF for a lot of the runs. My line for example, I know its route. It goes upto a cab at the top of the street where all the lines from this street combine into a few bigger coax links that go off for a about 1.4 miles back to the VM office. Sure from there its a fibre link. RFoG is a thing in places as well but I'm fairly sure Peterborough has not got any of that new fangled tech here yet.

[@UgniusKačenauskas]

Would be interesting to see these tests on more external home devices, such as CCTV. A lot of homes now use home security like Ring, Blink and a few other high end options which seem to eat up a lot of internet and mess with ping. I used to be with BT and once I installed CCTV around my home, I connected a monitor to constantly run connected to the CCTV. This completely ruined my internet around the house, causing speed issues and ping issues. Once I upgraded to Virgin, the problems went away and since then, I have never experienced any issues. So I do strongly think it's based on a lot of device factors around your home.

[@petecoventry6858]

I have both a 1,6Gbps EE connection over newly installed FTTP and I have a Dedicated Virgin Media Leased line. So I download and upload a LOT on the Virgin line and use the EE line for normal household usage.

[@nathanbrown492]

We're a large household of 6/7, and we used

[@techflow]

Correct.

[@robson9000]

FYI Virgin offer a 2gig service in there FTTP areas. They are moving away from docsis and all new areas are FTTP

[@allansheldrake4832]

Virgin does not offer FTTP

[@robson9000]

Yes they do, it’s FTTP in my area

[@Valehass]

Still using my Hub 2 from Virgin and is still rock solid on reliability. I know people who upgraded and had issues so in no rush to change. The basic package is 125Mb which is fast enough for my needs.

[@crnppscls]

It’s worth noting that looking up your isp’s peering should be something you do, if you want low ping. Like if you’re in the north of uk or Scotland, the last thing you would want is your traffic to be routed through London. If you chose Brawband as your isp for example, your pings would be in single digits because they route through Edinburgh. It can be a minefield though because even if your isp might use a data centre in Manchester, there’s no guarantee that your traffic will go through there if it’s congested. They might even bounce it from there to london.

[@i_Kruti]

Here in INDIA we really have a very good network of fibers....that's FTTH(Fiber To The Home)....that's similar as you have shown....a fiber cable coming to your property and using a converter to convert it into ethernet/RJ45.....and with rise in coverage of 5G network..... Air Fiber is becoming a trending/popular alternative to FTTH for places like rural areas and for the places where laying fiber cable connection is hard/impossible....!!

[@incandescentwithrage]

FTTH and FTTP are the same thing

[@i_Kruti]

@@incandescentwithrage YES

[@kerbain]

How far are you from your local exchange? I can't help feel you've missed so many variables....

[@gorebrush]

My only real gripe at this video is the conflation of superfast and ultrafast. I hate the terms to begin with, but superfast is ONLY talking about FTTC speeds of 80Mbps. Ultrafast refers to 100Mbps or more.

[@leezhijiang]

Consider combining them all together by using a high-end enterprise grade router to do load balancing and QOS. The ping should be able to remain stable

[@93jsaw]

Using an ethernet LAN connection to your router makes a huge difference. I've networked each room in my house and my ping to EU gaming servers never gets above 15-20ms and that is using a copper BT line. Rarely see any one else get better than that. We also keep game updates capped so they don't munch all of our 50mb connection speed and slow the other devices down.

[@jonathanpalmer155]

I've come to the exact conclusion that 50/60 mbs is the sweetspot speed. As Virgin upgraded my service - and charged me more per month - once above 60 mbs the downloads didn't seen to improve that much, but it was costme more without any obvious benefits. What would be better is a symmetrical download/upload speed for sending large images or files.After that you are at the mercy of the server to which you are trying to connect and download.

[@JamieCrookes]

Yayzi's offering at 2.5gbps is the current fastest. Runs on cityfibre, been around for 3-4 months. Also, to compare cityfibre to openreach, i.e. the way it works is a bit oversimplified. They have cabling infrastructre in common. They work a little differently from each other, which is why the service offering between cityfibre and openreach is completely different.

[@shadeofentropy]

The whole thing about your loaded ping being higher than your unloaded ping is due to bufferbloat. This is down to your router and has nothing to do with your provider or connection speed. If your connection is fully saturated then any packets are sent and received on a first come, first served basis. In other words, any time sensitive UDP packets in your conference call or online game are stuck at the back of the queue - the buffer - and have to wait until all the other packets in front of it have been dealt with first. High end routers have a function called smart queue management which can be enabled for a small bandwidth hit, but the tradeoff is you get no bufferbloat and your ping does not increase no matter how loaded down the network becomes. This is because your router is smart enough to know which packets are time sensitive, and sends them out straight away regardless of where they are in the queue.

[@cycleranger]

Lucky person. I only have 40mb download and the real killer 5mb upload. With no other options. This makes remote working painful. Took me 6 hrs to upload 5GB the other day to work.

[@carlfearby1456]

I work for VMO2 and your tests are kind of accurate but our customers do not saturate there1gb networks to get ping issues, so although I see your point in a consumer world this simply doesnt happen, regards your friendly software engineer at VMO2

[@alexatkin]

The problem with the loaded/unloaded test is it may not be technological differences, its often just a difference in how the router is configured to mitigate bufferbloat or not. Also baseline ping/latency can depend on your ISP, due to what route it takes to reach the ISPs network itself and then the Internet, even when using the same broadband technology. Additionally, don't trust the speed tests on the consoles, I've seen much faster downloads than the speed test achieved.

[@Willathor]

Netomia/Youfibre can hit 8gb speeds, sync’d upload & download

[@redkite9611]

Great video, thanks. I like many others watching, do not have the luxury of FTTP, Openreach and every other 3rd party seems to have no interest in providing a service to us. I was down in very remote parts of Wales last week and was frustrated to see even there, they have fttp - these are remote single houses in the middle of nowhere! Tiny villages throughout France also have full fibre (and 5G) provided. It begs the question why are we so far behind??? Who have you got to pay or whose cage can you rattle to get Full fibre installed?

[@Danielwalters6]

You should explain peering and why different ISPs perform differently for different services.

[@TheSmallRabbit]

Take a look at the LINX exchange and how their latency varies throughout the day. This is one of the biggest LON Internet nodes many use.

[@CarlTSpeak]

​@@TheSmallRabbitLINX don't have any latency to speak or. The graphs are a combination of measured and estimated usage. Latency across the LINX LANs is microseconds.

[@ultra1obscene]

he clearly doesnt understand peering, he doesnt understand why pings in London are better than East mids in this video

[@CarlTSpeak]

@@TheSmallRabbit What latency variance on LINX? Measured between where and where? I am aware of utilisation on the LANs but have never seen publicly facing latency across them? Shouldn't budge.

[@stevoone342]

It’s all relative, it mainly depends wear you live like in London and the south you will have allot of options. Then in the north and remote areas not so much choice if any. We just had vergin go active this week in are area, witch is the only fibre service bar bt 60meg. Ive had vergin when i lived in the south and had no real issues with my service. So obviously we are going with vergin for the moment with the 1gb plan we have the option for the 2gb but it’s overkill for my needs and costs allot baring in mind the 1gb is 7$ cheaper than my current service so its a win win.

[@Ancaruin]

That's why you get a router with SQM (Smart Queue Management)/FQ-CODEL/etc...

[@LorenzoDeSousa]

it should be mandatory at this point!

[@TheTechteam2012]

What you haven’t mentioned is the recent Starlink update for European customers - the dishy’s are now pointing West (previously most pointed North). They’re now taking advantage of unused satellites across the Atlantic before they reach the continent. This had massively reduced ping times. I went from receiving around 40-50ms to an average of 20ms, with download around 200mbps, and upload of 25mbps.

[@harveydosangh2375]

Did you forget to mention Vodafone? We get up to 900mb up and 700down. It is a little his n miss on the WiFi but I think the router just needs relocating

[@welshtechie6832]

You are wrong on the FTTC angle with netflix! 3 streams at the same time on 4k is fine! Of course you assume the 15MB bitrate (streaming 4k is rubbish compared to 4k blu ray but I digress). What about OTHER thing like phones, tablets etc. Also, if using ETHERNET is fine but wifi is a hog. Fact is FTTC is no longer fit for purpose. FTTP should be the way forward everywhere. I have FTTP with sky at gigabit and it is great.

[@JEMODZ]

I checked my address and every house on my road can have full fiber apart from mine... even though the cables to connect the other houses all run past my house to the box which is literally meters from my house lol... stuck on the unreliable trashy phone line speeds

[@93jsaw]

I feel you. BT did the whole estate apart from my bank of 4 terraced, citing they were constructed different from the others even though they are all identical 1950s builds. My neighbours connection pot is literally 5m away from my front. I gave up in the end, my ISP said it was down to openreach, and openreach don't have customer service they just tell you to speak to your ISP!!!

[@JEMODZ]

@@93jsaw yup openreach suck...

[@timballam3675]

At 10:05 you show the XBox having a download speed of 1017Mbps, the Ethernet connection is only 1000Mbps.....

[@airchunk9870]

New virgin media installs get a fibre line compared to a coax cable and those properties can get upto 2 gigabit upload and download

[@kevinu.k.7042]

I hope you do cover using Sim card routers more fully sometime. I use one and have a 5G connection. I get 450Mbs down and a lag of around 30ms. I never have to reboot to regain the signal, it is very reliable, but, as you say, it is a little variable. I don't know if it is because I shelled out for a good LG router. An unlimited data sim costs me £15.00 per month. Contention might be an issue for some folk. Around tea time mine drops to 150Mbs for an hour or so. Still way more than I need. Superb video. Thanks

[@MorDreadful]

Some of the other factors are Load balancing on servers etc. Along with location, physicasl network infrastructure in countries etc. and so forth. I have City Fibre, we c an get 1Gbps download AND Upload, yes, 1Gbps UPLOAD. Why? because when I have time I will be uploading all sorts, programing, accessing my own servers etc for projects, data analysis may be and so on. So yeah, MANY factors can show lower speeds and doesn'tr mean it's YOUR connection, just the way equipment may be set up. may be load blanacing needs to be set up so one person doesn't hog all the bandwidth so to speak. What about who you are connecting to? what's their setup? how many connections do they take in or can take in, and so on. As mentioned, many households do NOT need 1Gbps and 8 0 is fast enough even for gaming where gaming doesn't actually send that much data at all. If you upload lots of media fopr instance to stream to others? may be or yes. Comp science person running projects at home? may be or yes. General viewing of online content and gaming? reconsider those top speeds for lower ones as you do NOT need them. M

[@eat.a.dick.google]

Nowadays until DOCSIS 4 rolls out and cable co's do more network work I won't even consider cable. Downstream isn't the issue. Upstream is. The latency and jitter still won't be as good as FTTH either.

[@peteradshead2383]

I'm on a 60mb connection ( talk talk ) and my days use is under 10GB which not so long ago 300GB each month would classed as over T&Cs . I can't see a point of going ant higher .

[@christopherbayne576]

Hello, we switched to BT full fibre but I complained that we weren't getting the speeds advertised, until I removed the supplied BT Router and plugged my ASUS router in and discarded the BT Router. Have you seen this before, and doyou know if BT purposely throttle back their routers. Any thoughts?

[@francisuk1989]

Had the same issue but on FTTC, They admitted and said the capacity is full at peak times and because of that, they offered half the price of £15 but decided to leave and went to ghost gamer broadband for there FTTC who use TalkTalk business wholesale for there stuff and never had any issues, also comes with a static IP so bonus! - Also they supply you with a tp link archer vr400 router and also not locked to any ISP.

[@UnluckyDomino]

UK needs altnets to have wider coverage of the country, like CityFibre, Community Fibre, Hyper Optic etc. Openreach are using PONs that dont do symmetrical speeds

[@SparkyMTB]

We live in the UK countryside & can’t get any kind of fibre optic etc so our only option is a 4G Router which gives us about 50-80mb download speed. As an avid gamer it’s just about the minimum speeds I can handle for gaming before things become unplayable.

[@Returntotheworld]

Had to go with a 4G router here as the copper cable to my house is awful and can't get more than 18-20 Mbps on a good day. 4G is great and get 50-80 BUT at rush hour it can tank to under 10 and sometimes doesn't recover and I have to restart the router. Would not recommend if you get half decent FTTC speeds. FTTP is being laid in my area and I cannot wait to finally have a decent internet connection.

[@kevindarkstar]

7:21 that's always the case with virgin, the hugely cap your upload speed no matter which package you get

[@karlclark8625]

What happens if you can't get fibre broad at all? Currently, I have what's called an Exchange online connection, and as such only have 3 Mbps on a good day. With the demand for faster speeds, will I still be able to use the Internet at all in the near future.

[@keylokush]

have you ever heard of delay in fifa when online but plays fine when offline same thing happens in all other online games its as iff packets of data arent being sent properly or something but its been bothering me for years my isp always says everything is fine on their end but ther is an input delay that ruins competeive gaming completely if anyone can help PLEASE!!

[@JasonSturgess]

Just for anyone that wants the faster speed with EE you can cancel your current contract and get the new one ! That's what I did I also managed to get the Guy to Refund me 1 month FREE so get on the phone to them if you are currently with them. You sometimes have to pay a cancellation fee.

[@newfelo]

Here in Chile I pay £25 for unlimited symmetrical 1Gbps fibre, its stable and I have never had any problems... when I had a company that uses DOCSIS, because of how that system works it had issues with congestion, random ping spikes and a the slow uploads were an issue to work from home.

[@DavidGraham-tc2yj]

Virigin do also provide a fttp service however they are currently rolling out in different areas

[@jaycc2704]

If you live outside London your pretty much done over with faster speeds way more competition in London so better deals 6G almost ready would be a better option in countryside.

[@ionhirsch2736]

You can't compare BT fibre with CityFibre/Hyperoptic. They are totally different. BT uses PON connection and CityFibre is using an ethernet connection, where upload is the at the same speed as download. BT can connect you via ethernet connection, but at 10x the price.........

[@marcoose777]

To be clear that's a 3.3% difference for the 10 Gb file download test from Dropbox, and you might consider that those slow download speeds are more something to do with Dropbox (specifically your account type and how you are using it)... for a thorough test you'd probably need to have a statistically significant sample of download speed/time measurements. That 3.3% is in the range of expected error and I'd guess that these results are effectively the same. PS the Google Drive download difference was ~6% which could be considered more significant, but I'll bet many wouldn't even have noticed that difference in a side by side comparison unless they were paying close attention ;)

[@dru0pa]

Also, get quality routers, APs or Switches. If you use a cheap route the quality of your link is degraded when you start to push the limit of line. If you have a route that supports QoS that helps to smooth out new connections as it will prioritise protocols that need more bandwidth ( streaming, gaming, online meetings) and those that need less bandwidth ( downloads, web browsing). There will be a little on the side for a new connection to start up. This means that the new connection will not impact any other user experience (buffering on a stream, lag in a game or meeting). This was the best discussion on the topic. my IPS pushed me to 100MB on my FTTH connection (was on a 75MB) as they dropped the speed I was on so I have requested to be on a low package 50MB as this will do perfectly for my needs. As I have quality routers, APs, and switches. And fewer issues with them.

[@ciancorry8797]

I have just gotten the half gig package with EE, and open reach have just installed the direct fibre, however my speeds are staying at 40mb download and 50mb upload. I'm using a powerline (TP link Av1000) to connect my desktop to the internet. Does anybody know what the issue might be? It's not the tplink as its been fine in other proterties, and my bedroom is directly above the room in which the router is situated. Thanks in advance

[@eyetreeheart]

Try running a wired connection from the hub to the device as extender might not be getting the best speeds coming into it to share it with other devices afterwards. Also on a side note some older devices might not support higher speeds if you happen to be using like a phone from 2018 for example, and last but not least check if the cable is a CAT5e or higher as they support speeds over 100Mbps.

[@davidrumbelow]

Downside of Fibre, some people have found they get a high smoking Fibre optic cable so it's being stolen in the country I live in. I have Fibre less 5g it comes to my modern straight from the tower. Was getting 180 mps

[@brooni]

what about virgin xgs pon being able to provide 2Gb symetrical to customers?

[@kismethasanaj8586]

This is available in my area but I pay £20 for 2 diverse 1Gb connections. Soooo I think I’m good enough as is.

[@ultra1obscene]

dont confuse him, its taken him 10 years to get this far without understanding the basics

[@brooni]

@@ultra1obsceneand he still can’t do a clean rj45 connection…

[@ultra1obscene]

@@brooni not surprising, i have never once seen him correctly explain what ping is 🤣

[@clangerbasher]

17.7 Mbps here. Went on to fibre to the cabinet last year. Less stable and haven't really noticed much difference.

[@MrMat43211]

What about lilia connect they are symmetrical fttp

[@TheEssexnigel]

FTTP can now do 2.6 Now. Virgin also use fibre

[@rayjennings3637]

As clear as mud. My EE Full Fibre connection is currently (17:50 Wednesday 8th May) giving me a Ping of 9ms, a download speed of 513Mb/s and an upload speed of 72Mb/s, If I game on-line it's only with Microsoft Flight Simulator and my connection is more than adequate.

[@Maddog2090]

To fix ps5 download speeds you have to change the value of mtu (it has been a while so can’t quite remember name) from 1500 to 1475 and this fixes the slow speed. Don’t know why Sony still have not fixed this bug since ps4 days..

[@_MikeNL_]

Great video Alex! 👌

[@jordanswabey]

so Alex, so how can i get my internet speed to be faster/better ping for gaming while i have adsl?

[@guywhoknows]

But do you know why? Virgin had the first fast connection, so many server farms have their connection, so that why some servers are faster if they are local. Virgin have a 50:1 ratio. (Could be 100:1) So where you go to their box on the street there are 50/100 other people sending the data. But that's also controlled by some hardware (switching) so older hardware is slower and also a bit limited in terms of performance and that important ping time. Then we have gateways....

[@michaelthompson657]

Sure virgin in my area do 2GB, and I used to be a service tech for them. Also you can pay to have the same upload and download speed

[@deang5622]

No they don't. They might do 2Gbps, (2 gigabits per second). 2GB is 2 gigabytes. Data transmission speeds are never quoted like that. It is always in units of bits per second

[@michaelthompson657]

@@deang5622 👍🏻

[@photondoh5384]

I have virgin at the moment after a house move i had bt before but they didn't provide this new area and i have to say bt are far better than virgin they have constant drop outs in service at least 2 a month. With bt i didn't have 1 single issue in 4 years.

[@d1ppaz]

You are comparing BT with Virgin but BT is just the provider. It’s Openreach who provides FTTP. Also, EE is owned by BT and use the Openreach network so can only provide the speeds that FTTP are capable off. Virgin also offer full fibre and can offer 2gb

[@eggshell3065]

BT, EE and Openreach are all part of the BT Group family. It’s fair to compare BT with Virgin in this instance as BT Group as a whole are the ones providing the service

[@allansheldrake4832]

really you based this whole video off a speed test, virgin media is shit compaired to FTTH as virgin media is a shared line and FTTH is not a shared line, so you are doing these test when the network useage on virgin media is light do it again at peak times, you will see the diffrence

[@cameronstarkey3165]

I'm a 1gig user on virgin I also have everything else they offer but by far it is the most powerful Internet I have ever used, I invested in a 3k gaming PC and the speeds make my gaming sessions amazing, I Could never go back to a standard connection now.

[@over-engineered]

FTTH is a shared line. It’s a PON (passive optical network) groups of properties are fed from the exchange via optical splitters, each splitter has a single fibre feeding it, so it’s shared. But the max speed is so high that the perception may be that it’s not shared, that is until everyone is using it a high speed.

[@allansheldrake4832]

@@over-engineered I have FTTH and my line from my isp is not shared

[@over-engineered]

@@allansheldrake4832 If it’s not shared then it’s a leased line. FTTH is shared

[@williamwallace9411]

​@allansheldrake4832 so your on a direct feed from the headend? What provider?

[@gamingvenom3379]

i have fiber to the house but am still only getting 30mbps?

[@szabolcsvarga8395]

There is a bit a problem with the full fibre here, namely Cityfibre which is the provider where I live. Cityfibre only got a 1 star from me, because there was no option for zero. They did the work and installments but made a very big mistake. The cable from the cabinet to the house is ran underground, and exactly where all the heavy vechiles turn around just next to the pavement - sinking their tyres into the ground. I'm not conviced entirely if the cables can withstand it nor those werve layed down at that part properly protected. Whether due to this or not, there has never been signal to me and after arranging a few appointments with the Cityfibre and never having anyone bothering to pay a visit - having to use up holidays for nothing. So I stayed with Virgin so to have a connection at least. As much as would want to change, I shall avoid cityfibre.

[@d3dpixl]

hi mate, more than likely a "kink" in the 7mm ducting they use underground, to clarify this would not be as easy as cityfibre coming to resolve, it would need the agreed contractor to come and inspect it / fault find which ducting is yours and then raise a permit with a local authority, this can take a while mate so keep on at them and try to be patient. would be worth finding out if they direct buried your ducting or if they put a 4 inch (96mm) ducting in the ground. if 96mm it's easier to pull a new fibre to your property. if it's direct buried, they have to locate and dig down on that spot which can be worse if it is in the road, (harder permit and traffic lights etc)

[@szabolcsvarga8395]

@@d3dpixl It's not just mine but the other 7 apartments as well - this is an 8 studio flat block. I'm also just a tenant here with a chance of moving out in the future so at the end I couldn't be bothered with the CiyFibre's incompetence.

[@d3dpixl]

@@szabolcsvarga8395 I get that mate, my issue is it's not "future proof" If you have a MDU or multi dwelling unit it could be that that is causing the problem but it sounds like the 7mm straw that leads to the cabinet is or has been damaged in the process of laying, they will have to fix it as city fibre believe it or not do care about their customers. It's just not as simple as blowing a new fibre if it gets stuck

[@szabolcsvarga8395]

@@d3dpixl Care they now? They missed every single appointments we arranged I had to take holiday off work for to be at home. Their engineers never came nor the company ever bothered as much as sending a text or email. Not even a single "Sorry" That's how to loose a costumer's trust, not earning it.

[@cornwall_in_Squares]

Great video, I have Starling which gives me a unloaded ping sub 30ms, 400mbps down and 80-120 up which beats the FTTC connection here by miles, we do have the option of fibre to the house now, however the experience is not good with many users reporting reliability issues and high contention. I have not yet tried 5G that is a great suggestion.

[@PeterBowles316]

Docsis ADSL, and fttc will all have a contended connection. During COVID lockdown it was crazy on a docsis connection, at 4pm all the kids in the street would start watching Netflix and my connection performance plummeted

[@TheSimRacers]

I would have like to have seen you address the actual hardware. The routers given by the providers often play a huge part in connection speeds etc and often vary in versions across the UK. Maybe testing all the connections using a standardised setup (router - switch) and comparing them to the provided equipment would lead you down a more interesting and truthful path ;) The only truth we saw in this comparison is that you know how to use a speed-test. Peace out ✌️

[@DAVIDGREGORYKERR]

FTTP is actually AES256 Encrypted so maybe that is part of the reason for the speed.

[@richardsterne2875]

Virgin media are now offering 2 Gig connections in the Republic of Ireland. So they should be available in the UK soon.

[@Maverick12371]

Hi Alex, can you do a video going deeper into 4g and 5g broadband. I am going down this route with an external 5g antenna.

[@francisuk1989]

Avoid 4G/5G as speeds can very depending on the load in the area. Expect pings around 20-80ms. if you need to go down this route then get a pay and go sim card with a 4 or 5g router and give this ago before getting into a 24m contract with say 3 or EE etc.

[@Maverick12371]

@@francisuk1989 Yeah I already got the equipment and router. I will be getting a 5g sim from Smarty for £20/mo (uses 3 network). Reason I am going this route is because I'll get max 36mbps from BT for nearly double the price. Ping is not an issue for me as I don't do gaming much. Solid 4g in the rural area and there is a 5g mast 3 miles away, so I will be attempting to pick up on the 5g mast with an external antenna mounted on the roof. I have picked a very weak 5g signal from the roof with my phone so hopefully antenna will amplify it. Otherwise I should be able to get a comfortable 60mbps+ on 4g.

[@marcinwozny7722]

Bear in mind 5g has fair use policy, 999gb per month in Vodafone I assume other ones do same, I know I get a warning with threat of disconnection. I haven playing with ai language models , eat data like no tomorrow.

[@officalflash5534]

My neighbor has gigabit across the road and the max I can get is 30mbps, can u help me get faster broadband that doesn't effect ping so satellite and 5G isn't an option

[@jackmccourt6180]

I don't get openreach and BT... they have always come out years late to the game and release a product thats slower than the competition. They were releasing 50-60mbps when virgin media was already at 100mbps+. Virgin already had gigabit fibre when Openreach started releasing 800mbps and virgin seem to have better coverage for ultra fast fibre. Openreach 800mbps isn't even in my area yet and virgin media has already released 2gbps. The best I can get from openreach is the old 60mbps connection.

[@I-LIKE-GREEN]

Idk when this was made but virgin media to my house runs fiber optic all the way and only converts to coax from inside my house to the router

[@wildthing6668813]

I will be changing my ISP later this year for a faster download speed at a lower price than I'm paying now. I will lose the phone line but I haven't used the landline since I moved in to the property in April 2011. I'll be paying £26 per month when the ISP installs their software compared to £33 I pay my present ISP saving £84 per year.

[@Mister-Gee-9999]

I have 1Gbs symmetric and it makes using AWS / cloud services from home a practical proposition to use high virtual CPU count servers for a few seconds to perform tasks and download the file file to my home server. That would take many hours to days to process locally and at high energy usage.