G.Fast - is it worth it - and moving?

Associate
Joined
29 Jan 2019
Posts
8
As I am now out of contract (currently on EE Superfast plan - get 74mb), I'm looking at something faster

My options seem to be VM (but i see people complaining regularly), or G.Fast

My exchange is not on the list to be done anytime soon as a prioroty for the full fat Ultra-ultra-fasts.

So, G.fast, the usual suspects really.

BT, EE, TT, Shell (!), and Sky

Goes without saying that TT are cheapest, at 29.99/m

Shell @ 44

BT same, EE more expensive than BT, and Sky @ 35

Is there really a difference between them?

What concerns me most is what happens if I move and G.Fast isn't available where I go - highly likely.... Has anyone experience of that and the implications?


Wholesale checker suggests
Featured Products Downstream Line Rate(Mbps) Upstream Line Rate (Mbps) Downstream Handback
Threshold(Mbps)
WBC FTTC Availability Date WBC SOGEA Availability Date Left in Jumper
High
Low High Low
VDSL Range A (Clean)
help.gif
80 75.9 20 19 70.7 Available Available --
VDSL Range B (Impacted)
help.gif
80 74.7 20 19 68.6 Available Available --
G.fast Range A (Clean)
help.gif
317.5 230 50 27.1 205.2 Available Available --
G.fast Range B (Impacted)
help.gif
277.2 209.2 37.9 18.9 191.4 Available Available --
 
Associate
Joined
28 Jan 2003
Posts
2,353
Location
Bristol
Do you plan to move in 12-18 months, if not I wouldn't worry about it, even if you will, you either suck it up in the move cost (peanuts generally in the grand scheme of things when moving) or transfer to what ever your provider has at new locations.

VM is fine for me but it seems to be location dependent, only downsides I find over my old Sky G.Fast was that the latency is higher by about 10ms but everything else about it is much faster even simple browsing.

I would have taken faster G.fast with Sky but I wanted more than 160 and despite my line being 330 capable Sky did not offer another tier on G.Fast, plus switching to VM I could get their ultimate bundle saving me 50/month over Sky. None of the alternatives offer as comprehensive a triple play otherwise I might have taken up BT G.fast who's ultra 250 would have been ~330/50 at my house.
 
Caporegime
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
26,051
Look at the T&Cs of each provider, but I would have thought if you bought G.fast from EE and moved house then if they could give you FTTC they'd just move you to that.

But really, it costs a fortune to move house and writing off a broadband contract is going to look like a rounding error.
 
Soldato
Joined
29 Dec 2002
Posts
7,175
If you're concerned, go with Sky or any of the other providers who will cancel a contract if they can't offer you a like for like service. I was only a few months into a new g.fast contract when we moved to a really slow FTTC area, they waived the remainder on all services, though we chose to retain the TV and go with VM, service wise VM have been faultless so far for me, but it varies depending on area and if you have to interact with them.
 
Soldato
Joined
4 Nov 2006
Posts
2,752
Location
Yorkshire
Quite happy with my G.Fast, I am around 60m from the cab and get full 300mbps pretty much - I'm with BT

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However, I originally ran a Huawei G.Fast modem so I could use my Unifi USG, however it constantly dropped the line sync randomly between 1am and 4am a couple times a week and DLM hammered me for it, putting the BT SmartHub2 back on keeps it more stable. I've yet to try the SmartHub2 in modem/fttp mode hooked up to the USG as I haven't had a spare day to re-do it all. I ping around 6-7ms to most UK based servers so a nice low latency connection and barely anyone in my area is on G.Fast so not many on the little pod, not sure how much this makes a difference.

A private firm is just about to go live with 1Gbps in my area, so will no doubt move to that once I'm out of BT contract.
 
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