BT Full Fibre 100

bojangles98

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So right now I'm a BT customer on the fibre 1 + phone package paying around £31 a month. My contract is expiring at the end of this month, and I'm considering upgrading to the Full Fibre 100 package. Just wanted to get peoples thoughts on how the service is like and if there any better alternatives.

In terms of usage, there are 4 people including myself who use the internet, with around 9-10 connected devices. This includes two company laptops used for WFH (from around 9am to 7pm), PS5, iPad, 4 phones and a MacBook. Most people in the house only use the internet for browsing, social media, YouTube etc. I am the only one who does any 4K streaming and online gaming. With this in mind, will the Fibre 100 package be enough or should I get Fibre 300?

For the price, I have been quoted £37.50 a month for 24 months with £60 credit and no setup fee. It also includes a phone package with 700 minutes. This was the first offer from the BT rep and they were adamant they could not go lower. Is this a good price or should I try to haggle more?

For anyone who has the Full Fibre 100 package, how are the wifi speeds? Do you get close to 150Mbps. I know everyones situation is different, but would still be interesting to know.

And finally, are there any alternatives I should check out? Bare in mind I need a phone line included for my parents who use it. The only provider I could find with a similar price is Virgin, who were offering 200Mbps with anytime minutes for £39 a month on an 18 month contract. However, I've heard that with Virgin I would need to buy a router to get better speeds and they sometimes don't have good latency.
 
fibre 1 is a vdsl product around 50 Mb/s if memory serves me right, the product you are considering is approximately double that, so my question would be what performance issues / bottlenecks have you encountered with the current line?

For anyone who has the Full Fibre 100 package, how are the wifi speeds? Do you get close to 150Mbps. I know everyones situation is different, but would still be interesting to know

No one can get 150Mb/s from a 100Mb/s line & as a general rule of thumb domestic WiFi speed is ~5-10% lower than line speed.

As for WiFi performance as you elude to this varies from installation to installation, it will depend on multiple factors including but not exclusively, the isp termination point & fw/router/access point ‘box’ or ‘hub’ location, the homes size & construction materials.

I would be weary of any whole home speed guaranty as these often only commit to 10-20Mb/s speeds in each room.

The question becomes where are you seeing fallow WiFi performance today, what does it prevent / impact, how important is that to resolve & what budget is there to resolve it?

I would alway suggest that critical systems or systems transferring a large amount of data are wired wherever possible.

Also as a FYI a 4K stream is approx 25Mb/s so if you are the only one doing so you still have significant bandwidth remaining with a 100Mb/s line.

This should give you a indication of what other isp’s can offer you a fttp line & each should offer some way of porting your current telephone number.

 
No one can get 150Mb/s from a 100Mb/s line & as a general rule of thumb domestic WiFi speed is ~5-10% lower than line speed.
Actually the Full Fibre 100 is 150mbps package, and being fibre does deliver that. I know its a misleading name for the package... go figure.

In response to the OP's question I would say FF 150 will be fine for your devices and users. For the most part most devices don't use that much bandwidth. The piddly devices attached to most connections aren't taxing and even 4k streaming isn't particularly demanding, but it does make a good selling point for providers.

In my house the things that can eat up all the bandwidth and can always use a faster connection are
1.) my PC, particularly when I'm downloading a new game off Steam, UBI or one of the other providers, my desktop will quite happily gobble up as much bandwidth as you give it and if you are loading a particularly large game you can spend sometime waiting for the download to complete.
2.) my PS5, this thing doesn't have quite the bandwidth thirst of my PC but it can still get to about 750mbps. and again will happily use this bandwidth when downloading games and doing updates.

Every other device on my network hasn't really benefited from the speed update since ADSL2 and I've been remote working to some extent for the last ten years.

It's nice to have a big pipe, but really need it? probably not, but I still moan every time I buy or load a new game and have to wait for the download, but outside downloads I'd probably not even notice.

It's a tricky one to answer, so my advice would be to start with Full-Fibre 150 and if you think you need more or would be happier with a bigger pipe, upgrade. BT will quite happily upgrade you to a large packages and you may even be able to negotiate more frugally than just getting a large pipe outright.
 
No one can get 150Mb/s from a 100Mb/s line & as a general rule of thumb domestic WiFi speed is ~5-10% lower than line speed.

You can't send traffic to and from the internet faster than your internet connection, but it doesn't affect wi-fi speed itself and between devices at home can hit whatever speed the wi-fi hardware you own is capable of.

That's purely dependent on the router and devices though and changing internet connection won't affect it. Are you saying that BT are throwing in a new free router as part of your new package and you're asking how it'll different to whatever your current version is?


And finally, are there any alternatives I should check out? Bare in mind I need a phone line included for my parents who use it. The only provider I could find with a similar price is Virgin, who were offering 200Mbps with anytime minutes for £39 a month on an 18 month contract. However, I've heard that with Virgin I would need to buy a router to get better speeds and they sometimes don't have good latency.

FTTP doesn't provide a phone line specifically. Unlike the copper services where the phone uses the line directly, any phone service over FTTP is purely an internet service. I think the way BT offer it is to have the router make calls and then your existing phones can be plugged into that as a handset.

This does mean that it's no more tied to the line provider than e-mail or web hosting, something that's just as good if bought from a third party.

If you do go with BT then bear in mind that they charge an arm and a leg per minute for phone calls so make sure that calls package covers all your use.
 
My package is £35 per month for 1G with Hyperoptic. Most of the fast services seam to be coming with new providers. Quick simple installed within 2 days. Further they don't touch your existing stuff which is a bonus IMHO.
P.S. what is a phone line?
 
Actually the Full Fibre 100 is 150mbps package, and being fibre does deliver that. I know its a misleading name for the package... go figure.

In response to the OP's question I would say FF 150 will be fine for your devices and users. For the most part most devices don't use that much bandwidth. The piddly devices attached to most connections aren't taxing and even 4k streaming isn't particularly demanding, but it does make a good selling point for providers.

In my house the things that can eat up all the bandwidth and can always use a faster connection are
1.) my PC, particularly when I'm downloading a new game off Steam, UBI or one of the other providers, my desktop will quite happily gobble up as much bandwidth as you give it and if you are loading a particularly large game you can spend sometime waiting for the download to complete.
2.) my PS5, this thing doesn't have quite the bandwidth thirst of my PC but it can still get to about 750mbps. and again will happily use this bandwidth when downloading games and doing updates.

Every other device on my network hasn't really benefited from the speed update since ADSL2 and I've been remote working to some extent for the last ten years.

It's nice to have a big pipe, but really need it? probably not, but I still moan every time I buy or load a new game and have to wait for the download, but outside downloads I'd probably not even notice.

It's a tricky one to answer, so my advice would be to start with Full-Fibre 150 and if you think you need more or would be happier with a bigger pipe, upgrade. BT will quite happily upgrade you to a large packages and you may even be able to negotiate more frugally than just getting a large pipe outright.
Good shout on getting fibre 100 first and then potentially upgrading. Do you have BT as well?
 
My package is £35 per month for 1G with Hyperoptic. Most of the fast services seam to be coming with new providers. Quick simple installed within 2 days. Further they don't touch your existing stuff which is a bonus IMHO.
P.S. what is a phone line?
I would have definitely gone for Hyperoptic but sadly they don't have it in my area.
 
UPDATE:

I rang the BT cancellation team again today and managed to get a much better offer from another agent - £37.50 for 24 months for BT Full Fibre 300 with 700 minutes phone included. Decided to accept this as it seems reasonable value.

However, the email confirmation of the new contract had a totally different price. It stated £39.99 with no mention of the 700 minutes phone package. Cannot believe the underhand tactic BT have used.

Will ring again tomorrow and try to get them to honour the original price, otherwise I will definitely cancel.
 
Yeah I'd not worry BT are quite good and if they gave you a deal I'm sure will honour it.
 
UPDATE:

I rang the BT cancellation team again today and managed to get a much better offer from another agent - £37.50 for 24 months for BT Full Fibre 300 with 700 minutes phone included. Decided to accept this as it seems reasonable value.

However, the email confirmation of the new contract had a totally different price. It stated £39.99 with no mention of the 700 minutes phone package. Cannot believe the underhand tactic BT have used.

Will ring again tomorrow and try to get them to honour the original price, otherwise I will definitely cancel.
Hi, can you tell me the number of the cancellation team? Do you think they are able to offer better deals than via. the BT web chat?

I presumed it’s the same regardless of calling or webchat as I went through the motions of clicking through to cancelling and then selected to web chat, so assumed it should be the same department.

I have BT Full Fibre 100 booked, though not being installed until next week. I specifically asked on webchat about Full Fibre 300, but I was told they no longer offer this. 100, 500 and 900 were my only options.
 
Hi, can you tell me the number of the cancellation team? Do you think they are able to offer better deals than via. the BT web chat?

I presumed it’s the same regardless of calling or webchat as I went through the motions of clicking through to cancelling and then selected to web chat, so assumed it should be the same department.

I have BT Full Fibre 100 booked, though not being installed until next week. I specifically asked on webchat about Full Fibre 300, but I was told they no longer offer this. 100, 500 and 900 were my only options.
I think the cancellation team number is 0800 783 1401, but I used 0800 800 150, and then selected the relevant options.

Forgot to update my previous post, but when I called BT to confirm the offer, they stated the offer of 37.50 for the full fibre 300 and phone was a mistake by the agent and they can only offer full fibre 300 for 39.99 (broadband only), and a further £5-7.50 for phone depending on what package you choose. Can't believe the scam that the agent pulled on me, but they were simply not willing to honour the offer so I just cancelled.

So in short it looks like full fibre 300 is only offered on the phone but at that price I'd just go for full fibre 500 if I were you, as its only a pound extra a month in the current BT sale.
 
@bojangles98 I am curious how your order went? In particular if you look in your MyBT account, does your next expected bill appear correct to you?

I had some trouble with mine, Full Fibre 100 activation date came but only got digital voice switched on and no FTTP installed. 🫤

After some discussion BT ended up placing a new order and as the prices offered were now a bit lower, I instead opted for Full Fibre 500.

The install actually happened today and went smoothly, the upgrade completely wipes the floor with my previous 36Mb FTTC connection.

It’s the ‘next expected bill’ that sent some alarm bells ringing. I did expect some sort of discrepancy given I am switching from Fibre 1 to Full Fibre 500, but next month’s bill is teetering on £100! Absolutely shocking.

This is why I am curious to know if you have seen something similar. Perhaps they’re charging in advance for some reason and it’ll all balance out in the following month or two? I do recall once having a similar concern with Sky TV as well, where they charged so much upfront.

I’ll probably try and clear it up with them after the weekend.
 
FYI I had a similar thing happen when switching to fibre. I don't know how but the bill was similar to yours. I contacted BT and they quickly identified the mistake, fixed the billing and info was quickly updated in the portal. The next time I logged in I had been given 3 months credit, so I'm not complaining. at any rate this does happen.
 
@bojangles98 I am curious how your order went? In particular if you look in your MyBT account, does your next expected bill appear correct to you?

I had some trouble with mine, Full Fibre 100 activation date came but only got digital voice switched on and no FTTP installed. 🫤

After some discussion BT ended up placing a new order and as the prices offered were now a bit lower, I instead opted for Full Fibre 500.

The install actually happened today and went smoothly, the upgrade completely wipes the floor with my previous 36Mb FTTC connection.

It’s the ‘next expected bill’ that sent some alarm bells ringing. I did expect some sort of discrepancy given I am switching from Fibre 1 to Full Fibre 500, but next month’s bill is teetering on £100! Absolutely shocking.

This is why I am curious to know if you have seen something similar. Perhaps they’re charging in advance for some reason and it’ll all balance out in the following month or two? I do recall once having a similar concern with Sky TV as well, where they charged so much upfront.

I’ll probably try and clear it up with them after the weekend.
Sorry for the late reply. Did it get sorted in the end?

After cancelling my BT contract, I rang the retentions team a day before my contract expired, and was offered Full Fibre 300 with 700 minutes calling for £39.99. I decided to accept and unlike last time, they have honoured this price. My installation date is this Friday. Just goes to show it really is a game of who you talk to.

As for my bill, the one for August is as expected. When I checked the predicted bill for September a few days ago, it for some reason included BT Sport even though I cancelled when I upgraded. However, after checking again today, the BT Sport charge is gone.
 
Sorry for the late reply. Did it get sorted in the end?

After cancelling my BT contract, I rang the retentions team a day before my contract expired, and was offered Full Fibre 300 with 700 minutes calling for £39.99. I decided to accept and unlike last time, they have honoured this price. My installation date is this Friday. Just goes to show it really is a game of who you talk to.

As for my bill, the one for August is as expected. When I checked the predicted bill for September a few days ago, it for some reason included BT Sport even though I cancelled when I upgraded. However, after checking again today, the BT Sport charge is gone.
Yes mate, all sorted now. I was planning to reach out to BT a few days after finding that billing issue, and just enjoy the new install over the first weekend. I took another look on MyBT account shortly after and it appears the next bill estimate has now been corrected.

I believe the first botched order the prices offered to me were £33 150Mb, £46 500Mb and £56 900Mb. I presume the prices either lowered or they just offered me a discount due to the first order going tits up. New prices were £30, £40 and £50. I originally went for 150Mb on the first order, but with 500Mb at £40 and a match with what Talk Talk and Sky were offering, I decided to go for that.

My package doesn't include any landlines minutes though, the actual old master socket is redundant now, they switched us over to Digital Voice which gives you your typical landline service through the BT Smart Hub 2. They did send a new cordless phone too, which is up and running fine but tbh the rare time the home phone rings, 95% of fhe time it's probably some scam call. We do have a couple of mobile BT sim cards which we pay extra for, and these are half price due to having fibre from BT - our 2x sim cards have unlimited minutes and texts, the data is only 2GB though, but these sims are less than £6 each, had them for a good few years now (originally a fiver each but they slowly crept up a little).
 
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