To be fair YMMV from any ISP really. I've had nothing but trouble from Plusnet and they can't even be bothered to do anything about it even after we paid for an engineer to come out and look only to find that there was no issue. Talktalk were just as bad so were thinking about switching to Virgin/Sky/BT. It all really depends where you are, what the lines are like, the local exchange and if you can ever get hold of anyone useful on the phone.
Spent today looking at router reviews after reading some less than complimentary reviews of the Plusnet freebie. Looking at the Asus AC66U (very tempted by the AC68U but you need the PCI-E card to take advantage of the speed and all I need it for is streaming tv and movies around the house).
Well the important bit is done...we have fibre! Unfortunately no one has sorted the phone, so much for 'combined install'. I'll call Plusnet in a bit to find out when we'll get our phone service but on to the important bit! From ~1-2Mbps on Sky to this: I'm grinning from ear to ear and will be testing streaming around the house on the new router (the technicolor TG582n). I'm seeing whether we can cope with it for a bit because my right-hand MSI laptop hinge started to break apart yesterday and is well an truly broken now (it suddenly locked up and when I tried to open the laptop it levered the screen frame open and won't move even with pliers). Time for a new laptop but that will mean using money I meant to use on a router. Damn. Might break the old laptop up for parts - maybe they'll be worth something on ebay. The screen itself is in great condition its just the frame and hinge that have broken.
There are 2 things that slow down your connection: 1) distance, which degrades signal due to resistance of the wire. 2) contention which is best described as how many users your advertised speed is shared with. here is an Explanation
The phone issue was down to delays at BT's end and is all sorted 36hrs later (make sure you have your mobile to hand for these installations). The speed is still very strong and the basic router is not as bad as feared (we've been on 802.11g so moving to 802.11n has made a BIG difference) with a good signal in all rooms of the house (can stream 1080p either over LAN or by youtube, all over the house). I'm really impressed! I started out paying £15 for broadband and £20+ for phone when I first moved out and we've got £28 for free calls and 40/20 Fibre now (will increase to £34 in the second half of the contract). Tl:dr - Definitely worth it, make the switch to Fibre when it comes to your area. Oh, and my new laptop arrived...Lenovo i3 2.4Ghz, 4GB Ram, 1TB HDD, Webcam, DVD-RW, HDMI, 2xUSB 2.0 and 1xUSB 3.0 (I'll set it up tonight and then strip it down tomorrow with a view to upgrading RAM and WIFI as well as having a general poke about).
Glad you're happy with plusnet as I said I've found them to be pretty good. I'm looking forward to the end of the year when fibre will be available up here.
Get it as soon as you can, the difference it makes to the way you'll use the net is stunning (as is the beauty of Full HD streaming).
Oh I will plusnet said they would email me the moment its available here I'll be getting the 78meg service as well they reckon I'll be getting FTTP here
