Why is broadband in London so slow?

[wondering7777]

I have TalkTalk broadband and it's painfully slow - my download speed is 7.7mbps. I often struggle to watch programmes on catch-up because it's so sluggish!

However, I just looked at switching to Plusnet fibre and their download speed is about 9mbps for my area - so it barely seems worth changing.

There's also Virgin Media of course, but I had a bad experience with them before so don't want to use them again. Zen also looks good but I don't think they do TV - and I want to be able to watch BBC iPlayer, All4 etc on my telly.

Are there any other options available to me or am I basically just stuck with ridiculously slow broadband?

I've lived in London and my broadband was not that slow. It's to do with the type of line you have and the number of people on the exchange. It doesn't sound like you have fibre. The further away your house is from the box, and the more people connected to it, the slower your speed will be.

Well, I live in the countryside and it’s 1.6 here. So that sounds amazing! We have mobile internet which costs about £100 a month (2 accounts because its cheaper than topping up mid month as its not unlimited).

Thanks. I just double-checked the Plusnet fibre package online and it actually says 10-17mbps (minimum 9.1mbps guaranteed). Is that going to make a big difference to my speed do you think?

Well, I live in the countryside and it’s 1.6 here. So that sounds amazing!

Ok, so maybe mine isn't that slow. But surely I should be able to watch stuff on catch-up without it stopping every 20 seconds?

TalkTalk is cheap for a reason - rubbish service both from a technical and a customer service perspective.

My mum was getting something like 0.5 with Talktalk (nto in London) and they said there was nothing they could do. So she switched to Plusnet and gets a very good service now - it was more or less unuseable before, she might have been better off with dial-up it was so slow!

I have two internet lines now: Plusnet with a new cable and it is faster than Virgin Media (which is supposed to faster but has a 15+ year old cable). The infrastructure to your house can make a big difference.

It might be worth looking at Utility Warehouse for an overall package.

We have mobile internet which costs about £100 a month (2 accounts because its cheaper than topping up mid month as its not unlimited)

Why are you paying so much? You can get unlimited mobile data contracts for far less.

I'm in London too, broadband from BT. just tested my speed and it's 49.2. So not a London thing.

Ours is crap too. I think it's more to so with the infrastructure of the lines than any internet provider quite honestly. Don't get anyone to look at it though or they'll say the fault's in your house, charge you 60 quid to look at it, and it'll still be shit.

I'm waiting for cable to come here and hoping it is better.

Mine is not slow. I think it's with BT, not entirely sure but it can cope with 4 of us streaming netflix at the same time.

I've just checked it and its 45mbps

Outer London and bored so just checked ours. BT: 20.6. Perfectly good speed with no issues. Might be much worse later in the day though I guess.

My SIL runs a business in central London but not in a fancy office and has awful internet issue which are apparently caused by the difficulty with laying cables etc.

Thanks all. Those of you who use BT - how do you find the customer service?

My mum was getting something like 0.5 with Talktalk (nto in London) and they said there was nothing they could do. So she switched to Plusnet and gets a very good service now - it was more or less unuseable before, she might have been better off with dial-up it was so slow!

I feel mine is about the speed of dial-up too. It's awful!

TalkTalk is cheap for a reason - rubbish service both from a technical and a customer service perspective.

I would be very happy to pay more if it meant faster more reliable internet - I just don't know where to go!

I'm in East London z2 and have between 63 and 65 Mbps 🤷‍♀️

@PolPotNoodle who is your provider?

@wondering7777 Sky

we had issues with a cheap provider before, same line after a switch to plusnet, now it's twice as fast.

same copper, same telephone point.

we had a year of troubleshooting with the shitty old provider, wish we'd moved sooner.

NO it's not always down to the physical restrictions, unlike what my old internet provider said!! (I think they had some sort of over capacity thing going on, because it was worse in the evenings before, now it's like daytime speed all the time with plusnet)

try changing and see what happens, it can't get much worse can it

Mine is so bad that sometimes I abandon my laptop and use my phone to surf the internet/send emails because 4G is quicker than my broadband!

I can't believe that there's no way to get faster broadband in zone 2/3 London in 2020 (other than cable from Virgin). It's crap!

@PolPotNoodle Thanks - I will look into Sky.

try changing and see what happens, it can't get much worse can it

I will definitely be switching - the only thing that's putting me off is the rigmarole of changing and the possibility of being left with no internet at all for a while. DH is currently working from home so that would be a disaster!

I’m in N1 and ours is usually okay, more than enough for netflix, gaming etc. But recently it has been very variable.

I've just checked Sky and they're saying 10-18mbps too.

Can anyone tell me whether that will make my broadband significantly faster than my current download speed of 7.7mbps? Or is it not worth switching for that?

Unfortunately its the infrastructure around your property. Some parts of London have issues with lying cables and power.

I can't get fibre with a BT line on my part of the road - they can't find a place to put the cabinet - so I have to use Virgin. However, the speed on my copper BT line is faster than yours at 10mb.

When I've changed providers on my BT line I've not been cut off. the change over happens on the day around 10am.

Is it that in London, which is more densely populated, there is so much demand on each exchange box ? We live in a rural hamlet and prior to upgrading to fibre we got 20mbps. Quite a few households around us probably don't use broadband. We upgraded to fibre just before lockdown (thankfully) and now 138mbps. I'm amazed they laid it on here to be honest.

Whats your 4g like? You can get high data amounts very cheaply now, some people buy a sim just for home internet purposes.

When mine is a bit slow I use my phone as a hotspot and it works really well (3 network).

Zen also looks good but I don't think they do TV - and I want to be able to watch BBC iPlayer, All4 etc on my telly.

If you just want catch-up TV, getting a smart TV or plug-in stick might do the job. Amazon Fire, Now TV, Roku etc should allow you to access the main catch-up services, if you can find a decent broadband supplier.

I'm in zone 4 West London and we have Sky and generally it's fine. Can cope with 2 zoom calls and the kids watching netflix all at the same time. Fell over a bit at the start of lockdown but seems OK now.

London does have some blank spots for internet in a quite ridiculous way. I went through this when I first moved house so I did a bit of trawling as follows:

I'd start by finding out what is actually available in your area, regardless of provider so maybe try the following:

1. Plugging in your postcode (and even better your landline number) into the Openreach website.

They do the infrastructure for BT and therefore for all the other providers (who just have the right to use their network) except Sky and Virgin, who run their own networks and possibly Vodafone. If the website says you do not have access to high speed broadband or fibre that is probably right.

1. If you do then look at which companies offer the high speed or fibre broadband in your area.

1. After doing the Openreach check then check provision for each of Sky, Virgin and Vodafone separately using their broadband checkers because you might get a separate offer from them.

You are really looking for something more than 20 to get a seamless service.

You will be very unlucky if you can't find something. However, all is not lost: if you search for Three broadband (formerly Relish) they have a wireless broadband offer which is designed to plug the gaps or you could get an unlimited broadband deal on your phone and use it as a mobile hotspot for your laptops. This last one was what BT gave us while they sorted out the cabling to our street.