Broadband Column

‘I was searching for rubbish collections and ended up with superfast broadband’

Tuesday 3 May, 2011

By Seamour Rathore - seamour@consumerchoices.co.uk

Searching his local council’s website, David Gray stumbled upon 10 times faster broadband with

Well-connected, David Gray and Bella

BT Infinity.

Basingstoke family man David Gray isn’t one to pass up an opportunity. Whilst researching his street’s rubbish collection days on his local council website, he noticed an article on BT’s Infinity broadband coming to town, suggesting anyone interested put their name down.

BT Infinity broadband (www.BT.com/Infinity) is a next-generation, fibre-based broadband service offering download speeds up to 40Mb and upload speeds up to 10Mb. The technology allows for a faster, more reliable broadband service compared to conventional broadband which travels over traditional copper telephone lines.

As David’s family all rely to some degree on having a good broadband service, he jumped at the chance to get superfast fibre broadband. The Gray family knew they were heavy internet users and already had unlimited broadband as part of BT’s Option 3 package.

'Same cost'

David explains: “I put my name down when I realised BT Infinity was going to cost the same amount as the BT option 3 we already had, but offer me 10 times the speed.”

And that speed increase was one he knew would benefit the family. “In all, there are probably two computers and a laptop going at any one time in the house,” says David.

David does voluntary web design work for his local rugby club and several pre-school groups, so he often has to upload sizeable files to web servers.

'Home study'

His wife Hazel, a nurse for Basingstoke and Hampshire NHS Foundation Trust, is studying for a higher qualification with The University of Dundee through distance learning, so a reliable internet connection is a must-have. His teenage son, Aaron is a heavy music downloader, and even David and Hazel's youngest daughter uses the internet to play educational games.

The Gray family became one of the first to get connected to BT Infinity in May last year. They even got the service free for a year as, separately, they also won a BT Superfamilies competition - for families who use the internet to its full extent.

David says: “With our old service there were times when the connection would slow right down, but we’ve never had that problem with BT Infinity.”

'100Mb family?'

In fact, David was getting actual speeds of around 2Mb with BT’s option 3 package, but with BT’s new fibre optic Infinity, speed tests show he’s now getting around 35Mb. Again, he’s opted for the top-end Infinity package so gets unlimited downloads with Infinity.

So would the family be interested if BT made 100Mb Infinity broadband available in their area?

“We probably would go for 100Mb if it becomes available and isn’t extortionate,” says David.