There was a man down a BT hole at the top of our road so I walked up and
asked him what they were doing.
They are laying the fibre optic cable and the roadside boxes are due to
go in next week.

My current download speed is 400kbps on the Demon 8Mbps system I'm
paying for and have had erratic service with, so I think I'll be forced
to change. I can't stand any more days on the line to pleasant but
useless Indians.

If I were to go to BT for the same price I think I'd lose:
1. Static IP address (this used to be essential for work, probably not
now)
2. Unlimited email addresses, so I'd have to use GMail ones or find out
how to use the 1&1 Internet domain I've registered. I really like the
unlimited email addresses as I can stream different subjects/people to
different directories.
3. News, so I'd have to buy a decent news service
4. Unlimited access with a vague "fair usage policy" with Demon would
come down to 40GB per month with BT. This is less than Demon and many
other suppliers' limited downloads. Top price would remove the limit, I
think.
5. All the contacts that I forget to tell the new email address.

I hope I'd gain "up to 40Mbps".

The BT system seems to still involve the master socket, so must be on
the same wires from the box to the house. Is this right? We would have
to have our master socket moved to near some power for their modem.

My usage is erratic, but I often have to download large files eg
Microsoft OS's and audio and some video files. I "support" some older
mainly retired home worker friends who do a lot of audio and bits of
video that they produce and I try to help them with the technical side
of their digital editing and management. Hence quite large files. I
often have to retire for the night leaving a file downloading.

Does anyone have any advice, bearing in mind small pension and likely
raging inflation in the next year or two? Should I go BT or try to
continue on what I have? I really like Turnpike and hate every other
email/news client I've tried..
--
Bill