outofmyshed
Casual Member
Seeking some advice. As a family we are currently considering relocating from an area of London where we have reasonable and very stable FTTC (50/15ish) as well as very good 5G/4G options, to a rural property in Weardale, County Durham. The ability to work from home enables the whole thing, therefore a stable connection with reasonable speeds is essential, ideally no worse than what we have now.
The property’s copper line has much poorer FTTC speeds quoted in the Openreach checker - 18Mbit down / 1Mbit up(!). Whilst the downstream is probably liveable with, the 1Mbit upload has me very concerned, particularly as I have a family who like their iPlayer and Netflix like any other, and my wife and I need to work at the same time (Zoom calls and large uploads etc). Relying on this FTTC seems like an unfeasible option.
Openreach have quite a bit of FTTP to some properties in the neighbouring villages but it could be years before they ever (if they ever) fibre up small clusters of houses off the main road.
There is LTE coverage - according to CellMapper EE have a mast with bands 3 & 20 2km away across a valley, and two others 3-4km away. Other networks’ cell sites are all about 3-4km away in the nearest towns of Wolsingham, Tow Law and Crook. I did some quick speed tests on my EE phone and a cheap Voda mifi when I last visited the property, and didn’t get more than 10-15Mbit/s down or 3-4Mbit/s up on either network, but it’s not a reliable test.
Opensignal data says that 4G speeds around the local main roads are good, but the property is in a bit of a dip with no LOS to any of the masts, and I’m concerned this means that the chance of ever obtaining a usable LTE signal on band 3, with an external omni or directional antenna and (for example) a Huawei/DrayTek router is next to none. Although I’ve just discovered Mikrotik’s LTE kit and the LHG LTE6 device looks very interesting..
My main question is - am I being too pessimistic about what could be achieved with LTE here? I’m willing to invest in the right kit, but if I’m likely onto a no-hoper in gaining usable speeds then it’s not really worth us considering buying the house in the first place, and to hold out for a unicorn rural property with better FTTC stats or ideally FTTP.
Any advice (or options I’ve not considered) much appreciated!
The property’s copper line has much poorer FTTC speeds quoted in the Openreach checker - 18Mbit down / 1Mbit up(!). Whilst the downstream is probably liveable with, the 1Mbit upload has me very concerned, particularly as I have a family who like their iPlayer and Netflix like any other, and my wife and I need to work at the same time (Zoom calls and large uploads etc). Relying on this FTTC seems like an unfeasible option.
Openreach have quite a bit of FTTP to some properties in the neighbouring villages but it could be years before they ever (if they ever) fibre up small clusters of houses off the main road.
There is LTE coverage - according to CellMapper EE have a mast with bands 3 & 20 2km away across a valley, and two others 3-4km away. Other networks’ cell sites are all about 3-4km away in the nearest towns of Wolsingham, Tow Law and Crook. I did some quick speed tests on my EE phone and a cheap Voda mifi when I last visited the property, and didn’t get more than 10-15Mbit/s down or 3-4Mbit/s up on either network, but it’s not a reliable test.
Opensignal data says that 4G speeds around the local main roads are good, but the property is in a bit of a dip with no LOS to any of the masts, and I’m concerned this means that the chance of ever obtaining a usable LTE signal on band 3, with an external omni or directional antenna and (for example) a Huawei/DrayTek router is next to none. Although I’ve just discovered Mikrotik’s LTE kit and the LHG LTE6 device looks very interesting..
My main question is - am I being too pessimistic about what could be achieved with LTE here? I’m willing to invest in the right kit, but if I’m likely onto a no-hoper in gaining usable speeds then it’s not really worth us considering buying the house in the first place, and to hold out for a unicorn rural property with better FTTC stats or ideally FTTP.
Any advice (or options I’ve not considered) much appreciated!























