You can find information on when internet speeds are due to be upgraded in your area by entering your postcode on this site.

UPDATE 16 MAY 2016

I recently decided to switch from Plusnet to try and save money.  I chose John Lewis Broadband, and found they were offering me a super-fast fibre option.    The switch has just taken place and I am now getting 35 MBit/s (up from 6MB).

UPDATE 6 MAY 2016

Check out today’s news post with an update email from Connecting Devon & Somerset – plus news of an interesting new (and maybe cheaper) way of obtaining broadband over the airwaves with Air Fibre from Torbay Telecom.

UPDATE 18 FEB 2016

Staverton Village is now showing as live for Fibre to Cabinet services.  Not sure about Landscove but you can check by entering your postcode on the following page (see link below).  However, you don’t automatically get faster speeds. You will need to contact your ISP ask for superfast to be enabled.  They’ll tell you what speed you can get (depending on how far you are from the cabinet, and you’ll probably pay a higher monthly charge.

At the moment, you’ll only be able to get faster speeds if you have a line that is connected to a roadside cabinet.  Those like me that are connected direct to the Staverton exchange will have to wait.  A BT engineer told me that at some point in the next year or maybe two, BT will re-direct all the exchange-only lines through a new cabinet to be installed next to the exchange.  The issue is funding.

UPDATE – 30 SEP 2015

There has been an update on the ‘superfast broadband’ status website. When I enter my postcode in Southford Lane, I’m told that the cabinet that we’re connected to will be upgraded to fibre-optic cabling by January 2016.  It looks from the map as though the same will apply to most of the rest of Staverton and Landscove.  Here’s the message I’m given when I enter my postcode:

Parts of your postcode are soon to be fibre enabled by the Connecting Devon and Somerset programme (the related cabinets and their estimated activation dates shown below). Once your postcode becomes live you will need to check with an internet service provider (ISP) in order to determine which cabinet you are connected to. They will also be able to conduct a line check to see if a fibre service is available at your premise; as well as gain an estimate for the potential line speed.

As far as I understand, the super-fast fibre optic connection is between the cabinet and the local exchange.  The connection to our houses will still be along the existing copper wires.  Even so, this could mean a significant increase in speeds.   I don’t think we’ll get a clear answer until the upgrade work has been done – although BT open reach talk about download speeds of up to 80Mbit/s for ‘fibre to cabinet’, with upload speeds of up to 20Mbit/sec.   I’m not sure whether our upgrade will deliver anything like this.  We’ll have to wait and see – but even half of this would be an enormous improvement.

Once the upgrade happens, I don’t believe we’ll see any improvement in speed without upgrading to a higher priced fibre tariff.  My advice, if you want faster internet, is to wait until after the upgrade and then shop around the ISPs to find the best deal for the new, faster fibre speeds.

Here’s a website that allows you to compare deals:

http://www.broadbandchoices.co.uk

Please feel free to post any extra information you might have below this message (or correct anything I’ve got wrong!)