BT Infinity & FTTx Discussion

robj20 · 8 Jul 2020 at 16:58

Yaayuh! said:
Balls

I don't suppose they'll likely provide FTTP over telegraph poles?

They do, that's how mines done.

Jez · 8 Jul 2020 at 19:04

Yaayuh! said:
A smidge of hope then at least.

My whole area is getting done with over pole FTTP, its the easiest layout that they have

Lartyconshayo · 8 Jul 2020 at 19:28

yeah mine's by pole

apachegoose · 9 Jul 2020 at 06:45

Yaayuh! said:
Balls

I don't suppose they'll likely provide FTTP over telegraph poles?

Its how its most commonly delivered. They are even installed poles for properties where the cable is direct buried as its the only sensible way (other than digging up everyone's lawn/drive).

VincentHanna · 9 Jul 2020 at 16:52

I've ordered mine - I asked openreach to keep me informed by email when it was available, but did they hell.

I saw BT were doing a deal the other day for 'Full Fibre' and was surprised to find it available on my postcode including the full 910Mb one, which I've opted for as my office us now at home.

Questions - I currently run 2x Asus AX88U routers for a WiFi 6 network throughout the house.

1) When the engineer comes to connect my home to the cabinet, will he replace the 7 year old BT branded modem (ECI B-Focus V-2FUb/r Rev .B) they supplied when they first installed Fibre broadband here in 2013?

2) I assume I can carry on using my ASUS routers and not use the BT Smart Hub 2?

the-evaluator · 9 Jul 2020 at 16:57

The Openreach engineer will leave the VDSL modem where it is and will install an ONT which the fibre will connect to. You can have the ONT anywhere you like, it doesn't have to go where your existing BT master socket is.

Your existing routers will still work. If they're WiFi 6 they must be reliatively new but you might find they can't route the full bandwidth that your FTTP service will have. I'm not using the SmartHub 2, mine was only connected long enough for the Openreach engineer to be happy that things were working. Before he'd finished packing up his van I'd removed it.

VincentHanna · 9 Jul 2020 at 17:02

Thanks for the quick reply.

It's got a WAN port that supports 1Gbps and WAN aggregation so it can support up to 2Gbps.

And the WiFi supports 6000 Mbps

I bought it for future proofing

the-evaluator · 9 Jul 2020 at 17:08

From a quick read you should be fine using your existing routers but it's worth mentioning that just because something has a 1Gbps WAN port doesn't necessarily mean it can route at wire speed.

Snookums · 9 Jul 2020 at 22:48

This may well be me asking how long is a piece of string but ill ask anyway.

My current virgin contract is ending this month and what i started paying £34 for 2 years, then £41 they now want £48 pm for 200 and basic tv. Past week or so ive noticed openreach parking up on our road and tonight i noticed they was running some cable into the ground. Low and behold i check there site and my area is getting FTTP "soon".

Anyone got any idea how soon soon is given they are currently feeding the cable? Virgin service hasnt been incredible and £48 for 200mbps seems crazy money and they just wont budge on it.

Caged · 9 Jul 2020 at 23:03

I reckon a couple of months if people are building on your street currently

Cob · 10 Jul 2020 at 10:20

So a few weeks after the combined Openreach-Virgin cable installation in my area I’m now able to order BT’s Full Fibre 900mb.

\o/

Should be a nice upgrade from my current 25mb. Install booked for the 21st.

VincentHanna · 10 Jul 2020 at 11:34

I worked out mine will be an increase of 2500%

Had a call from them today asking if we had Covid symptoms, can we leave the room when the engineer comes etc. They told me not to touch the router when it arrives either.

Ev0 · 10 Jul 2020 at 12:10

Snookums said:
Anyone got any idea how soon soon is given they are currently feeding the cable? Virgin service hasnt been incredible and £48 for 200mbps seems crazy money and they just wont budge on it.

Just checked my prevous posts, we had the guys laying the fibre in the street at the start of October last year, and it was available to order start of December.

Cob · 10 Jul 2020 at 19:34

Snookums said:
Anyone got any idea how soon soon is given they are currently feeding the cable? Virgin service hasnt been incredible and £48 for 200mbps seems crazy money and they just wont budge on it.

Passed my house on the 9th May and became available to order this week.

luggles · 11 Jul 2020 at 12:11

spoffle said:
You have to contact BT. They only show their full prices on their site. Give them a call and haggle a bit. I'm paying £50 a month for my BT 1Gb connection because I haggled with them.

It worked out as £55 a month, and they credited my account with £120. Which brings the price down to £50 a month.

When I originally signed up last year, it was for their 300Mb service. Which was also showing as £59.99 a month on the site. I didn't even need to haggle, the first guy I spoke to offered it to me for £45.99 a month. Tripling my download speed and almost tripling my upload speed for less than 10% more is perfect.

@spoffle Did you just call the standard number when calling to haggle? Wonder if it will be harder to do these days due to lockdown.

FTTP went live in my street recently, struggling to decide whether to go with BT or Zen now they're also offering 500 and 1000.

Caged · 11 Jul 2020 at 12:25

I have no issue with people recommending Zen if they need the extra features like the static IP address, but in my experience there's nothing wrong with the quality of the service that BT provide. I've never had to deal with their technical support so maybe that's the difference, though there's posts about Zen taking ages to fix congestion issues so maybe they aren't that brilliant either - I've never experienced peak time slowdowns on BT.

luggles · 11 Jul 2020 at 12:52

Caged said:
I have no issue with people recommending Zen if they need the extra features like the static IP address, but in my experience there's nothing wrong with the quality of the service that BT provide. I've never had to deal with their technical support so maybe that's the difference, though there's posts about Zen taking ages to fix congestion issues so maybe they aren't that brilliant either - I've never experienced peak time slowdowns on BT.

I was with BT before and service 99% of the time was perfect, just when I needed support I could only get decent results from gaining a mods attention on their forums. I kinda hate using the phone at all, so like having web chat or email as option even if email ends up longer than calling

.

I'm leaning more towards BT due to price and cashback (or haggling like spoffle) but then chat/email support, static ip and not filtering sites, has me still considering Zen even though it's more money :eek:

Avalon · 11 Jul 2020 at 14:28

luggles said:
I was with BT before and service 99% of the time was perfect, just when I needed support I could only get decent results from gaining a mods attention on their forums. I kinda hate using the phone at all, so like having web chat or email as option even if email ends up longer than calling .

I'm leaning more towards BT due to price and cashback (or haggling like spoffle) but then chat/email support, static ip and not filtering sites, has me still considering Zen even though it's more money

You can work round a static IP quite easily with the likes of CF API and a domain. The non filtering point seems a strange consideration, if you are aware of it, then presumably you understand that the IPA still applies to Zen and filtering is arguably the least of your worries, you'd then presumably be running a VPN which makes the filtering a moot point. BT+Quidco/TCB and the normal BT offer worked out cheaper for me, BT and Zen have both joined the OFCOM automatic compensation scheme. Your choice, but non of the reasons you mention other than web chat really seem to favour Zen.

luggles · 11 Jul 2020 at 15:23

Avalon said:
You can work round a static IP quite easily with the likes of CF API and a domain. The non filtering point seems a strange consideration, if you are aware of it, then presumably you understand that the IPA still applies to Zen and filtering is arguably the least of your worries, you'd then presumably be running a VPN which makes the filtering a moot point. BT+Quidco/TCB and the normal BT offer worked out cheaper for me, BT and Zen have both joined the OFCOM automatic compensation scheme. Your choice, but non of the reasons you mention other than web chat really seem to favour Zen.

You can work around most things and yes I have a VPN. I just find the idea of something I'm paying for being filtered irritating and pointless, when as you say people can just use a VPN. It's not looking like my irritation is enough to fork out the extra money, but still not moot for me personally and unfiltered like my current ISP provides would still be a plus.

Think it will most likely be BT and by the time my 24months is up they might have chat/email support implemented for my antisocial tendencies

Avalon · 11 Jul 2020 at 17:16

luggles said:
You can work around most things and yes I have a VPN. I just find the idea of something I'm paying for being filtered irritating and pointless, when as you say people can just use a VPN. It's not looking like my irritation is enough to fork out the extra money, but still not moot for me personally and unfiltered like my current ISP provides would still be a plus.

Think it will most likely be BT and by the time my 24months is up they might have chat/email support implemented for my antisocial tendencies

People who see ISP's not enforcing court ordered blocking as a plus point are by implication not using VPN's, if they were, they wouldn't be blocked. You state you have (and presumably use) a VPN, but see non blocking as a plus point, that feels like an obvious contradiction

If anything I see ISP blocking as a positive, it protects people who don't know better from the implications of poor choices. Little Wilfred doesn't download the latest movie and a rights holder try to take Dad to the cleaners for £4K. The real problem is when people have non blocking ISP's and don't understand that speculative invoicing by rights holders is a thing and the IPA requires the ISP to log all the sites they visit, with no specific date on when that data is purged and seemingly man+dog can access it with the most tenuous of 'needs'.

Either way BT sounds like a reasonable shout, just hope for no need to deal with TS - it's painful at every level.