which ISPs are going to offer FTTC this year?

pigeonpie

need an alternative to BT at roughly the same price. I don't mind paying a bit more than BT just to avoid the stress of dealing with BT.

so far can only find Zen who are very expensive.

BT has offered me a good deal on Infinity, but I would prefer to avoid them if possible (terrible experiences in the past) especially if it means only waiting 6 months or so and FTTC is available via other suppliers. Are Sky getting it anytime soon?

My BT 'offer' expires on Friday according to the girl who keeps calling me

I've not got any info on IDNet - what are they like please? I believe right now it's only them, Zen and BT?

macman

Your BT offer will not 'expire', that's the oldest sales trick in the book.

spike7451

BT are recruiting over 90 Broadband installation engineers in my area..I have an interview next week! So it looks like they are expecting big things when it rolls out fully.

pigeonpie

well she said the free installation would expire, otherwise it's £50. I am so reluctant to go to BT, they are so awful. But my bb is max 5mb download (often less) and upload 0.6 max. BT sales said if I move to a non Infinity enabled area, the contract for 18 months would be null and void and I'd not have to keep paying..I find this hard to believe??
I've also heard speeds can crash at weekends or peak times on BT?

Zen reacted quite aggressively to my email asking for a mac code and best deal. Offered me £67 installation as have been with them for years.
Don't know about the router?

Zen raised the questions they know prey on customers' minds about CS and service quality with BT. I don't know the answer to them - any views? this is what they sent me, presumably pro forma to all clients.

1. Where is their technical support based? UK or overseas? How much do they charge per minute when contacting them?

2. Do they employ fully trained IT support staff or script readers and call handlers? If they use script readers based overseas how would this affect you if you had any problems with your connection?

3. Is there any kind of traffic management or bandwidth throttling at peak times or when you use a certain amount of usage (known as Fair Usage Policy)? Again, how would this affect you and how do you feel about not getting the maximum speed your line is capable of?

4. How long is the contract and what are the termination/exit fees for leaving? Bear in mind you may be unhappy with the service, but stuck with them for a long period of time.

5. If they charge for additional usage, how much is it and do they charge per gigabyte or would you be forced to purchase more than you require e.g. a block of 5 gigabytes, when you only require one. And also does your upload data count towards your usage, how would this affect the Fair Usage Policy if they have one?

kwikbreaks

spike7451 wrote: »

BT are recruiting over 90 Broadband installation engineers in my area..I have an interview next week!

Spike old mate a little tip - make sure you get plenty of mud on your boots for the interview as they'll want to be sure you fit in with the existing blokes and from my experience traipsing mud into houses is an essential part of the service (that's on phones but I guess it will be a common culture).

macman

Which Infinity package are you considering, Option 1 or Option 2?
Most of the info you are asking for is given the BT Infinity website:
http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/consumerProducts/displayTopic.do?topicId=29017&s_cid=con_ppc_maxus_vidZ59_Broadband&vendorid=Z59
BT are investing huge sums on Infinity roll out, if you want it then you can certainly negotiate the install fee to zero!

spike7451

kwikbreaks wrote: »

Spike old mate a little tip - make sure you get plenty of mud on your boots for the interview as they'll want to be sure you fit in with the existing blokes and from my experience traipsing mud into houses is an essential part of the service (that's on phones but I guess it will be a common culture).

I have a mate I used to work with going for his interview on Monday so he's going to give me a head up what to expect for mine.Phoned the girl who is dealing with the post's & she said that so far they have started 13 bods with relavant experience (like mine with NTL/VM) so fingers crossed.
Anyway,I don't have muddy boots...I wear blue booties!:p

kwikbreaks

Good luck with the interview. I'm not sure the VM experience is relevant though - their installers took their boots off when they did mine.

pigeonpie

macman wrote: »

Which Infinity package are you considering, Option 1 or Option 2?
Most of the info you are asking for is given the BT Infinity website:
http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/consumerProducts/displayTopic.do?topicId=29017&s_cid=con_ppc_maxus_vidZ59_Broadband&vendorid=Z59
BT are investing huge sums on Infinity roll out, if you want it then you can certainly negotiate the install fee to zero!

It seems to be Option 1 with a 40GB limit. I'm going to ask for a bit longer to think about it. Financially it makes sense IF it works fine but having to deal with BT for complaints, dropped connections or (as I've read about) speeds crawling to 2mb sometimes - in fact having to talk to BT at all - may be not worth it.
If I thought by waiting 6 months or so I'd have a lot more choice of ISP providers, I would 100% wait. Sales staff already told me the upload would be 7mg whereas that link says 2mb. Hmm.....Zen are £36 pm, not worth it.

macman

I can't see the point of a fast fibre connection with such a low cap as the 40GB on Option 1. Or rather, I can-it's just so that they can advertise a lower headline price for Infinity, and then bump people up to Option 2 when they go over.
PS: the usage limit is all usage-download, upload, streaming, surfing-it all counts.
Do you actually need the much greater speed of FTTC/Infinity if you already have 5MBps? Maybe what you need is just a decent ISP who doesn't contend or throttle your speed at peak hours?
What are your other LLU options?

pigeonpie

macman wrote: »

I can't see the point of a fast fibre connection with such a low cap as the 40GB on Option 1. Or rather, I can-it's just so that they can advertise a lower headline price for Infinity, and then bump people up to Option 2 when they go over.
PS: the usage limit is all usage-download, upload, streaming, surfing-it all counts.
Do you actually need the much greater speed of FTTC/Infinity if you already have 5MBps? Maybe what you need is just a decent ISP who doesn't contend or throttle your speed at peak hours?
What are your other LLU options?

I've spent ages looking at reviews. They all agree with you on the first point ie if you do it, go for the unlimited. One v techie guy reckons that BT profile you and if you aren't a big user at the outset, they cut back your speeds. I don't know if true or he's paranoid!
I do wonder how they are going to cope with all the new customers...

I am happy with my ISP but they aren't cheap and have a 10GB monthly limit which means we cut back on iPlayer, spotify, video streaming etc. Their upload speed is dire so I can't upload photos to websites really. We have old copper cable round here in London so no ISP is fast - the line can't support more than 6mb download.
Maybe should ask Ms BT Sales what deal she can offer us on the unlimited package? Do you know how you find out how far the flat is from the street cabinet? thanks