Discuss the "Fibre to the premises (FTTP) broadband explained" guide

littleboo

startyourown said:

BT/Openreach installed the fibre cables to the top of all the telegraph poles in my area, so FTTP is available to those who want it.  My broadband deal (Fibre to the cabinet) was coming to an end so i searched four suppliers.  All four only offered FTTP. Two suppliers confirmed BT was enforcing this.  FTTC is more than adequate at 35Mbps but it seems I'll be forced to pay extra for FTTP. How can  BT abuse their position as a major internet infrastructure supplier in this way?

Because they aren't abusing anything, Openreach are doing exactly what Ofcom wants them to do. 

matelodave

startyourown said:

BT/Openreach installed the fibre cables to the top of all the telegraph poles in my area, so FTTP is available to those who want it.  My broadband deal (Fibre to the cabinet) was coming to an end so i searched four suppliers.  All four only offered FTTP. Two suppliers confirmed BT was enforcing this.  FTTC is more than adequate at 35Mbps but it seems I'll be forced to pay extra for FTTP. How can  BT abuse their position as a major internet infrastructure supplier in this way?

They aren't abusing their position, they are upgrading the network to the latest standards and will be decommissioning the existing copper networks over the next few years and have already dones so in some arears. They wont be running two parallel networks just to keep a few people happy.

At some time, possibly in the not too distant future you'll probably either have to transfer to fibre or lose service altogether when the copper stuff gets switced off (the target is 2025 for the whole network but some will be earlier)

It's much like the railways who changed from steam to diesel and electric or TV which went from analogue to digital a few years ago. You may think that you are being stitched up but it's the price of progress. 

Jenni_D

JJ_Egan said:

For what its worth as an early FTTP install i have .

FTTP 80/20 from BT  with non optical old style copper wire phone connection ( yes i know )

Old post I know, but I've only just seen it.

They lauded it to you as FTTP, yet it still uses copper for the last stretch? (So it's actually FTTC, or what BT used to market as Infinity 2?) 🙄

flaneurs_lobster

Isn't it just the landline connection that's over copper? Fibre for BBand.

[Deleted User]

flaneurs_lobster said:

Isn't it just the landline connection that's over copper? Fibre for BBand.

No idea with BT but Virgin have their own fibre down my street and the phone is on fibre. Breakout at the box at the house. Which means power off, phone off. I wouldn't expect BT to put a copper cable in for a DEL?
Funnily enough we are one of the area's BT have just put a fibre in, guess they saw the competition, which should make my switch at renewal cheaper.

onomatopoeia99

Jenni_D said:

JJ_Egan said:

For what its worth as an early FTTP install i have .

FTTP 80/20 from BT  with non optical old style copper wire phone connection ( yes i know )

Old post I know, but I've only just seen it.

They lauded it to you as FTTP, yet it still uses copper for the last stretch? (So it's actually FTTC, or what BT used to market as Infinity 2?) 🙄

Or it may be they only install the fibre from the pole to the house when someone orders.

Or fibre to the Pole may also be a thing at some point in the future, so the copper run is a few metres for homes where running the final piece of fibre is difficult (mine is likely to be one).  Clarity is often not a thing when people report conversations with mass market ISPs about broadband products.

matelodave

I've got the same a hybrid fibre/copper cable from the pole as JJ-Egan. Installed nearly four years ago.

The fibre is terminated in an OTU (Optical Terminal Unit) and provides broadband services and the copper pair provided phone service to the PSTN (Public Switch Telephone Network) in the normal way. 

About four months ago BT transferred the phone over to their Digita Voice network which is VoIP and disable the PSTN connection. My phone now plugs directly into the router rather than into the wall plate

brewerdave

matelodave said:

I've got the same a hybrid fibre/copper cable from the pole as JJ-Egan. Installed nearly four years ago.

The fibre is terminated in an OTU (Optical Terminal Unit) and provides broadband services and the copper pair provided phone service to the PSTN (Public Switch Telephone Network) in the normal way. 

About four months ago BT transferred the phone over to their Digita Voice network which is VoIP and disable the PSTN connection. My phone now plugs directly into the router rather than into the wall plate

How does that work with Sky or TalkTalk FTTP? The router that my s-i-l has from Sky on FTTP doesn't appear to have a "phone connection" socket.

[Deleted User]

I expect a bit of crossover until all fibre. Duct space is limited and the legacy stuff I would fully expect to be reclaimed and decommissioned when new tech is all in.
In the main.

matelodave

have a look here - https://www.sky.com/help/articles/about-internet-calls. A trawl round the SKY set up info shows that their ultrafast router does have a phone socket here are the set up instructions https://www.sky.com/help/diagnostics/set-up-your-sky-hub/sky-broadband-hub-ont or even here https://static.skyassets.com/contentstack/assets/blt7f2b03fd02c7fe60/blt01cf3eab24e3997d/60e48d0be7a80f3c2a869b04/download?disposition=inline

I'd guess that when the PSTN service is switched off in an area then those who have telephony will have to be supplied with the appropriate router if they want to continue using a fixed phone.

My BT Hub2 has a sticky label over the telepohone port and I assume that if required the phone port on the ONT could be enabled  to provide phone services.

for those who really want to know a bit more about the optical network here's a video which explains it end to end - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ef3iiY3K4s