FTTP - no flexibility/ rental accom

RHud

Hi, I’ve just moved into a rental property and find out that broadband has switched from ADSL to FTTP. The only providers available to me are BT & Sky. Both only offer long term 18/24 contracts. Most people rent a property on a 12 month contract and flexibility is key either by securing services that are monthly rolling contracts or 12 month.  Nowtv, plusnet talk talk etc via ADSL/standard fibre. I find myself stuck. Without reliable internet at home I can’t work & neither can I use steaming services via 4g mobile or dongle as the signals are very poor locally I struggle to pick calls or use mobile internet.

From having access to a plethora of providers and choice of services I’ve now been restricted to 2 with long term contracts!

I contacted NowTv to buy a monthly rolling contract & was advised they can’t supply due to conversion to FTTP.
Does anyone have a similar problem? Or can advise how I can get back an ADSL or standard fibre service? Thanks

QrizB

A bit out-of-the-box but do you have a neighbour who would let you leech off their wifi?

iniltous

If the address is FTTP only , then you won’t be able to get ADSL/VDSL ( FTTC ) but you don’t have to take Ultrafast speeds on FTTP , you can take 40Mb for example , there is no difference in price ( with BT ) you pay the same for 40Mb on FTTC or FTTP,
If the length of contract is the issue ( because you are likely to move before the end of a longer 18/24 month  contract ) as long as you continue service with the that provider at the address you move to, (using their home mover service) that way there is no early termination charges  because you don’t terminate the deal early, you ‘move’ it to the new address.

There are more than two providers that offer service over Openreach FTTP, there are around 25, although some may only offer limited coverage 
https://www.openreach.com/fibre-broadband/fttp-providers

flashg67

Have you tried a sim from each provider.. All the networks show a good signal for me but in reality only Vodafone have a decent speed

RHud

Thanks for the feedback. The principle issue is the contract lengths of 24 months and lack of choice I discovered as consequence when I called other domestic providers who conveyed the limitations/no available service.

There are other local providers but they focus on B2B commercial not domestic. 

SIM (4g) on my mobile with 02 has terrible signal service and the 4gEE mini Wi-Fi device I bought 2 weeks ago at £55 p/m rolling contract with unlimited data also has a poor signal so both devices stutter, buffer, stall and drop out for calls and mobile internet and I can’t get a consistent signal throughout the property. The previous tenants ordered FTTP & moved service to a new address (the landlord wasn’t aware of FFTP).

If it’s possible to disconnect FTTP and revert back this issue is resolved as I have the whole market available with multiple products offerings. I would imagine most people who rent accommodation would not want to commit to terms beyond their contracts. If your a homeowner it’s a none issue.

brewerdave

RHud said:

If it’s possible to disconnect FTTP and revert back this issue is resolved as I have the whole market available with multiple products offerings. I would imagine most people who rent accommodation would not want to commit to terms beyond their contracts. If your a homeowner it’s a none issue.

Unfortunately Openreach's policy appears to be based on removing copper based solutions asap and not offering them once a property has been converted to FTTP.. No expert here ,but can you use an external booster aerial with the EE device? If not ,how about a 4g router which takes a SIM card ?

RogerBareford

RHud said:

Thanks for the feedback. The principle issue is the contract lengths of 24 months and lack of choice I discovered as consequence when I called other domestic providers who conveyed the limitations/no available service.

There are other local providers but they focus on B2B commercial not domestic. 

SIM (4g) on my mobile with 02 has terrible signal service and the 4gEE mini Wi-Fi device I bought 2 weeks ago at £55 p/m rolling contract with unlimited data also has a poor signal so both devices stutter, buffer, stall and drop out for calls and mobile internet and I can’t get a consistent signal throughout the property. The previous tenants ordered FTTP & moved service to a new address (the landlord wasn’t aware of FFTP).

If it’s possible to disconnect FTTP and revert back this issue is resolved as I have the whole market available with multiple products offerings. I would imagine most people who rent accommodation would not want to commit to terms beyond their contracts. If your a homeowner it’s a none issue.

Even if your a homeowner you can still move while in a fixed term contract for broadband and it's not often people would time a move to be at the end of a contract. So all you need to do is just take out the best contract you can find now and then if you do move before the end of the minimum term just change the service over to the new property. I've done this recently with BT for no extra charge.

kobe84

brewerdave said:

RHud said:

If it’s possible to disconnect FTTP and revert back this issue is resolved as I have the whole market available with multiple products offerings. I would imagine most people who rent accommodation would not want to commit to terms beyond their contracts. If your a homeowner it’s a none issue.

Unfortunately Openreach's policy appears to be based on removing copper based solutions asap and not offering them once a property has been converted to FTTP.. No expert here ,but can you use an external booster aerial with the EE device? If not ,how about a 4g router which takes a SIM card ?

Maybe OR's policy but that's based purely on the direction of travel pushed by OFCOM and the government.

matelodave

Companies like Zen do shorter term contracts but they tend to have higher up front and monthly costs and you'll probablt have to provide your own router or pay for their one. There are lots more companies than just Sky, TT, Vodafone or BT who offer broadband and who can often be be a bit more flexible, but you'll end up paying a lot more for the privilege for that flexibility.

Longer term contacts allow the provider to try an amortise the installation and connection cost over 18-24 months but obviously they cant do that for a short term or even a rolling contract, especially if there's the not inconsiderable upfront cost of installing extra fibre cabling from the street and optical terminal units in the customer's premises. Where openreach are cabling areas fro fibre then avaialbility of copper connect will gradually disappear as they dont want to be offering tow different competing serices.

An option is to see whether you could use a 4g router with an external antenna which can often give a significantly better service than a dongle or using a mobile phone as a router. Putting the antenna next to an upstairs window on the side of the house facing the provider's base station is likely to get a much better service than a piddly little dongle, plugged into the side of a laptop on the dining room table downstairs

It's a bit of a suck-it-and-see but have you tried all the 4g providers (Three, 02, EE and Vodafone) Get a cheap £5 paygo sim from each of them to see what sort of service you can get using your mobile phone upstairs on a windowsill.

If it's just about acceptable then it's likely (but not guaranteed) that a 4 or 5g router and antenna could improve it. You'd also have the advantage that you can take it with you if or when you move (or you can even take it on holiday)

We get a fairly decent Three signal where I live but EE and 02 are rubbish and Vodafone is just about acceptable (but its also better at the back of the house rather than the front). My mate cant use his mobile phone at all with any of the providers where he lives in the wilds of Essex.

HaroldWren5

RHud said:

Hi, I’ve just moved into a rental property and find out that broadband has switched from ADSL to FTTP. The only providers available to me are BT & Sky. Both only offer long term 18/24 contracts. Most people rent a property on a 12 month contract and flexibility is key either by securing services that are monthly rolling contracts or 12 month.  Nowtv, plusnet talk talk etc via ADSL/standard fibre. I find myself stuck. Without reliable internet at home I can’t work & neither can I use steaming services via 4g mobile or dongle as the signals are very poor locally I struggle to pick calls or use mobile internet.

From having access to a plethora of providers and choice of services I’ve now been restricted to 2 with long term contracts!

I contacted NowTv to buy a monthly rolling contract & was advised they can’t supply due to conversion to FTTP.
Does anyone have a similar problem? Or can advise how I can get back an ADSL or standard fibre service? Thanks

Can you not choose any FTTP provider that uses the same Openreach FTTP network that BT and Sky are using? That should include TalkTalk (18 months contracts), Cuckoo (30 day and 12 month contracts) and Shell Energy (18 month contracts) as well as Sky (18 months) and BT (12 month and 24 months). Vodafone offer FTTP at some Openreach addresses not all. In your case, I would recommend Cuckoo given you want a monthly rolling, or 12 month contracts. Provided the address is FTTP via Openreach, they would supply it. 

HaroldWren5

RHud said:

Thanks for the feedback. The principle issue is the contract lengths of 24 months and lack of choice I discovered as consequence when I called other domestic providers who conveyed the limitations/no available service.

There are other local providers but they focus on B2B commercial not domestic. 

SIM (4g) on my mobile with 02 has terrible signal service and the 4gEE mini Wi-Fi device I bought 2 weeks ago at £55 p/m rolling contract with unlimited data also has a poor signal so both devices stutter, buffer, stall and drop out for calls and mobile internet and I can’t get a consistent signal throughout the property. The previous tenants ordered FTTP & moved service to a new address (the landlord wasn’t aware of FFTP).

If it’s possible to disconnect FTTP and revert back this issue is resolved as I have the whole market available with multiple products offerings. I would imagine most people who rent accommodation would not want to commit to terms beyond their contracts. If your a homeowner it’s a none issue.

You can go for a 30 day rolling, or 12 month contract with Cuckoo with FTTP also as per above. That might be your best bet. They supply FTTP via Openreach (same as BT) on short contracts.