Upgrading to FTTP 21 March 2022 at 1:23PM edited 21 March 2022 at 1:28PM in Broadband & internet access 5 replies 223 views

Belenus

We are switching from BT broadband FTTC to Sky FTTP.

Our current set up is that a traditional copper wire enters the house near the front door. (CE in floor plan) When we bought the 17 year old house 12 years ago we arranged for the master socket to be moved from near the front door to the rear of the house (MS in floor plan) using the copper wiring originally installed when the house was built 17 years ago. Our router is sited next to the master socket.

We do not want any new cables run through the house.

We currently get about 70 mbs with BT FTTC. That is more than adequate for our needs. We used to get only about 5 mbs with Talk Talk and even that was fine for our usage.

What are our choices?

Will Openreach install fibre as far as CE at the front door and use the existing internal copper cables. We don't mind if that reduces our speeds.

Will they run fibre around the outside of the house along the right side and enter the house behind the MS?

Will they want to install fibre through the house which will involve internal disruption.

We do not want the Master Socket or Router moved back to the front door as we use ethernet cables under the carpet to connect our Sky+ box and our Vortexbox music system to the router.

Can we have the router at the front door and a second router in that corner of the sitting room?

Comments and advice please, especially if we are missing anything relevant and important.

Thanks

HaroldWren5

There are two main elements to an FTTP installation:

1. Feeding a fibre cable from the nearby terminal from the nearby telegraph pole or underground chamber to a new Customer Service Point (CSP) box on the outside of the property (which does not involve the entry of an engineer to the property).
2. Installation of an FTTP modem – known as the Optical Network Termination (ONT) – inside the property, which is then plugged into any electrical mains power socket.

Any broadband router/hub (usually provided by the broadband provider) is then connected to this new ONT. 

Typically, installation takes about two hours. There’s usually some flexibility on where the ONT modem is installed, so you do not have to locate it next to your existing telephone "Master socket". The Master socket itself becomes redundant as far as your new FTTP broadband goes. It all comes via the new (external) Fibre wire which gets connected into your new ONT box (internal) via the CSP (external). 

J_B

Belenus said:

We are switching from BT broadband FTTC to Sky FTTP.

Why, when later you say this ...

We currently get about 70 mbs with BT FTTC. That is more than adequate for our needs. We used to get only about 5 mbs with Talk Talk and even that was fine for our usage.

What are our choices?

Your best option surely is to stay with what you have

Comments and advice please, especially if we are missing anything relevant and important.

Hmm comments in bold above - am I missing something ?

QrizB

To answer a couple of your specific questions:

Belenus said:

Will Openreach install fibre as far as CE at the front door and use the existing internal copper cables. We don't mind if that reduces our speeds.

Your existing copper cables will be redundant unless you intend to keep wired analogue phones. They will not be used for data.

Will they run fibre around the outside of the house along the right side and enter the house behind the MS?

You'll need to discuss that with the OR engineer.

Will they want to install fibre through the house which will involve internal disruption.

Unlikely.

Can we have the router at the front door and a second router in that corner of the sitting room?

See HaroldWren5's post above for the specifics of the equipment OR will supply. You can of course add your own additional network equipment and cabling if desired.

Comments and advice please, especially if we are missing anything relevant and important.

OR's responsibility stops at the ONT (FTTP modem). Everything downstream of it is yours to deal with as you wish (albeit the router is usually provided by your ISP).

Belenus

Thanks for all the helpful comments. 

J_B, the reason we are moving away from BT is reliability and cost.

Our BT broadband is excellent when it works but it fails regularly. It either fails completely requiring a reboot of the router or it slows to a crawl. A router swap and two visits by OpenReach have not resolved that issue.

We have had Sky TV for 22 years and they have offered us a very attractive deal on our current TV package and a new broadband package that will save us about £70 a month.

Belenus

We will see what happens when Openreach install the fibre service. 

We may need to rethink the current Ethernet connections for our Sky+ box and Vortexbox.

Years ago Sky sent us a wireless dongle for the Sky+ box which we still have but have never used.

We can probably get a wireless dongle for the Vortexbox if we can no longer use Ethernet.