Switching to new FTTP provider timing

Chickereeeee

CityFibre have recently connected up the poles in the road, and I have had an email offering service via overhead lines. Their 'launch partner' is Vodafone, so that is the only option on the table at the moment at e.g. 200mbps for £29/month. I guess at some time in the future they will have to provide access for other ISPs, but there is no information as to when.

I am currently under contract with Plusnet.

My question (at last) is: does anybody have any experience  of whether it is better to go early with the launch partner, or wait until it settles down? Also, how long before alternative ISPs become available?

unforeseen

I guess at some time in the future they will have to provide access for other ISPs, 

Not necessarily, their network, their choice of allowing other providers. 

matelodave

AFAIK it only BT/Openreach who have to provide access to their infrastructure for other ISP's. I suspect that there's no requirement for "independent" infrastructure providers to to the same. Virgin dont't have to. However that said, there may be requirements to offer this if companies like City Fibre have taken advantage of government grants or loans.

I dont know what CF's  business model for the future looks like but here is an interesting article on the subject - https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2022/12/altnet-isp-giganet-to-open-uk-full-fibre-network-to-wholesale.html. 

iniltous

City Fibre build the network and in effect hope ISPs will  want to use it to offer service , Vodafone are obviously one such ISP ( if Cityfibre were an ISP rather than a network supplier they would be offering service directly to punters ) 
There is no guarantee other mainstream ISP will become available on CF , they haven’t made any exclusive period for VF , it’s simply VF have got on board, others ISPs presumably have yet done so , and may or may not sign up in the future .
Its not much use wondering if it’s a good move to be an early adopter of VF/CF , you won’t know until you join, even if someone else using that combination has a good or bad experience it won’t really inform you of what your likely experience will be.
TBH , if you are still inside a minimum term with Plusnet , presumably you will have to pay early termination charges to quit before the end of that period, so running both alongside each other won’t be much more expensive than quitting PN early paying ETC and just using CF/VF .

Chickereeeee

CityFibre offer other ISPs in other areas, so I guess they will here.

However, I did have the possiby incorrect assumption that the overhead fibre replaced the existing copper when you signed up. With no other ISP available, that would mean you would be trapped with Vodafone. I have now read that the copper access is retained, and the fibre run in parallel from the pole.

iniltous

Any existing wire from the pole to the premises is not City Fibres property, so they shouldn’t touch it , they obviously will provide their own cable , probably following the same route as the existing Openreach cable , even in circumstances where the homeowner may ask for the Openreach cable to be removed ( for aesthetic reasons ) CF shouldn’t really touch it