Vodafone going to provide a full-fibre line to the house. But will I then be tied to them?

ThisIsWeird

I have been informed by Vodafone that they are proposing to upgrade my current 'copper' landline connection to full-fibre. That's all seemingly good - faster, more reliable, same LL phone number (but going through interweb), same monthly cost, etc. and with no installation charge to me.

My only Q is, if Vodafone carries out this upgrade, what happens if in the future I wish to change service providers?! Will the new BB provider be able to 'take over' Vodafone's physical fibre connection? Or, with the old 'copper' line removed, will I now be 'tied' to Vodafone, at least without the new provider adding an additional fibre?!

I have asked on Vodafone's Community site, and the seemingly best answer was, "It really depends on whose Full Fibre they will be using in your location, but no, you will not be tied to Vodafone.

However the choice of other ISP's will be more limited if it is CityFibre, than if it is Openreach."

Can anyone confirm this is the case, please? And should I be concerned about not having Openreach's options?

If I were to go with an Openreachy-type ISP provider later, what would this new lot do - install a new fibre alongside? Replace the existing? Take it over? What?!

Ta.

400ixl

If City Fibre put in the fibre to property then yes you will be limited to those ISP's running over their infrastructure. If in the future you wanted to switch to an OpenReach provider (assuming they also provide to the property) then they would then need to install their fibre to property. It would likely mean you have to terminate the current OpenReach connection and then pay for a new connection in the futre should you switch back.

The only way you would be tied to Vodafone (god forbid given their service reputation) would be if they are the only supplier to City Fibre.

Or are you saying that Vodafone is putting in the fibre infrastructure themselves? That would be a different answer altogether.

RumRat

City fibre have over 30 partners including Vodafone, TalkTalk, Zen and Giganet.  You are not tied to vodafone call one of the other partners (or all) and see what they are offering. Vodafone have just got to you first making it look like it's just them.

35har1old

ThisIsWeird said:

I have been informed by Vodafone that they are proposing to upgrade my current 'copper' landline connection to full-fibre. That's all seemingly good - faster, more reliable, same LL phone number (but going through interweb), same monthly cost, etc. and with no installation charge to me.

My only Q is, if Vodafone carries out this upgrade, what happens if in the future I wish to change service providers?! Will the new BB provider be able to 'take over' Vodafone's physical fibre connection? Or, with the old 'copper' line removed, will I now be 'tied' to Vodafone, at least without the new provider adding an additional fibre?!

I have asked on Vodafone's Community site, and the seemingly best answer was, "It really depends on whose Full Fibre they will be using in your location, but no, you will not be tied to Vodafone.

However the choice of other ISP's will be more limited if it is CityFibre, than if it is Openreach."

Can anyone confirm this is the case, please? And should I be concerned about not having Openreach's options?

If I were to go with an Openreachy-type ISP provider later, what would this new lot do - install a new fibre alongside? Replace the existing? Take it over? What?!

Ta.

Is it Ultra fast OR Super fast broadband

ThisIsWeird

Thank you everyone.

To clarify - I'm already with Voda, having transferred a year or so ago after decades with TalkTalk (from the days of Tiscali...) after getting fed up having to haggle each year with TT - and they removed the free SIM. Voda had a great deal at the time, so I switched (and then spent more than a month getting my old LL number transferred).

But, since then, the service has been fine - no issues.

I'm currently on Superfast 1 (I think), essentially around 35Mbps - which is fine.

This is what the proposed change is:

We got in touch recently to let you know we’re updating the broadband technology in your area. Your current broadband service is using outdated copper lines. As you may have already seen in the news, the UK government has committed to retiring this older technology over the next few years. This is to ensure more investment in the rollout of the new full fibre network – the UK’s most reliable broadband technology.

What this means

As a Vodafone Broadband customer, we’re prioritising your update to this new technology to ensure you’re able to experience an even better connection with full fibre.

With a 100% full fibre connection, you’ll enjoy:

Faster internet speeds with a full fibre connection all the way to your home, much faster speeds can be achieved (up to 910Mbps† at most homes).

A much more reliable connection Our full fibre broadband uses the UK’s most reliable broadband technology. It’s less susceptible to interference – giving you speeds that you can rely on, at all times

Higher quality calls via a digital landline which uses your broadband to connect calls.

Please note, this may impact how you use your landline today, for more information on this please see our FAQs page. Please note your existing contract including broadband plan, speed monthly bill and telephone number will remain the same.

What happens next?As a reminder - this update will require an engineer visit to install full fibre in your home and you will be required to confirm an engineer appointment at a time that suits you.

So I do anticipate having to buy a new 'LandLine' phone, but that's no big deal, and we only receive calls on it currently - we use our mobs for making calls as it's all included.

My only concern was being 'tied' to Voda.

Interesting that TalkTalk is also seemingly with CityFibre (thanks RumRat), as I'm pretty sure they were with Openreach when I transferred to Voda - hence the LL number transfer agony.

Cool - I'll just let it roll... :-)

Chickereeeee

Locally, Cityfibre have installed the line (to telephone poles) and their 'launch partner' is Vodafone. I believe this means you can only use Vodafone for now, but eventually (not sure how long) other ISPs with agreements with Cityfibre will also be available. 

prowla

I've just signed up with Zen, who are one of CityFibre's partners in my area; if you go via CityFibre's website and enter your postcode they'll show you their partners - Vodafone and TalkTalk were also on the list.

I view it as a plus that they are on different infrastructure to BT (and Virgin), since it means I now have a choice of three cables & exchanges.

daveyjp

The Cityfibre comment by Vodaphone rep is causing confusion,

If you are on copper at the moment it will be Openreach cables (old BT infrastructure).

Vodaphone aren't upgrading any cabling.  Openreach will be replacing their copper with fibre, you will continue with Vodaphone as an existing customer, but you will be able to choose another Openreach provider as you did when moving from Talktalk.

Cityfibre are a completely different provider of fibre and have never used copper.  Vodaphone are often Cityfibre preferred supplier for a few months following installation of their fibre network to an area before it is then opened up to other providers.

Stompa

Chickereeeee said:

Locally, Cityfibre have installed the line (to telephone poles) and their 'launch partner' is Vodafone. I believe this means you can only use Vodafone for now, but eventually (not sure how long) other ISPs with agreements with Cityfibre will also be available. 

For us, Vodafone had a 1 year exclusivity agreement, meaning they were the only available provider for one year after the line became active. That year has now passed and there are now 13 available providers.

ThisIsWeird

daveyjp said:

The Cityfibre comment by Vodaphone rep is causing confusion,

If you are on copper at the moment it will be Openreach cables (old BT infrastructure).

Vodaphone aren't upgrading any cabling.  Openreach will be replacing their copper with fibre, you will continue with Vodaphone as an existing customer, but you will be able to choose another Openreach provider as you did when moving from Talktalk.

Cityfibre are a completely different provider of fibre and have never used copper.  Vodaphone are often Cityfibre preferred supplier for a few months following installation of their fibre network to an area before it is then opened up to other providers.

Thanks.

If the 'Vodafone Rep' comment is from my post above (from the Voda community), then I'm not sure it was an official Rep, or just another user.

Yes, my current copper line is Openreach. Do you know if this will stay in place when the new fibre is put in? I know that ultimately that copper will go, but will it remain until the national fibre network change-over date (whenever that will be)?

What does Openreach do meanwhile regarding delivering fibre?! I presume they also have a national program to upgrade everything, so what happens when they come to 'my' telegraph post and see there's already a fibre there?! Is it "Oops - beaten literally to the post", or "We'll add ours..."?

Or, if I were change to an Openreach-serviced ISP, what would they do? Add another fibre?

It always amuses me when such companies provide a FAQ page - and none of the answers you really need are on there...

Jumblebumble

ThisIsWeird said:

daveyjp said:

The Cityfibre comment by Vodaphone rep is causing confusion,

If you are on copper at the moment it will be Openreach cables (old BT infrastructure).

Vodaphone aren't upgrading any cabling.  Openreach will be replacing their copper with fibre, you will continue with Vodaphone as an existing customer, but you will be able to choose another Openreach provider as you did when moving from Talktalk.

Cityfibre are a completely different provider of fibre and have never used copper.  Vodaphone are often Cityfibre preferred supplier for a few months following installation of their fibre network to an area before it is then opened up to other providers.

Thanks.

If the 'Vodafone Rep' comment is from my post above (from the Voda community), then I'm not sure it was an official Rep, or just another user.

Yes, my current copper line is Openreach. Do you know if this will stay in place when the new fibre is put in? I know that ultimately that copper will go, but will it remain until the national fibre network change-over date (whenever that will be)?

What does Openreach do meanwhile regarding delivering fibre?! I presume they also have a national program to upgrade everything, so what happens when they come to 'my' telegraph post and see there's already a fibre there?! Is it "Oops - beaten literally to the post", or "We'll add ours..."?

Or, if I were change to an Openreach-serviced ISP, what would they do? Add another fibre?

It always amuses me when such companies provide a FAQ page - and none of the answers you really need are on there...

In our street Openreach installed full FTTP 12 months ago and we connected via BT Business
At the same time Vodafone were putting leaflets through my door
Last week a man from Community Fibre was up the pole dealing with a neighbours connection
As no one has dug up the roads since last year I suspect everything goes back to the exchange over Openreach installed fibre