Returning to BT line after virgin - without FTTP

letsbetfair

I'm thinking of moving my broadband to Virgin, and cancelling my current Vodafone broadband. This would save me money over the 1 year contract with virgin. After that, though, if I want to go back to a line installed by open reach companies only seem to want to offer me FTTP as this is now available in my area - which sounds great, but the placement of the line means the installer says they'd need to dig a big trench through my garden to install (mentioned 1m wide) and I get 50Mbps+ without FTTP which is fine. Could I switch back to somewhere like Vodafone after a year with virgin without needing to get FTTP installed, or would I need to do this if coming back?

iniltous

No , once FTTP from OR is available, it should be the default network, so joining Virgin for a period, ( presumably giving up your Vodafone FTTC over Openreach ) and then rejoining an OR provider will almost certainly require FTTP to be installed…FYI , it’s nothing like a 1m wide trench , it’s a ‘slit’ trench , sufficient to bury a small duct , probably around a quarter of the width you suggest …TBH , if Virgin are available, via a duct they ( or the Cable company of the time ) installed, the method used by OR will be pretty similar to what the cable company did all them years ago  , although obviously your garden may have changed.

12 months seems an unusual minimum term for VM , it’s more usual to be 18/24 months .

letsbetfair

Thanks! I appreciate that the installers were likely overstating the damage to avoid dealing with an upset customer after. I'm a bit worried that they talked about such a wide trench because they were just expecting to do it in a particularly cackhanded/damaging way, though!

macman

They can possibly use the existing VM ducting and run the fibre in parallel? All depends where the OR entry point is at the street end.

iniltous

Openreach cannot use Virgin ducts ( or anyone else’s ducts for that matter ) , PIA ( physical infrastructure acres ) is a one way street , anyone and everyone can use Openreach infrastructure while maintaining exclusive access on their own physical infrastructure, obviously running a new OR duct adjacent to an existing Virgin duct is possible, depending on the situation