Now Broadband + Talk contract renewal - Openreach provider is a must

mac.d

easysaver said:

The cheapest EE product is the same speed and price as BT, to be expected.

For future reference - https://www.openreach.com/fibre-broadband/fttp-providers
Vodafone is listed but may also use CityFibre, and a quick search on Sky comes up with a Sky forum post saying they have recently started using CityFibre as well.

I'd guess that where a provider can use either Openreach or CityFibre then surely it's most cost effective to use an existing fibre line rather than install a brand new one. But I guess that depends on their contractual agreements with the suppliers. It's the uncertainty that's the killer for me.

My price with EE was agreed over the phone with BT retentions & £3 per month cheaper than BT could offer, I wrongly assumed their advertised prices would be slightly cheaper too.

I don't think the cost effectiveness of existing v a new fibre line comes into it, would imagine it's CityFibre offering access to their infrastructure for slightly cheaper than Openreach?

mac.d

dnpark38 said:

I'm with ZEN on BT/Open Reach and they are expensive compared to the adverts which abound on Facebook.

I'd noted a drop in their prices via their own website, and when I spoke to them they were obviously keen to sign up a new customer, but when I queried it they were pretty clear about the cheaper price only being available via CityFibre. I should've known better, they've always been good but expensive!

Whereas when I spoke to someone from Sky, I suspected their cheap deal was the same, but they were evasive and the guy either didn't know or pretended he didn't know the difference, then hung up on me. 

easysaver

It turns out that the biggest deal to be done was with my partner to give up the home phone. That's enabled a switch to Plusnet which with any luck will be through the Openreach network and pretty seamless (just the router to swap over and post back the old one to Sky).
According to the CityFibre postcode checker (https://cityfibre.com/homes) the connections include Sky, Vodafone, TalkTalk and Zen as well as many other, mainly smaller, providers. I wonder if I were to switch back to Sky after my 24 month contract if they'd use the existing line or route one through CityFibre (assuming they use the same networks at that time)?

dnpark38

PlusNet are part of BT so I'm 99.9% certain they will use Open Reach.
Regarding the future could be OR but I guess if an Alt. network is cheaper for Sky then they will use the Alt.

easysaver

It was Plusnet or BT to guarantee an Openreach installation. Not sure what I'll do in a couple of years time when it comes to switching again, I hope I won't be barred from BT new customer offers when switching from Plusnet. No doubt I'll be revisiting this in two years time.

mac.d

Also consider EE for future switching, as they're obviously BT too. I 'switched' to them via a phone call with BT retentions and apart from logging into a new EE account and getting an EE branded bill, its still using the same BT router, didn't have to change anything. When I look to renew in future, I'll possibly try Plusnet.

Zen had a reasonable offer at the time I was renewing, but it was via CityFibre and I think Sky were the same, although I couldn't get a clear answer from them.

brewerdave

easysaver said:

It was Plusnet or BT to guarantee an Openreach installation. Not sure what I'll do in a couple of years time when it comes to switching again, I hope I won't be barred from BT new customer offers when switching from Plusnet. No doubt I'll be revisiting this in two years time.

I believe that BT are in the process of moving customers as fast as possible to the EE brand. Their strategy appears to be to turn BT to a business only brand . In two years time there may not be any offers for home customers with BT.

dnpark38

BT needs to do something about the future of Open Reach only a few weeks ago BRSK did an Alt. network and it is surprising how many houses now have two cables from tops of the OR poles.
I never expected an Alt. to get a take up so quick, obviously the Alt. must be attracting Sky, Zen etc. with lower costs and taking business away from BT/OR.
I'm hoping that my provider Sky doesn't swap me over to a new Alt. cable.

Ectophile

I suspect the alt. fibre companies will end up like cable TV.  They will run out of money and stop fibreing up new areas.  That leaves the rest for Openreach.

There is an alt. fibre company in my town.  I live towards the edge of town.  The fibre company ran out of money and went bust before they ever got to me.  They were bought out and are still trading, but the rollout has slowed down massively.

Meanwhile Openreach's slow and steady fibre rollout has reached my litle exchange, so I now have Openreach fibre.  If there any point in the alt. fibre company even doing my road when Openreach got there first?

iniltous

brewerdave said:

easysaver said:

It was Plusnet or BT to guarantee an Openreach installation. Not sure what I'll do in a couple of years time when it comes to switching again, I hope I won't be barred from BT new customer offers when switching from Plusnet. No doubt I'll be revisiting this in two years time.

I believe that BT are in the process of moving customers as fast as possible to the EE brand. Their strategy appears to be to turn BT to a business only brand . In two years time there may not be any offers for home customers with BT.

That’s no longer the case , a change of senior management changed the policy, so BT is remaining a consumer brand not just business but there is still a soft push to get BT residential customers onto EE so EETV and mobile can be bundled onto the same bill