topic Fairly confused in Everything else

Fairly confused

gardent — Sat, 27 Jun 2026 11:20:57 GMT

Have I thought these changes through sufficiently? I have been reading many threads here and I understand things a lot better than before, but I am not yet confident enough to proceed. I posted in 'everything else' because it seems to be more than one topic. I assume someone will shift it if I'm wrong.

What we have-
1/ BT home phone on overhead cable, with old secondhand BT handset. It is hardly ever used but I prefer to keep it for the moment. We have mobile phones for occasional use.
2/ ADSL broadband from Plusnet, using a secondhand plusnet technicolour router. Usual speed is nearly 3Mb. (Its a long way to the cabinet) Our Force9 email has already been transferred to Greenby. I don't know about the free webspace.

We have recently received the same scaremongering letter from BT that has been mentioned by several people here.
I don't like hassle and I don't like firms who get you stressed out by making you ring up to do anything, but I can see I am going to have no choice.

What I think we need to do-
Arrange smallest size of full fibre from Plusnet. (Last time I checked I can't have FTTC, it has to be FTTP) Make sure they supply a newer router.
Arrange voipphone account with Voipfone or A&A. Tell them what our number is. The Plusnet account is in my husband's name so this will presumably also have to be in his name.
Buy new simple corded phone and adapter. (from voipfone? if so, when?)

Questions-
How much of this can be organised online?
What is the right procedure/jargon for changing our old broadband contract (no expiry date) to FTTP?
Can I continue to ignore BTs letter or is the 30 day limit 'to upgrade' mentioned at the end, relevant to something they need telling?

How quickly will 'they' fit the fibre and what happens if there are holdups or problems? The broadband availability checker says 'single dwelling unit OH feed with no anticipated issues' which sounds promising. The nearest pole (carrying electric cable as well) in next door's hedge only serves us two and the other house(which has never had broadband) is for sale. They cannot bring the fibre through our downstairs wall which is three foot thick rubble stone, which blocks wifi in some areas. Upstairs is brick. (The current phoneline comes through a wooden window frame but the windows are due to be replaced) I have no idea where to tell them to put the CSP/ONT. The spare bedroom would probably give best wifi coverage and I could arrange an extension cable as a temporary power socket. Unlike master socket to router, am I right that the ONT to router is ethernet? who provides that cable? How long can it be? If this works, the ethernet cables to our current PCs will need rerouting. Can the new router be tested without the PCs attached or will we have to move the cables in advance, despite not knowing if the engineer will agree to the suggested ONT location?

Have I missed anything?

Re: Fairly confused

bmc — Sat, 27 Jun 2026 11:53:20 GMT

@gardent

Full fibre is available to you and can be ordered online. FF74 is the slowest speed available. It requires a new contract. Timing depends on how busy OR are.

It may be possible to get an internal CSP and ONT in the upstairs room. Is it in the same side of the house as the overhead cable. The router does connect via ethernet cable so can be anywhere you're happy to run cable. A power extension would do short term until you can sort something out more permanent for power.

I've attached two pictures. The first shows an upstairs install with an internat CSP. The second is in the loft where the home owner did a bit of prep which the engineer was more than happy to use. Both were from O/H feeds.

All you can do is think of the possibilities and talk to the engineer on the day. Also have a look at

https://www.openreach.com/help-and-support/full-fibre-broadband-installation-checklist#accordion-b43490109a-item-56113228ba

Do nothing with your phone until you have Full Fibre installed and running. You then have 30 days to port the number to your chosen VOIP provider. As you don't make many outgoing calls A&A could be a good choice. One ot their options is to send incoming calls to VoiceMail, a copy of which then gets sent to you by email.

https://www.aa.net.uk/voice-and-mobile/voip-information/

Brian

Re: Fairly confused

Baldrick1 — Sat, 27 Jun 2026 13:09:28 GMT

@gardent

How much of this can be organised online?

All of it.

What is the right procedure/jargon for changing our old broadband contract (no expiry date) to FTTP?

Sign up for Full Fibre with Plusnet. They will inform BT that you are leaving. Don’t inform BT because if they cancel your phone it will cease the Plusnet service.

Can I continue to ignore BTs letter or is the 30 day limit 'to upgrade' mentioned at the end, relevant to something they need telling?

Providing you sign up with Plusnet soon you should be OK. If you leave it BT will take over your current broadband connection, which will automatically close your Plusnet account.

How quickly will 'they' fit the fibre and what happens if there are holdups or problems?

That depends on how busy Openreach are in your area. You will not know until you sign up for the upgrade.

am I right that the ONT to router is ethernet? who provides that cable? How long can it be?

Yes, use Cat5e Ethernet cable. The upgrade will come with a new router with a 1m long one, any longer you have to provide yourself. Maximum length 100m.

Have I missed anything?

You must not port your telephone number to a VoIP provider until you have confirmation that your Full Fibre installation is complete. You then have 30 days before the number is lost. If you do this in the wrong order both your BT and Plusnet services will be ceased.

Re: Fairly confused

gardent — Sat, 27 Jun 2026 14:42:46 GMT

Thank you @bmc
The overhead cable is not on the same wall but it is only round one corner. I assume the new cable will be sufficiently armoured against the pebbledash that it can cope with that.
In your second picture what is the narrow box to the right of the ONT?
The openreach page you linked to says 'the engineer will connect your main device to the new router' so it looks like at least one pc does need its ethernet rerouting in advance.
If I end up after installation day with the new fibre in one side of the house and the old phone line at the other side, when will the phone actually stop working? Not until the voip company request the number sounds unlikely but possible!

@Baldrick1
Thank you. It sounds like I had better get on to ordering fibre as soon as possible.

Reading this forum one becomes aware of a worrying number of things that can go wrong. If anything happens during the number porting when the phone is off there will be problems. No one would wait 40 minutes to get through to a helpline on a pay as you go mobile!