SoGEA

[#1]

Hello. I'm invited to renew my BB contract in March, which is copper to the house (rural location; 2 miles from exchange)

I don't need voice anymore - so can I renew BB as a SoGEA service yet, or do I have to wait until 2027?

Thanks for your help

[#2]

@JDG welcome to the community.

There is no reason to wait until 2027, many SoGEA users now.

[#3]

@JDG 

PN will be more than happy to transfer you to SOGEA now - not least because the line rental they pay BTWholesale is going up significantly (20%?) in April and again in July and October.

Brian

[#4]

Sorry, folks, but the above are not strictly true.

I've spent an hour on the phone to a helpful chap from Plusnet who confirmed PN cannot  provide me with SoGEA, because my connection in rural Devon is all copper (despite there being a FTTC cabinet two  miles away).

They need FFTC-Copper for SoGEA

This means:

I can't get broadband only, which means -

I can't therefore contract a 3rd party to provide VoIP (because PN won't be providing VoIP  when voice services are turned off)...

The EE 4G Broadband with VoIP that PN pushed me towards might be a solution… except the EE website for the past week states “technical error. Please phone etc…”

I have been promised that I won’t lose my service, and that as soon as Openreach provides FTTC or full-fibre, I’ll be upgraded.

If only BT, Plusnet, Openreach & EE were connected to each other– oh, they are, aren’t they

Rant over. Thanks for reading!

[#5]

@JDG 

Can you post  a screen image of the results from the following after hiding personal details. Include the narrative below the window.

https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL

Also what does www.openreach.co.uk say for your property regards Full Fibre

I suspect you are on an ADSL connection. While there is a digital equivalent (SOADSL) PN are not offering it. If FF doesn't appear before the PSTN switchoff then you will be forced to move to an ISP for internet unless mobile internet is an option.

Very few ISP's offer this so it might be BT!!!

Brian

[#6]

If you are still on ADSL and FTTC / SoGEA is not available at your premises, then re-contracting as is on ADSL / PTSN ought to be possible… but probably only be phoning COTS.

Contact Customer Options Team (aka COTS)

COTs is the place to go to if you want to find out anything to do with your contract in respect of leaving, renewing or simply enquiring about early termination charges (ETCs). They have their own number and tend to answer quicker than the general customer service number.

Call this number 0800 432 0080 and press 2 and it takes you straight to a Sales/COT advisor. You get two simple options of 'are you an existing member' or 'are you new'.

Open

• 8am - 8pm Monday to Friday
• 9am - 7pm Saturday
• 9am - 6pm Sunday

If there are no fibre services at all, the some service must be made available over an all copper circuit.

@Gandalf are you able to offer guidance on Plusnet’s strategy for fibre not spots please?

If it’s a fibre not spot, it’s probably also a mobile not spot.

[#7]

---

@bmc wrote:

@JDG 

PN will be more than happy to transfer you to SOGEA now...

---

Err... Not in my experience, when I tried to renew my existing FTTC contract as SOGEA (which was available at my address)!

Was 'persuaded' by COTS to convert to FF - which eventually led to some issues. However, all settled down now on my FF connection. If SOGEA is what you really want you may need to fight for it.

PS. Are PN COTS staff paid an incentive bonus for how many customers they convert to FF? 🙂

[#8]

@pvmb 

It is neither that simple nor a conspiracy.

If a location has FF and is a fibre priority exchange then no ISP has the option to offer SoGEA as a switch from ADSL / FTTC.  BTOR simply will not offer the product / process the order.

If both FTTP and SoGEA are available, then a preference to provide FTTP is understandable as maintenance costs will be lower, performance will be better and support costs are likely to be much lower.

[#9]

...My location is not on a "FTTP Priority Exchange" and SOGEA is "Available".

[#10]

@pvmb 

My location is not on a "FTTP Priority Exchange" and SOGEA is "Available"

So am I, but for a new and renewing contract regardless of comms provider I am only offered Full Fibre. Ignoring any blockers, If Full Fibre is available I not sure why anyone with a would not upgrade to it.

@JDG 

Sorry for any confusion, you can indeed only get SoGEA on a FTTC connection, I did not read in to your comment the detail behind "which is copper to the house (rural location; 2 miles from exchange)"  FTTC/SoGEA is also a copper delivery.

[#11]

@JDG 

Post #1 two miles from the exchange 

Post #4 two miles from the FTTC cabinet 

Was this originally an EO line and subsequently BTOR put a FTTC cabinet outside the exchange?

The normal deployment of the local network is a d-side copper pair to a local green cabinet it being connected to the exchange by an e-side copper trunk and fibre.  For FTTC it is the distance between the premises and the cabinet which matters - above 2km VDSL is somewhat useless, probably no better than ADSL at 4 miles.

Many rural locations had no cabinets and the “d-side” copper pair went straight to the exchange which is known as Exchange Only (EO).  FTTC cannot be delivered over an EO connection so to get around that BTOR has installed FTTC cabinets outside the exchange door.

Are you confident this applies here?  The product availability report will indicate which cabinet on your exchange supplies your connection.  Sam knows used to show where every cabinet is located.  It’s been a while since I looked at that site.

There have been scenarios where users are not connected to the nearest FTTC cabinet and it has been possible to get the d-side connection re-routed.

[#12]

@JDG said "I can't therefore contract a 3rd party to provide VoIP". Sorry, but this is just plain wrong!

VOIP runs over your internet connection; you already have one! The fact that it is copper all the way to the exchange is irrelevant.

The only complication "might" be that there is an associated phone number linked to that line and transferring that, if you wanted to keep it, to VOIP may well be complicated, depending exactly what technical options there are for your line. Others can advise on that, not me.

There's nothing whatsoever preventing you contracting for VOIP right now with a new/additional number.

[#13]

Looks like the only available product is SOADSL, which we don't currently offer, but you can re-contract on your current ADSL package for the time being. I don't think a decision has yet been made regarding this in the future, but we're still working through the different scenarios and should be in touch before landlines are turned off.

[#14]

@HPsauce 

That point is well made … but only adds to the confusion over exactly what is the issue here.  In post #1 the user states they don’t want / have no need for a voice service … whilst post #4 complains about not being able to commission VoIP.

It has not been stated explicitly that this is ADSL and if it is, which version.  At 2 miles the speed is likely to be low single digits which might be marginal for VoIP.

Given the stop sell on WLR porting the existing number to VoIP might be impossible unless a line re-number remains a orderable option.

[#15]

@Gandalf 

Thank you, that’s the answer / disposition I anticipated but given the twilight zone approaching the demise of PTSN … the options NOW in fibre not spots is murky.

Are there currently any thoughts on how the business will handle existing contracts in circumstances where the business becomes unable to supply service?  I’m thinking about the similarity to an in-contract user moving house to a property to which Plusnet cannot supply service (no BTOR fibre infrastructure) yet the customer remains liable for ETCs.  Where a customer is in contract for ADSL and fibre is not available might they similarly face ETCs upon making the necessary choice to switch to a provider offering SOADSL?