FTTC for businesses

[#1]

Hello
I'm an IT engineer and I'm getting increasing amounts of plusnet customers who would like to upgrade to a fibre product. Most are in areas where fibre is now available, but i notice at present Plusnet are only offering residential fibre products?  The was a thread on this three months back and i was wondering if packages are due for release?
On another note I tend to supply Draytek routers due to their performance and facilities and was wondering if the Vigor 2850n which is 'BT Infinity' compatible would work with Plusnet fibre products?  Would i need a modem as well or would this kit suffice?
thanks in advance!!
rob

[#2]

Business fibre (FTTC) is still under trial I believe, no idea when this will change.
Pretty much any WAN router that supports PPPoE will work with fibre connections as they are connected via Ethernet to the BT supplied VDSL modem.
I can't confirm whether the 2850n will work in place of the VDSL modem and WAN router as I have not used one. I suspect, given Drayteks track record it should be fine. Remember that the BT supplied VDSL modem must be available to connect to the line should a problem arise as BT/Plusnet may not be able to help if it is not their approved equipment connected.

[#3]

thanks, in the meantime peter are business allowed to use your fibre products, even if they are a small concern?
I would like to stick with plusnet rather than go elsewhere if i can..
I have since found out the 2850n should work fine, with or without the BT box.. thanks

[#4]

Hi Rob,
Fibre services are available under trial to business customers. This is accessible at http://trials.plus.net/
There is an additional charge of £10+vat per month to cover the additional costs of supply for this, which provides the same usage and broadband experience as the business product the customer is currently on.
The Vigor 2850 will work and the configuration that applies for infinity is the same, using VLAN tag 101 when using the VDSL port.
As indicated, any support needed on the service would require that you switch to the Openreach FTTC modem that is installed by the engineer when they attend. This is mandatory and must remain in place for the duration of any problem we investigate. The testing we do and our suppliers interfaces with the watchdog software that runs within this device.
This should be simpler to do with the Vigor provided you do not intend using the Ethernet WAN port for other purposes.

[#5]

Quote from: P

There is an additional charge of £10+vat per month to cover the additional costs of supply for this, which provides the same usage and broadband experience as the business product the customer is currently on.

My understanding was the allowance was doubled keeping in line with the residential trial.

[#6]

Hi Phil
That's not true for the business trial I'm afraid. However, in the process of putting you onto the trial, we'd be happy to change the package to Business Broadband Option 3 which is unlimited.
Is there anything on our website that gave you the impression that there would be a change in usage allowance? If so, I'd like to have it corrected.
Thanks

[#7]

Hi Rob,
I've been on the trial for a while now. I was on a residential ADSL package and needed fibre, but this was before the fibre packages had been rolled out.
The support team told me that the only way I could get fibre was to move to the business trial and that it would be the same as the residential trial. As the residential trial was offering double the usage allowance, I assumed that this would be true for me.
My typical monthly usage is 35GB per month, but I know there will be the odd month that this may exceed 50GB. Despite this, I can't justify the extra cost of upgrading to Option 3.
As the residential packages have been upgraded to a reasonable allowance, can the business users enjoy the same benefits?

[#8]

thanks for the replies
I'm a little confused why plusnet are having business fibre trials, when the business product is available 'live' from alternative suppliers. I'm reluctant to get my business customers to sign to a trial, as this is not a guarentee of any long term service - the nature of a 'trial'. Do plusnet have a date for business fibre as I do need to start switching people over and suspect i may need to use a supplier that has a product already in place.....
any news on this would be gratefully received as i would love to stick with plusnet if this is possible....

[#9]

Hi all. I'm sorry for the delay in getting back to you.
@philwilcox - I'm sorry if one of my colleagues gave you the wrong impression of the business fibre trial vs the residential one.  I'm afraid I can't change the usage allowances on our current packages, Phil.

Quote from: philwilcox

My typical monthly usage is 35GB per month, but I know there will be the odd month that this may exceed 50GB. Despite this, I can't justify the extra cost of upgrading to Option 3.

If you give our customer options team a ring on 0114 296 5182, they may be able to move you onto Option 3 with a discount on your bill, which I hope would be a good compromise here?

@Robtheplod - the concerns you've raised a very reasonable. We'd love for you to stick with us! All I can say at this stage is that a full FTTC product will be part of the new biz product but I can't say when they will be availble I'm afraid. I know this has got to be frustrating, please bear with us and we'll get you the product you want as soon as we can.

[#10]

Ref reply 3

Quote from: P

There is an additional charge of £10+vat per month to cover the additional costs of supply for this, which provides the same usage and broadband experience as the business product the customer is currently on.

This is inconsistent with the FTTC FAQ page - http://community.plus.net/fttc_faq/

Quote

4. Will it cost any extra per month for this greater speed? For the trial there will be no extra charges for the higher speed, you would remain on your existing account type, subscription fee and contract. We have not decided what will happen post trial.

[#11]

Thanks for pointing this out.
The FAQ was published before there was a Business trial of FTTC and only edited to note the withdrawal from Residential customers when it went to a full product.
We have updated the FAQ to reflect that there is a cost.

[#12]

That was a prompt response and correction, though it might have been useful to annotate the page with an indication of the revision date, so that anyone returning to the page is aware that it has changed since a previous visit.