Can I order a new broadband-only line from PlusNet in addition to my existing BT phone line

[#1]

Well the engineer has arrived and it's a miserable wet and windy day. After a good look round he's decided he needs a cherry-picker platform to get up the pole over the road. Possibly my house too, though he can use ladders if the platform can't get close enough (tree problems).

Offered a hot drink but he's fine at present, so the fig rolls etc. are on standby! 😁

Not sure when the platform will arrive, so meanwhile he's gone off to find a spare pair from the cabinet...........

[#2]

All done, drop wire apparently has four pairs in it. He ran a new 4-pair cable from the eaves down to a new socket, using my pre-drilled hole into the house and backplate I'd already mounted; the cable just pushed straight through from outside and it was swiftly trimmed and terminated. Sadly I get a big bulky NTE5C with VDSL faceplate. 😒

He connected some test kit and went off to the cabinet to finalise connections and test, on return I was asked to plug in my router. Coffee and biscuits were provided at this stage - fig roll, shortbread finger and chocolate digestive all "sampled"! 😄

Router connected OK and tests up to 56/10Mb down/up which is usefully faster than the 36-49/5-7Mb estimates. 👍

The new house wire has two pairs connected to two of the three spare pairs in the drop wire. Just in case you need one in future he said. Sensible. 

[#3]

Just to add that actual sync speeds (from the router) are 60.249Mbps/11.733Mbps.

[#4]

@HPsauce  - do you want to take a snapshot of the speed and latency that you are getting right now,  so that you have something to compare with in a couple of weeks when DLM has settled and your line training period has completed.

https://www.waveform.com/tools/bufferbloat  and post the "Share Your Results:" link at the bottom of the results.

It's probably worth also keeping a screenshot of your router's modem stats, as snapshot of actual and max sync, SNR, etc.

[#5 · Accepted solution]

@Anonymous I'm not too bothered about exact speeds as it's way more now than I need. I've been swapping routers around and reconfiguring them and currently have 61.821Mbps/12.687Mbps.

Not sure how DLM works on FTTC lines but I assume there are parallels to the ADSL version.

Just had to change my Plusnet account password as one of the special characters isn't acceptable to the BT Smart Hub! 🤣

[#6]

The new "Fibre" (SOGEA/FTTC) line is working really well at over 62Mbps so I called today to cancel the old ADSL service on my BT Phone line.

No hassles at all when I explained the situation  (I can see from tickets that he looked at my new line too to verify) and that I knew email would "evaporate" immediately. ADSL being cancelled from tonight with (hopefully) no complications of follow-up bills that then have to be refunded. Next bill is due early next week and I was told this wouldn't happen. 👍

Lots of tidying up done already. Once the old ADSL service finishes I'll revert the BT phone line back to a simpler/smaller socket. Maybe even an old school LJ2/1A. 🤣

[#7]

Looks like my old ADSL service is on the way down. Router has a red light, still has sync (at 21mbps) but not authenticating any more.

So Plusnet have "pulled the plug" to some extent, though I can still log in to the Member Centre. Wonder when BT will do their thing?

[#8]

Well it looks like BT don't do anything, the old router will still sync though obviously not authenticate to Plusnet as it's configured account is closed.

I guess with the changes BT have planned there's no point in disconnecting, or even just turning off, ADSL as the direct copper lines from the exchange are reducing over time until they're all "retired".

Though I do wonder, if I ever had a problem on my FTTC service, if I could connect via the old link using the credentials for my new account? Would anything prevent that?

[#9]

Other than why bother disconnecting ADSL at the exchange, as that would involve scheduling work for no benefit,

my guess would be that because your old landline phone has not yet been assessed by BT for whether it is suitable for 'upgrade' to "Digital Voice" - i.e. because you "might" have a dial-up fall/health alarm, or be a vulnerable person with no mobile signal (for when VoIP fails during power cuts),  if you did have "special requirements" that couldn't be solved before the end of 2025 PSTN switch off, then BT would supply you (until 2030) their transitional "SOTAP for Analogue" product - which I believe uses ADSL to simulate an analogue phone line to provide both analogue phone and access for analogue devices (alarms etc) to continue working until an upgrade path to VoIP and alternative digital alarm systems can be implemented.

This transitional product will allow Openreach to remove all the analogue telephone related components from telephone exchanges from 2026, and complete their transformation from analogue to only digitally connected landlines.

Therefore it would make sense to leave the ADSL functionality in the exchange working, until it has been confirmed as no longer required.

[#10]

Good thinking there @Anonymous

I've tidied up my master socket too:

1. Fitted it onto a recessed 16mm wall box instead of the 25mm surface box.

2. Replaced the bulky VDSL faceplate with a standard shallow phone style one.

3. Connected a short "captive" 2-core lead (RJ11 at the other end) to the telephone extension terminals on the NTE5C backplate.

4. RJ11 lead emerges at the lower edge of the master, all very neat now. SWMBO approves. 🤣

Speeds are unchanged at 62/13Mbps. 😎

[#11]

The "old line" master socket has been tidied up as well and recessed into the wall just above the skirting board, using an old school (smaller) LJ-style simple master socket; very unobtrusive, just needs a bit of plaster/filler and paint around it. 😀

It will be totally unused fairly soon.

[#12]

Would I be correct in assuming that SOTAP provision won't be available outside of core BT (i.e. not to EE, not to PN, not to any other ISP)?

[#13]

I don't see why SOTAP would be restricted to only BT phone customers, it is only an ADSL modem that emulates a voice circuit, and as such is likely to be just like any other modem that plugs in to the Openreach wall master socket, and in theory could be supplied by any existing landline provider.

There would be no point in not issuing these devices widely, as they are a temporary bodge that allows Openreach to achieve THEIR objective of disabling all the analogue phone circuits after 2025.

[#14]

@Anonymous I'm sure I read somewhere that SOTAP required LLU equipment in the exchange, so by implication is for non-BT suppliers, though what BT do about it if there isn't any is unclear.

I mentioned my master socket tidy-up earlier; the old one will be defunct next Monday, within a week of me requesting the VOIP transfer. 

[#15]

VOIP transfer completed, incoming calls now come via my A&A account. 👍

The old landline still has dial tone but 17070 states a different number and "normal" outgoing calls no longer connect (unknown number!); haven't tried calling that new number though.