FTTP

[#1]

My street is being upgraded to FTTP (Openreach vans in the area several times recently and the Scotland Superfast site now shows FTTP planned).

My connection on FTTC is only around 18mb so any improvement is welcome as I have been working from home for the last 3 months.

As Plusnet don't offer FTTP packages what happens? Am I stuck on my current 18mb speeds or does FTTP at least offer the full 40mb or 80mb service from Plusnet? I have around 5 months left on my contract but have been with Plusnet for 11+ years and don't want to change provider if I don't have to.

Thanks

Kevin

[#2]

If you want to take advantage of FTTP then you'll have to change provider, it's as simple as that I'm afraid.

[#3]

@kevgti77 

FTTP is a completely different setup to that supplied via a phone line. If or when you get it installed a new cable is run to your house with an Optical Network Terminator (ONT) installed on a inner wall near a power source. A router then connects via an Ethernet cable.

As already mentioned you'll need to change provider to receive FTTP as PlusNet currently don't offer it. If you're still in contract termination fees may apply.

Brian

[#4]

Shame Plusnet are not going with FTTP at the moment as I am in the same boat. FTTP has been available for me for 6 months or more I've just been waiting for my ADSL contract to run out so I can upgrade (don't want to pay to get out). Was hoping by the time it did run out Plusnet would have gone with FTTP but sadly not. Been with them for over 12 years and working in IT have recommended them to countless others too.

On the positive side going from 8Mb to 300+ is going to be awesome. Probably looking to move to Zen because I need the static IP, otherwise BT have some fantastic deals at the moment.

[#5]

Thanks for the responses fellow Plusnetters.

It will be a shame to leave Plusnet after all these years, but as soon as FTTP is available I'll be moving - going from 17mb to even 40m or 80mb will be a huge difference let alone FTTP speeds. I'm currently just under the speed guarantee so I'll be leaving for free (wey hey), in part thanks to Plusnet support not accepting that daily connection drops and below guaranteed speeds are an issue for them rather than me having claiming it's because I have Hive and Alexa devices on my home network - since when does an internal device cause the PPPoE connection to drop.

It's a sign of the times and the change of Plusnet from being independent to part of BT when they assume that I'll migrate to BT for FTTP even when the rollout in my area is Government funded. Well, that's news for BT, I'll be going elsewhere just for their assumption that I'll move to them even if it cost me more, I'm a cut off my nose off to spite my face type of person.

Also, a sign of the times is no response from Plusnet on the forum. In the good old days the likes of Mand Beckett and colleagues (can't remember their names) would have responded but alas Plusnet and BT don't seem to care that much. Maybe the move will be for the best.

I've also worked in IT for 20+ years and recommended several people to Plusnet but if they aren't going to provide the newest products everyone will leave them.

So long fellow Plusnetters. It's been a pleasure over the years, maybe we will meet again at a customer-friendly ISP.

[#6]

With Openreach FTTP cabling now already passing over 3 million homes and with TalkTalk (500Mbps for £39.99 but no fibre phone line and a 2 year contract) and Sky (150Mbps maximum at present for £32 but inclusion of Signature Tv install only being just £4 extra a month and a deal with all Sky Sports channels too being £63 per month for 75 Mbps and £68 per month for 150Mbps) now offering live services that have moved beyond a trial (and can now be ordered as normal online on their website in Sky's case) can BT really afford to leave Plusnet customers in a position where they have to evaluate the whole FTTP marketplace (that also includes Zen, IDNet and Andrews & Arnold)  and in many cases then end up moving to TalkTalk in particular (if they don't want to maintain the phone line but want 500Mbps) or Sky (if a total package with Sky Sports is more important to them) rather than simply staying on with Plusnet out of brand loyalty as they would have done had FTTP been available.

Surely BT must be planning either to launch Plusnet FTTP services imminently or otherwise to imminently announce the complete merger of Plusnet as a broadband and phone supplier with BT Retail.  To leave Plusnet as a cinderella broadband supplier that cannot supply the latest broadband, and tv products and services surely simply makes no commercial sense whatsoever.............

Or rather makes no sense unless BT's plan is to run Plusnet in to the ground and disappear the Plusnet brand completely as and when they judge the moment is right commercially.....................

[#7]

500Mbits/sec? Will your internal wiring from socket to router to PC cope with anything like that?

[#8]

With FTTP the ONT (Optical Network Termination) unit in your premises connects to the fibre cable and provides a Gigabit Ethernet connection to the router. So no problem.

[#9]

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@Capvermell wrote:

......... To leave Plusnet as a cinderella broadband supplier that cannot supply the latest broadband, and tv products and services surely simply makes no commercial sense whatsoever.............

Or rather makes no sense unless BT's plan is to run Plusnet in to the ground and disappear the Plusnet brand completely as and when they judge the moment is right commercially.....................

---

Spot on... 👍

BT would be crazy to kill off Plusnet. For all it's faults it's a very popular ISP, with many loyal customers (me for one!) and we don't all want to be herded over to BT.  It would make much better business sense to retain Plusnet as a separate part of BT retail, and continue to offer popular products including 36Mb and 66MB fibre via whichever method is available.  BT can then concentrate on the premium top end fibre products. 

[#10]

I understand that this issue with FTTP is that it isn't tied to a copper line and as such doesn't have a phone number. If all the ordering, provisioning and billing systems are predicated on services being supplied on a physical infrastructure with a unique number then it sounds like it will be a lot of work for any ISP to set themselves up to work in a new way.

Apparently the reason PN stopped selling FTTP (or more accurately never progressed it beyond a trial) was that it was very labour intensive to manage without the systems being set up for it. So as a low-cost ISP, you have to choose whether to invest in upgrading the systems. If you were the owning group (BT) and you already had this for your core business, what would be the return on doing it again for a subsidiary? A few loyal customers who stayed instead of going elsewhere when elsewhere is could well be BT anyway.

[#11]

So if customers kept the copper landline, but had fibre broadband via FTTP could the Plusnet system then cope with that? 

Contrary to the popular notion that "no-one needs a landline any more as everyone has a mobile"  .... a lot of people do not have a reliably usable mobile signal, and so a landline is still a necessity.

[#12]

I don’t think so. I have two services on two pieces of infrastructure, one copper, one fibre. Although they arrive in the same duct, they are technically separate.

[#13]

Yes, but I thought that the main obstacle to Plusnet offering FTTP was that their existing backoffice systems need to be linked to a phone number.  If an landline is retained, then couldn't the FTTP service be supplied in addition and linked to that phone number for backoffice purposes?

Perhaps someone from Plusnet who knows about FTTP, such as @Gandalf could enlighten us?

[#14]

I’m not an expert in BTs systems but I don’t see how that would work. If the phone number is already associated with the copper circuit, surely it isn’t available to be used for the fibre connection. I don’t see how you could have two completely independent pieces of line plant with the same number. 

[#15]

Plusnet have taken a policy decision not to install any further new FTTP connections and only those customers who connected to FTTP during the trial are still being supported.  Also it would be totally illogical to connect the FTTP and copper phone cable as that would then incur two service charges from Openreach for copper phone and fibre optic broadband service and hence not cost effective.

Only possible reason to connect copper phone line as well as the FTTP cable would be if you went for TalkTalk's new 500 Mbps FTTP Future Fibre service at £39.99 and still wanted a conventional landline phone as TalkTalk is not presently supporting any phone service via FTTP.

However it wouldn't make sense to do that as for £59.99 per month you can have BT Fibre 900Mbps including an FTTP based phone line with a regular phone number.

Also Plusnet does not need to have a phone number to provide an FTTP service as for trial customers they had an option to only take FTTP broadband service and not pay for the phone line element of FTTP at all as long as you paid them an additional £3 per month on top of the FTTP broadband price.  This proves Plusnet's systems don't need to have a phone number to cope with providing FTTP service.

Only affordable options for FTTP were with BT Retail, Zen or IDNet but now both TalkTalk and Sky have entered the marketplace.  Sky are offering a more complete FTTP service with FTTP phone as well as FTTP broadband plus numerous tv options including Sky Sports but the only down side is Sky is only offering two FTTP broadband speeds at 75Mbps and 150Mbps (this seems to be because their marketing people want to sell both G.Fast and FTTP as the same Ultrafast service even though G.Fast can support up to 300Mbps and FTTP up to 900Mbps on their most expensive tiers).  150 Mbps broadband and phone alone with no tv costs £32 per month and 75Mbps £27 per month from Sky.  But Sky will provide a Sky Q box and their Signature tv package for only £9.40 per month extra.  Also as Sky's FTTP can now be ordered through their website you can earn around £100 cashback on top on placing an order by starting from quidco.com or topcashback.co.uk  18 month minimum contract on Sky FTTP compared to 24 months with TalkTalk and BT Retail.  Only 12 month contract with Zen and IDNet but they are both considerably more expensive than BT Retail, TalkTalk or Sky.

EDIT:- See last post by Gandalf in the thread at https://community.plus.net/t5/Fibre-Broadband/Fttp-rollout-question/td-p/1496761 when the Plusnet Trial was still open to new joiners indicating that you could pay a one off fee to cancel the FTTP phone line and only go on taking the FTTP broadband service by paying a £2.50 per month additional fee for the FTTP broadband plus one off Openreach cessation fee for cancelling the phone line element of the FTTP service.