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220/20 and 330/30 options

nexcore
Newbie
Posts: 7
Registered: ‎08-06-2007

220/20 and 330/30 options

Hi,
We are moving house in about 6 months time into a new-build property which is part of a new estate that only has WBC FTTP as a connection option - no copper at all. Initially that seems like great news until you actually shop around and try to find a provider that does domestic FTTP (FTTH?) - The options are very limited and speeds seem to be restricted.
BT Retail seem to be the only game in town if you want the superfast 220/20 and 330/30 speed options (roughly £40 and £50 / month respectively).
PlusNet seem to be stuck with 80/20 as the fastest option. Its also still on a trial basis which I believe it has been for 5 years or more now?
Some smaller ISPs offer FTTP for businesses (AAISP and Zen for example) but these guys are very expensive - looks to be around £100 / month minimum dependent on usage.
So my question is, now that BT Retail have released their full speed FTTP options for domestic users will you follow suit in the very near future and offer the two faster options?
Also when will the FTTP option finally come out of trial?
21 REPLIES 21
SpendLessTime
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Registered: ‎21-09-2009

Re: 220/20 and 330/30 options

Last time this was asked, the answer was no plans to either offer better speeds or make it a retail product.
Ex - Plusnet Customer (2009 - 2023) now with BT
adamwalker
Plusnet Help Team
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Re: 220/20 and 330/30 options

Hi nexcore,
We don't have any plans to provide speeds different to 80/20 on the FTTP trial.
If this post resolved your issue please click the 'This fixed my problem' button
 Adam Walker
 Plusnet Help Team
Mal08
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Registered: ‎20-08-2008

Re: 220/20 and 330/30 options

I don't understand this.
I know that in some areas BTOR are only putting in FTTP - in places like new developments.
When these are some distance from the exchange ( where ADSL gives low speeds ) there is no FTTC option.
Don't PN want retail customers in these areas?
libbyf
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Re: 220/20 and 330/30 options

At a guess it's not worth the cost of having all staff trained in FTTP to access so few customers.
Mal08
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Registered: ‎20-08-2008

Re: 220/20 and 330/30 options

Only the BT OR technicians  need to be trained - surely ISP's like PN, Zen etc don't need much extra traing .
I had a long chat with the  OR tech who did my internal work, he  said that in our area only a few staff didi FTTP as they needed the fibre splicing equipment
Oldjim
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Registered: ‎15-06-2007

Re: 220/20 and 330/30 options

This is useful and looking at the pricing only BT offer a reasonably competitive full speed FTTP  http://www.fastershire.com/how-to-go-faster/where-to-buy/fttp-service-providers
jelv
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Re: 220/20 and 330/30 options

Quote from: libbyf
At a guess it's not worth the cost of having all staff trained in FTTP to access so few customers.

Catch 22!
If Plusnet don't advertise/offer FTTP they'll never get the number of customers to warrant training the staff!
jelv (a.k.a Spoon Whittler)
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libbyf
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Re: 220/20 and 330/30 options

The potential base of customers is quite small for FTTP though, is it not? So you'd need that to increase in order for the catch 22 to be resolved.
SpendLessTime
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Registered: ‎21-09-2009

Re: 220/20 and 330/30 options

ISP staff have to know how to order the product, chase BTW on installation, fault find before calling BTW and god knows what else.
The only people I've dealt with for my FTTP at Plusnet have been the senior members of staff, the normal phone answering staff have no idea what it is and just pass on comments to the very small handful of staff who deal with the FTTP trial members.
Also BT Retail have to be able to offer some advantages over their budget ISP (Plusnet) so keeping some TV stuff and the faster FTTP speeds away from Plusnet gives them a market differential.
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Darkfire
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Re: 220/20 and 330/30 options

@George,
At present that is indeed correct about the staff trained on FTTP, there are a few members of my team who are trained on this(you may have dealt with them) and a few that are on CRT, I've been chasing up FTTP installs myself(delayed, faults during install, general checkups on how external work is going) and I'm planning to pick up the info on the rest of the FTTP processes over the next week so we can deal with FTTP more efficiently however as it is still a trial the response times are most likely not going to be the greatest, the trial however is still open and we will continue to work through the accounts that have requested trial access in the order the request is received
Mal08
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Registered: ‎20-08-2008

Re: 220/20 and 330/30 options

OK - I am understand some of this, but the OR technician who did my internal instal said:
1) that several new estates in his area are only being installed as FTTP as it is easy to put in the infrastructure from new.
2)  some coucils are refusing planning permission for new green cabinets meaning FTTC can't be installed in many smaller twons and villages.
3) So the number of FTTP installation will continue to grow.
4) FTTP is more future prove than FTTC
5) FTTP doesnt suffer the probelms of ADSL - so more reliable and less work for ISP's and OR

libbyf
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Registered: ‎18-11-2015

Re: 220/20 and 330/30 options

FTTP is still a tiny % overall though, even if new estates are getting it. According to this the total is less than 1%. So given that we don't build much housing in the UK, even if ALL new builds were FTTP it would still be a long time before the % of FTTP becomes meaningful in a business sense.
SpendLessTime
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Registered: ‎21-09-2009

Re: 220/20 and 330/30 options

@Darkfire  I wasn't criticising (I know unusual for me), just trying to point out to Mal08 that it isn't easy for Plusnet to roll out a product without significant costs.

@Mal08
It is very expensive for Openreach to install FTTP and time consuming. I had 3 engineering visits to install so probably 2 man days effort in total. Given that it is sold at FTTC prices, the recouping of costs is going to be very slow and not really economic. In a new build site, if FTTP is installed then the developer pays towards costs so reducing Openreach's expenditure and installing multiple properties at build time is cheaper as the staff just go to one site and work in hopefully clean prepared environment.
I'm in an area which has had FTTP since 2010 (it was BT's original large trial area) and even today the number of FTTP installs is very small. The houses are mostly built post 1988 but the underground ducts in some areas were blocked over the years by builders and general issues so making the FTTP install really slow and hard engineering involving road works. And that sends the costs spiralling so making Openreach reluctant to install more.
It is a commercial decision by Openreach and the economics do not stack up for wide spread FTTP install paid out of their pocket. Most FTTP install now going in are in areas receiving Government/Council funding to ensure that counties meet their minimum speed legal obligations and are in areas were the properties are widely spread out from their telephone cabinets.

I'm just glad to be on FTTP, as in early 2000, I was on a BT trial for 10Mbps each way fibre/phone which was superb and then had to wait 10 years after that trial finished (and disconnected) to get FTTP back. Mind you at that time, the internet was a very empty place compared to today and having to drop back to 1Mbps ADSL wasn't too much of a shock. Now it doesn't bear thinking about.
Ex - Plusnet Customer (2009 - 2023) now with BT
Mal08
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Re: 220/20 and 330/30 options

@George Thanks for taking the time to write that.
I do understand - I'm not arguing for more FTTP - when there are other technoligies which could significantly push FTTC up to almost 1G, just that PN have never publised that FTTP is available. As far as I can tell from talking to a few people, it has been on our estate for 2 years or so. I was waiting for the FTTC cabinet to appear, and just found out by accident using some of the comparison sites.
Mind you BTOR could have put one of their large stickers onto the existing green cabinet.
Given that FTTP seems to suffer fewer problems I still think PN would have wanted people to be on FTTP rather than adsl or FTTC, I know any new technology news staff training but to keep up with the game that is what is needed.