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Fibre install possible with BT but not PlusNet !!

yan74
Newbie
Posts: 6
Registered: ‎05-01-2012

Fibre install possible with BT but not PlusNet !!

Hi All,
I recently found that I could get fibre broadband to my home as I live in Loughton so I contacted PlusNet to upgrade. After scheduling the install and paying everything they finally came back to me saying that they could not yet do it and had no idea when it would be available.
Meanwhile BT has contacted me to offer the fibre and they are adamant that they can get it working by the end of the month. Obviously I'd very much like to stay with PlusNet having had good service and support always but I do like the idea of speed above my current 1.1 mbps  Cry
Does this make any sense to you, I thought the BT and PlusNet were sharing the offering of FTTP/FTTC ?! Is BT perhaps forcing customers to go through them for fibre ?
Thanks,
Yan
9 REPLIES 9
MisterW
Superuser
Superuser
Posts: 14,575
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Registered: ‎30-07-2007

Re: Fibre install possible with BT but not PlusNet !!

Quote
Does this make any sense to you, I thought the BT and PlusNet were sharing the offering of FTTP/FTTC ?

That's correct.
Quote
! Is BT perhaps forcing customers to go through them for fibre ?

I wouldn't think so, I suspect that whilst your exchange has been enabled for FTTC the roadside cabinet that you are connected to hasn't been completed yet.
The BT Wholesale database probably says you can get FTTC and that's what PlsuNet and BT(Retail) use to say you can get FTTC. I suspect that when the order was placed by PlusNet it was discovered that the data on the database was wrong and that the cabinet hadn't been upgraded yet.
BT(Retail) will be using the same database to tell you they can provide FTTC and won't discover the problem until they too, try and actually place an order!

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.

yan74
Newbie
Posts: 6
Registered: ‎05-01-2012

Re: Fibre install possible with BT but not PlusNet !!

Then I suppose the only way to find out is to place an order with BT and pray it does not go through  Huh
The BT wholesale database still says that I can get FTTP today and  I get excited everytime I look at it  Smiley
MisterW
Superuser
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Registered: ‎30-07-2007

Re: Fibre install possible with BT but not PlusNet !!

Quote
still says that I can get FTTP

I assumed you were talking about FTTC, if its FTTP then I may be talking rubbish.

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.

yan74
Newbie
Posts: 6
Registered: ‎05-01-2012

Re: Fibre install possible with BT but not PlusNet !!

yes FTTP indeed, I didn't think it mattered though Huh
MisterW
Superuser
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Posts: 14,575
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Registered: ‎30-07-2007

Re: Fibre install possible with BT but not PlusNet !!

I'm not sure how FTTP is affected by work in the cabinet. I guess that even though FTTP takes fibre all way , it's still routed through a cab somewhere.

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.

yan74
Newbie
Posts: 6
Registered: ‎05-01-2012

Re: Fibre install possible with BT but not PlusNet !!

Thanks for the replies.
I spent a good length of time with BT on the phone. (mostly on hold though, another point for PlusNet there...)
Funny enough, when I told the girl that PlusNet couldn't offer the fibre she replied "Sir, I don't think that PlusNet offers fibre broadband at all" !!! Hilarious Cheesy it's bad enough to not know what distant competitors offer but when you bought them  !!
I then finally spoke to their Fibre departement and alghough they would not explain why (PlusNet could not offer) they knew about the situation and insisted that I could get 100mbps fibre with them.... odd  Huh
MisterW
Superuser
Superuser
Posts: 14,575
Thanks: 5,411
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Registered: ‎30-07-2007

Re: Fibre install possible with BT but not PlusNet !!

Hopefully one of the Digital Care Team will pick this up tomorrow and do some digging to discover what the problem is.
Edit: I wonder if PlusNet are still only doing FTTP as part of a trial and the trial is full ?
Although I wouldn't have expected them to get as far as taking an order from you in that case.

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.

dave
Plusnet Help Team
Plusnet Help Team
Posts: 12,257
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Registered: ‎04-04-2007

Re: Fibre install possible with BT but not PlusNet !!

Hi,
I'm sorry for the confusion here. There are currently 2 types of fibre service, FTTC and FTTP. We've launched an FTTC product which you can sign up for via our website (Value FIbre and Extra Fibre) however we are still trialling FTTP and haven't yet launched this as a full product.
Fibre enabled areas are being rolled out around the country but an area will not get a choice of whether it gets FTTC or FTTP. At the moment over 98% of the areas covered by fibre get FTTC and only a few areas are covered by FTTP. As you've seen your area is one of the areas covered by FTTP. We have about 140 customers on our FTTP trial and it is still open.
The best thing to do is go to http://trials.plus.net and follow the FTTP link, this will give you a set of links to the information we have about the trial and also ask you a series of questions, if you can answer all the questions the ticket will go through to our trial team who will arrange for you to take part in the trial.
Dave Tomlinson
Enterprise Architect - Network & OSS
Plusnet Technology
yan74
Newbie
Posts: 6
Registered: ‎05-01-2012

Re: Fibre install possible with BT but not PlusNet !!

Thanks very much Dave, I've just submitted my question to the support team. I'm much happier to get fibre with PlusNet than moving to BT. Better the devil you know Wink
It's strange that PlusNet C.S. didn't know about FTTP trial but I imagine it's quite a new thing for them too...