The weirdest situation.....

[#1]

OK, so my exchange in mid Cornwall was the first to go live with FTTC waaaay back over 5 years ago. Only 2/3 of the lines connected to it could get FTTP, and living as near as we do to the exchange....we weren't one of them.

Our line is EO to the exchange, and finally last December we started to notice work taking place on poles to homes also on EO lines. The pole for us was worked on during the week of 15th December! FTTP soon, or so we thought.

It turns out that Openreach and BT have two different addresses for our property. Openreach have the old address and BT have the new address. You'd think that being part of the same company they would share information, but apparently not. Openreach can confirm...probably by checking their own tracker....that our phone line is not yet ready to accept orders. But on the same "When Can I Get Fibre" webpage tracker it's possible to confirm that by using our new address the line is accepting orders!

Obviously I don't want to post my details here, but I'm happy to provide to Plusnet employees directly to check out my story. HAs anyone else had troubles with BT getting mixed results depending on how they categorise the line?

I'm concerned that all the work has been done, almost 2 months ago, but because Openreach think that I'm at a different location....I can't apply for FTTP

[#2]

Following up on this, I managed to fix the issue with the assistance of @Anonymous separately with a helpdesk ticket! FTTP now ordered, router received and awaiting the Openreach engineer on 2nd March.

I'm planning on using the Hub1 router to begin with, and maybe change to a 3rd party VDSL router once I've seen the Hub1 running. I'll probably have a few questions regarding account billing and status (been with PlusNet 9 years now, and have a pretty tailored phone/DSL package!) to see what we can work out.

@Anonymous, please reply to this message so I can give you a "fix" upvote

[#3]

Good to hear you got your address problems sorted so quickly. I've read some horror stories about people trying to get things changed,

Once your FTTP is up and running you can drop your phone line (if not used as a phone) if so desired and save some money!!! However, if you decide to do so do it through this forum.

Brian

[#4]

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@FxAxF wrote:

I'm planning on using the Hub1 router to begin with, and maybe change to a 3rd party VDSL router ...

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In case you hadn't realised, you don't need a VDSL router (presuming by VDSL router you mean a modem/router with a VDSL modem built in). 

[#5]

I'm intrigued. Do you mean I should keep using the Hub1 and not use an additional router, or does FTTP not require any VDSL router at all? There's little obvious info out there on the wider web.

I've used "wires only" services since I first had DSL back in 2002 so still more comfortable with my own router/modem.

[#6]

There is no 'modem' as you know it involved in FTTP.  The fibre is plugged into an ONT (which will be installed by BTOR) which converts the light transmitted down the fibre into an Ethernet connection, which then feeds a router with an Ethernet WAN socket.

Some VDSL modem/routers also have a separate WAN Ethernet socket in which case they can be used as above; the VDSL modem part would be redundant.

[#7]

Well TIL.....
I have a great router, Asus DSL-N55U which has been fine for years...especially for NAS streaming. I can set it up as a LAN router specifically then and link directly to the ONT. How does the fibre "know" the subnet and how does it handle an IP address for itself?

[#8]

You set up a simple PPPoE connection in the router using your PN credentials and the router handles everything in the same way as you're used to.  You can even set up a single computer with a PPPoE connection and connect it directly to the ONT via the Ethernet without a router if you wish to test your fibre connection.

[#9]

The OR engineer will need to test the connection is working before they leave so I'd use your Hub One for that. Also run a wired speed test just to confirm your speeds so you have a base to work from. 

Once you're happy then you can try your other equipment and see how it works.

Brian

[#10]

Thanks @RobPN and @bmc . I'm actually looking forward to learning more about fibre connections as much as I am to having better up/downstream bandwidth. And of course slightly improved CSGO pings

[#11]

If the network equipment was installed in December you're probably on the "new" style if install (one visit instead of two). The following gives some info on the network side of things.

http://blog.thinkbroadband.com/2016/06/a-peek-at-the-future-world-of-openreach-fttp/

Brian

[#12]

Hope this is ok, but need to page @Anonymous and @Gandalf for assistance.

My install was cancelled by BTOR last week due to the weather issues; we were just outside the South West red zone. Plusnet were able to confirm on Friday 2nd that BTOR would give a new date by 7th March....today. I spoke to Kelsea in provisioning but as the install is different to the standard FTTC installation, she couldn't get a complete answer from BTOR as to what's happening now.

Could one of you get in touch with BTOR tomorrow and see why they haven't given a new date yet, after they promised they would? I get that dates slip when the unexpected happens, but to promise an updated installation date and then miss that is pretty weak.

Ticket details on request

[#13]

So Openreach are being their usual timely selves; took them a week to confirm back to the provisioning team that the order would be a further two weeks again. It appears that instead of expediting the old order they have umm'ed and ahh'ed for a week and just created a new one with a fortnight leadtime. So on 22nd March, nearly 3 weeks after the original install date and 5 weeks after the original order placement I 'might' get a visit from an Openreach engineer.

Still plodding on, those of us old enough to remember the old pre-privatised BT might ponder if we would have had better service in the old days

[#14]

Latest on my ticket #168271771

BTOR attended today at home, having done a quick assessment following a site visit (which I wasn't aware of) the engineer agreed it should be a quick job....until the cherry picker driver arrived.

Cheery picker engineer informs the original engineer that the current fixture for the copper on a large barn isn't suitable and that we will need a new pole (!) for the fibre. Now awaiting which date BTOR will give for a new pole installation, before they can carry on with the FTTP installation!

Any calls that PlusNet could make with BTOR to see when they think this will be would be much appreciated.

I'm disappointed that despite site visits in advance of an installation, they still can't assess the site properly and have to make changes instead of carrying on with the intended work.

[#15]

Just heard from BT (via PlusNet) that BT will advise what the next step will be...on 30th March. That's advising on that date, not actually doing anything.

I take it that BTOR are always this hard to deal with, and that getting anything done is always like pulling teeth? Good old monopolies.....