FTTP and Residential number porting

[#1]

I note that quite a few are blaming PN for the fiasco, and that depends on your viewpoint,  and though I think the way it has been handled is bad it is probably more to do with BT, and their attitude to PN.  BT always rolls out new provisions faster than PN and I think there are probably BT political reasons for this.  If  you talk to some of ORs technical staff they indicate the same.  I was notified 11 months ago by OR that FTTP in my area had been completed.  (I actually physically saw it being rolled out.)  Six months or so ago we received further communication stating that FTTP was available from"BT", "ZEN" and I believe "Sky", though it could have been "Talk Talk",  and nobody else at that stage.  "Talk Talk" have recently started to target us to go to them for FTTP, however without a phone.  In other words Internet only. (I will never use Talk Talk so they are wasting their time and money on me as a target.)

Having been with Plusnet from about a year after they started, and have known some of the people from those early "Express Micros/Choice Peripheral" days, online and by phone, I have seen it change over the years through the management buyout to the aquisition by BT. In those earlier days PN appeared to be undertaking development work for or with BT.  There was no indication that BT thought of PN as being their cheap and cheerful brand in those days.  In fact I thought PN was far superior for a number of reasons, and I still do.  BT just appear to make more money from each customer.  "Our cheap brand" idea appears to have come about around 10 years ago. In fact the first time I heard it mentioned was by the BT Chief Executive on a BBC Radio news programme, and that is probably where the issue is.  They possibly think that PN should not offer the same as BT at a  lower price. (However PN may also think that offering Internet access only will help to  reduce problems and may enable them to make a better return on investment.  After all they are an ISP and not a phone company.  Phones came into it as a way of offsetting some of the broadband costs against the phone.  Hence if you want broadband then you must take the phone from us.)   That is probably why FTTC and FTTP are offered a significant time after BT.  In fact in Mold in Wales in one location, maybe others as well, BT would supply FTTC and even years later PN was still not offering it.  Have PN made bad choices as well as handling situations badly in the past?  Yes, but they have always worked their way out of them so hopefully they will this time if allowed to. 

[#2]

@Total_Chaos, it's all happened very quickly with PlusNet and FTTP here! Over the last month or two, we had first Virgin, and  then Openreach digging up the roads and pavements, and causing traffic chaos as they did some of it without giving proper notice.
Then an offer from Sky for 'Full Fibre' arrived in the post this week and when I checked my PlusNet upgrade options it was there too, just slightly cheaper than Sky's offers (but reading the very 'small print' Sky appears to include PAYG phone access).
Nothing from BT so far even though I signed up for alert as to when FTTP would be available and nothing from TalkTalk yet. Nothing from Virgin either!
My current PlusNet discounted contract runs till summer 2024, so I'm hoping a solution is in place by the time that I need to start thinking about upgrading, even though I would really like to do so a.s.a.p.
Yes. I remember back in the day when PlusNet used ask for volunteers to trial new products and BT using PN for the same. It was exciting trying out new things and being involved!

[#3]

BTW I registered on the Openreach site to be.notified when FTTP was available, not relying on an existing ISP to notify me.

[#4]

I've now had notification from Openreach that FTTP is available to me!

But I'll still wait till the landline telephone problem gets sorted.

[#5]

My contract expires next year so I will wait until then. Currently Openreach is offering ADSL, FTTC, and ADSL in my area, so unless that changes I will keep to FTTC. Currently I am getting on average 68Mbps down, and 17 up bandwidth. Of course PN may make it unattractive for me to keep FTTC.

[#6]

@Total_Chaos - the last part of your post is my main worry.

Now my exchange has gone Fibre Priority ,I'm caught between the devil and ...... Don't really need FTTP but do need my phone number , so I'd tentatively decided to stick with FTTC temporarily when my contracted discount period runs out in December in the hope that PN will sort out the phone number transfer issue - but at what cost ?

The website shows a massive increase for my package currently of ~ £18pm plus there will, no doubt, be an increase of a further £6 or so next year !

The alternative method involving a totally new FTTP install (so two "lines") and then the transfer of my phone number to a VOIP provider to close the FTTC line fills me with forebodings ,ever more so since I heard the rumours that the OPENREACH installers round here had been using the old Cu lines to pull fibre thru !!

[#7]

My speeds were like that for my first few years on FTTC but now, with so many connections from the green cabinet it's closer to 60 down and 12 up! I have my fingers crossed that the local rollout of FTTP causes the speed to increase again as more people go over to that.

[#8]

Hey @Mad_Moggies,

I'm sorry to hear that's the case. I had a look into your account and I've made a couple of changes that should hopefully boost the speeds back up, but if you still notice they're running a bit slow then please feel free to send me a Private Message and I'll be happy to investigate this further

[#9]

Thanks @TheMightyAJ !
I just looked on the router and it was 56 down and 13+ up. Rebooted it and it's still the same.
I'll check again later to see if it's speeded up at all.

[#10]

Why is this thread marked as "fixed" when it most definitely is not?

[#11]

@KAR Because it was 'Fixed' for the OP.

[#12]

@jab1  I don't believe it was actually, the second post specifically stated that what the OP wanted to do was not possible. Doesn't sound like a fix in my opinion.🤔 

Unless the OP accepted that was the situation and marked it as fixed.

If I was able to get FTTP I would be very unhappy with the way Plusnet have completely screwed up the introduction of FTTP and the lack of a feasible way for those wishing to upgrade to be able to port their landline number to VOIP. There are posts on the forum where customers are waiting in hope that something will change in the future but I don't expect Plusnet to admit they have messed it up.

[#13]

I take your point, @RealAleMadrid , although I think your assumption about the OP is correct. Unfortunately (IMHO), because a 'Fix' can't close a topic, for obvious reasons, other people can reply when they are in the same or similar situations, and when a topic is as long as this, they probably don't look at the original question.

I am of the opinion though, that it is not PN who have 'messed up' but BT HQ who have directed them to make the switch as onerous as it is in an attempt to 'force people onto the BT product - I have had a suspicion for a long time that HQ would like the Plusnet brand to disappear - this 'suspicion' originated a while back with the introduction of the 'new' accounting system - which is fatally flawed - and further strengthened by subsequent changes in other areas, which, although frequently pointed out as defective, are not addressed.

[#14]

@jab1 I agree with this though I would think most would know that from an earlier posting of mine. I don't think BT realise what they have with PN; or possibly do so want to close it down assuming that PN subscribers will just move to BT and they can make more money from them. If that's the case they have a big shock coming. People like me will just leave and probably never cross the threshold of BT unless they make it really attractive and that will cost them dearly. Anyone for a management buyout? 😄

[#15]

Don't think you'd get a management buyout, to be truthful, @Total_Chaos - I honestly think all the 'management is now ex-BT personnel who have been parachuted in with instructions to subsume  a once unique business into the monolith which is BT.

Glad I got out when I did, and I know I won't be going back.