Rural property / new customer

[#1]

We're in a rural area not even covered by Plusnet's low cost region (in fact - almost no-one's) and can only get painfully slow asdl and fibre. However, Openreach installed FTTP nodes outside our house earlier in the year, and all is active on the BT wholesale website. I can see a few questions on signing up to asdl then converting to the trial, but could I confirm the following please:

1. Does being in a non-low cost area affect things?

2. What is the monthly cost of FTTP?

3. Are there any significant installation costs to get from the network to the property? Very old house so ancient copper wires only here!

4. How long do the trial prices last (or are guaranteed) for, and what happens when the trial expires?

Many thanks!

[#2]

Welcome to the community forums @icethudog

1. Does being in a non-low cost area affect things?

No, our FTTP prices are based on the low-cost FTTC packages (without any discounts).

2. What is the monthly cost of FTTP?

Unlimited Fibre (38mbps) is £14.99, Unlimited Fibre Extra (76mbps) is £19.99

Plus line rental of £18.99 but if you want to cease the phone line when the FTTP is provided you can do. If you're in contract you might need to pay an early termination fee for the phone contract, and a broadband only surcharge of £2.50 applies.

3. Are there any significant installation costs to get from the network to the property? Very old house so ancient copper wires only here!

Providing WBC FTTP is available, there won't be any installation costs.

4. How long do the trial prices last (or are guaranteed) for

The FTTP trial doesn't start a new contract so if you're in a contract before the service goes live, you'll keep the same end date. After the contract expires we can't re-contract you on FTTP, so you'll remain out of contract on the costs above.

and what happens when the trial expires?

If we do end the trial and don't offer FTTP as a full service then we'd revert you back to ADSL unless you're wanting to leave. We haven't yet decided what will happen if the trial ends and we offer it as a full service.

More info can be found over here: https://www.plus.net/help/legal/fttp-faq/ and here too: http://community.plus.net/fttp_terms/

I hope this helps.

[#3]

Have you tried your phone number in the DSL Checker

http://www.dslchecker.bt.com/adsl/adslchecker.welcome

If FTTP is available then WBC FTTP will be shown in the left hand column. A further column will be headed FTTP Install Process which will probably say "1 stage" (or "2 stage" if an old style setup).

Brian

[#4]

Great stuff, thanks both.

Re the installation process, it's 1 stage on the property but haven't a clue what this actually means. Is it big building works and drilling holes into the house? No visible cables to the house as it stands so I assume 12m of being buried underground, including under someone else's road and farm land!

[#5]

One stage refers to one visit as opposed to two in the old style. I should have said there should also be a narrative about FTTP under the results - it'll speak of "OH" or "UG"

If you can't see any cables then your phone line will be fed via an underground duct. To install FTTP they run a cable from the FTTP Distribution point through this duct and then into your house - here they do usually have to drill through the wall. Once in your house they install an Optical Network Terminator (ONT) and a battery back up unit on a wall within one metre of a power source. You may be lucky and get a new style ONT which combines both the ONT and battery back up unit - much neater. Your router is then connected via an Ethernet cable. You're looking at at least 2 to 3 hours for the install and you need to be present.

If you have poor ADSL speed and want faster then you have no choice but to go with FTTP. You can only make your decision based on the here and now - there are no promises about the future. If PlusNet do cease the trial without offering an on going FTTP product then you would transfer to another provider (and be given time to do so!!!).

If you don't need your phone then PlusNet are by far the cheapest FTTP provider. Even with a phone line I think they come close (or are) the cheapest.

Brian

[#6]

No problems. Let us know if you do decide to go ahead.

[#7]

Wow - plenty to think about there, thanks for the detail!

Drilling through our walls is not really desirable (and will upset my other half!) so can it be bypassed in any way? Is the cable small enough to go through a door or window frame, for example?

[#8]

@icethudog

If you were very, very lucky they might get it through via the original phone wire entry. Didn't know this was possible until my neighbour got hers done this way. However there's no guarantee of this so you would have to expect a bit of wall drilling.

They do it from the inside about 2 inches above the skirting board so you can see in advance exactly where it'll be. It's covered by a small cap and is no bigger than a cable hole tidier / grommet. If need be the fibre cable can then be routed round the room on the skirting board though you should be aware they staple it in place so cannot be moved afterwards.

There is a fair bit of lee way as to where the cable comes in. I believe they'll run it round the outside of the house but cannot bypass doors. Likewise inside must be close to a power source but they'll look at what's possible on the day. The cable itself looks like satellite cable on the outside but once it's inside they strip the outer protection off so you just have the fibre and its protective plastic sheath. It's an off white colour but doesn't really stand out against the skirting board.

Edit : Forgot to mention this - if you look at this thread I posted a picture of the ONT's

https://community.plus.net/t5/Fibre-To-The-Premises-trial/New-Style-ONT/td-p/1501783

Brian