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Fibre installation timeline?

Jorvik
Grafter
Posts: 38
Thanks: 10
Registered: ‎09-10-2013

Fibre installation timeline?

Hi, just a quick question about installation of my new Plusnet FTTC broadband service - which is replacing a (non-FTTC) ADSL service from another provider (MAC provided to Plusnet and transfer of service acknowledged by the old provider).
The Openreach (or Kelly) engineer is due to come tomorrow (Thursday 10 Oct).
Meanwhile a text message (SMS) that I received from Plusnet states that my service is "due to become active by midnight" on Friday 11 Oct, i.e. a day after the engineer's visit.
What's the story here - is the information in the text message wrong, and it's supposed to say Thursday 10 Oct (not Friday 11 Oct) - the same day as the engineer's visit? Or could it take over 24 hours for the new fibre service to go live? Or is this just Plusnet playing it safe, giving the longest possible time scale, and in actual fact it's likely to become active rather sooner than that?
Once the wiring changes are made at the local cabinet by the engineer I can't see that it's possible for my old ADSL service to continue working until the new FTTC service kicks in.
Thanks for any help.
9 REPLIES 9
orbrey
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 10,540
Registered: ‎18-07-2007

Re: Fibre installation timeline?

Hi there,
The message was set that way because ADSL orders can activate any time up to midnight on the day of the order (hence the date of the following day being given). Fibre accounts will activate on the date the engineer appointment is booked for, so yours will go active today - hope it all goes smoothly for you, please let us know.
Jorvik
Grafter
Posts: 38
Thanks: 10
Registered: ‎09-10-2013

Re: Fibre installation timeline?

Thanks Matt - I'm waiting for the engineer now.
Understood about the text message - I have to say that the wording "Your broadband service is due to become active by midnight on 11/10/2013" does read to me as if it means by the midnight after the date mentioned (it's the "by midnight" bit) - maybe that's something you might consider clarifying in the future.
Also the text message goes on to say "Please don't set up your router until we confirm your service is active" - I'm guessing this message applies to plain vanilla ADSL as opposed to FTTC? If so then again this could be clarified / changed.
Jorvik
Grafter
Posts: 38
Thanks: 10
Registered: ‎09-10-2013

Re: Fibre installation timeline?

Just to follow this up. The engineer turned up (he came at about 1.30pm, so running a bit late for the 8am-1pm time window, but never mind - I'm glad I hadn't committed to anything for the afternoon though).
Two things...
(1) Maybe it's a bit late for this but what would be the best way of passing a commendation on to the engineer who came to install the FTTC service (in a way that it might actually reach him and his manager/team)? He was a Kelly Communications bod, was a really nice bloke, did a nice neat job (including re-siting the phone socket a little and fitting a new junction box to replace a warped old one where the line comes into the house), and I failed to shake his hand when he left. I'm not sure how many 'thank yous' these installers get after they've done a good job.
(2) My broadband speed was estimated as being 56 Mbps (indeed it still is on the BT Wholesale Broadband Availability checker), but I'm only getting around 47.5 Mbps (as per both the Speedtest.net and the thinkbroadband speed tests) - so it's around 15% less than predicted.
Confusingly, on the Plusnet Member Centre -> Connection Settings -> High-speed Broadband page (i.e. here), it says that my line speed is 78 Mbps - which doesn't make a lot of sense to me.
I haven't reset either of the routers, as I kinda thought that you were supposed to leave them for the first 10 or so days whilst things bedded in, but perhaps I should do so?
It's a much faster connection than we had beforehand, which is great - but I'd obviously like to try and get it performing at it's absolute best. For what it's worth, it's maybe 200 metres (walking distance) from the house to the FTTC cabinet that I'm almost certain we're connected to - the landline is fed to the house from a telegraph pole, but it's underground from there to the cabinet.
orbrey
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 10,540
Registered: ‎18-07-2007

Re: Fibre installation timeline?

Hi there,
Not sure where you'd feed back re good engineers, especially if they're contracted from another company. I guess the best bet would be via their website directly? The contact us form for them is here: http://www.kelly.co.uk/contact-us/contact-kelly-group
As for the line profile, it'll show as 78Mb on our side because we won't have received a profile update yet and that's what it's set to by default. I checked and found the profile is actually at 50800 so have updated things on our side to match, which should improve things - not sure you'd be able to get much more than that really.
Jorvik
Grafter
Posts: 38
Thanks: 10
Registered: ‎09-10-2013

Re: Fibre installation timeline?

Thanks Matt - I did think of going straight to Kelly re the installer commendation, but just wondered if there was an internal (industry) route for such a message - seemingly not so I'll get in touch with them via their website.
I'm a bit new to this all, so was just wondering - when you say...
Quote from: Matt
I checked and found the profile is actually at 50800 so have updated things on our side to match, which should improve things [...]

Does that mean checking the line profile assigned by BTW (your provider) and then having the Plusnet network somehow optimise for that? Just curious how that works, as you said it should improve things a little.
Because of the proximity of the FTTC cabinet, I'm a little surprised that a technology that can theoretically support up to 78 Mbps only delivers about 5/8ths of this in the case of my installation - that said I'm aware the wiring in between could be pretty flakey, there's the opportunity for cross-talk with other lines, and I suppose the wire to the cabinet could go the long route round the block instead of the short way I'm imagining it does.
orbrey
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 10,540
Registered: ‎18-07-2007

Re: Fibre installation timeline?

Quote
Does that mean checking the line profile assigned by BTW (your provider) and then having the Plusnet network somehow optimise for that? Just curious how that works, as you said it should improve things a little.

Yep - our traffic management depends on it. Traffic comes from the internet to us and then out to you, so as long as we make sure what we're sending to you can 'fit' down the connection to your premises we can control what gets sent first etc. If we send more than can 'fit' then it's the exchange (or the cab in case of fibre) that decides which of the traffic gets dropped and our prioritisation might as well not be happening, that's why we match the line profile.
And indeed, the speed is pretty much entirely dependent on the line between the cab and your premises - as you've said it goes from your house up to a pole and then underground it may well not be the shortest route to the cabinet unfortunately or may even have some aluminium in though given the speeds you're getting this seems unlikely.
Jorvik
Grafter
Posts: 38
Thanks: 10
Registered: ‎09-10-2013

Re: Fibre installation timeline?

Thanks Matt - the explanation re your traffic management makes perfect sense, and quite possibly explains some slightly odd performance issues I've seen in the little time I've had to 'road test' the new connection.
I can well believe the local telephone wiring is a bit shonkey - the junction box and associated tangle at the top of the telegraph pole doesn't look ideal. Of course none of it was ever installed with DSL in mind - how the world changes!
One last question - is the line profile now set in stone, or is it periodically rechecked by BTW? If it is checked and for some magical reason it changes for the better (hopefully not for the worse!) then I'm assuming at some point that'd be updated at your end (i.e. Plusnet)?
orbrey
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 10,540
Registered: ‎18-07-2007

Re: Fibre installation timeline?

The profile isn't set at all, it's managed constantly depending on the rates recorded when your line syncs, the number of errors and also drops/disconnections (if there are any). It's handled by the DLM (dynamic line management) system on the equipment in the FTTC cabinet. The profile on our side does update to follow this but can sometimes lag behind, it's usually pretty good though. You may have seen a few posts from people asking for their Plusnet profile to be updated - that's what's happening there Smiley
Jorvik
Grafter
Posts: 38
Thanks: 10
Registered: ‎09-10-2013

Re: Fibre installation timeline?

Thanks - yes I'm vaguely aware of DLM in the context of plain vanilla ADSL services, I didn't quite appreciate it was also used for FTTC services (though makes sense that it is). And yes I have indeed come across those posts re profile update requests - makes sense now!
With FTTC, is there any potential benefit in rebooting the routers from time to time? If so, a straightforward off then on or better left off for a period of time? I'm sure I've come across a reboot (and hence resync) suggested elsewhere, but I don't know if that's just an old wives tale (not sure the world of broadband has been around long enough to call them old wives tales!).