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Seem good price for FTTP 500/75 @ £35 a month but shame my area is no FTTP available and also 24 months contract might put off people of buying it because of CPI + inflation will rise twice over next 2 years.
https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2023/06/broadb...
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Aquiss do the same package for £25 for 6 months, £50 for remaining 6 months (12 month contract). Average of £37.50 per month but no in contract price rises which means they are probably going to be on a par with that and only 12 months commitment. Also free IPv4 and IPv6 static IP addresses.
Personally I went for the Aquiss offer after looking around as shorter contract, no in contract price increase, better flexibility and static IP included.
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Good price there Aquiss (12 months contract)
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Register (or login) on our website and you will not see this ad.
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Too late for me, they did not give me a good enough offer on an 18-month contract, I was determined not to go on a 24-month contract.
500Mb/s for £35 month is pretty good, but as you said, people have to take into consideration that the price is going to increase twice .
Adrian
Desktop machines Mac mini pro with macOS Ventura, also pc Ryzen powered with windows something or other.
Zooming with Zzoomm FTTP,
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Not bad but strangely BT were offering me 500/75 cheaper than Plusnet in June. £30.99 a month (24 month contract). So I've recently moved from Plusnet FTTC over to BT FTTP. Installation of fibre was relatively smooth and the installer removed the old copper line at the same time.
I didn't take Digital Voice from BT. I separately ported my landline number from Plusnet to A&A which is about £1.40 a month instead of £6 (and I can use my own router and Gigaset phones or softphone). Also working well.
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24 months seems to be the norm with fibre contracts now. Presumably takes longer to recoup price of router and install, if included in monthly price?
In contract price increases are also becoming the norm, but there is no real reason for this given the ISP has a guarenteed income for the contract length, especially as it usually adds it's own increase on top of the RPI one!
Keef- Sheerness Kent UK - Vodafone FTTP via THG3000
Previously - NowTV, John Lewis, Shell Energy, Plusnet, Sky, EE, New Call Telecom/Fuelbroadband, Virgin/NTL/Bell Cable, Crosswinds, IC24, FreeOnlineNet, X-Stream, Totalise, Freeserve, Force9, TescoNet, AOL, Freenetname, Pipex, E7
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24 months seems to be the norm with fibre contracts now. Presumably takes longer to recoup price of router and install, if included in monthly price?
No, because by that logic, the price would *drop* at the end of the contract period when these costs have been recouped, instead of going up.
They do it because they can get away with it. It's unfortunately a symptom of cut-throat competition in the marketplace that they'll do anything which makes their prices *appear* fractionally lower than the competition at the time that you sign up: whether that be having prices automatically increase within the contract term, or longer contract terms, or both.
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And a lot of people buy purely on price. If the average consumer was given the option of paying a few pounds more a month for a higher quality router, better customer support, and no price increase once the contract ended you would get a lot of people saying that it appeals to them, but most of the time they are lying and will buy the cheapest service they can find and often expect some sort of introductory benefit on top of that as well, such as cashback or a gift card. The only way these deals where people are paid £100 cash for signing up to service that might not even have that much margin in it over the contract period exist is by hoping that people forget to do anything when the initial contract period ends.
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I was trying to be generous. 
I think you are right: just greedy and underhand. 
Keef- Sheerness Kent UK - Vodafone FTTP via THG3000
Previously - NowTV, John Lewis, Shell Energy, Plusnet, Sky, EE, New Call Telecom/Fuelbroadband, Virgin/NTL/Bell Cable, Crosswinds, IC24, FreeOnlineNet, X-Stream, Totalise, Freeserve, Force9, TescoNet, AOL, Freenetname, Pipex, E7
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Whatever the reason: it is all wrong.
You should get a fair service for a fair price. All these "hidden" extras like the mid term price increase and I now see "free" add ons that you are later charged for should be made illegal.
Keef- Sheerness Kent UK - Vodafone FTTP via THG3000
Previously - NowTV, John Lewis, Shell Energy, Plusnet, Sky, EE, New Call Telecom/Fuelbroadband, Virgin/NTL/Bell Cable, Crosswinds, IC24, FreeOnlineNet, X-Stream, Totalise, Freeserve, Force9, TescoNet, AOL, Freenetname, Pipex, E7
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I didn't take Digital Voice from BT. I separately ported my landline number from Plusnet to A&A which is about £1.40 a month instead of £6 (and I can use my own router and Gigaset phones or softphone). Also working well.
Any chance of you explaining what process you followed to do this?
Did you just sign up with BT, initiated porting of phone number (which cancelled your old Plusnet FTTC) and just hope that BT FTTP would be installed without any problems?
How did BT know they could remove the copper line?
TIA
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Hi
Sorry, only saw your reply just now.
I just waited until the day before the fibre installation was due and applied to port my existing landline number to A&A (so that in case it immediately ceased my FTTC there would be minimal downtime before the fibre installation). That went through very quickly and they gave me a porting date of about 4 days later (so about 3 days after the BT fibre installation and switch over from Plusnet FTTC).
I'd originally applied for the BT FTTP as a separate new service (not providing the existing phone number) so that there would be an overlap with ending the Plusnet FTTC. but at the final stage of checkout BT said they had identified an existing FTTC service which they would replace with the FTTP. I just went ahead and accepted the order anyway. The order was for broadband only not including Digital Voice.
The fibre installation went fairly smoothly. I had expected the copper line to be left in place and the fibre run parallel to it, but I didn't specifically discuss that with the installer and it was only after he had completed the job I noticed that he'd cut the copper dropwire immediately outside my window and removed the copper wire back to the junction box about six houses along the terrace. I'm fine with that, it's neater and I don't need the copper line any more.
The landline number then ported over to A&A VoIP on the expected day.
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The landline number then ported over to A&A VoIP on the expected day.
So you were unable to use the "landline" number for 3 days. Since the BT order for FTTP went through as an immediate replacement for Plusnet FTTC (VDSL + PSTN voice?) the installer removed the copper dropwire etc. thus ceasing completely the Plusnet service.
Obviously that is something to be wary of if one wishes to have an overlap of services for at least a few days.
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Thanks for replying.
I wish there was a better way of doing this.
Another concern would be if there was an unforeseen problem with the FTTP installation and it couldn't go ahead for any reason you would be without internet once AA ported the number as it would cancel the old FTTC.
Going with an Altnet and running Openreach FTTC and Altnet FTTP at the same time seems to be the only way to smoothly do this and have no downtime.
Going from Openreach FTTC to Openreach FTTP seems very difficult if you want to move your voice line somewhere else especially with no downtime.
Did Plusnet automatically pick up on your landline number being ported and notified you and generated a final bill?
Thanks
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The order was for broadband only not including Digital Voice.
I had expected the copper line to be left in place and the fibre run parallel to it, but I didn't specifically discuss that with the installer and it was only after he had completed the job I noticed that he'd cut the copper dropwire immediately outside my window and removed the copper wire back to the junction box about six houses along the terrace. You should have then reported a landline fault, as you'd lost phone service, and claimed compensation for when they didn't come out and fix it 
Aquiss FTTP BQM | AAISP VOIP | Ubiquiti UDM Pro | 2x Unifi AC-Lite & 1x AC-LR Wifi AP
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I wish there was a better way of doing this.
Agreed. Unfortunately it looks as if there is no rush by ISPs to support the OFCOM porting scheme. Fortunately we aren't frequent users of the landline so a couple of days downtime wasn't a disaster. I have seen some suggestions that Plusnet will let you port out your old number for 30 days after service ceases, but I don't think that's an official policy so I didn't want to risk it.
Another concern would be if there was an unforeseen problem with the FTTP installation and it couldn't go ahead for any reason you would be without internet once AA ported the number as it would cancel the old FTTC.
True, although we are fortunate to have good unlimited 5G data on EE at our house (despite their coverage checker insisting we have none, which has made for "interesting" support calls when things like eSIMs don't work) so if it came to it we could just tether to mobiles for a day or two.
Going with an Altnet and running Openreach FTTC and Altnet FTTP at the same time seems to be the only way to smoothly do this and have no downtime.
Going from Openreach FTTC to Openreach FTTP seems very difficult if you want to move your voice line somewhere else especially with no downtime.
Agreed. I don't know if it would work porting to/from a non-BT group retail brand, perhaps it was only because it was another group brand I was migrating from that BT were able to detect it and turn my purchase from an additional service into a replacement. Or maybe not and they can do that for anyone using Openreach products.
Did Plusnet automatically pick up on your landline number being ported and notified you and generated a final bill?
Surprisingly, they did. A final bill was generated with a pro rata refund for broadband, line rental, etc. from the day after the number port (so four days after the FTTC cease and the copper line removal). I say surprisingly because due to various and repeated billing errors over the previous few years I was expecting them to try to charge me for leaving despite being out of contract. Shows that occasionally they do things right! On the downside I have replaced Plusnet CS chaos with a bit of a nightmare with BT messing up my user IDs but that's another story...
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You should have then reported a landline fault, as you'd lost phone service, and claimed compensation for when they didn't come out and fix it
Nice idea, although I suspect that (a) they'd have pointed to the small print in the FTTP order where they added at the last minute that my new service would (contrary to what I'd tried to order) actually be replacing my existing service, and (b) if they did actually come out and try to reinstall a copper line they would no doubt have broken the nice new fibre line 🤣
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You should have then reported a landline fault, as you'd lost phone service, and claimed compensation for when they didn't come out and fix it
Nice idea, although I suspect that (a) they'd have pointed to the small print in the FTTP order where they added at the last minute that my new service would (contrary to what I'd tried to order) actually be replacing my existing service, and (b) if they did actually come out and try to reinstall a copper line they would no doubt have broken the nice new fibre line 🤣
Are you sure they didn't reconnect your master socket to the copper pair Openreach (used to?) include in their fibre drop cable? That's what they did with mine.
Roger Hayter
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Thanks for replying.
I wish there was a better way of doing this.
Another concern would be if there was an unforeseen problem with the FTTP installation and it couldn't go ahead for any reason you would be without internet once AA ported the number as it would cancel the old FTTC.
Going with an Altnet and running Openreach FTTC and Altnet FTTP at the same time seems to be the only way to smoothly do this and have no downtime.
Going from Openreach FTTC to Openreach FTTP seems very difficult if you want to move your voice line somewhere else especially with no downtime.
Having a brand new Openreach FTTP service installed to run alongside the Openreach FTTC service for a short period (before then porting the number out to a VoIP provider) is also a workable solution, on the condition that the ISP for the new Openreach FTTP service genuinely understands it is a distinct new installation rather than a 'takeover' and implements the order as such.
I'd imagine that ordering the new Openreach FTTP service via a smaller 'on the ball' ISP such as Aquiss might be the way to go.
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You would think there was a way of customers having some control over this, but it appears to be down to how "on the ball" as you put it an ISP is.
I myself tried to get a new service installed but because I already have an FTTP service a "takeover" was implemented. Indeed when I requested a new service I was told this was possible but the system would reject the application and automatically reset to takeover anyway!
Keef- Sheerness Kent UK - Vodafone FTTP via THG3000 &
Three via ZTE MF286D
Previously - NowTV, John Lewis, Shell Energy, Plusnet, Sky, EE, New Call Telecom/Fuelbroadband, Virgin/NTL/Bell Cable, Crosswinds, IC24, FreeOnlineNet, X-Stream, Totalise, Freeserve, Force9, TescoNet, AOL, Freenetname, Pipex, E7
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Having a brand new Openreach FTTP service installed to run alongside the Openreach FTTC service for a short period (before then porting the number out to a VoIP provider) is also a workable solution, on the condition that the ISP for the new Openreach FTTP service genuinely understands it is a distinct new installation rather than a 'takeover' and implements the order as such.
I'd imagine that ordering the new Openreach FTTP service via a smaller 'on the ball' ISP such as Aquiss might be the way to go.
I did a similar thing when ordering FTTP from Aquiss, during the install/activation the copper line was left active, then after several days I ceased only the SMPF ADSL, which was with another provider. The PSTN voice/phone number was retained on the line since at this stage I have no immediate wish to have VoIP.
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Are you sure they didn't reconnect your master socket to the copper pair Openreach (used to?) include in their fibre drop cable? That's what they did with mine.
Yes.
I don't think there is a copper pair in the "drop cable" they used. My terrace has a 12-port CSP on the back wall 5 houses away, from which they ran a black cable (labelled "Corning Optical Cable/Fastaccess (TM) Technology/1 SMF BIF") along the back wall and into my house. Inside the house that cable goes into one end of a small rectangular Openreach CSP and the optical cable from the other end of that goes into the ONT.
The master socket was left in place with just the snipped off tail of the old copper cable protruding from the back and through the external wall. I just removed it and the 30cm tail of copper cable.
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24 months seems to be the norm with fibre contracts now. Presumably takes longer to recoup price of router and install, if included in monthly price?
In contract price increases are also becoming the norm, but there is no real reason for this given the ISP has a guarenteed income for the contract length, especially as it usually adds it's own increase on top of the RPI one!
Its about min revenue per customer.
ISP's would rather have someone paying £30 month for 24 months with a high exit penalty vs someone paying £50 month on a 1 month contract, because the latter only assures them £50, the former much more.
Openreach wholesale allows 1 month on FTTP, same with CF. Not really enough push from Ofcom to tackle the issue sadly. Ofcom allowing in contract rises with no exit clause is just baffling. Way too much trust in the industry "We make OR do this and that and the retailers will pass on the benefits", and "we trust them to not push the rules to the limit for maximum profits".
Edited by Chrysalis (Mon 21-Aug-23 16:06:54)
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