Still in contract but tempted to move to FTTC

Anyone know if I can switch my broadband away from Sky? I was an O2 customer and switched to the everything (but line rental) free for a year offer. I'm now looking at moving to FTTC when available but not with Sky as I could have FTTC free provided by work.

All I can suggest is phone sky and ask.

Don't recall anyone asking before

When you accepted their offer instead of waiting to be transferred with the rest of O2, you tied yourself into a new 1 year contract.

If that's the case (which I suspect it is) then I'll get a second line or try getting away with putting FTTC on the lift emergency line LoL!

In reply to a post by 5km:

try getting away with putting FTTC on the lift emergency line LoL!

"Ladies and gentlemen, whilst you wait for the fire brigade to rescue you, this lift apologises for any inconvenience. To ease your wait, free Wi-Fi is available - set your devices to StuckInALift".

Seriously, assuming the lift line is contracted for as a standard line and doesn't have any unusual services like RedCare on it, I can't see why you can't order FTTC on it.

Would probably have to wait until there is a FTTC self install option though.

On a serious note... If I had a second line how would this be wired? Being a flat it's a bit odd! The internal wiring from the BT DP is Cat5e cable. And last thing I want is another socket in my hallway where there is no power.

If I was to wire it I would make the living room (computer desk) socket the new line master socket with the socket behind the TV an extension from the existing line. Would BT allow/do that?

I think Openreach run two pairs into each property. During a recent line fault the engineer switched me to my spare pair (not sure if that's good practice, or whether he should have actually replaced the potentially faulty pair).

It certainly used to be standard to run 2 pairs between the distribution point and the master socket, but I believe more recent drop cables contain more than 2 pairs.

A few years ago, I was led to believe that standard BT practice for underground feeds was to use 5 pair cable, but I don't know whether this also applied to overhead feeds. Things may well have changed again now that the likelihood of multiple residential lines has reduced - the days of a second line for dial-up Internet access or fax are largely behind us. 2 pair cable is most likely to be 'pair and a spare' these days.

Hopefully someone can give a definitive answer on current BT Openreach practice.


How many fibres are run into a property during an FTTH installation? There's some arguments to run a bundle containing more than one fibre, even if you only fuse one fibre to the beam splitter (BT GEA-FTTH is single fibre PON using beam splitters, not a point-to-point duplex fibre link).

Experience might show that damage to one fibre typically means the entire bundle is unusable, or that it is quicker to replace the fibre to the premises whenever possible rather than try remaining fibres in the same bundle. In either of these cases, there's little point having spare fibres in the bundle.

The PON runs to a external fibre tray for Openreach FTTH

http://www.coolwebhome.co.uk/fibre-milton-keynes/wgc...

Then a short single fibre run to the inside, making It easier to replace the inside property when the dog chews it.

Thanks. I couldn't think of many scenarios where the fibre used between the tray and ONT had been damaged, but another fibre in the same bundle would have survived. In most cases, you'll break the whole bundle. If you break off or damage a (likely very well protected) pigtail used to connect the ONT, you can likely cut off the mess, clean the original fibre and fuse on a new pigtail.

Having a single fibre for this link makes sense - if it gets trashed, replace it with another.