FTTC Installation Questions

My exchange is due to be FTTC enabled on 31st December. It could be earlier because Open Reach are swarming all over the village right now.

I have read that the vDSL modem has to plugged into the master socket and that two power sockets are needed nearby. Is this true?

If so there might be a snag. My master socket is in a tiny front hall which is basically an enclosed porch stuck on the outside of the house. The nearest power point is 5 metres away, the router and computers are 25 metres away; any additional wiring would involve drilling through walls etc.

Might it be cheaper to have the master socket moved from the front of the house round to the computer room? The external phone line is underground.

Also will either of my existing routers, Netgear DG834PN and Speedtouch 546i V6, work with the FTTC modem?

you will need 2 power sockets but i do know that bt openreach will use a data extension cable if needed and will run from main phone socket to your router and pc 25 metres away i think they might charge you for moving master socket going by the bt openreach info .

hopefully others on here will know more on that part

Hi ffox,

I am also having my FTTC installed on the 13th so will try and answer some of your questions as far as I know. The vDSL is usually installed in the master socket but BT can install an extension of up to 30metres providing it isn't too difficult to do this depending on the layout of your house. You will need one power socket for your vDSL modem and one for your router.

In regards to the router I believe it has to be a DSL router that supports PPPOE and has a Gigabit WAN/LAN connections as well. I have just bought a Edimax BR-6574n as my existing router won't support FTTC.

Hope this helps.

In terms of router - you need to look for devices labelled cable/dsl routers (often shown as suitable for use with Virgin Media cable broadband).

On the Gigabit WAN ports - still very rare, as long as a 100Mbps WAN Ethernet port, and supports more than G wireless speeds, chances are that the WAN to LAN routing will cope with 40Meg FTTC.

Thanks.

Will BT install the extension if they are not my ISP?

Any recommended routers?

Ffox,

I believe BT will install the extension regardless of the ISP you go with.

In regards to the router I have gone for the Edimax BR-6574n due to its good reviews I have been reading and its reasonable price @ £50. If you have a look in the DSL Hardware section someone has purchased the Zyxel NBG4604 and they seem to be happy with it. I have also seen a few of the FTTC providers recommend the Zyxel NBG460N.

Once I am up and running I will post up a review for the Edimax BR-6574n.

In reply to a post by ffox:

Thanks.

Will BT install the extension if they are not my ISP?

Don't know, but I suspect so. I had an install this week, and my ISP is IDNet. The BT man was from BT Openreach, who are not themselves an end user ISP. BT Infinity is a BT Retail product. You only need one power socket for the BTO VDSL modem, the reference to the second socket is for the router.

In reply to a post by ffox:

Any recommended routers?

I was planning to use a Zoom 4110 I had lying about, but in the end I bought a Netgear WGR614UK £29.97 from Amazon. It's very good, and superbly flexible on the LAN and W-LAN side.

Edited by broadbandjockey (Sun 03-Oct-10 17:47:16)

i also heard that that you may only need one power socket if you just run the vdsl moderm straight into the pc . but this way you wont have option of being wirelss

In reply to a post by Johnct:

i also heard that that you may only need one power socket if you just run the vdsl moderm straight into the pc . but this way you wont have option of being wirelss

No, and also there will be no NAT routing, so a decent and watertight software firewall on the PC is essential.

Correct on the data extension.

Openreach sells the same service to all ISP's, it does not matter if its BT Infinity or Joe who sells broadband from his car repair shop.