FTTP Installation - What's the process?

Happy days guys - after months of emailing ISP's, chasing, wrangling etc - finally been given a date for my FTTP installation (Bradwell Abbey Exchange, Milton Keynes)

The date I was given is 23/6 - Thursday.

So what happens?

We've already had a fleet of BT vans show up yesterday afternoon - I wasn't in, so didn't get to ask what bit they were doing.

And what sort of speeds are people experiencing on FTTP? currently get between 1mbps & 2mbps, so to be honest, anything will be better.

Far too excited - my partner though, she just doesn't understand my excitement

Post deleted by nelix01

In reply to a post by nelix01:

On the day of installation, the eng will visit the FTTC CAB....

Unlikely:

In reply to a post by aldredd:

finally been given a date for my FTTP installation (Bradwell Abbey Exchange, Milton Keynes)

Thanks - so is FTTP pretty much the same process as FTTC then?

If they're just replacing the existing faceplate, that may save me some hassle, as was going to have to move quite a bit of equipment from the area, as I thought they'd need to drill for a new access point / faceplate.

The wholesale checker confirms I *should* be able to get 100mbps on fttp, just wondered what people are getting in real life.

Should have put my specs on! Completely different process for FTTP and one which I am not familiar with at all.

Original post deleted.

Edited by nelix01 (Tue 21-Jun-11 16:02:09)

In reply to a post by aldredd:

Thanks - so is FTTP pretty much the same process as FTTC then?

No, it's completely different- nelix mis-read your post as FTTC, it's easily done- FTTP is rare!

Neither of us know what's involved unfortunately, but I'm sure someone who does will be along.

Well I take it that you have an envelope sized white fibre junction box on the outside of your house next to your cavity wall box.
If so, there isnt too much for the engineer to do when he/she arrives on Thursday.
He/she will need to run a cable from the CSP (the white box) to where you would like the ONT (optical network termintation, the box to which you connect your router) within your house.
He/she will probably not touch the telephony wiring within the house. On the odd occasion they may because they could use the same conduit that feeds your master socket to put the fibre cable in.
Once the ONT is on the wall and fed by the cable back to the ONT, the engineer will splice the fibres at the CSP and then send off the ONT's serial number to give you service.

And, hey presto!

Thanks for your reply!

In reply to a post by Gleichfalls:

Well I take it that you have an envelope sized white fibre junction box on the outside of your house next to your cavity wall box.

No - nothing I could see. However, by 'cavity wall box', are you referring to the 50cm x 50cm panel next to the gas & elec cabinets that I have no idea what's for and can't get into? Just asked my partner who says that they were inside this panel, and there's a pile of insulation on the floor, so they've been doing something in there - have no idea what though!

In reply to a post by Gleichfalls:

If so, there isnt too much for the engineer to do when he/she arrives on Thursday.
He/she will need to run a cable from the CSP (the white box) to where you would like the ONT (optical network termintation, the box to which you connect your router) within your house.
He/she will probably not touch the telephony wiring within the house. On the odd occasion they may because they could use the same conduit that feeds your master socket to put the fibre cable in.

so, will I have a socket that take the connection from outside, into the ONT (essentially the modem, right?) or will it be a cable coming straight through the wall & into the ONT?

In reply to a post by Gleichfalls:

Once the ONT is on the wall and fed by the cable back to the ONT, the engineer will splice the fibres at the CSP and then send off the ONT's serial number to give you service.

cool - so once it's all done, how long is it until it's all ready for use? Moments / hours / days?

Thanks!

For clarification, here is a pic of the cabinet they were working in (included the Elec cabinet for scale)

Here

Hi again,
The metal plate is your cavity wall box. You have one of the larger types so I would assume the junction box I am talking about is inside. Most people have smaller cavity wall boxes which would not give enough room to install the junction point in.
The cable will come from the junction point and go directly into the ONT.
Hoping that all is successful it should only (fingers crossed) take 10 minutes after the serial number has been sent, to give you service.

Enjoy

Hi,

Most of the FTTP installs we're doing now are 2 step installs with the engineers coming on 2 different days to each part of the installation.

The first day they will run the fibre from the street to your property, in Bradwell Abbey this is blown down the ducting (in the other 2 exchanges some properties are now overhead fed). This is the most time consuming and troublesome part. Openreach have pre-run the fibre out to the streets but there could be several hundred metres between your property and where they've run it to.

The second date they will come and do the internal work, they'll run the fibre through your wall and to where you want the ONT located (think ahead where will be convenient and has power), make the internal fibre as neat as they can and set up the ONT. You'll then need to set up your router and PC and connect.

On average the outside work takes about 5-7 hours and the internal work about 2 hours and so long as there are no problems you should be able to connect as soon as they're finished (assuming your ISP have everything ready their side).

Our customers tend to see speeds of ~80Mbps, some get a bit more, although peak times people see it slow a little. We have seen some get lower speeds but I think almost of all of them have been down to something within the customers' control. For example, wireless G speeds will max out around 20Mbps while draftN/N lite maxes at around 67Mbps. Full N 2x2 router and wireless adapters are needed to get the best wireless speed. We've seen other problems with older PCs and some AV/firewall software.

In reply to a post by Gleichfalls:

Hi again,
The metal plate is your cavity wall box. You have one of the larger types so I would assume the junction box I am talking about is inside. Most people have smaller cavity wall boxes which would not give enough room to install the junction point in.
The cable will come from the junction point and go directly into the ONT.
Hoping that all is successful it should only (fingers crossed) take 10 minutes after the serial number has been sent, to give you service.

Enjoy

Thanks Gleichfalls - been wondering what that box was since we moved in (couldn't get in it to look - thought it was water main inlet or something haha!)

thanks Dave - really useful info.
They turned up about 13:30 the other day (unannounced, much to the surprise of my partner who probably tuned out when I was telling her about the fttp installtion) - 3 van loads of them, but had gone my the time I got home (about 18:30). Assuming they got everything done they needed to - but it's not very far to the bunch of cabinets at the entry to the estate, which I guess they'd have (at least) taken it to.

Hopefully router shouldn't be too much of an issue - I supplied my own, and I got one with simultaneous dual-band wireless N & gigabit lan ports

Congrats on your FTTP, very jelous

Someone by the nickname KMpuggy has posted about his FTTP on the overclockers forum.

Search for his posts starting on page 2 of this thread. There is a speedtest a pic of the cabinet inside his house where the kit is. I can make out the OR modem, which differs slightly from the FTTC one, I think the ONT that Dave speaks about and the actual fibre cable.

The fibre does not actually go to the cabinet as they are used for copper pstn lines only. All the fibre junction points etc are underground.
The fact that you had 3 vans may have indicated a problem but its hard to say.

Not long now till d-day for you.

The modem in that setup is actually one of the older ones. The modem that aldredd will get will look different.
The newer modems look a lot more stream lined and much more appealing in my mind.

You can see some of the equipment (ont,csp) used in this link here:

Plusnet FTTP Forum

Edited by deleted (Wed 22-Jun-11 09:00:27)

Thanks Gleichfalls & Croftie for the useful links & info

Hopefully there wasn't a problem - it was the first time they've been, so unless they they knew they were going to have a problem, they must have just felt like having a group day out )
And that there is a load of house insulation on the floor by the panel means they must have done something.

One question, if anyone knows - how will they get the fibre from that panel, to where I want it to emerge (ie pretty much next to the existing master socket?)

Will they route it around the outside of the house? Or will they (if possible) route it the same way the existing cable goes (not sure if this is through the walls or trunked under the house, as it's the other side, and there are no incoming wires on the outside wall where the socket is)

They would have made contact with you if there had been a major problem. They may have had some minor issues getting the tubing and fibre in, but with the help of some extra people they sorted it out. I wouldnt worry about it.

If you want the ONT next to where the exsisting master socket is, it should be fairly easy to install.
There should be some small conduit within the cavity wall box that feeds the cable to your master socket. Assuming the builders installed the conduit nicely, the engineer may be able to use this and pull the fibre through the conduit from the master socket to the cavity wall box.
This will mean that you will hardly see any cable at all.
If the conduit has not been installed nicely or it is blocked etc, then they may need to run the cable via a different route.
But it should be ok.

Hmm it's 13:17 on D-Day, and no sign yet (

(yes, I'm inpatient!)

Heres a speedtest from plusnet FTTP

http://www.speedtest.net/result/1151528802.png

Any news yet??

Would have thought you were up and running by now!

Edited by deleted (Thu 23-Jun-11 15:07:14)

In reply to a post by Gleichfalls:

Any news yet??

Would have thought you were up and running by now!

Nope

Still no sign of them - have dropped my ISP-to-be a message asking them to chase them.

Will be royally peed off if they don't show - have had to take a day off work for this - and they harked on at me about a £100ish penalty if I'm not in when they get here!
(I don't begrudge taking the day off, but only if they're going to honour their commitment!)

grrr - the ISP have got back to me - OR weren't able to complete what they were doing on Monday and will need to make another appointment. Very un-happy - taken a day off, and re-arranged all my furniture to ensure they had access to the area. Would love to know when they were going to let me know about the delay

Not untypical of BT I'm afraid, and from similar reports here and elsewhere it seems to be getting worse.

One wonders which meaning they're using for the second word in "Customer Service"

If Openreach had not completed on Monday, and have informed the ISP, then why have the ISP not informed their customer (the OP) of this?

Well, there's an assumption in there that BT did inform the ISP without being chased, but fair point.

We had 3 vans also about a week ago. No issues as far as i am aware, they pulled the fibre cable from under the road into the junction box. Today they are doing the internal work. Going well so far.