Pay for FTTP to my home

I remember reading a while back that it will be possible for an individual to pay for FTTH/P installation. I was wondering if their was any more information on this.

I am willing to pay for the cost of getting a fibre run from the cabinet to my home, its definitely less then 500m.

Who would do the installation? can it be any ISP or just BT Openreach?

it isn't launched yet, it's called "Fibre on Demand"

ISPs will sell it, Openreach will install and run it.

Great, so I just need it to be released I am sure IDNET should provide this from day one, but i have emailed them to find out anyway.

Kash

Spring 2013 is the current date for launch

I wish they would provide a more specific date, especially considering spring (if you split go by a season = 1 Quarter) is 3 months, and the best part, in the UK its a moving target as Winter tends to drag on

Assume the last possible date of Spring, 20th June 2013.

If like the Quarter holding dates for FTTC cabinets being installed it will slip back a few months to a year or might never happen.

The big quetion is how much of the installation cost for FTTPoD the ISP's will pass on.

Well £1500 will be out of reach for most consumers, and as stated in the original article its more for SOHO/Home workers.

I will be surprised if the cost goes over this amount.

Regarding the dates slipping considering that its Fiber from the premises to the cabinet and the cabinets already are FTTC enabled I can't see the dates slipping, if it was direct from premises to the exchange the probably the dates would slip.

I was told by someone fairly high up in BT "March time"

Time will tell

Am interested in this myself, but need to get FTTC first

Hopefully in same timeframe..

I'm also interested but mainly because I assume fibre optic connections are more reliable than their copper counterparts. I've had my fill of poor ADSL connections.

Fibre is more reliable and while it may not give constant speed, you are removing hte variability due to sync speed issues.

Waiting on this myself for my home office. I've £2500 with whichever SP will deliver the product's name on it.

I suspect strongly that the ISPs will either ask for the full amount up front or will contract you and roll the install charge into the monthly fee depending on credit status amongst other things - rather than their risk being their contract with Openreach it's now also 4 figures in install fees.

I consider it useful to the home office and a good investment longer term. Prior to it going in all rooms will have structured cabling to them, Cat 7 or 7A, with wireless APs on each floor. Openreach permitting the FTTPoD solution will be load balanced and failing over with the residential FTTC service that will already be installed.

This should make the whole thing futureproof, just waiting now on the FTTC enabling and then FTTPoD going live - next month barring issues so I'm told.

One advantage of Gigaclear is that they put all the fibres underground. Many of my BT copper and aluminium line failures are caused by BT running overhead lines close to trees.

It will be interesting to see how much BT will want for a FTTH connection to my local cabinet when it eventually gets upgrade to FTTC. The distance is about 5km.

In reply to a post by Michael_Chare:

One advantage of Gigaclear is that they put all the fibres underground. Many of my BT copper and aluminium line failures are caused by BT running overhead lines close to trees.

It will be interesting to see how much BT will want for a FTTH connection to my local cabinet when it eventually gets upgrade to FTTC. The distance is about 5km.

I've a suspicion that at that range the answer will be a straight 'no'!

In reply to a post by Ignitionnet:

I've a suspicion that at that range the answer will be a straight 'no'!

Well I am not the only person at this distance, so hopefully they would provide a connection. However until BT make a proper announcement we can only speculate.

I am hoping to be a Gigaclear customer before the cabinet gets upgraded to FTTC/P. I just need about about 133 of the people close by to post of their contracts. So far, after just over 1 week, about 57 have signed up.

which isp you plan to go with?

Until I know what the options are for FTTPoD I can't answer that.

The options for FTTP are hardly vast right now, and this without potential of a huge install charge to claw back from the customer or take in advance.

It'll be a business package, obviously, and I would prefer to avoid BT Wholesale. I'm aware of some potential upcoming options but have to see if they materialise.

Well I sent an email to IDNET my current ISP, ill see what they come back with considering i've been with them 2 years with no issues I am hesitant to move, I am sure they can work something out.

In reply to a post by Snake:

Well I sent an email to IDNET my current ISP, ill see what they come back with considering i've been with them 2 years with no issues I am hesitant to move, I am sure they can work something out.

No sign of an FTTP product of any kind from them yet

FTTPoD fibre is not fed from the FTTC cabinet. It is fed from an aggregation point, which is probably also serving the cabinet. What the range of distances between the FTTC cabinet and the aggregation point is I have no idea.

It could of course be the opposite side of the cabinet from the Premises, adding to the cost.

In reply to a post by Michael_Chare:

... Many of my BT copper and aluminium line failures are caused by BT running overhead lines close to trees.

And with aluminium, presumably rust, once the very thin coating of copper gets slightly worn and exposes the aluminium to the elements, once there's a susceptible area at the pole's junction box, the dropwire's entry to your house, etc.

Didn't BT stop doing aluminium dropwires because of exactly that? The action even of light wind blowing a dropwire back and forth soon eroded the thin copper coating, and if it was one of the pure aluminium ones, eventually moisture would get in there via similar methods, and possibly even physically break the pair completely.

Semi-related: I noticed recently after helping someone do a Freesat installation that a lot of the co-ax cable you can buy online which is about half the price of the stuff you can get in the big-name stores, is listed simply as having a copper core, but it's actually aluminium dipped in copper. We sent two sets of cable back because of that.

Edited by deleted (Sun 17-Feb-13 02:16:17)

Didn't BT stop doing aluminium dropwires because of exactly that?

There never have been aluminium dropwires.

In reply to a post by gazzyk1ns:

In reply to a post by Michael_Chare:

... Many of my BT copper and aluminium line failures are caused by BT running overhead lines close to trees.

And with aluminium, presumably rust, once the very thin coating of copper gets slightly worn and exposes the aluminium to the elements, once there's a susceptible area at the pole's junction box, the dropwire's entry to your house, etc.

Aluminium doesn't rust .

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

In reply to a post by gazzyk1ns:

In reply to a post by Michael_Chare:

... Many of my BT copper and aluminium line failures are caused by BT running overhead lines close to trees.

And with aluminium, presumably rust, once the very thin coating of copper gets slightly worn and exposes the aluminium to the elements, once there's a susceptible area at the pole's junction box, the dropwire's entry to your house, etc.

Aluminium doesn't rust .

With a steely heart, I have to tell you he probably meant 'corrode'

In reply to a post by don0301:

With a steely heart, I have to tell you he probably meant 'corrode'

Aluminium actually burns extremely well as I once saw demonstrated by a lecturer who told us that some one else performing the demonstration had killed some of his audience.

The aluminium cable in my telephone line is underground (AFAIK)

In reply to a post by don0301:

With a steely heart, I have to tell you he probably meant 'corrode'

Acid wit indeed .

What did the OP mean then? BT did try non-copper (or copper coated) wire back in the 70s or maybe 80s I think, and the results were terrible. I was obviously wrong about the rusting and/or the material. This thread:

http://forums.thinkbroadband.com/btsupplier/3727764-...

I think has the answer, so copper-coated steel then, as the pun implied. I've never felt so stupid for temporarily getting a compound mixed up with an element

Edited by deleted (Tue 19-Feb-13 05:32:45)

In reply to a post by gazzyk1ns:

I've never felt so stupid for temporarily getting a compound mixed up with an element

Don't be daft . My post about not rusting was just a joke. After all, rust is just a special case of corrosion.

As for the others discussing how the non-pure-copper cables are constructed, I've no idea.

Okay here's some pricing based on the way Openreach treat businesses.

If you're getting fibre to your property they will generally send a surveyor round to decide upon the route the fibre would take, if there are any hazards, and they will also make a decision wether other people adjacent or in the same block/building will be likely to use fibre in the near future.

If they decide that no one else will require fibre nearby, then you will have to cover the whole cost of the engineering installation from the start to finish. If they are running it to a big block of flats, BT may subsidise part of the cost as they will get a return on cost through future customers and ISP contracts. They apply this to business installations, however I'm not sure if this will apply to home users or not.

There is a fixed planning charge of £350.

For the start of the installation they will run a black pipe from either a cabinet or the nearest fibre terminal to your building, providing there are no blockages if it's going underground they will blow the fibre through the black tube using air compressors. I would assume the technique will be the same for FTTP.
The blown fibre cost is £4 / metre. (100m = £400).

Then there are any additional costs for making an entry to the building for the splice tray and NTE. Various costs here, especially if they need to run extra fibre up walls etc. The network equipment is generally owned by BT for business installations. Depending on the equipment they will provide for FTTP this may completely vary.
Any drilling Openreach will charge a fortune for. Generally £330 per hole!

I had a discussion with engineers about FTTP On Demand for home users, and they said there's issues being finalised in regards to how the fibre is to be run from telephone masts etc. but it's all moving ahead.

Please note these points and figures are only based on a dedicated fibre line for business. FTTP for the home will likely vary and I'm not even familiar with the equipment they would provide for home users. I believe it still requires the same components but they are a lot smaller.

So in regards to Michael's post about running a connection 5km to your property. It is completely possible to have this done. However if Openreach decided that you are the only person in your area that will be using fibre in the near future, you would have to cover the entire installation cost. If the pricing is similar to how they treat businesses, this would come to around £20,000.

Thanks,
Alan

Edited by deleted (Fri 22-Feb-13 13:49:11)

Or if you can persuade enough of your neighbours to join in, get Gigaclear to install FTTP for everyone.
They charge £100 per household to install the 1Gb symetrical fiber to the edge of your property AND provide 25m of fiber and the modem/router as a kit.
You can then install the equipment yourself at no extra cost or a local contractor will do it for £85.
Slightly cheaper than BT methinks!
If it was going to cost you £20,000 for BT you'd be better off paying for all your neighbours installations!