BT HH5 & Intergrated VDSL

Hey All,

I finally had my Infinity 2 installed last Wednesday. Unlike others, my installation went without a hitch. In fact i would go as far as saying it near on perfect. Sync is pretty much full wack at 80/20 - not really had a chance to test it too much as i work away from home.

Anyway, the question i have is with regards to the BT HH5. Go the HH5 through the post about a week ago. When the engineer did the installation he installed the white VDSL box which in turn connects to the HH5.

I was under the impression that the HH5 was an all-in-one box which did away with the need for the VDSL box?

Can anyone shed any light on this for me please?

In reply to a post by akwilliams:

Can anyone shed any light on this for me please?

Because openreach don't offer the wires-only VDSL service until Jan 1st. Your ISP has paid for the white modem and the full engineer install.

In reply to a post by jchamier:

In reply to a post by akwilliams:

Can anyone shed any light on this for me please?

Because openreach don't offer the wires-only VDSL service until Jan 1st. Your ISP has paid for the white modem and the full engineer install.

So, i can put the RJ11 straight into the bottom of the HH5 and get rid of the VDSL box?

Any config changes on the HH5?

Based on others who have had a wires-only by accident or fully booked it seems no changes to make.

BUT don't bother playing until a few days into the connection so that the DLM has settled down.

Had mine fitted yesterday. Wired straight from BT socket to HH5.
Guy that did the install, said that white box had been in and out of more houses than soft mick. I could have taken it off him as he offered.
But as I have a HH3 as well. Could not see the point of even more junk cluttering up the house.

In reply to a post by jchamier:

Because openreach don't offer the wires-only VDSL service until Jan 1st. Your ISP has paid for the white modem and the full engineer install.

The experience of the mass of people here who purchased from Sky and are getting wires-only seems to disagree. Perhaps the final product is released on January 1st but Sky seem to have been on the trial and are merrily now using it as a commodity product.

More likely BT Retail aren't using the wires-only yet, conscious business decision on their part, but clearly getting ready to do so.

HH3 won't work without the separate modem, will it?

The installer didn't know, clearly.

In reply to a post by Ignitionnet:

The experience of the mass of people here who purchased from Sky and are getting wires-only seems to disagree. Perhaps the final product is released on January 1st but Sky seem to have been on the trial and are merrily now using it as a commodity product.

Yes that seems to be the "de facto" case, despite the OR price list.

More likely BT Retail aren't using the wires-only yet, conscious business decision on their part, but clearly getting ready to do so.

Yes, the HH5 makes that clear.

However it will lead to problems in the future, as RevK made clear in his blog post a couple of weeks ago - the beauty of the Ethernet termination is the fault demarcation of the IP service is clear.

In reply to a post by jchamier:

However it will lead to problems in the future, as RevK made clear in his blog post a couple of weeks ago - the beauty of the Ethernet termination is the fault demarcation of the IP service is clear.

The same could be said for ADSL and at very least the option for the engineer install is still there.

Cost-benefit analysis on the part of the ISPs.

Interesting that the Reverend says that the Openreach modem is the demarcation point of the IP service, the IP service rides over the DSL and PPPoE segments. It becomes pure IP at the ISP, prior to that if using BT Wholesale it's riding over PPPoE over IP, PPPoE, no IP network as it's delivered to Wholesale via a layer 2 network, and VDSL.

It's the demarcation for VDSL but that's about all I'd have thought. There's another demarcation at the L2 switch between Openreach and the CP which is the Ethernet demarcation.

Bit confused by the Rev's terminology there but I'm sure he knows more than I do about this stuff.

In reply to a post by Ignitionnet:

The same could be said for ADSL and at very least the option for the engineer install is still there.

Yes, its unclear if engineer install provides a VDSL modem but I assume it would - whilst the option is there.

Cost-benefit analysis on the part of the ISPs.

Something a vastly smaller ISP (such as AAISP) would be very concerned by, compared to the mega size of the BT/Sky/TalkTalk type colossus - just due to economy of scale and amortising charges over customers.

Adrian's concern I think is mainly what happens if a fault is present on install day, a install engineer may fix that fault as he may feel duty bound to, especially if its a fault that prevents the service from working whilst with a self install the SFI russian roullete starts with the usual games of not proving end user equipment fault etc.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

HH3 won't work without the separate modem, will it?

You got me thinking now....
Never used it with Infinity. Just thought that like adsl they had one built in.

The hh3 does have a built in modem but its an adsl only modem.

So it also has a internet.dsl port to plugin the cable from a vdsl modem. I assume that a exteral adsl modem would also work in that port.

So

hh3 - adsl modem integrated, for vdsl/FTTP requires external vdsl modem.
hh4 - same as hh3
hh5 - integrated adsl/vdsl modem, for FTTP requires external modem, but external modem can still be used for vdsl in the same was as is on the hh3.

Edited by Chrysalis (Wed 11-Dec-13 06:39:10)

Thanks for clearing that up

Fingers crossed HH5 is reliable then.