FTTP vs FTTPoD?

What's the difference (if any) between FTTP and FTTPoD?

I've looked in the guide, linked from the sticky thread, but didn't spot anything about it.

Is it the same thing? If not, how does it differ?

I keep seeing both terms in a number of posts in this board

Thanks.

Physically identical it is down to what is actually made available to you.

If your address can already get FTTC, then its FTTPoD where you pay a large chunk of the costs to run the fibre to your home, and can only order a 330 Mbps service on a three year contract.

If its FTTP i.e. phone checker lists WBC FTTP for the line as an option and NO FTTC then you get the choice of 40/80/110/220/330 Meg speeds depending on what the retail sells and install should be around the £90 mark.

People who have native FTTP available to them cannot get FTTC.

Ta for info.

My exchange is FTTC only at present.

Does not matter about the exchange, an exchange can have a mix of all three. It is what your specific cabinet has available from it.

I meant the exchange states FTTP not available.

With only around 100,000 native FTTP lines in the UK that is very common.

FTTPoD is available at a few hundred exchanges and grows each quarter, as Openreach get more resources to do the installs if/when people order.

Sure about that?

Seems there was a purely coincidental burst of new availability in areas covered by Superconnected Cities vouchers and there has been no progress since.

If you have alternative information that would be awesome.

Has often grown each quarter in the past, but there is no guarantee that more exchanges will get added every quarter.

Does that sound better?

General promise from Openreach is we get a new list every quarter. Lots of firms did stuff for the superconnected schemes because it was attractive money involved and the scheme has an interesting mixture of technologies too.

Bear in your mind, if u getting FTTC and later FTTPoD is available from your cab, u need a new openreach modem that support over 300Mbps. as our FTTC openreach modem only handle up to 100Mbps for now.

What a load of rubbish

The Openreach modem for FTTPoD is actually a ONT and spec'd to handle the speeds. They FTTC openreach modem and FTTP ONT may look the same boxes but are very different devices, for one the ONT expects a fibre optic connection.

There is the issue of what you connect in terms of router and buying one that supports high levels of throughput, but the retail ISP should have recommendations on that.

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

There is the issue of what you connect in terms of router and buying one that supports high levels of throughput, but the retail ISP should have recommendations on that.

GigE ports are now standard on all current Draytek routers I gather now, Cisco & the like all do GigE interfaces if you have the pennies in your pocket.

Not aware of any D-Links or Net Gears yet (and not checked) but once the demand is there for the higher speed WAN interfaces it wont take long, and wont cost much.

In reply to a post by Ignitionnet:

Sure about that?

Seems there was a purely coincidental burst of new availability in areas covered by Superconnected Cities vouchers and there has been no progress since.

i think it must depend on what engineers are available. Brackley was in the first tranche of exchanges to offer FTTPoD and Brackley is not a city

Sadly GigE ports do not guarantee GigE speeds, check out smallnetbuilder.com for examples.
Technology is not foolproof and especially so at high performance levels.
Research is key.

In reply to a post by Andrue:

i think it must depend on what engineers are available. Brackley was in the first tranche of exchanges to offer FTTPoD and Brackley is not a city

Not sure what that has to do with the bunch of previously unannounced exchanges in SCC areas that went live earlier this year with silence since and no announcement of more for months but good to know I guess.

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

Has often grown each quarter in the past, but there is no guarantee that more exchanges will get added every quarter.

Does that sound better?

Ah okay that goes with what I am seeing. Thought you were aware of something I wasn't.

To be quite honest I think Openreach, with the price increases and everything else, have pretty much given up on FTTPoD and clearly native FTTP too. It wasn't a massive seller before the huge price increase and there's perilously little point in releasing it where subsidies are not available given it has a pricing structure devoted to maximising use of available subsidy rather than being competitive.

Steve Jones must be a depressed if not bored man.

Just something also to note - ignoring the install costs FTTP on demand costs everyone who uses BT's Wholesale arm 168GBP/month before any usage, or any of their own support, admin, billing, etc, etc, costs.

The same 330Mb/30Mb product not on-demand is a rather less painful 63.60GBP.

Guess they use gold plated photons for the on demand product.

My sister moved house in Exeter Devon, they currently have no BT line but a check using the BT address check reveals no FTTC just up to 330mb FTTP! I had a look at the BT pole outside and yes I can see the fibre manifold on the pole.

How do the go about ordering it? ie to get the fastest speed. Will they need to stick with BT?

For consumer stuff BT Retail currently

As MrSaffron says, except AIUI Plusnet still accept customers onto their ongoing FTTP trials.

Which could be a cheap way in as I think it's only open to existing customers, but joining on the nice cheap ADSL2+ product then getting onto the trial appears to work. That would need specific confirmation from a Digital Care rep on these forums. From my experience and what I see, triallists of Plusnet products continue to pay only for their original service until they have to decide between staying on the "live" product or reverting.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

... . From my experience and what I see, triallists of Plusnet products continue to pay only for their original service until they have to decide between staying on the "live" product or reverting.

I don't think that's the case now. AIUI new applicants to the FTTP 'trial' pay the same price as the equivalent FTTC 'upto' service, with only a limited number of speed options presently available. i.e. 80/20 (and probably 40/20 which has recently been offered on FTTC).

Then there's the differential of whether or not you have your line rental with PlusNet, £2.50pm reduction if you have.

Presently I believe the prices are £22.49pm and £17.49pm respectively for the speed examples given above if you don't have your line rental via PlusNet, £2.50 less with PN line rental.

Edit: Both of the account types above are 'Unlimited'.

Edited by Rastus (Sat 05-Jul-14 09:56:38)

Drat. I just tried to edit my post and took so long on my iPad the 12 hours expired while drafting.

Thanks re the FTTP trial price info. The smaller adjustments are standard on all PN products so for this purpose I didn't point them out. Setup charges apply as well if not taking the phone.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

... Setup charges apply as well if not taking the phone.

I don't think there's a setup charge for the FTTP 'trial'. At least that's how I understand it from reading the T&Cs.

As people need to be customers in order to go on the trial, (we are talking about someone joining), the setup charge would apply to whichever product they signed up to. Which in the specific case would be ADSL2+.

AIUI Plusnet will not sign up people direct to any trial.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

As people need to be customers in order to go on the trial, (we are talking about someone joining), the setup charge would apply to whichever product they signed up to. Which in the specific case would be ADSL2+.

AIUI Plusnet will not sign up people direct to any trial.

I wouldn't have thought there would be a setup charge for most people as I'd say the majority already have a DSL connection. So just migrate to PN DSL then apply for the trial.

If you don't take Plusnet line rental then there is a setup charge. Period. If you take ADSLx and phone on monthly rather than a 12-month term, there is a setup charge.

Table 1.6.

You seem to be clutching at straws here to prove me wrong. My take on the setup charges came purely from what I'd read on the PlusNet site.

Table 1.6 does not appear to have any direct relevance to the FTTP 'trial' as FTTP is not yet offered as an official PlusNet retail product and is therefore not listed. Any setup charges for 'Fibre' referred to in that table can only refer to FTTC. This thread does not concern FTTC.

Do PN actually charge a setup fee to a customer who already has DSL (or even FTTC) migrating in if they do not take PN line rental? I was under the impression that the only penalty would be the extra £2.50pm if PN line rental was not taken.

As stated in an earlier post,, my reason for being under the impression that there was no setup fee for the FTTP 'trial' came from the text of the Ts&Cs for the same.. Well I knew I'd read it somewhere on the site but AFAICT it seems it wasn't in the Ts&Cs that I'd seen it, but it is stated here, which also mentions the £2.50pm extra if PN line rental is not chosen. I can't see any mention of a setup fee if line rental is not selected.

Edit: Admittedly in the case of Storm_Forces sister she may well have to pay a setup fee for her initial line and ADSL connection depending on what deals she can take advantage of, either from PN or another provider.

Edited by Rastus (Sun 06-Jul-14 10:31:53)

In reply to a post by Rastus:

You seem to be clutching at straws here to prove me wrong.

Errr - no. I am pointing out that you are wrong.

Do PN actually charge a setup fee to a customer who already has DSL (or even FTTC) migrating in if they do not take PN line rental?

Yes.

That is the whole point I have been making, and it is your trying to prove me wrong that is the straw-clutching. Stop getting personal.

Unless someone can blag a migration in straight onto the FTTP trial then there is no way to avoid a setup charge without taking Plusnet line rental. I have never heard of any such blagging, and think it highly unlikely it would succeed.

Edited by RobertoS (Sun 06-Jul-14 19:24:52)

To be honest, the trial is a bit strange with the billing.

You have to be a PN customer to sign up to the trial - but I don't think they do any of the rolling monthly ADSL contracts anymore.

If you're an existing PN customer, I don't think there is any installation charge for the trial. I was never charged it and I know other recent people also haven't been charged.

It says in the terms that you have to also pay an extra £2.50 a month if you don't take PN phone, but I've yet to be charged this.

If you look at that Table 1.6 it shows the 12-month (contract) and monthly (No contract) prices.

I agree there is no setup charge to go on the trial. My point right from the start that a person joining to get on the FTTP trial would have to pay the going rate and setup charges for whatever mainstream products they chose to join on.

The extra £2.50 for not taking phone was introduced IIRC in the product revamp following that of the 80/20 formal introduction. That introduction being where I opted to upgrade to full 80/20 from the 80/20 trial + 40/2 contract and payments.

My phone is still with BT Retail and I don't pay the surcharge. I guessed it would happen.

Plusnet always honour the prices and terms of legacy broadband products. As can be seen from the archived list linked to on the page I gave.

Edited by RobertoS (Sun 06-Jul-14 22:51:02)

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

I agree there is no setup charge to go on the trial. ...

Which was my original point!

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

... . My point right from the start that a person joining to get on the FTTP trial would have to pay the going rate and setup charges for whatever mainstream products they chose to join on.

Which I didn't actually disagree with, just queried.


Having just telephoned PlusNet Sales to confirm, it is possible for someone to migrate from another provider on to PlusNet ADSL2+ without paying any setup fees providing they take PNs phone service.


However, although I offer no guarantee that this will work, there may even be a way for someone who hasn't yet got a phone line (and therefore xDSL) to join PN and avoid any setup fees.

First they will obviously need to get a BT/Openreach phone line installed. It appears that the Post Office are presently offering free installation of a new line, so they could sign up for the Post Office HomePhone only service (i.e. do not include the Broadband option). This will require the payment of £13.00 for the first months LineRental.

I haven't read the complete document, but at paragraph 5 of the Post Office Ts&Cs it states;

If you are a Post Office HomePhone® only customer
there is no minimum term.

After the first month (or maybe less) just use the newly obtained phone line and associated number to sign up for PNs combined telephone and ADSL(2+) package.

Then apply to join the PN FTTP 'trial' as previously discussed and for which there is presently no setup fee.

I couldn't find the rolling contract on the actual site though - just the 12 and 18 month packages.

Maybe it's been pulled as a product but is still listed on that table?

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/jump.html?type=5&url=h...

In the past as only shown up once you start the order journey and is one of the options you can select. Did try to check before posting but PlusNet checker is a bit slow today

Checker doesn't work for me - I just get a 500 error...

In the past, they have listed the 12 month and 1 month/no contract option on the products page.

It's a silly process that you have to go through to get FTTP with PN, if you're not already a customer. I don't see it changing any time soon.