FFTPoD with sensible rental costs

The Welsh Assembly Government launched a grant scheme today http://gov.wales/topics/science-and-technology/digit...

My business has access to FTTC but the speeds are slow - generally about 9/1

FTTPoD is listed as available for the business line and the grant would cover most of the install but I understand the ongoing costs are likely to be very high. We don't need 330/30 though, we would be happy with 80/20. I heard people on FTTP lines are charged a normal amount for such speeds.

Is there any company doing FTTPoD but charging reasonable monthly charges for access as though it was plain FTTP?

I believe not. AIUI Openreach only supply the 330/30 product on FTTPoD, at an annual rental cost to the wholesaler of £1,188 + Vat.

A while ago they suspended taking orders for it anyway. As far as I know that is still the case. They are running trials on other products to achieve similar results far cheaper.

In reply to a post by greenbiz:

FTTPoD is listed as available for the business line and the grant would cover most of the install but I understand the ongoing costs are likely to be very high. We don't need 330/30 though, we would be happy with 80/20. I heard people on FTTP lines are charged a normal amount for such speeds.

Is there any company doing FTTPoD but charging reasonable monthly charges for access as though it was plain FTTP?

As RobertoS says, you can only get the 330 product with a 3-year tie-in. However, once the 3 year period is up, the line is treated like any standard FTTP line - so those cheaper, slower, products become available to you.

I suspect that the (very) high installation cost, as incurred by Openreach, is only partially recovered from the customer with the installation fee. The rest is then recovered from some of the high monthly fee.

With grants available, you'd think that they'd adjust the charging models so that the full installation cost could be recovered as part of the grant, leaving standard monthly products available.

The picture with BT's FTTPoD is very cloudy at present. Strictly, the product isn't being offered because installation times are too long, using too many engineers - so it actually costs them even more than they are charging - and installation queues become untenable. The high monthly fee could have been a deliberate disincentive to keep order levels low, so that they can handle the level of demand.

BT are trialling new installation methods to cut these times down - these trials are running in parallel with the G.Fast trials, and it isn't clear if these new methods will only occur alongside a G.Fast rollout.

Meanwhile, BT have agreed to re-open FTTPoD in Wales only, but we haven't really seen this become properly available through the higher wholesale and retail channels.

WWWombat, regarding your last paragraph-when you say BT have agreed to re-open FTTPoD for Wales only. Do you mean BT Wholesale or Openreach?

That's hard to say.

IMO, it seems to be more of a political commitment; the only documents I've seen that commit to this have been government ones, though I can't recall whether they were Welsh government or UK government. Shall we say that "BT Group" has agreed to re-open FTTPoD?

Other than that, the last status I recall reading is documented here:
http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2015/10/bt-resu...

I don't think I've seen any clarifications of that from either Openreach or BT Wholesale.

Its openly available from Openreach, but whether BT Wholesale decide to take part is the cloudy issue - THIS IS FOR WALES.

Of course other operators and Wales has a few small regional operators that have enjoyed the grants before that may start to do FTTPoD, i.e. does not need BT Wholesale to do anything if you have your own backhaul from handover exchanges.

In reply to a post by greenbiz:

The Welsh Assembly Government launched a grant scheme today http://gov.wales/topics/science-and-technology/digit...

My business has access to FTTC but the speeds are slow - generally about 9/1

FTTPoD is listed as available for the business line and the grant would cover most of the install but I understand the ongoing costs are likely to be very high. We don't need 330/30 though, we would be happy with 80/20. I heard people on FTTP lines are charged a normal amount for such speeds.

Is there any company doing FTTPoD but charging reasonable monthly charges for access as though it was plain FTTP?

Zen do FTTP and it's all 12 month contracts. They do up to 80/220/330 and the max you would pay for 330 is £116 with or £112 without line rental

80/20 from them would be £76 with or £72.25 without line rental

You also get critical care included on all services you choose.

https://www.zen.co.uk/business/broadband/fibre-optic...

Edited by deleted (Wed 06-Jan-16 14:15:56)

FTTP is not the same as FTTPoD. Where there is native FTTP you are correct but where someone pays to upgrade from FTTC to FTTPoD it is a 3 year contract and high install costs on a 330/30 service.

Zen do FTTP and it's all 12 month contracts.

The question however is regarding FTTPOD rather than FTTP. Nowhere do I see mention by Zen of FTTPOD or the prices they might charge.

greenbiz

As Roberto says FTTPoD only comes with the one flavor at present so an ISP would have to cover the high cost from OR.

As BT has made FTTPoD available across Wales via BDUK, ( As part of the contract with the Welsh Assembly), there would be trouble if no part of BT offered the product to the end user.

I would suggest looking at the BT Business site as the most likely 'reference' offer as BT Consumer is unlikely to be offering the service.

Remember that any of your contibution for installation should be claimable against tax as this would count as capital cost.

You may also find that you do not need to pay voice line rental associated with a copper line for the FTTPoD business service which will bring the headlne cost much closer. You could also run VOIP services over it reducing call prices significantly for your business.

If you are in the right area you could even sell-on ( certainly out of work hours) the capacity to houses close to you as they will also be getting a very slow service and won'y be able to afford FTTPoD prices. This may involve radio distriburion, similar to a Wifi hotspot but line of sight. Even a couple of homes could reduce your ongoing costs to less than you pay now.