Got BT FTTP in Falmouth, can't switch to another provider!

Located in Falmouth. 11 months ago I ordered BT Infinity 1 and was surprised to get it delivered as FTTP (expected FTTC). With my BT new customer discounts expiring this month together with imminent price increases I started searching for an alternative supplier to switch to. But it appears I am locked in to BT as far as fibre is concerned, I cannot find any other supplier that can provide via fibre all can only supply via copper from exchange at about 3Mb/s . Any advice?

There's a few, but most are more expensive than BT.

Zen and AAISP are the main others offering FTTP services.

PlusNet do offer it however it's only available as an upgrade once you have their ADSL service.

Thx. I already have PlusNet FTTC at another property (not in Cornwall) and very happy with it. But PlusNet report (from OpenReach I assume) that fibre is not available in my area in Falmouth. It obviously IS since I've got it now but do BT have some form of monopoly in this area or is it possibly simply because all the ports are used in the cabinet? You have encouraged me to have another chat with PlusNet...

Plusnet don't officially offer FTTP

from what i've seen you need to get their ADSL service then upgrade to a FTTP trial

thats why it will say not available.

Have you tried www.bt.com/myoffer ? Although I am still in contract I can recontracted for another 12 months via the link for £10 a month for unlimited fibre.

Ken

BT retail do not have a monopoly, any other ISP can also buy the FTTP service from Openreach BUT only a few do. Neither SKY or TalkTalk take the FTTP service despite all their froth about wanting Openreach to invest 10s of £b in providing FTTP.

At present the FTTP market appears to be too small for them to be interested even though it has over 250k premises passed.

In some constituencies over 10% of Premises are passed by FTTP of which yours is one of the highest Truro and Falmouth is 35% so many ISP have decided not to compete in your area! Camborne is 38.7%

Many people would love to have that penetration of FTTP in their area but it does reduce your choice of ISP at present, seems to be a choice of speed or choice!

Edited by kitcat (Sun 15-May-16 22:12:29)

You might want to look at some of the threads in their community forum:
https://community.plus.net/t5/Fibre-To-The-Premises-...

You're not wrong but personally I'd consider the choice available with fttc a mirage.

You can buy an identical openreach product from a ton of different isps, that's like there being loads of car dealerships but they all only sell Nissan micras, it's just a different finance package where some give you unlimited miles and some don't.

There is a lot more to an ISP than just the Openreach last mile connection. There are some big differences between the ISPs in a number of other ways.

Clicking: www.bt.com/myoffer and logging in to my account returns: "We've had a technical hitch. Have a look at our broadband packages page to see the offers we've got". Same as the link provided in BT's email to me. The "offers" appear to be standard pricing. My £7.50 20Gb limited contract ends 16 July and increasing to £21. I'm seeking unlimited, £10 would be great!

Nemeth

You can hardly call the Sky, TalkTalk, BT Infinity & Plusnet offers the same and there are many smaller ISPs with hugely different offerings.

I don't know abouit the EE, Vodaphone and other medium sized ISPs but they all have different packages and prices.

With a speed spread of 40/2, 40/10, 40/20, 55/10, 80/20 and different TV packages, limit downloads and unlimited with all sorts of add ons there is a wide variety of offers.

Unless you are in a Virgin area you are extremely unlikely to get a choice of SFBB access networks as it is just not viable to build two in most areas. ( Anywhere in the world!)

If you are in a Hyperoptic building the choice is even lower that BT FTTP, likewise BaRN or other alternative network.

In reply to a post by kitcat:

I don't know abouit the EE, Vodaphone and other medium sized ISPs but they all have different packages and prices.

With a speed spread of 40/2, 40/10, 40/20, 55/10, 80/20 and different TV packages, limit downloads and unlimited with all sorts of add ons there is a wide variety of offers.

So a choice of 4 different BT Openreach Packages (Plusnet used to do 40/20 by selling an 80/20 service and capping the download themselves, but this is no longer offered and is not a BT product). All serviced by the same hardware from the same cabinet on the same line with the same performance by the same engineers. Marginally different prices but for the most part they have joint annual price rises separated by a few months at best.

The only difference is the offers and the telephone support. Sometimes one or more have some backhaul congestion. Most of the "medium" ones just resell a white label BT service or a TT Wholesale service.

The TV services are mostly YouView boxes with different branding on. The exception really being the EE box.

In reply to a post by kitcat:

Unless you are in a Virgin area you are extremely unlikely to get a choice of SFBB access networks as it is just not viable to build two in most areas. ( Anywhere in the world!)

If you are in a Hyperoptic building the choice is even lower that BT FTTP, likewise BaRN or other alternative network.

Oh I agree, I'm not expecting multiple networks built out (although, that's basically what we had with LLU ADSL2+) but kidding ourselves that there is loads of competition is silly.

In reality all we've done with the enforced competition is increase costs in advertising and loss leader new customer promotions, increasing customer churn, and increase cost in duplication of infrastructure, and turned broadband into a price war cutting off future investment.

In reply to a post by kitcat:

Ken

BT retail do not have a monopoly, any other ISP can also buy the FTTP service from Openreach BUT only a few do. Neither SKY or TalkTalk take the FTTP service despite all their froth about wanting Openreach to invest 10s of £b in providing FTTP.

At present the FTTP market appears to be too small for them to be interested even though it has over 250k premises passed.

In some constituencies over 10% of Premises are passed by FTTP of which yours is one of the highest Truro and Falmouth is 35% so many ISP have decided not to compete in your area! Camborne is 38.7%

Many people would love to have that penetration of FTTP in their area but it does reduce your choice of ISP at present, seems to be a choice of speed or choice!

Depends on which exchange you are connecte to, I'm in the process of getting FTTP, 10 days left to the second part of the install and I'll actually be paying less than my ADSLMax connection. Being on a non-LLU 20CN whilst I had choice of ISPs(I would be charged more by most of the ISPs becuase I was off-net and be provided with an inferior service). Switch form Talk Talk to BT over a year ago and at times with Talk Talk my speed would at times be barely fast enough to run a speed test with BT it's a much more constant speed.

In reply to a post by nemeth782:

So a choice of 4 different BT Openreach Packages (Plusnet used to do 40/20 by selling an 80/20 service and capping the download themselves, but this is no longer offered and is not a BT product). All serviced by the same hardware from the same cabinet on the same line with the same performance by the same engineers. Marginally different prices but for the most part they have joint annual price rises separated by a few months at best.

The bit between the property and the cabinet/exchange may be the same BTO product, but how the data then gets from the cabinet/exchange to and from the internet may well be very different, often noticeably so.

In reply to a post by KenHarris:

Located in Falmouth. 11 months ago I ordered BT Infinity 1 and was surprised to get it delivered as FTTP (expected FTTC). With my BT new customer discounts expiring this month together with imminent price increases I started searching for an alternative supplier to switch to. But it appears I am locked in to BT as far as fibre is concerned, I cannot find any other supplier that can provide via fibre all can only supply via copper from exchange at about 3Mb/s . Any advice?

You could go to an Entanet reseller - if they've got the clue.

As you're on FTTP you'll almost always need manual intervention to help you - rather than an automated system as few have bothered to automate FTTP provisioning.

A&A
Zen
Entanet resellers various
...are all capable of doing FTTP as a starter.

I phoned BT to complain about the bad link to my "personalized offer". They offered a new 12 month contract upgraded to unlimited for £10/m. I'm happy now.

Ken,

What number did you call to complain ?

I'm also on FTTP and would like to get a good deal but myoffers web page doesn't work for me either so though I might try complaining like you did but I'm unsure what number to call or if I should email or on-line chat

As you've done so well, could you offer me any advice ?

Thanks

Si

Edited by BigladUK (Fri 27-May-16 07:29:44)

I called BT on 0800 800 150 and think I chose option 2. I think I was connected to a call centre in India. I described the "technical hitch" message that was displayed when I clicked on the personal offer link in the price change email they sent me. They asked for my account number and after a short delay they offered to renew my infinity1 with 20Gb limit for £6.80/month (I was currently paying £7.50!) I said I would really like unlimited and after a couple of minutes they offered me that for £10. I agreed and was asked to hold on while he got it confirmed. Long wait... then an english woman came on the line and asked how could she help me! She had no info on previous discussion. I explained my journey so far and she replied that the person I had been talking to was not authorised to make offers like that. However she checked it all out and then confirmed the £10/m for a new 12m unlimited contract. I agreed start date to be 2 days later and after declining add-on offers I did not want (TV, Sport, etc) she said all done and to expect email within a few mins. We ended the call. The email popped up almost immediately. Order details all correct. All up and running OK on scheduled date. Sorry this message is so long. Hope it helps. Good Luck!
Ken

Thanks

I'll give that ago

Si