After many years i now need to learn more about fibre (FTTP)

So after MANYYYY years of moaning finally my local area is coming into the modern world and getting fibre.
Right now i'm on an EO line but had it confirmed today that i will be going live with FTTP before Christmas, I'm aware of the normal fibre stuff (FTTC) where fibre goes to the cabinet then copper from there to your home and FTTP is straight from exchange to your door, but i have also heard of fibre on demand and have no idea what the deal is with that.

Can anyone here (or supply some other user friendly links) help me with some basic information i should know being a potential FTTP customer, i.e.; what sockets should i look for or avoid and tips on choosing an ISP that may screw a novice over, in a nutshell i just need to learn as much as i can over the next few weeks so i can make an informed decision.
As the saying goes forewarned is forearmed so to speak.

All1

Fibre on demand is aimed more at businesses. Think along the lines of a leased line. Expensive install and monthly costs.

I would treat any date they give you with scepticism.

As the other poster says, FTTPoD is more a bespoke business product.

If FTTP becomes available, then knowing about sockets and the like is not required.

The ONTE will be installed at an agreed location , from there an ethernet link can be made to the router, and then it pretty much just works ...

If this is the Openreach based product coming your way, then choice of ISP is rather small BT Retail, BT Business, Zen, Plusnet, Cerberus, FluidOne, and a few others, all BT Wholesale based.

I suspect it may come across as a faff to get put in, but then fairly painless.

There are other companies providing FTTP , but I have no experience of them.

alloneworld - if, like me, you had never heard of 'ONTE' (WHY do people bandy around FLA's?), and you cannof find a definition anywhere on the web, I would GUESS it stands for Optical Network Termination Equipment. aka 'a box'

In reply to a post by mikejp:

alloneworld - if, like me, you had never heard of 'ONTE' (WHY do people bandy around FLA's?), and you cannof find a definition anywhere on the web, I would GUESS it stands for Optical Network Termination Equipment. aka 'a box'

Its basically the White BT Fibre Modem.

Paul

FTTC and FTTP are consumer products and tightly defined and controlled.

With FTTC the last link is copper based and makes use of the existing copper telephone cable. As such it's been designed to be compatible with exiting services and the connection is made at the telephone socket. FTTC master sockets have built in filters and it's a simple job to connect a modem or a modem/router.

FTTC is 'delivered' to you on a phone socket. Everything up to and including the socket is supplied by Openreach.

FTTP uses fibre all the way to the house but consumer equipment does not have an optical connector. The still have a copper one. The ONTE - Optical Netowrk Terminating Equipment - is a mains powered box that Openreach supply that converts the optical connection to copper. The ONTE contains an optical to Ethernet 'modem' and you just need to connect a router to it.

FTTP is delivered to you as an Ethernet port on a ONTE. Everything up to and including the ONTE is supplied by Openreach.

To expand on the comments of others...

FTTPoD is irrelevant to you - it is a way to choose to upgrade FTTC to FTTP (at a high cost) and so as you don't have FTTC it is not an option.

PlusNet I think still only do a trial for FTTP and it is usually a little woolly as to exactly how you get on it - generally you have to already be a customer to get on the trial so you would have to migrate the ADSL over to PlusNet and then request to be put on the trial - I don't know if they accept everyone on to it so it might have a little risk involved.

BT seem currently to be the most cost effective. Infinity (formerly Infinity 1) and Infinity 2 are the same price as with FTTC (although I think the install charge is higher). Then you have the options of Infinity 3 and 4 to get the higher than FTTC speeds.

The service will always connect at the speed you are paying for but may still suffer contention in the network - especially likely with the higher speeds as they are more likely to see network contention issues than the lower speeds but even so should still be faster.

FTTP is a much more user friendly solution as you don't have to worry about the phone sockets, noise, etc. You could potentially get voice via the FTTP connection (Fibre Voice Access - FVA) but as you already have a copper line I don't believe it currently saves you anything so you probably may as well stay with the copper.

Post deleted by MrSaffron

Expletives even when partially masked mean a post is removed

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

Expletives even when partially masked mean a post is removed

Any danger of telling me what was so bad or is that being offensive?