New BTO FTC connection being installed - Questions to ask?

Properties in my village have never had more than copper 'exchange-only' connections to a small sub-exchange 2 miles away so, as the lines are old, with multiple joints, failing lightning protection pots and lots of line noise, we rarely get more than 2mbps .

BTO are currently laying a new fibre connection to the village which, I assume, will be to a cabinet somewhere central. 'OnLincolnshire' is funding the upgrade, just as it has been doing across the county for around 8 years - we're the last to get a new service. Now (next week) we have a meeting with BTO, our MP and OnLincolnshire.

In terms of them providing us with an up-to-date hardware and connections to our houses and businesses, what should we expect to be told when we ask for a description of this new equipment and what better equipment might we reasonably ask for so that it's in line with current and hopefully future-proofed installations elsewhere in the country?

This is important to us as, apart from the slow broadband, we also have no mobile phone service!

Thanks in anticipation.

what should we expect to be told when we ask for a description of this new equipment and what better equipment might we reasonably ask for so that it's in line with current and hopefully future-proofed installations elsewhere in the country?

If it's FTTC they only use Huawei DSLAMs so the hardware OpenReach will use won't be an issue.
They stopped deploying the much inferior ECI DSLAMs back in 2016.

Ideally you would have been getting FTTP and not just FTTC.

There isn't much FTTC being planned now, particularly if subsidised with public money.
Much more focus on FTTP.

Maybe not refer to them as �BTO� ?

They are Openreach.

I�d be asking for FTTP, rather than FTTC.... but that might be something �OnLincolnshire� would be shortsighted enough not to fund.

In reply to a post by j0hn83:

what should we expect to be told when we ask for a description of this new equipment and what better equipment might we reasonably ask for so that it's in line with current and hopefully future-proofed installations elsewhere in the country?

If it's FTTC they only use Huawei DSLAMs so the hardware OpenReach will use won't be an issue.
They stopped deploying the much inferior ECI DSLAMs back in 2016.

Ideally you would have been getting FTTP and not just FTTC.

There isn't much FTTC being planned now, particularly if subsidised with public money.
Much more focus on FTTP.

Most fttc cabs that are still being deployed were commissioned months ago or where fttp is substantially more costly

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Most fttc cabs that are still being deployed were commissioned months ago or where fttp is substantially more costly


Thanks for this and previous information. Most of our village's 'industry' - ie the users most likely to want FTTP - is remote farms spread out around the village - up to perhaps a couple of miles away from where a cabinet will most likely be located.

How and who makes the decisions about FTTP being offered/installed/charged for?

IF they are already actually building to you then the decision over fttc or http has already been made

In reply to a post by ajdroberts:

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Most fttc cabs that are still being deployed were commissioned months ago or where fttp is substantially more costly

Thanks for this and previous information. Most of our village's 'industry' - ie the users most likely to want FTTP - is remote farms spread out around the village - up to perhaps a couple of miles away from where a cabinet will most likely be located.

How and who makes the decisions about FTTP being offered/installed/charged for?


Logically fttp is the way to go. You do need to ask at this meeting if its fttp or fttc that will be use. Also if enough of you want fttp it might be worth looking at community funded fttp. Idealy knowing if your neighbours would want to do this before the meeting would be a good idea.