FTTP 500 & 1Gb Prices are out

Much better than I ever imagined.

New Prices.

Edited by busterboy (Sun 22-Mar-20 16:34:38)

In reply to a post by busterboy:

Much better than I ever imagined.

Very interesting, good to see

In reply to a post by busterboy:

Much better than I ever imagined.

Also on homepage:
https://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/8697-bt-full-fib...

At least if you're a home user who doesn't need static IPv4 addressing. Still waiting to see what other smaller ISP's who use BTW may offer but I have a feeling the pricing will be approximately twice that of BT Consumer because of the rather high priced wholesale pricing.

Yeah i'm trying to figure out if i can get around the need for a static IP address. Currently the only benefit for me having one is to be able to connect in to my VPN.

I'll most likely go ahead this evening with the Gbit, via BT and use a dynamic DNS.

In reply to a post by busterboy:

Much better than I ever imagined.

New Prices.

Still a fair bit to fork out per month to be honest. If you really need the speed then fine. I would not pay out that amount of money for a faster speed.

In reply to a post by zyborg47:

In reply to a post by busterboy:

Much better than I ever imagined.

New Prices.

Still a fair bit to fork out per month to be honest. If you really need the speed then fine. I would not pay out that amount of money for a faster speed.

It's like I have quoted a few times before Adrian.

People buy £80k £100k cars to drive around in when a cheap £5k car would do the same job.

My feeling is if you can afford it then why not.

Exactly that, i've been paying £100 + VAT for the past year for the FTTPoD, this feels like a bargain!

Just tried to place the order, looks like i'll need to call them up - transferring from a cerberus FTTPoD to a BT FTTP line. I need no longer than 1 day downtime...

Because with a nice car you do actually get something better. With broadband so fast you cannot possibly get any noticeable benefit, what's the point?

If you need to get rid of excess money, there's plenty of useful ways to do that .

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Because with a nice car you do actually get something better. With broadband so fast you cannot possibly get any noticeable benefit, what's the point?

If you need to get rid of excess money, there's plenty of useful ways to do that .

You mean waiting 8 seconds less for a 1GB download is not worth it??

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Because with a nice car you do actually get something better. With broadband so fast you cannot possibly get any noticeable benefit, what's the point?

Exactly what I said above "If you can afford it why not."

As for my current miserable 1Mb down and almost zero upload I will be taking up the full package just because I can when it comes available to me..

In reply to a post by rman:

You mean waiting 8 seconds less for a 1GB download is not worth it??

Well I suppose it might be worth it in certain circumstances not suitable for discussion here �.

So I guess now i'll be getting 900Mbps FTTP & 900Mbps Cityfibre (when its available to order).
Will that be a little OTT?
Ive waited 10+ years, I dont care about the cost im getting maximum speed.

I may well mellow after the contracts expire.

I'd buy either one.

Now I just need to have FTTP piped to my house.

currently on 300mb and ordered 1gb for the same price that i'm paying with a reasonable discount negotiated out of contract last year. not sure if it's a BT thing to drive 1gb adoption for marketing or just a bog standard customer retention ploy but the rep on the phone wasn't difficult at all talking down from the original quote of 69.99 for an existing customer.

In reply to a post by acting_funny:

currently on 300mb and ordered 1gb for the same price that i'm paying with a reasonable discount negotiated out of contract last year. not sure if it's a BT thing to drive 1gb adoption for marketing or just a bog standard customer retention ploy but the rep on the phone wasn't difficult at all talking down from the original quote of 69.99 for an existing customer.

Hope I can do likewise. .Don't really need it, but already paying £60/month so if it's the same, that'll do me.

The pricing is a little surprising - almost no diff between 500mbit and 1gbit indeed suggests they want to push the latter, and juice their stats a bit.

Wow!

Well that is a bit of a showstopper. I can tell the wife I am downgrading (its cheaper than FTTPoD) whilst upgrading. Nearly as good as the bike shop doing prices on receipts based on what you said you paid.

We run a set of holiday cottages. The 500/1Gbps don't appear on business tariffs but we often get put on domestic stuff as we live on site. Can anyone comment on:

- any AUP/fair use stuff. We pull about 2 TB/month, biggest was 2.8TB and with schools off and the kids mainlining netflix this will go up.
- any BT contention issues that are likely to slow speed, I guess with minimum of 450Mbps my slowest would faster than my fastest
- am I likely to get pulled as a business rather than a domestic when we have 70 network devices and the guests can bring another 70 with them.

And what new router should I get to replace my USG-Pro-4 which will struggle to keep up with that. (waiting on UDM-Pro equivalent, really like the single view on network stuff, even though we have hops on AirMax stuff so use UNMS and UniFi portals).

I maybe should be cutting back right now with no guests coming for the foreseeable but 1Gbps would be awesome after so long with [censored]!

Dave

In reply to a post by busterboy:

Much better than I ever imagined.

New Prices.

BT should have cancelled that plan - due to coronavirus to ease network capacity in UK

Hope Boris Johnson bring in toughter laws to get all of us in UK as a maximum capped speed are 40/10 on all FTTC / FTTP / G.fast to ease the network issues as more childrens in UK stay at home and many will be streaming on their TV.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

In reply to a post by rman:

You mean waiting 8 seconds less for a 1GB download is not worth it??

Well I suppose it might be worth it in certain circumstances not suitable for discussion here �.

It also boils down to what price you actually get it at, to me 910Mb is a bit over kill even for us here, but I do like the 110Mb upload.

But looking at the Full Fibre 500 from BT (Get 500Mb for the price of 300Mb) is a win win if already on the 300Mb package.

So I might just phone and ask for they best price deal that they can do for both of those packages and go on from there.

Looking at BT's prices going from their 500Mb:73Mb package to their 910Mb:110Mb package there is only a £10 price difference.

You might also need to find out what actual speed that you get, you might go for the 910Mb option but only get 500Mb speeds, BT would still say its still above their "Stay Fast Guarantee of 455Mb", so you need to also take that into the decision when picking a package.

Paul

In reply to a post by acting_funny:

currently on 300mb and ordered 1gb for the same price that i'm paying with a reasonable discount negotiated out of contract last year. not sure if it's a BT thing to drive 1gb adoption for marketing or just a bog standard customer retention ploy but the rep on the phone wasn't difficult at all talking down from the original quote of 69.99 for an existing customer.

Well done mate, always worth the phone call.

Enjoy your new package.

This is weird. I'm still on contract on FTTPoD but I thought I'd check my number/address with BT anyway.

It gives me only three options:

* SUPERFAST FIBRE ESSENTIAL £27.99/m + £19.99 upfront (download speed range 18Mb - 31Mb, upload speed range 3Mb - 5Mb)
* SUPERFAST FIBRE £27.99/m + £9.99 P&P (download 50Mb, upload 10Mb)
* SUPERFAST FIBRE 2 £39.99/m + £9.99 P&P (download 74Mb, upload 20Mb)

The stupid names hide the fact, but I can see from the speeds offered that the first is FTTC and the second two are FTTP. So if BT know I have FTTP, why don't they offer any ultrafast speeds?

The only thing I can think of is that there's very little FTTP in this area currently, so perhaps they don't have sufficient interconnect provisioned for the higher speeds.

Not that I'd buy from BT anyway, so this is all moot

Need to call them mate

For various reasons (including the need for static IP) I'm not going to buy from BT Retail, so no point phoning. Just thought it was an interesting observation.

Unless you are quite a way from the cabinet, why can't the second be 55/10 FTTC and the third 80/20 FTTC?

I wonder when Zen or others will release. My contract with them is up in a few days and I'm very tempted to go with BT.

In reply to a post by adslmax:

BT should have cancelled that plan - due to coronavirus to ease network capacity in UK

Hope Boris Johnson bring in toughter laws to get all of us in UK as a maximum capped speed are 40/10 on all FTTC / FTTP / G.fast to ease the network issues as more childrens in UK stay at home and many will be streaming on their TV.

Before you spread misinformation, try reading from the horses mouth the real information:
https://newsroom.bt.com/the-facts-about-our-network-...

and Mr Saffron's article on the front page of this very site:
https://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/8689-press-claim...

Currently on the phone to them. I have 330/50 currently and their website says I can get the "Full Fibre 1000" package. However when I go to order, I can't. Been on the phone for 10 minutes and haven't spoken to anyone yet.

Still irks me their speeds are symmetric.

Edited by deleted (Mon 23-Mar-20 10:33:55)

Surely asymmetric?

Sorry I mean are not symmetric.

Agreed.

I'm going to contact sales at Cerberus again and see if they have any more concrete plans ahead yet (e.g. potential pricing or a more precise week or date of when they intend to list the new options). It's been a few weeks since I last asked them, and BT Retail have released their pricing so surely Cerberus must have some idea by now.

Spoke to sales, sadly no commercials are still known as yet. I'll try again later this week.

Just been on the phone for the last 3 hours to try and get to someone.

First time in the morning I was quoted £73.99, as I'm out of my contract for the 300Mbps package, I said but it costs £59.99 on your page, which the advisor said hold on, came back and said it is for new customers, then I told them well it says £67.99 after that period? He said hold on....ca,e back and said need to go to retention team as they are the only ones that might be able to do something about pricing. Since then been the last few hours on call, mainly it gives up or the line goes silent and then hangs up....

In reply to a post by Ixel:

Agreed.

I'm going to contact sales at Cerberus again and see if they have any more concrete plans ahead yet (e.g. potential pricing or a more precise week or date of when they intend to list the new options). It's been a few weeks since I last asked them, and BT Retail have released their pricing so surely Cerberus must have some idea by now.

Please let us know what they say!

edit: never mind, just saw your post

Edited by deleted (Mon 23-Mar-20 11:00:54)

At a guess I assume they're trying to negotiate a slightly better deal than the standard pricing that BT Wholesale are listing, hence why they don't know the commercials on this yet. I could be wrong though, either way I was told that they expect to have the commercials 'in the coming days' so I'll try again later this week.

In reply to a post by hmsq:

Just been on the phone for the last 3 hours to try and get to someone.

First time in the morning I was quoted £73.99, as I'm out of my contract for the 300Mbps package, I said but it costs £59.99 on your page, which the advisor said hold on, came back and said it is for new customers, then I told them well it says £67.99 after that period? He said hold on....ca,e back and said need to go to retention team as they are the only ones that might be able to do something about pricing. Since then been the last few hours on call, mainly it gives up or the line goes silent and then hangs up....

I've just go through. £59.99 retail price. He reduced it to £57.99 as I'm an existing customer.

In reply to a post by puntoboy:

In reply to a post by hmsq:

Just been on the phone for the last 3 hours to try and get to someone.

First time in the morning I was quoted £73.99, as I'm out of my contract for the 300Mbps package, I said but it costs £59.99 on your page, which the advisor said hold on, came back and said it is for new customers, then I told them well it says £67.99 after that period? He said hold on....ca,e back and said need to go to retention team as they are the only ones that might be able to do something about pricing. Since then been the last few hours on call, mainly it gives up or the line goes silent and then hangs up....

I've just go through. £59.99 retail price. He reduced it to £57.99 as I'm an existing customer.

Disappointing though, I have to pay the £9.99 delivery for a new router I won't use.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Unless you are quite a way from the cabinet, why can't the second be 55/10 FTTC and the third 80/20 FTTC?

I am something like 900m from the cabinet. The 18Mb - 31Mb download / 3Mb - 5Mb upload ranges match my actual FTTC stats of about 29Mb / 4.5Mb.

Any number you called specifically? I've tried and now it just rings until line goes silent.

In reply to a post by hmsq:

Any number you called specifically? I've tried and now it just rings until line goes silent.

0800672476. I was on in the queue for about 20 minutes for someone answered.

Did you choose for exiting customers option?

Also you can always sell the router no?

In reply to a post by hmsq:

Did you choose for exiting customers option?

Also you can always sell the router no?

I chose option 1. Place a new order.

I could sell it, but they specifically say that if you cancel your broadband they might ask for it back or charge you £45 if you don't.

In reply to a post by hmsq:

Also you can always sell the router no?

For new contracts BT retain ownership of the router and will ask for it back so you need to keep it.

In reply to a post by Ixel:

Agreed.

I'm going to contact sales at Cerberus again and see if they have any more concrete plans ahead yet (e.g. potential pricing or a more precise week or date of when they intend to list the new options). It's been a few weeks since I last asked them, and BT Retail have released their pricing so surely Cerberus must have some idea by now.

I just tried BT, told I cannot switch as there is no 'working line take over'. I have to cancel with Cerberus then call up on the day of transfer and they should be able to connect me. 'Should' in current circumstances doesn't fill me with confidence.

I asked if I could have a new service as I have a 4-port ONT and was told that would take weeks and would need an engineer and a new service.

They don't make it easy.
Dave

I still reckon they have dumbly quoted the FTTC products.

Damn, so even if I wanted to switch to BT Retail, at a crunch, I couldn't easily do so I guess. Well, hopefully by next week Cerberus will know the commercials.

It turns out it's just part of the BT site which hasn't been upgraded.

https://www.bt.com/broadband/availability/ still only offers the packages I showed earlier.

However, https://www.bt.com/broadband/deals says "Great news - You could be doing more online with Full Fibre 900" - with my address - and *does* show all the products up to 900. (But oddly, not the 80/20 package).

Edited by candlerb (Mon 23-Mar-20 12:19:47)

In reply to a post by F00tS0re:

In reply to a post by Ixel:

Agreed.

I'm going to contact sales at Cerberus again and see if they have any more concrete plans ahead yet (e.g. potential pricing or a more precise week or date of when they intend to list the new options). It's been a few weeks since I last asked them, and BT Retail have released their pricing so surely Cerberus must have some idea by now.

I just tried BT, told I cannot switch as there is no 'working line take over'. I have to cancel with Cerberus then call up on the day of transfer and they should be able to connect me. 'Should' in current circumstances doesn't fill me with confidence.

I asked if I could have a new service as I have a 4-port ONT and was told that would take weeks and would need an engineer and a new service.

They don't make it easy.
Dave

That's crazy! I'll be in the same situation then and sounds way too risky at the moment.

are you not an existing customer?

Ah ok, on mine I remember I "paid" for it.

In reply to a post by hmsq:

are you not an existing customer?

I am indeed. But I only have the older HomeHub 6 which they tell me won't work and needs repalcing. But I don't use their router anyway, I use a Ubiquiti Dream Machine Pro.

In reply to a post by F00tS0re:

I asked if I could have a new service as I have a 4-port ONT and was told that would take weeks and would need an engineer and a new service.

I think that's wrong. They should be able to provision a new service using a second port on your ONT, instantly. At least, I've seen people who've done other ISP-to-ISP migrations like that, by taking new service from another ISP and then either keeping or cancelling the old service.

Probably the person you're talking to has no idea what an ONT is, let alone a 4-port one.

Of course, the proportion of FTTP services with 4-port ONT is going to get smaller and smaller over time, so less-well trained staff will become less likely to come across them.

I'm trying your route went for Option 1 help with placing an order.

Yes, same I'm using a USG myself for the last 2 years, since moving

Is there no way BT can arrange for a go live date when the cerberus line is cancelled??

In reply to a post by candlerb:

In reply to a post by F00tS0re:

I asked if I could have a new service as I have a 4-port ONT and was told that would take weeks and would need an engineer and a new service.

I think that's wrong. They should be able to provision a new service using a second port on your ONT, instantly. At least, I've seen people who've done other ISP-to-ISP migrations like that, by taking new service from another ISP and then either keeping or cancelling the old service.

Probably the person you're talking to has no idea what an ONT is, let alone a 4-port one.

Of course, the proportion of FTTP services with 4-port ONT is going to get smaller and smaller over time, so less-well trained staff will become less likely to come across them.

She said she was on the FTTP team previously and their system definitely wouldn't let her do anything on my account. And that if she could she would as it would mean a sale.

I do think the adSL checker has me listed as having a single port ONT, whereas the one on the wall is a 4-port. So possibly system won't let her book a second service without engineer visit.

In reply to a post by candlerb:

It turns out it's just part of the BT site which hasn't been upgraded.

https://www.bt.com/broadband/availability/ still only offers the packages I showed earlier.

However, https://www.bt.com/broadband/deals says "Great news - You could be doing more online with Full Fibre 900" - with my address - and *does* show all the products up to 900. (But oddly, not the 80/20 package).

I just go to https://www.bt.com/broadband/full-fibre

Paul

In reply to a post by busterboy:

Much better than I ever imagined.

New Prices.

Going live tomorrow.

In reply to a post by puntoboy:

I've just go through. £59.99 retail price. He reduced it to £57.99 as I'm an existing customer.

£67 here. Existing customer in contract on 300mbit (£60/mth). Suppose I should have haggled but couldn't be bothered.

Looks like they flip the switch overnight.

In reply to a post by F00tS0re:

I do think the adSL checker has me listed as having a single port ONT, whereas the one on the wall is a 4-port. So possibly system won't let her book a second service without engineer visit.

The DSL Checker is down at the moment and says the following:
We are sorry but the checker is unavailable at the moment. Please try again later.

Paul

In reply to a post by Chipmunk77:

In reply to a post by puntoboy:

I've just go through. £59.99 retail price. He reduced it to £57.99 as I'm an existing customer.

£67 here. Existing customer in contract on 300mbit (£60/mth). Suppose I should have haggled but couldn't be bothered.

Looks like they flip the switch overnight.

I was paying £45.99 for my 330 package. I would ring them back but they have a silly ordering system which means they would have to cancel your current order for them to even be able to see what prices are available. It also clearly says £59.99 on their website.

Pretty good price but i guess it will take some time till people can order it since fttp rollout will slow down during this pandemic.

In reply to a post by puntoboy:

I was paying £45.99 for my 330 package. I would ring them back but they have a silly ordering system which means they would have to cancel your current order for them to even be able to see what prices are available. It also clearly says £59.99 on their website.

Yeah, I'm sure anyone who pushes can probably get that £60/mth, even in contract. I was just being very British and not haggling.

Not too bothered - only a year ago I was on 80mbit, and a year before that 15mbit. Decent progress.

In reply to a post by Chipmunk77:

In reply to a post by puntoboy:

I was paying £45.99 for my 330 package. I would ring them back but they have a silly ordering system which means they would have to cancel your current order for them to even be able to see what prices are available. It also clearly says £59.99 on their website.

Yeah, I'm sure anyone who pushes can probably get that £60/mth, even in contract. I was just being very British and not haggling.

Not too bothered - only a year ago I was on 80mbit, and a year before that 15mbit. Decent progress.

I get what you are saying but it's clearly £59.99 for new customers on their website. Paying 69.99 iis just crazy!

In reply to a post by F00tS0re:

I do think the adSL checker has me listed as having a single port ONT, whereas the one on the wall is a 4-port. So possibly system won't let her book a second service without engineer visit.

Ah right, that will be the problem then. Needs engineer visit to confirm that the ONT really *is* 4 port, so that database can be updated, so that order can be placed.

It's probably worth going through the hassle to get this fixed one-time. You'll then have the option to order more services in future should you ever need to.

In reply to a post by F00tS0re:

In reply to a post by Ixel:

Agreed.

I'm going to contact sales at Cerberus again and see if they have any more concrete plans ahead yet (e.g. potential pricing or a more precise week or date of when they intend to list the new options). It's been a few weeks since I last asked them, and BT Retail have released their pricing so surely Cerberus must have some idea by now.

I just tried BT, told I cannot switch as there is no 'working line take over'. I have to cancel with Cerberus then call up on the day of transfer and they should be able to connect me. 'Should' in current circumstances doesn't fill me with confidence.

I asked if I could have a new service as I have a 4-port ONT and was told that would take weeks and would need an engineer and a new service.

They don't make it easy.
Dave

Just got off the phone to BT, guy was very very helpful but the exact same outcome as you.

Not sure what to do, do you fancy doing it first and letting me know how it goes?

In reply to a post by candlerb:

Ah right, that will be the problem then. Needs engineer visit to confirm that the ONT really *is* 4 port, so that database can be updated, so that order can be placed.

That's excessively stupid in current times - home visits should be cut down to bare minimums. Surely they'd accept a photo? Esp if you captured the box serial number so they can confirm.

Edited by deleted (Mon 23-Mar-20 15:19:46)

In reply to a post by rman:

Not sure what to do, do you fancy doing it first and letting me know how it goes?

Yeah OK!

Do you have a 4-port ONT? or a single port ONT? It seems certainly that they have no migration process which is madness.

I could push them down a new install. I can handle the visit as the ONT is in my wife's office not mine, and she will clean him thoroughly with anti-bac wipes. However it will be potentially stopped as non-essential leaving me swimming i the wind for the foreseeable.

I could handle a day or two interruption and use a wifi dongle for work as we won't have any guests. My concern is if that dragged into weeks the kids will kill me.

Dave

In reply to a post by epyon:

Pretty good price but i guess it will take some time till people can order it since fttp rollout will slow down during this pandemic.

Yes my FTTP install is 95% finished but the Corona Virus situation has ceased all work here for the current time.

This pricing news is music to my ears though I must admit.

In reply to a post by F00tS0re:

In reply to a post by rman:

Not sure what to do, do you fancy doing it first and letting me know how it goes?

Yeah OK!

Do you have a 4-port ONT? or a single port ONT? It seems certainly that they have no migration process which is madness.

I could push them down a new install. I can handle the visit as the ONT is in my wife's office not mine, and she will clean him thoroughly with anti-bac wipes. However it will be potentially stopped as non-essential leaving me swimming i the wind for the foreseeable.

I could handle a day or two interruption and use a wifi dongle for work as we won't have any guests. My concern is if that dragged into weeks the kids will kill me.

Dave

I only have the 1 port ONT, mine was installed 12 months ago.

Sounds like a similar situation to me, kids and wife would go nuts after a few days!

I'm just waiting to hear back from Cerberus regarding the cancellation process and then will make a decision. I assume there isn't any notice period if you're coming to the end of your contract..?

I use PfSense so i all i need from BT is the line activated and that's it. Surely that's almost instant these days....

After going through sales was able to get it through at 59.99 though got email stating 73.99 but he said I should get the adjustment tomorrow for it.

Edited by deleted (Mon 23-Mar-20 16:08:16)

In reply to a post by rman:

I'm just waiting to hear back from Cerberus regarding the cancellation process and then will make a decision. I assume there isn't any notice period if you're coming to the end of your contract..?

According to my contract (para 5.1 and 5.2), you need to give one calendar month's written notice of termination - even if coming up to the end of the initial minimum term - as it will automatically move to ongoing service.

In reply to a post by rman:

In reply to a post by F00tS0re:

In reply to a post by rman:

Not sure what to do, do you fancy doing it first and letting me know how it goes?

Yeah OK!

Do you have a 4-port ONT? or a single port ONT? It seems certainly that they have no migration process which is madness.

I could push them down a new install. I can handle the visit as the ONT is in my wife's office not mine, and she will clean him thoroughly with anti-bac wipes. However it will be potentially stopped as non-essential leaving me swimming i the wind for the foreseeable.

I could handle a day or two interruption and use a wifi dongle for work as we won't have any guests. My concern is if that dragged into weeks the kids will kill me.

Dave

I only have the 1 port ONT, mine was installed 12 months ago.

Sounds like a similar situation to me, kids and wife would go nuts after a few days!

I'm just waiting to hear back from Cerberus regarding the cancellation process and then will make a decision. I assume there isn't any notice period if you're coming to the end of your contract..?

I use PfSense so i all i need from BT is the line activated and that's it. Surely that's almost instant these days....

48 hour activation for me and I already have service from them. you also have to have their router, whether you like it or not. £9,99.

In reply to a post by candlerb:

In reply to a post by rman:

I'm just waiting to hear back from Cerberus regarding the cancellation process and then will make a decision. I assume there isn't any notice period if you're coming to the end of your contract..?

According to my contract (para 5.1 and 5.2), you need to give one calendar month's written notice of termination - even if coming up to the end of the initial minimum term - as it will automatically move to ongoing service.

Literally just dug mine out too, great! another £100 + VAT spend :'(

What utter rubbish

Be sure to post a speedtest when you're upgraded.

Correct me if I'm wrong, if everyone starts taking these higher speeds and starts to hammer them on a fully used 32 way split GPON the top speeds are not going to be great.

Edit: Changed from XGPON to GPON after reading candlerb post

Edited by deleted (Mon 23-Mar-20 18:41:18)

In reply to a post by dect:

Correct me if I'm wrong, if everyone starts taking these higher speeds and starts to hammer them on a fully used 32 way split XGPON the top speeds are not going to be great.

Yet to be tested but you have a point.

Should be fine i can't see 10 different lines maxing out 1gbps for constantly long time it would be very unlikely.

In reply to a post by dect:

Correct me if I'm wrong, if everyone starts taking these higher speeds and starts to hammer them on a fully used 32 way split XGPON the top speeds are not going to be great.

Is the XGPON the number of houses sharing a connection? I remember the open reach engineer mentioning a 4 port something he installed outside the house and that it was weird they sent him such a small variant...

In reply to a post by rman:

Is the XGPON the number of houses sharing a connection? I remember the open reach engineer mentioning a 4 port something he installed outside the house and that it was weird they sent him such a small variant...

Standard GPON is 2.4G down / 1.2G up, which could be shared by up to 128 properties but Openreach's build rules share between a maximum of 32.

XGPON is 10G down / 2.5G up; XGSPON and XGPON2 are 10G down / 10G up. These would likely shared by the same number of properties. In fact, they can run side-by-side with standard GPON on the same fibres.

The 4-port thingy installed outside the house is probably a CSP (Customer Splice Point), a little box on your external wall where fibres are joined together.

The 4-port thingy installed outside the house is probably a CSP (Customer Splice Point), a little box on your external wall where fibres are joined together.

Sounded more like a description of a CBT to me.

In reply to a post by dect:

Correct me if I'm wrong, if everyone starts taking these higher speeds and starts to hammer them on a fully used 32 way split GPON the top speeds are not going to be great.

Edit: Changed from XGPON to GPON after reading candlerb post

Correct but the odds of that happening are very slight.

In reply to a post by candlerb:

In reply to a post by rman:

Is the XGPON the number of houses sharing a connection? I remember the open reach engineer mentioning a 4 port something he installed outside the house and that it was weird they sent him such a small variant...

Standard GPON is 2.4G down / 1.2G up, which could be shared by up to 128 properties but Openreach's build rules share between a maximum of 32.

XGPON is 10G down / 2.5G up; XGSPON and XGPON2 are 10G down / 10G up. These would likely shared by the same number of properties. In fact, they can run side-by-side with standard GPON on the same fibres.

The 4-port thingy installed outside the house is probably a CSP (Customer Splice Point), a little box on your external wall where fibres are joined together.

I don't have a CSP, my install Fibre running from the street direct to the ONT.

Just had a google and i was talking about the CBT, only 3 other properties can connect on (4 in total). The fibre cable he plugged in already had one end with a connector on.

I guess this means only 4 properties are sharing the XGPON throughput (inc mine )? If that's the case i'm the only one on this line, the other retired neighbors aren't interested!

Works in plenty of other oountries around the world, and even some ISP doing symmetric Gigabit over GPON in the UK

In reply to a post by rman:

Just had a google and i was talking about the CBT, only 3 other properties can connect on (4 in total). The fibre cable he plugged in already had one end with a connector on.

I guess this means only 4 properties are sharing the XGPON throughput (inc mine )? If that's the case i'm the only one on this line, the other retired neighbors aren't interested!

Your CBT will have 4 fibres (in one cable) going to a splitter.

In general there will be multiple CBTs hanging off the same splitter. However if this is FTTPoD, it will be just the one, and indeed you'll have the whole PON to yourself, same as me

In reply to a post by candlerb:

In reply to a post by rman:

Just had a google and i was talking about the CBT, only 3 other properties can connect on (4 in total). The fibre cable he plugged in already had one end with a connector on.

I guess this means only 4 properties are sharing the XGPON throughput (inc mine )? If that's the case i'm the only one on this line, the other retired neighbors aren't interested!

Your CBT will have 4 fibres (in one cable) going to a splitter.

In general there will be multiple CBTs hanging off the same splitter. However if this is FTTPoD, it will be just the one, and indeed you'll have the whole PON to yourself, same as me

So I'm rural, I think the thing in the road verge had 4-ports on, is that the CBT I'm plugged into it on the longest ready made fibre they do, it came with one end made up so we had to pull it towards the house. Nobody else is nearer, or within the 350m that longest lead was.

Does that mean I will have the whole PON to myself, forever?

Edit: ADSL Checker is up again. Relevant bits as follows:

WBC FTTP Upto 1000 Upto 220 -- Available KCI2 Assure

Our records show the following FTTP network service information for these premises:- Single Dwelling Unit Residential UG Feed Not Evaluated.

ONT exists with active service. No spare ports are available. A new ONT may be ordered.

Edited by F00tS0re (Mon 23-Mar-20 23:12:48)

In reply to a post by CarlTSpeak:

In reply to a post by dect:

Correct me if I'm wrong, if everyone starts taking these higher speeds and starts to hammer them on a fully used 32 way split GPON the top speeds are not going to be great.

Edit: Changed from XGPON to GPON after reading candlerb post

Correct but the odds of that happening are very slight.

Agreed, I have never seen any speed drop that would show that, plus BT has their Minimum Speed Guarantee higher than the speed that it would drop to if everyone got the higher speeds hammered their connection, so I also hardly think it will happen.

But I think only 6 (doing my checks) of the 32 fibres from our Splitter are being used, so I should never see that issue anyhow.

Paul

In reply to a post by F00tS0re:

So I'm rural, I think the thing in the road verge had 4-ports on, is that the CBT I'm plugged into it on the longest ready made fibre they do, it came with one end made up so we had to pull it towards the house. Nobody else is nearer, or within the 350m that longest lead was.

Yes, the thing you're plugged into is the CBT: that's what the C stands for (Connectorised).

In reply to a post by F00tS0re:

Does that mean I will have the whole PON to myself, forever?

No. The PON is the "Passive Optical Network", which means the set of properties sharing the same light signal from a single OLT port in the head-end exchange.

Somewhere upstream of the CBT will be a splitter, and that could be any distance away (the cable comes off a drum and is spliced). The splitter will typically be located somewhere that it can serve other properties. The splitter can drive up to 32 fibres: 4 go to your CBT, the other 28 are spare for now but may be connected in future.

I know how mine is done, because I saw them install it. I'm in a cul-de-sac with 25 properties. The splitter is located in a chamber at the entrance to the cul-de-sac. There are pavement chambers serving 2 or 3 properties each, and there's a CBT in the chamber outside my house.

So right now I have the whole PON to myself (like rman, my neighbours are elderly). But eventually, when Openreach retrofits fibre to the whole street, there will be other CBTs connecting back to the same splitter, and we'll be sharing the PON.

In reply to a post by busterboy:

It's like I have quoted a few times before Adrian.

People buy £80k £100k cars to drive around in when a cheap £5k car would do the same job.

My feeling is if you can afford it then why not.

Not really the same as a car, some people buy a 100k car for comfort, some people buy one to show off.

Some people will get faster broadband and yet never come close top us8ing the max out of it. I am ok with what I have got, not that I can get any faster, well I could go for 4G that would or should be a bit faster. I could afford those prices, but I would not pay it just for a bit more speed, not that pure fibre will be coming here for a while if it ever does in my lifetime.

Cerberus pricing is up, and as expected it's higher pricing because BT Wholesale is pricey I guess. 450/70 is the same price per month as FTTPoD, while 900/110 is £144 per month. £48 installation charge.

I think I may go for 450/70. I don't need faster upstream than that, and the Firebrick FB2900 router I use won't process more than 700 megabits as far as I know anyway.

In reply to a post by Ixel:

Cerberus pricing is up, and as expected it's higher pricing because BT Wholesale is pricey I guess. 450/70 is the same price per month as FTTPoD, while 900/110 is £144 per month. £48 installation charge.

I think I may go for 450/70. I don't need faster upstream than that, and the Firebrick FB2900 router I use won't process more than 700 megabits as far as I know anyway.

Too expensive for me, i'll be moving over to BT which is a shame.

I'm considering cancelling but ceasing the line early.

Yeah understandable, I'd do the same if it wasn't for the fact I need a static IP range. One thing I'll be asking sales is the likely hard limit for bandwidth usage in a month.

EDIT: Clarified, basically would have to consume a lot and it would have to be network affecting before I'd receive a warning. I generally consume around 1TB a month so nothing for me to think about.

Edited by Ixel (Tue 24-Mar-20 11:56:51)

In reply to a post by Ixel:

Yeah understandable, I'd do the same if it wasn't for the fact I need a static IP range. One thing I'll be asking sales is the likely hard limit for bandwidth usage in a month.

Can I ask what are you doing at home that needs a static IP?

I run a bunch of game servers, email server, PBX, a small web server. Rather than renting them out I use my own hardware. These are pretty much for personal use.

Edited by Ixel (Tue 24-Mar-20 11:56:00)

In reply to a post by Ixel:

I run a bunch of game servers, email server, PBX, a small web server. Rather than renting them out I use my own hardware.

Ah makes sense then It is a shame BT retail don't offer static IPs. I would love one but get by with dynamic DNS.

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

Works in plenty of other oountries around the world, and even some ISP doing symmetric Gigabit over GPON in the UK

This really irks me. I wouldn't need 900mb down if the upload of 500 was better.

Well I've put in a regrade order, but it's going to take 7 to 10 working days apparently to process it :x. Guess I need to be patient. Assuming it starts counting from tomorrow, that should be between the 2nd and 7th of next month.

Edited by Ixel (Tue 24-Mar-20 15:35:55)

I spent about 90mins trying today using a couple different numbers, on hold for ages a few times. I got through a couple times. I also got put on hold inbetween those to pass to the fibre team (even though thats the number I used to start with) but that seemed to timed out after around 20mins.

In both cases I spoke to someone the best they could offer me was £65 for Fibre 500 and £70 for Fibre 900, respectively £5 and £10 more than my current Fibre 250 which is about to go off-contract. I asked for better and noted how many folks were getting it for much better, but no budging. They did offer me to continue unchanged for £45 even though thats less than new customers can get 'Fibre 500 for the same price as 300' hehe.

Those prices for the new tiers make no sense (both more than the off-contract pricing for 2 years away, only £5 diff between the two rather than usual 10, etc) and I am definitely not giving them more than I do now when so many can or already did get them for less than that. I am tempted by the £45 Fibre 250 rate, since 330mbit is fast enough really, but I will mull it over before entering into an annoyingly long contract (24m, vs prev 18m) with thwm, and perhaps even wait for Sky to launch theirs. BT messed me around a bit when I got this and arent being so friendly this time round either, so its possibly time to reward their efforts by leaving.

In reply to a post by robg1701:

I spent about 90mins trying today using a couple different numbers, on hold for ages a few times. I got through a couple times. I also got put on hold inbetween those to pass to the fibre team (even though thats the number I used to start with) but that seemed to timed out after around 20mins.

In both cases I spoke to someone the best they could offer me was £65 for Fibre 500 and £70 for Fibre 900, respectively £5 and £10 more than my current Fibre 250 which is about to go off-contract. I asked for better and noted how many folks were getting it for much better, but no budging. They did offer me to continue unchanged for £45 even though thats less than new customers can get 'Fibre 500 for the same price as 300' hehe.

Those prices for the new tiers make no sense (both more than the off-contract pricing for 2 years away, only £5 diff between the two rather than usual 10, etc) and I am definitely not giving them more than I do now when so many can or already did get them for less than that. I am tempted by the £45 Fibre 250 rate, since 330mbit is fast enough really, but I will mull it over before entering into an annoyingly long contract (24m, vs prev 18m) with thwm, and perhaps even wait for Sky to launch theirs. BT messed me around a bit when I got this and arent being so friendly this time round either, so its possibly time to reward their efforts by leaving.

So they can't even get their own pricing right. It clearly says on their website. £49.99 and £59.99.

http://prntscr.com/rm1xfh

Which I of course also noted, no effect. They didnt actually play the 'thats only for new customers' card which surprised me a little, it was simply 'this is all your account lets me offer you and I cant do better'. One stated right up front that he was going to look and give me the best deals he could to avoid any haggling, but of course it was the same lousy price as before hehe.

I cant actually do anything online either as it seems some folks can. The regular ordering section offers me them before I log in but says 'no, existing customer' upon checkout, while once I log in as instructed to see deals for existing cusomers the regular section shows nothing and the deals section fails to return anything and says I have to phone. Ho hum, typical.

Edited by deleted (Tue 24-Mar-20 18:44:51)

In reply to a post by robg1701:

Which I of course also noted, no effect. They didnt actually play the 'thats only for new customers' card which surprised me a little, it was simply 'this is all your account lets me offer you and I cant do better'. One stated right up front that he was going to look and give me the best deals he could to avoid any haggling, but of course it was the same [censored] price as before hehe.

I cant actually do anything online either as it seems some folks can. The regular ordering section offers me them before I log in but says 'no, existing customer' upon checkout, while once I log in as instructed to see deals for existing cusomers the regular section shows nothing and the deals section fails to return anything and says I have to phone. Ho hum, typical.

Yes I couldn't order online either. I'm shocked that they couldn't do those prices.I wouldn't have ordered out of principle.

never fails to amaze me that companies seem to go out of their way to p*ss off existing customers instead of rewarding them for being a customer in the first place. if you have been with bt (say) for years probably in most cases why not reward that unending loyaylty and offer good prices lower than new customers can get.and when the new customers have a couple of years under their belt keep them with a good offer.

Yep, I didnt and wont pay them any more than I already am now. Either they offer the deals everyone else seems to have got or I simply go without Fibre 500 or 900. I will likely either pay a good chunk less for what I have, or if sky launch soon enough I could instead just leave. Either way, in the long run BT are essentially just depriving themselves of some or all of my existing payment.

My area couldnt get 1000mbit FTTP until very recently (this month I think), so I didnt actually expect to be able to order the new products anyway when they launched, it was a pleasant surprise that I would be able to. I know I will very rarely make any real use of something faster than the 330 I have so I dont need the 500/1000, just want hehe. I only had ~3.3mbit until 18 months ago so this still seems ridiculously fast no matter what I have

Well I just got off the phone with BT, was only waiting for 13 mins, so not too bad.

Sadly their systems (to him) was down so he couldn't even do a speed check, but he could see that both the new packages was available for us, but at this time he couldn't process our order / upgrade.

But the guy did confirm that the prices shown was the price that I would pay and that they also include line rental, so if you have the line rental saver just subtract £19.99 from that price.

I was also told to wait 24 hours and try phoning again or try doing it online, I did tell him that I never use the online ordering due to you cannot ask for a good deal / haggle like I have always done in the past with success.

Paul

To be clear, when you say "the prices shown was the price that I would pay", what prices exactly and from which section of the site? £49.99 and 59.99 from the initial 'not logged in availability check' after giving a postcode + address? Or some other price from your specific 'logged in deals area'?

I'd love to order online but cant. It seems entirely backwards to ever have to call them. I've yet to successfully get a better deal from phoning them at any point either and the only typical result has been time wasting, except the time they called me and screwed me out of getting a reward card. Yay BT.

Could you be without internet for a few days (use 4g maybe), could cancel and then sign up again as a new customer.

I got screwed when out of a new customer reward card when i moved house, i should of signed up for a new line instead of doing the house switch.

My cerberus line is due to cease on April 6th, and at that point i'll be ordering with BT instantly with the default username/password set awaiting activation (pfsense).

In reply to a post by robg1701:

To be clear, when you say "the prices shown was the price that I would pay", what prices exactly and from which section of the site? £49.99 and 59.99 from the initial 'not logged in availability check' after giving a postcode + address? Or some other price from your specific 'logged in deals area'?

Those prices are the same when logged in and out, I asked the guy on the phone if I upgraded to the "Full Fibre 900" would it be £59.99 p/m that is listed on the site, he checked and said yes, I then asked if that price also included the Line Rental and he said all the prices include line rental.

In reply to a post by robg1701:

I'd love to order online but cant. It seems entirely backwards to ever have to call them. I've yet to successfully get a better deal from phoning them at any point either and the only typical result has been time wasting, except the time they called me and screwed me out of getting a reward card. Yay BT.

I have not tried to do the ordering online due to I want to see if I can get a better deal, plus I didn't want anything to screw our connection up. But like I have said, I have always phoned them and got a better deal than what's advertised.

Paul

I probably could, although it would be far from ideal at this point (working from home, and most other regular activities now out for a while hehe). The idea had occurred to me, but the mere thought of doing it would be just another reason for me to leave and not come back.

It was a new line in a new build, which didnt show on the website and so couldnt be ordered...they called me, completed the order, and only later said this meant no reward card. They also did it on the only day that they werent charging £5 less for the package, it had went up in price when an offer expiredd and then it went back down afterwards. They wouldnt do anything for me in either case. I really won the lottery that time

Ok, they must really not like me then (see also, last post hehe), there was simply no possibility they were giving me anything like those prices.

I see the same prices when I give the site my address for the availability check, you just cant complete an order if you try. When logged in, if I go to the deals section it just says there arent any personalised pffers, phone us.

In reply to a post by robg1701:

Ok, they must really not like me then (see also, last post hehe), there was simply no possibility they were giving me anything like those prices.

It might just be you had somebody having a bad day, they might of had a bad call before yours.

Also I think its where they know I will put up a fuss and not give up, I know now and then when talking to them I hear a different tone after they have read the notes on the account, which will probably say I pestered the CEO and Chairman of BT via email and phone calls on a weekly and some times daily basis (for up to 5 years), also got my local MP involved at one point.

This resulted in them enabling the FTTP for us back end of 2016 (wow don't time go by fast).

But I think it might also be where I am polite but firm, I am never rude to them.

At the end of the day being rude will get you nowhere, that's probably why I have got results for neighbours and friends when enquiring about peoples fibre issues in the past via Twitter.

Plus I work out what I am going to say before hand and possible outcomes, these have helped in the past.

In reply to a post by robg1701:

I see the same prices when I give the site my address for the availability check, you just cant complete an order if you try. When logged in, if I go to the deals section it just says there arent any personalised pffers, phone us.

Well the personalised deals page errors out on us which it has done for years (BT has no clue why) which was why I originally started to phone them for the personalised deals.

Plus BT have told me in the past to just phone up to do an upgrade and that you might be able to get a better deal when speaking to them directly.

Paul

In reply to a post by PaulKirby:

It might just be you had somebody having a bad day, they might of had a bad call before yours.

True, though I did get through twice via different numbers and although the conversations were fairly different the end result was a similar repeated 'account says this is what I can offer you, I cant do better' . Both were perfectly pleasant and seemed keen to help, but just couldnt offer me better.

In reply to a post by PaulKirby:

But I think it might also be where I am polite but firm, I am never rude to them.

Indeed, I'm not rude either, I know the person on the other end is simply filling a role and is but a small cog in the machine. Its certainly not their fault the system is broken

In reply to a post by PaulKirby:

Well the personalised deals page errors out on us which it has done for years (BT has no clue why) which was why I originally started to phone them for the personalised deals.

Plus BT have told me in the past to just phone up to do an upgrade and that you might be able to get a better deal when speaking to them directly.

Thats the same for me then, on the deals page and the 'phone us for better deal' messaging when speaking to them. Alas, I have never got a better deal out of them on the phone, more the reverse.

I'm not as committed as you on the pestering though hehe, especially in this case when I freely admit the faster connection isnt really a need, just mostly an 'ohh, shiny' want and desiring beter value from getting more for the same/less money, since its apparently the new norm which others can clearly get.

Maybe it will change when the contract actually expires soon, though that would seem strange, and annoy given how much they have been contacting me about renewing for weeks (which I didnt, since I knew all this was coming)

Sorry if this has been answered elsewhere in the thread. I'm on Zen 300 which is looking very expensive in comparison to these new offerings.
When I put my details into the BT site it's offering me the top Full Fibre 900 package however the BT ADSL checker shows my line at 330/500 maximum.
Don't want to progress an order to be told I'll be on the same speed as before.

In reply to a post by DrSteve:

Sorry if this has been answered elsewhere in the thread. I'm on Zen 300 which is looking very expensive in comparison to these new offerings.
When I put my details into the BT site it's offering me the top Full Fibre 900 package however the BT ADSL checker shows my line at 330/500 maximum.
Don't want to progress an order to be told I'll be on the same speed as before.

Don't do any orders to switch suppliers at the moment tbh. Given the MBORC status Openreach issued due to COVID-19 they are asking suppliers not to switch customers and also given the work restrictions things could mess up. Wait till the lockdown is over - whenever that will be.

I spent all Monday on the phone to them, and they always said the system only allows me to charge £73.99 to your account, even though website stated otherwise. So they put it through at £73.99 and was told I would receive email with the adjustment to £59.99 but I can't see it yet in my account. However my product is already active. Will wait a few more days and then call them up regarding price.

In reply to a post by dogcat:

In reply to a post by DrSteve:

Sorry if this has been answered elsewhere in the thread. I'm on Zen 300 which is looking very expensive in comparison to these new offerings.
When I put my details into the BT site it's offering me the top Full Fibre 900 package however the BT ADSL checker shows my line at 330/500 maximum.
Don't want to progress an order to be told I'll be on the same speed as before.

Don't do any orders to switch suppliers at the moment tbh. Given the MBORC status Openreach issued due to COVID-19 they are asking suppliers not to switch customers and also given the work restrictions things could mess up. Wait till the lockdown is over - whenever that will be.

Not sure this advice matches the MBORC.

A change of provider or product tier over the same medium (FTTP) is done remotely and is no risk to engineers or the end user.

It's upgrades from ADSL to FTTC, or new FTTP installs that require engineers to enter properties that will be scaled back or stopped.

OpenReach currently intend on completing already booked FTTP installs at present but that may change.

A switch from an existing OpenReach FTTP service to another OpenReach FTTP should not require any work.
The migration process isn't ideal and can require a cease of 1 service then an activation of the other in some cases, with possible downtime.
It shouldn't need want engineer intervention though.

Edited by j0hn83 (Wed 25-Mar-20 09:38:27)

I dont think any existing bookings for FTTP install will be going ahead from what ive read on the BT forums, i have one booked for 3rd April but im not going to bank on it, I am fortunate to have been on mobile broadband for the last year and currently have EE & 3 sims taking the load.
Its a shame that they couldnt just splice the ONT connectors outside the property and then id happily drill a big hole in the wall to poke it through and id install the ONT inside myself, but I know that wont happen.
Their safety is much more important than my need. It will hopefully all get back to normal sometime this year.
On the plus side this self isolation is my normal day, been working from home for almost a decade.

https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2020/03/covid-...

Some people with FTTP installs due soon, such as those in the process of a house move, had asked what might happen to them. Openreach informs us that they will be trying to complete all orders where an appointment has already been booked.

The operator added that those customers who have no other form of broadband or telephony available will probably be dealt with via escalation channels jointly with their ISP to find a solution, preferably one that doesn�t require a home visit.

They're in my street as I speak installing splitter nodes in a couple of the chambers.

My brother does new installs for Fibre First in Edinburgh and is in customers homes today connecting them up.

Situation might change but currently arranged appointments are intended on being completed.

In reply to a post by dogcat:

In reply to a post by DrSteve:

Sorry if this has been answered elsewhere in the thread. I'm on Zen 300 which is looking very expensive in comparison to these new offerings.
When I put my details into the BT site it's offering me the top Full Fibre 900 package however the BT ADSL checker shows my line at 330/500 maximum.
Don't want to progress an order to be told I'll be on the same speed as before.

Don't do any orders to switch suppliers at the moment tbh. Given the MBORC status Openreach issued due to COVID-19 they are asking suppliers not to switch customers and also given the work restrictions things could mess up. Wait till the lockdown is over - whenever that will be.

oh dear, i've just cancelled my cerberus line.. this wont need an engineer visit so im really hoping all will be ok!

All being well it should be, but I'm somewhat glad I didn't go down the cancellation route as it may have complicated matters due to the recent Openreach news. That being said, I still need to wait 7 to 10 working days for a mere change in speed haha. I don't imagine that getting delayed, I hope anyway!

Spent an hour this morning on hold, finally spoke to someone who couldn't access the faster speeds on my account so transferred me through to offline sales. Spent another hour waiting to speak to them. They did a "tech check" and said the fastest I could get was what I was already on, the 300Mb package. And yet when I put my postcode into the BT website, it states I can get up to Full Fibre 900. I wish some other ISPs would hurry up and rollout FTTP, sick of BTs customer service. I very rarely have to contact them, but when I do, its always an uphill struggle.

In reply to a post by hmsq:

I spent all Monday on the phone to them, and they always said the system only allows me to charge £73.99 to your account, even though website stated otherwise. So they put it through at £73.99 and was told I would receive email with the adjustment to £59.99 but I can't see it yet in my account. However my product is already active. Will wait a few more days and then call them up regarding price.

I didnt get any such option/suggestion but I very likely wouldnt have proceeded if it were raised in that manner, given the outcomes of most dealings I have had with them.

I hope you do get your adjustment without further hassle!

In reply to a post by candlerb:

It turns out it's just part of the BT site which hasn't been upgraded.

https://www.bt.com/broadband/availability/ still only offers the packages I showed earlier.

However, https://www.bt.com/broadband/deals says "Great news - You could be doing more online with Full Fibre 900" - with my address - and *does* show all the products up to 900. (But oddly, not the 80/20 package).

Well whaddya know: today https://www.bt.com/broadband/deals offers me Fibre Essential (FTTC), Fibre 1 (50/10) and Fibre 2 (74/20), but *not* the higher speeds any more.

Looks like they are having problems building a reliable and consistent availability checker.

In reply to a post by candlerb:

In reply to a post by candlerb:

It turns out it's just part of the BT site which hasn't been upgraded.

https://www.bt.com/broadband/availability/ still only offers the packages I showed earlier.

However, https://www.bt.com/broadband/deals says "Great news - You could be doing more online with Full Fibre 900" - with my address - and *does* show all the products up to 900. (But oddly, not the 80/20 package).

Well whaddya know: today https://www.bt.com/broadband/deals offers me Fibre Essential (FTTC), Fibre 1 (50/10) and Fibre 2 (74/20), but *not* the higher speeds any more.

Looks like they are having problems building a reliable and consistent availability checker.

Me too, i'm thinking of cancelling my cancellation from cerberus for the next month now.. not good at all

Had my upgrade activated this morning. My router is now reporting full speed

Speedtest Image

In reply to a post by puntoboy:

Had my upgrade activated this morning. My router is now reporting full speed

Speedtest Image

That's excellent! very jealous indeed!

In reply to a post by puntoboy:

Had my upgrade activated this morning. My router is now reporting full speed

Speedtest Image

Ha, lucky you. Mine got stuck in limbo-land, order just sitting there in "delayed" stage. I'll just let them figure it out, they're probably excessively busy.

Looks like you avoided the 50mbit upload profile bug a few have reported.

Edited by deleted (Wed 25-Mar-20 12:53:13)

Oh I hadn't seen that, in fact the upload speed strangely went up first followed by the download speed a bit later.

In reply to a post by puntoboy:

Had my upgrade activated this morning. My router is now reporting full speed

Speedtest Image

What a fantastic image you have posted puntoboy.

Enjoy the new package my friend.

In reply to a post by Chipmunk77:

Looks like you avoided the 50mbit upload profile bug a few have reported.

Resetting the router fixed that by what I've read online.

Paper clip in the back of the router or via the UI interface.

I'm not using a BT router which might explain it

In reply to a post by Chipmunk77:

In reply to a post by puntoboy:

Had my upgrade activated this morning. My router is now reporting full speed

Speedtest Image

Ha, lucky you. Mine got stuck in limbo-land, order just sitting there in "delayed" stage. I'll just let them figure it out, they're probably excessively busy.

Looks like you avoided the 50mbit upload profile bug a few have reported.

Was you already a BT customer?

In reply to a post by rman:

Was you already a BT customer?

Yeah, it was just a speed regrade 300>1000. Was supposed to go through yesterday, so hoping it's just an admin delay, rather than needing engineers at some point in the chain.

That might possibly explain why I've been advised 7-10 working days then by a different ISP, as I thought it should be a fairly simple change to just regrade the connection speed. Interesting to know, although delays of course aren't ideal.

Edited by Ixel (Wed 25-Mar-20 14:08:16)

In reply to a post by Chipmunk77:

In reply to a post by rman:

Was you already a BT customer?

Yeah, it was just a speed regrade 300>1000. Was supposed to go through yesterday, so hoping it's just an admin delay, rather than needing engineers at some point in the chain.

I have just spoken with someone from BT who advised the team dealing with the line regrades is in lockdown and any regrades are being delayed - I was also under the impression that the speed regrade would be a background change and would have thought that it would be available for any of their team that were homeworking?

In reply to a post by ravingkamikaze2:

In reply to a post by Chipmunk77:

In reply to a post by rman:

Was you already a BT customer?

Yeah, it was just a speed regrade 300>1000. Was supposed to go through yesterday, so hoping it's just an admin delay, rather than needing engineers at some point in the chain.

I have just spoken with someone from BT who advised the team dealing with the line regrades is in lockdown and any regrades are being delayed - I was also under the impression that the speed regrade would be a background change and would have thought that it would be available for any of their team that were homeworking?

Mine was a regrade so I assume I got in just in time.

In reply to a post by ravingkamikaze2:

I have just spoken with someone from BT who advised the team dealing with the line regrades is in lockdown and any regrades are being delayed - I was also under the impression that the speed regrade would be a background change and would have thought that it would be available for any of their team that were homeworking?

Thanks, makes sense, kinda guessed as much.

Not really a problem - I only got better than 16mbit in Dec 2017

In reply to a post by Chipmunk77:

In reply to a post by ravingkamikaze2:

I have just spoken with someone from BT who advised the team dealing with the line regrades is in lockdown and any regrades are being delayed - I was also under the impression that the speed regrade would be a background change and would have thought that it would be available for any of their team that were homeworking?

Thanks, makes sense, kinda guessed as much.

Not really a problem - I only got better than 16mbit in Dec 2017

I went from 2Mb to 300.....no need for 900 but why not tbh! I wont be pushing it too hard as there are more important things to worry about atm!

I'm also on Zen 300/50, which is expensive compared to these new tariffs.

I'm out of contract in a week or two, so spoke to BT FTTP sales this morning.

However, they can't tell me what I can get (despite the main BT website offering Full Fibre 900). Why? Because the OpenReach Wholesale Checker is down......so they said to try again next week....I suspect OR are quite busy at the moment!

BTW, why Fibre 900 and not 1000?

In reply to a post by johnnyuk:

BTW, why Fibre 900 and not 1000?

Overheads of various protocols involved, and then it's also capped by 1gbit connector in the router.

Guessing real world we'll get 930 or something? I'm sure that'll suffice

In reply to a post by johnnyuk:

BTW, why Fibre 900 and not 1000?

Because otherwise people will whinge and claim they're not getting what they paid for, when speedtest shows 942Mbps

That is the payload throughput you get when you saturate a 1Gbps ethernet connection, after taking off TCP, IPv4 and ethernet headers, with a 1500-byte MTU.

Ah, of course - makes sense! Thanks both

So I assume in however many years time when > 1Gbe services are available that everyone will have to have their ONT replaced as it wont be a > 1Gbe LAN port I wouldnt have thought.

Correct.

So the BT site states I can get the 500 or 900 packages that have just been released. However when I go to https://www.dslchecker.bt.com/ it states Upto 330 for the WBC FTTP product.

Is this wrong or do they still need to upgrade something at the exchange?

In reply to a post by sparkymark75:

So the BT site states I can get the 500 or 900 packages that have just been released. However when I go to https://www.dslchecker.bt.com/ it states Upto 330 for the WBC FTTP product.

Is this wrong or do they still need to upgrade something at the exchange?

Well I am on Full Fibre (FTTP) and up until today it was showing the Full Fibre 900 package for us, even the BT Guy confirmed it was available, but now its only showing up to Superfast Fibre 2 (i.e. 74Mb) so BT Site is broken at the moment.

Also the DSL Checker is down for me too.

I am due to phone them again today to upgrade from 300Mb to the 910Mb package, I will post what they say.

Paul

regraded a little past midnight on 26/03, getting around 101Mb/s off steam/gdrive.

thinkbb speedtest

Yeah I can't use DSL checker either. I'm guessing some regrades are going to be delayed or, if not pending already, not even possible, while there are problems like this.

In reply to a post by acting_funny:

regraded a little past midnight on 26/03, getting around 101Mb/s off steam/gdrive.

thinkbb speedtest

Poor speed on the green mark graph

interestingly the best single threaded speedtest i could find on ookla was around ~530Mbps, the average being ~360Mbps. single threaded upload seems capped at 40Mbps on all of them.

single threaded

multi threaded

What about this one: https://speedof.me/

Mine on FTTC 80/20 here: https://i.speedof.me/200326063817-463

Edited by adslmax (Thu 26-Mar-20 06:39:06)

https://i.speedof.me/200326064556-130

1 connection from fast.com maxes around 510Mbs also.

500/100 is a good speed for single test.

restarted router & ONT and getting ~760Mbps single threaded from fast/ookla.

https://i.speedof.me/200326072025-254

Well I am still currently on 300:50 due to BT's system being down when I phoned on Tuesday, but I thought I would give that Speedof.me site a try and it says I have a max upload of 600Mbit on one test fast.com told me my max upload was 1Gb (I wish LOL), so for me its not consistent or correct.

https://i.speedof.me/200326071918-205
https://i.speedof.me/200326071759-353
https://i.speedof.me/200326072131-754
https://i.speedof.me/200326072319-831

Just waiting for BT Staff to start work before I phone to do the upgrade.

Paul

In reply to a post by acting_funny:

regraded a little past midnight on 26/03, getting around 101Mb/s off steam/gdrive.

thinkbb speedtest

interesting.....so they are still doing the regrades then, just a lot slower than they normally would be doing so. Checking the BT website it now shows the following under my order:

We're sorry your broadband isn't working yet
We've got a specialist team working on it and we'll let you know as soon as we have more news. Thanks for your patience.


So it will hopefully move along soon

Certainly isn't correct because I can't get anywhere near 3Mbps in the real word.

https://i.speedof.me/200326081241-265

Not sure whats going on here but its bad haha

https://i.speedof.me/200326090143-385

I've seen various antivirus products affect these web based speed tests. Also browsers are now trying to optimise JavaScript so will make different results.

I always use a Private Browsing / Incognito window to run a web speed test, and try on a mobile device as well as on a computer.

If you have a machine with a clean install of your operating system without any third party security software, always worth a try, with an Ethernet connection as well.

In reply to a post by PaulKirby:

Just waiting for BT Staff to start work before I phone to do the upgrade.

Ok, just got off the phone to BT (total time 1h, 30m), I spoke to the FTTP Sales Team which took about 15 mins in the queue, sadly after 20 mins explaining the issues and them doing the tests etc, due to issues possibly on our account they couldn't process my order.

At this point I was a bit disappointed, but I don't give up so easily LOL

So I asked if I could be put through to their offline team that has fixed ordering issues for us before, was in another queue for about 30 to 40 mins, I ended up being put through to the Sales Support Team where I spoke to a lovely lady who said that they have master control on the system and that they deal with orders that have issues processing orders etc.

*** Here comes the good news ***
I can confirm its available and that ours is scheduled to go live at midnight on the 27th so on, so on Saturday we "should" be live.
And then another day or two for the new Smart Hub to arrive, but my current router "should" be fine.

Now as for the pricing, I won't say how much we will be paying (might be a special price for us), but it was less than the £59.99 p/m (inc line rental) that was displayed on their site.

Seems we will be paying the exact same price we was paying for our 300Mb connection, maybe our old price was not as cheap as it could be who knows.

So now the wait continues, I will post speedtests once it goes live.

Paul

Is there a separate sales support number to call?

In reply to a post by ravingkamikaze2:

Is there a separate sales support number to call?

I wasn't given an external number for them sorry.

I just called their FTTP Sales team on 0800 587 4787
The Sales Support lady told me if I have any issues in the future to ask the person I am speaking to to put me through to them.

But in my case it was available for our address, just that I had issues on our account (which we have had from the start), if their site says its available to you you could just phone them up and see.

I must say be prepared for a long multiple queue waits, I had a few glasses with drinks in and a sandwich to eat while I wait, TBH I did expect to be waiting longer due to less staff, but it wasn't that bad.

Paul

Nice. I wonder how it is some ISP's can process regrades a lot faster (e.g. within 24-48 hours) compared to 7 to 10 working days.

Oh well, good luck on it and hopefully your connection change will be done the 27th as stated .

In reply to a post by PaulKirby:

In reply to a post by sparkymark75:

So the BT site states I can get the 500 or 900 packages that have just been released. However when I go to https://www.dslchecker.bt.com/ it states Upto 330 for the WBC FTTP product.

Is this wrong or do they still need to upgrade something at the exchange?

Well I am on Full Fibre (FTTP) and up until today it was showing the Full Fibre 900 package for us, even the BT Guy confirmed it was available, but now its only showing up to Superfast Fibre 2 (i.e. 74Mb) so BT Site is broken at the moment.

Also the DSL Checker is down for me too.

I am due to phone them again today to upgrade from 300Mb to the 910Mb package, I will post what they say.

Paul

I spent 2 hours on hold to them yesterday and when I did finally speak to someone in "offlice sales", she said the system was only showing 300Mb as the fastest I could get. I know it's the ultimate first world problem so I'll just wait. I'm out of contract and paying £59.99 pm for what I'm on. She did offer it to me for £45 pm but I'd have to take out a 2 year contract and I've read of people in contract who upgrade speeds having to pay the full price for it so I've just hung off for now.

In reply to a post by PaulKirby:

In reply to a post by PaulKirby:

Just waiting for BT Staff to start work before I phone to do the upgrade.

Ok, just got off the phone to BT (total time 1h, 30m), I spoke to the FTTP Sales Team which took about 15 mins in the queue, sadly after 20 mins explaining the issues and them doing the tests etc, due to issues possibly on our account they couldn't process my order.

At this point I was a bit disappointed, but I don't give up so easily LOL

So I asked if I could be put through to their offline team that has fixed ordering issues for us before, was in another queue for about 30 to 40 mins, I ended up being put through to the Sales Support Team where I spoke to a lovely lady who said that they have master control on the system and that they deal with orders that have issues processing orders etc.

*** Here comes the good news ***
I can confirm its available and that ours is scheduled to go live at midnight on the 27th so on, so on Saturday we "should" be live.
And then another day or two for the new Smart Hub to arrive, but my current router "should" be fine.

Now as for the pricing, I won't say how much we will be paying (might be a special price for us), but it was less than the £59.99 p/m (inc line rental) that was displayed on their site.

Seems we will be paying the exact same price we was paying for our 300Mb connection, maybe our old price was not as cheap as it could be who knows.

So now the wait continues, I will post speedtests once it goes live.

Paul

Good that you were able to get something sorted. Its frustrating the lack of consistency you get when calling. I'm on hold again to see if I can get any further today.

Still no further forward. The only thing that's improved is the wait times on the phone!

She was adamant the fastest I could get was what I was on and wouldn't transfer me to the sales support team. She even then had the cheek to offer to sign me up for a contract for the same price as I'm paying just now!

We badly need a bit of competition in the FTTP sector, not only for prices but just for alternatives as BT, while I have never had technical issues, their customer service is garbage.

In reply to a post by sparkymark75:

Still no further forward. The only thing that's improved is the wait times on the phone!

She was adamant the fastest I could get was what I was on and wouldn't transfer me to the sales support team. She even then had the cheek to offer to sign me up for a contract for the same price as I'm paying just now!

We badly need a bit of competition in the FTTP sector, not only for prices but just for alternatives as BT, while I have never had technical issues, their customer service is garbage.

Ouch, what does the BT DSL Checker say is available to your address?
The DSL Checker is down to me so I cannot check any addresses but I can check by NAD Key and District ID's fine, so the issue is their end.

Paul

In reply to a post by Ixel:

Nice. I wonder how it is some ISP's can process regrades a lot faster (e.g. within 24-48 hours) compared to 7 to 10 working days.

Oh well, good luck on it and hopefully your connection change will be done the 27th as stated .

Yeah I did wonder that myself, when we upgraded to FTTP a few of our neighbours also upgraded to FTTP the same time as us, 2 being with other providers and all the BT ones was done within a few days for the first install and then another 7 days for the internal work, now those with other ISP had to wait longer.

So there are differences it seems.

Yeah I am sure it will go live on the 27th at midnight, but we did have the FTTP go live the day before they said it would go live, so who knows.

Paul

In reply to a post by PaulKirby:

In reply to a post by sparkymark75:

Still no further forward. The only thing that's improved is the wait times on the phone!

She was adamant the fastest I could get was what I was on and wouldn't transfer me to the sales support team. She even then had the cheek to offer to sign me up for a contract for the same price as I'm paying just now!

We badly need a bit of competition in the FTTP sector, not only for prices but just for alternatives as BT, while I have never had technical issues, their customer service is garbage.

Ouch, what does the BT DSL Checker say is available to your address?
The DSL Checker is down to me so I cannot check any addresses but I can check by NAD Key and District ID's fine, so the issue is their end.

Paul

The DSL checker for me says the same today as it did yesterday.

WBC FTTP Upto 330 Upto 50 -- Available KCI2 Assure --

However, the BT website now says the fastest I can get is Fibre2 (74Mb), despite being on a faster package than this for the past 2 years. Their systems appear to be screwed!

In reply to a post by PaulKirby:

In reply to a post by PaulKirby:

Just waiting for BT Staff to start work before I phone to do the upgrade.

Ok, just got off the phone to BT (total time 1h, 30m), I spoke to the FTTP Sales Team which took about 15 mins in the queue, sadly after 20 mins explaining the issues and them doing the tests etc, due to issues possibly on our account they couldn't process my order.

At this point I was a bit disappointed, but I don't give up so easily LOL

So I asked if I could be put through to their offline team that has fixed ordering issues for us before, was in another queue for about 30 to 40 mins, I ended up being put through to the Sales Support Team where I spoke to a lovely lady who said that they have master control on the system and that they deal with orders that have issues processing orders etc.

*** Here comes the good news ***
I can confirm its available and that ours is scheduled to go live at midnight on the 27th so on, so on Saturday we "should" be live.
And then another day or two for the new Smart Hub to arrive, but my current router "should" be fine.

Now as for the pricing, I won't say how much we will be paying (might be a special price for us), but it was less than the £59.99 p/m (inc line rental) that was displayed on their site.

Seems we will be paying the exact same price we was paying for our 300Mb connection, maybe our old price was not as cheap as it could be who knows.

So now the wait continues, I will post speedtests once it goes live.

Paul

Interesting, i was passed over to the Sales Support team the other day regarding a query i had. I was told they have access to a different system that the first line sales team don't have.

In reply to a post by sparkymark75:

I spent 2 hours on hold to them yesterday and when I did finally speak to someone in "offlice sales", she said the system was only showing 300Mb as the fastest I could get.

The unlucky few - about 50,000 properties - are on ECI OLTs which won't provide faster than 300M (because the interconnects are 1G not 10G)

Can you see on your ONT what the manufacturer is? It's not always the case, but if you've got an ECI ONT then it's more likely an ECI OLT at the exchange end.

I thought I'd check what my address showed up as on BT's website. Today it says I can't get full fibre although the other day it said I could get Fibre 1000. So something is screwed up at the moment (at BT Wholesale's side?).

I checked another ISP's 'checker' and it tells me I'm able to get 1000/220 as the DSL checker would also normally do if it was working. their checker even tells me my ONT serial number, location notes, status of the ports, and such, but I do have a login which their more 'detailed' checker requires. The more basic checker which doesn't require a login doesn't show that kind of information when checking an address.

These things are bound to happen with the Coronavirus pandemic and lockdown I guess, patience is a virtue.

In reply to a post by candlerb:

In reply to a post by sparkymark75:

I spent 2 hours on hold to them yesterday and when I did finally speak to someone in "offlice sales", she said the system was only showing 300Mb as the fastest I could get.

The unlucky few - about 50,000 properties - are on ECI OLTs which won't provide faster than 300M (because the interconnects are 1G not 10G)

Can you see on your ONT what the manufacturer is? It's not always the case, but if you've got an ECI ONT then it's more likely an ECI OLT at the exchange end.

My ONT is behind a unit so I can't get access to the back of it. It does look like this one..

http://bt.custhelp.com/rnt/rnw/img/enduser/fvc_openr...

with the battery backup unit on the wall next to it.

Gave mine a shot on fast.com.

Single thread provides 940 Mb/s.

Multiple gives 1 Gb/s.

I think they include some overheads in that as, of course, a gigabit of actual goodput is impossible.

Seems to be fine either way, and if it maintains this through the evening well played BT.

It is very, very difficult to saturate the full connection which is absolutely the point.

In reply to a post by candlerb:

The unlucky few - about 50,000 properties - are on ECI OLTs which won't provide faster than 300M (because the interconnects are 1G not 10G)

Can you see on your ONT what the manufacturer is? It's not always the case, but if you've got an ECI ONT then it's more likely an ECI OLT at the exchange end.

BT Wholesale may also not be selling gigabit in some areas yet for capacity reasons.

In reply to a post by CarlTSpeak:

It is very, very difficult to saturate the full connection which is absolutely the point.

Well said Carl and yes absolutely the point.

In reply to a post by sparkymark75:

The DSL checker for me says the same today as it did yesterday.

WBC FTTP Upto 330 Upto 50 -- Available KCI2 Assure --

However, the BT website now says the fastest I can get is Fibre2 (74Mb), despite being on a faster package than this for the past 2 years. Their systems appear to be screwed!

Then that's probably why you cannot get it, minealong with others >> shows << the faster speeds.

I think the reason why you only see the 74Mb package is due to you can only get up to 300Mb and BT no longer sell that, Ultrafast Fibre 250 was replaced with Full Fibre 500, sadly you cannot get the 500Mb due to your area hasn't been upgraded as yet.

Paul

In reply to a post by rman:

Interesting, i was passed over to the Sales Support team the other day regarding a query i had. I was told they have access to a different system that the first line sales team don't have.

Yeah, she told me that they can override the issues that the normal sales team get time to time, I didn't want to argue with her due to I wanted the upgrade LOL

But yeah basically what you said was a bit like what she said, but I know she said they had master access to the system, which isn't what you normally say, but if it gets the job done at the price I was told / quoted then she can say what she wanted LOL

Paul

In reply to a post by sparkymark75:

My ONT is behind a unit so I can't get access to the back of it. It does look like this one..

Have you tried the CodeLook site, they seem to be correct for ours.

1. Just enter your post code, click on Lookup Post Code
2. Click on the Locality link for your post code in the list that shows up below
3. Now at the top of the page that loads click on the All x Fibre Cabinets
4. Scroll down the list and look for your cabinet number and now look at the vendor, that should by what hardware you are using.

The hardware for ours shows Huawei, my bets is your will say ECI.

Paul

In reply to a post by PaulKirby:

I think the reason why you only see the 74Mb package is due to you can only get up to 300Mb and BT no longer sell that, Ultrafast Fibre 250 was replaced with Full Fibre 500, sadly you cannot get the 500Mb due to your area hasn't been upgraded as yet.

I don't think that's true: you'd still get 300M in a 300M area, and don't forget the 150M package.

I found the same for my line: a couple of days ago it showed 900M available, now it only shows up to 74M. It suspect it's a systems/database bug.

I guess it *might* be a decision to withdraw the higher speeds in some areas to reduce pressure on their callcentres in the current climate - although that would likely have the opposite effect, as people will now call in to try to place their order instead of placing it online!

In reply to a post by Ixel:

I thought I'd check what my address showed up as on BT's website. Today it says I can't get full fibre although the other day it said I could get Fibre 1000. So something is screwed up at the moment (at BT Wholesale's side?).

I checked another ISP's 'checker' and it tells me I'm able to get 1000/220 as the DSL checker would also normally do if it was working. their checker even tells me my ONT serial number, location notes, status of the ports, and such, but I do have a login which their more 'detailed' checker requires. The more basic checker which doesn't require a login doesn't show that kind of information when checking an address.

These things are bound to happen with the Coronavirus pandemic and lockdown I guess, patience is a virtue.

Well I am not too sure where the issue is at, I know the 3 people I spoke to (1 on the 24th and the two people today) all saw it was available to us, sadly the site said I could only get Superfast Fibre 2 (i.e. 78Mb) and their checker (not the BTW checker) said I cannot get Full Fibre, yet when I logged in and looked at our package it said we was on Fibre 250 and a bit further down said it was using their Full Fibre system or something like that.

But yeah I agree, that's why I was relaxed and waited that long time in the second queue, at the end of the day we are lucky that they are in work in the first place.

The BTW Check is even down to me for looking up via address, but I can still do lookups by the Nad Key etc

Paul

In reply to a post by candlerb:

In reply to a post by PaulKirby:

I think the reason why you only see the 74Mb package is due to you can only get up to 300Mb and BT no longer sell that, Ultrafast Fibre 250 was replaced with Full Fibre 500, sadly you cannot get the 500Mb due to your area hasn't been upgraded as yet.

I don't think that's true: you'd still get 300M in a 300M area, and don't forget the 150M package.

I found the same for my line: a couple of days ago it showed 900M available, now it only shows up to 74M. It suspect it's a systems/database bug.

I guess it *might* be a decision to withdraw the higher speeds in some areas to reduce pressure on their callcentres in the current climate - although that would likely have the opposite effect, as people will now call in to try to place their order instead of placing it online!

Oh I forgot about the 150Mb one
But yeah there is an issue on their site though, like their different sections where they check if you can get it, one will say that you can get Full Fibre - Superfast Fibre 2, and then another checker on there would say no full fibre available in my area but still says Superfast Fibre 2.

I think they tried to remove the new packages from the list and hope nobody saw them.
And they have renamed all of those products so that's prob why the Fibre 150 was also not showing.

But this is all guess work here so I am probably completely wrong LOL

Paul