FTTP coming to the new builds - what about the rest of us?

We have some new build houses which will be getting FTTP, we will all be fed from the nearest exchange, and since we are already FTTC, can we ask for FTTP or pay to have it connected as I am guessing the infrastructure will be the same.

The village I live in isn't full of a generation who will be pushing for FTTP, however us that still work and especially now from home most of the week would like a faster and more stable service. The current feed is a bit convoluted, however we are ultimately fed overhead from a pole, which is fed underground.

How can I get FTTP I guess is my question. Does the exchange have the be changed to manage FTTP rather than the current FTTC?

Yes you can pay for FTTPoD , Fibre on demand but you will pay a lot for it, at least £8000 to install but probably a lot more and monthly charges of around £300, still interested? Probably not.

The infrastructure for FTTP is very different to FTTC by the way.

Edited by Realalemadrid (Wed 14-Jul-21 22:13:04)

Postcode?

bets to try and do something with all of the premises that are in the same situation i assume the FTTP is on a later phase of an current development

Talk to the builder - they have a relationship with Openreach

The OP isn't part of any new builds - so what would a builder have to do with the OP, other than perhaps wanting to sell him a new house? 😎

True, but the developer may well have a good contact within OR and if the OP can get to him something may come of it.

In reply to a post by Realalemadrid:

Yes you can pay for FTTPoD , Fibre on demand but you will pay a lot for it, at least £8000 to install but probably a lot more and monthly charges of around £300, still interested? Probably not.

To be fair, the monthly price is typically more like £90+VAT for 300/30 service, and that's only for the first 12 months. After that you can switch to any regular FTTP service at standard pricing.

However the two kickers are:

(1) Huge install costs. See this spreadsheet of reported costs from forum users, and notice how everything is at least £8K+VAT in the last couple of years. You'll have to pay £250+VAT just to know how much it will cost, and pay the remainder of the installation charge in full, up-front, within 30 days of receiving the quote. Gigabit vouchers to offset the cost are no longer available in many areas they were previously.

(2) Long lead times with no guarantees. 6-12 months are typical, but mine took just under 18 months in total (survey ordered Mar 2018, went live Sep 2019). Even getting the survey done can take 2-4 months.

With Openreach aiming to reach 80% of the UK population with FTTP by Dec 2026 anyway, this means there is a big risk of paying a lot to get not very much.

If you're still interested, Cerberus is the main nationwide reseller of FTTPoD:
https://www.cerberusnetworks.co.uk/connectivity-broa...

The other option which I think makes more sense is to get a group of locals together for a Community Fibre Partnership. This avoids the £250+VAT survey fee, and Openreach in theory contributes more towards the cost. However it can also be very slow. Our street started a CFP at the end of January, hoping to piggy-back off the fibre infrastructure which was put in for my FTTPoD; but Openreach only got around to doing the survey a couple of days ago.

I agree. There’s no way you could recommend On Demand now as it has become outlandishly expensive to install. There was a time, back in 2018 when you and I ordered ours where the costs were (I’d never thought I’d write this) more reasonable and vouchers took a lot of the sting out. Now just a fractional amount of premises are eligible for vouchers and average ECCs appear to have doubled.

Furthermore the current state of progress and build, not only OR but with vast numbers of AltNets on the scene busy and in many cases overbuilding, the risk of having your payback period cut to nothing now is extremely high. A lot has changed in the last 2.5 to 3 years.

The subtext is, we don’t really want to spread our relatively scant resources into FOD, as we’re too busy with our massive commercial build but if you insist then be prepared to pay.

Will you get FTTP? Whilst it would be nice to think OR will use the new builds as a reason to upgrade the area, don't bank on it.
Take our village, the copper lines run underground to poles and thence to the houses (similar to yours?), Some years back DBUK paid for the cabinet to be upgraded to FTTC, half the village got 'superfast', the other half (ours) where still stuck on slow speeds. Two years ago BDUK paid for our end of village to get FTTP, the fibre runs along the same ducts as copper past all those houses with 'superfast', but only the poles at our end got the fibre run up poles. Presumably BDUK would only pay for our end to get FTTP, and OR decided not to bother with the extra expense of upgrading the other poles.

You haven't said what speed you're currently getting on your FTTC broadband

It would depend on the developer & size of the build - if it was a large development by one of the big firms, then I wouldn't imagine getting very far, but a small development with a smaller firm may be happy to discuss the possibly of including additional properties to the fibre install - obviously it would depend on location/layout, but it doesn't cost anything to ask.

Why do some people join this forum, immediately start a thread and never return.

Its no different than what the Spammers do!!!!

Sorry all! I have been away for a few days...

Let me answer some questions

20Mbit/s on a good day

Postcode is DN10 4HQ

£8k is a lot to spend - so lets swerve that one

Currently on Openreach infrastructure and my ISP is Zen

We are across the village - probably 500m in fairness - there is no sales center, however I will call the builders to see what the situation is.

In reply to a post by ballsteven:

We are across the village - probably 500m in fairness - there is no sales center, however I will call the builders to see what the situation is.

I think you can safely forget it. You may as well be on the moon. Talk about giving false hope, some people on here should know better.

Personally I don't think you will have any lucky trying to piggy back onto the new builds to get FTTP so I would suggest counting that out

In reply to a post by ballsteven:

20Mbit/s on a good day

So other options - you're above the governments broadband universal service obligation (USO) so that is out of the question but you are below the Superfast speed (its was 24Mbps I think it might be 30Mbps now) defined for assistance by the governments regional BDUK teams so you may want to find out who your local one is and start contacting them to see if you can get added to there programme. There is also a community fibre partnership with Openreach where you and a group of neighbours get a quote from Openreach, I believe each property would be entitled to £1,500 of the cost so you may find out it costs you very little but I would suggest you wait until FTTP is active on the new builds to ensure you get any benefits of what has been done there.

In reply to a post by ballsteven:

We are across the village - probably 500m in fairness - there is no sales center, however I will call the builders to see what the situation is.

To be honest that's a waste of time.
You wouldn't ask a random developer about your gas supply.

New builds over a set number of homes automatically get FTTP.
Any local developer/builder won't have a clue about the local rollout.

I think you can safely forget it. You may as well be on the moon. Talk about giving false hope, some people on here should know better.

^^^ This.

That is only good advice if you live on a site built by that developer and your property was missed from FTTP.
That might have something to do with having already given them a 6 figure sum.