Community Fibre install on exiting FTTP (Openreach)

Hey all,

I have an exisitng FTTP installation (originally FTTPoD, which after three 3 years became standard FTTP). I am currently with Zen and the service has been great. However I have been told we should be getting community fibre within the year and I was wondering, if I went with Community fibre, would they need to run their own fibre cable into my house or can they use the openreach cable?

so the cable running from the telephone pole outside my house to the inernet ONT etc.. I suspect the ONT would be replaced, but I dont see why they would need to run their own fibre cable, but you never know.

It’s a separate drop cable as they are completely independent fibre networks (although CF may use PIA to access Openreach pole and duct infra to get you)

New ONT etc.

Edit - all existing Openreach infra (drop cable and ONT) remains and shouldn’t be disconnected (however you can power down the ONT). It won’t be touched or used by any future CF based install.

Edited by Pheasant (Sun 26-Jun-22 12:08:12)

In reply to a post by Snake:

I have an exisitng FTTP installation (originally FTTPoD, which after three 3 years became standard FTTP). I am currently with Zen and the service has been great. However I have been told we should be getting community fibre within the year and I was wondering, if I went with Community fibre, would they need to run their own fibre cable into my house or can they use the openreach cable?

They'd have to run their own fibre cable. They are not, as far as I know, allowed to re-use an existing Openreach drop fibre. In any case, the OR drop fibre has a plug that goes into the OR CBT, whereas altnets can use a different method (with or without connectors).

So most likely scenario is that they will pull their own drop fibre alongside the OR one. If the OR pole is at max capacity, then they might request permission (from OR) to remove the other one at the same time.

Personally I'd keep the OR ONT in place, even if powered off. You never know when you might need it again. Even if you don't, when it comes to sell the property, it could be a plus-point for a buyer that an OR ONT is already there.

Some recent limited permission (on a PoC trial basis) for AltNets to remove copper drops where there is a capacity constraint - but I don’t believe they are allowed to touch an existing Openreach FTTP drop cable.

https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2022/06/altnet...

In reply to a post by candlerb:

In reply to a post by Snake:

I have an exisitng FTTP installation (originally FTTPoD, which after three 3 years became standard FTTP). I am currently with Zen and the service has been great. However I have been told we should be getting community fibre within the year and I was wondering, if I went with Community fibre, would they need to run their own fibre cable into my house or can they use the openreach cable?

Personally I'd keep the OR ONT in place, even if powered off. You never know when you might need it again. Even if you don't, when it comes to sell the property, it could be a plus-point for a buyer that an OR ONT is already there.

And as the ONT belongs to OR you are supposed to leave it if you move. Leaving it in situ with the fibre plugged in will keep the end the fibre in the green connector clean as well in case you decide to go back

They install separately and the cable will even have Community Fibre printed on it! My building doesn't have Community Fibre yet, it should go live soon.

However, last year the engineers were working in my building and inserting Community Fibre cables, I saw them cabling outside my floor and the cables had Community Fibre printed on them.

I don't have any other FTTP provider. But I do know from watching youtube videos of residential properties that had either Openreach FTTP along with either Community Fibre/Hyperoptic. There were separate ONT sockets for both of these FTTP providers on the walls.

Keep in mind that when you migrate from Zen (Openreach FTTP) you must separately cancel that before signing up to Community Fibre or any other Altnet provider that run their own cable. This applies for FTTC too, this will need to be cancelled separately when switching to an Altnet. Smooth migration is only possible on an existing Openreach FTTP network.

In reply to a post by BLaZiNgSPEED:

Keep in mind that when you migrate from Zen (Openreach FTTP) you must separately cancel that before signing up to Community Fibre or any other Altnet provider that run their own cable.

I would say: separately cancel your Openreach-based FTTP *after* your Community Fibre or Altnet FTTP is installed and working. Otherwise, if there's any problem with the installation, you will be without service!

There is a new cross-provider migration processing under development, which will make this happen seamlessly, but it won't be live until April 2023:
https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2021/09/ofcom-...

ah man, I had the fttp cable terminated in my loft comms room, so ill need to get community fibre to do the same, this wont be fun or easy - was hoping they could re-use the OR cable.

Definitely that's the right advice!
I'll certainly be doing that myself. Should Community Fibre go live, I'll first order and see how things are before cancelling TalkTalk.

I've heard instances where the service was showing as live and when a customer ordered they were then told the cabling works weren't fully complete.

I also had this experience myself last year in December, it initially showed that the service was available and I even received an email from one of the guys from Community Fibre saying it went live and to try and offer me a deal.

I said at that time that I was in a middle of the contract with TalkTalk due to end in February. Luckily for me, the service reverted back to "Coming Soon" only a few days later! I'm glad I didn't order, because if I did and the service didn't go live that would've been frustrating.

But yes, I was surprised when it was showing live because I didn't see any road works or any activity in my building at that time.

This time I'd have to keep an eye on this again! Also another thing to bear in mind that the lower tier packages of Community Fibre supply a Linksys Dual and Tri-Band router that only has 2 Gigabit Ethernet Ports.

Currently only the 1Gbps and 3Gbps package supply a router with 4 Gigabit Ethernet ports namely the Linksys WiFi 6 and Zyxel WiFi 6.

In reply to a post by BLaZiNgSPEED:

another thing to bear in mind that the lower tier packages of Community Fibre supply a Linksys Dual and Tri-Band router that only has 2 Gigabit Ethernet Ports.

You can always connect a gigabit switch of your own. Something like Netgear GS110TP is very nice (SNMP, web and CLI management; PoE output on all ports) - although that's an old model, and some of the newer Netgear "smart" switches have dropped the CLI completely.

At the other extreme, you can pick up a 5-port unmanaged gigabit switch for less than £10.

Either way, having only 2 gigabit ports shouldn't be a major problem.