Switching to Hey!Broadband - got a few questions

Hi all,

So in the beginning of January, I will be switching from Sky's 400/200 package to Hey's 900/900 package (double the speed for almost half the price !!!) but had a few questions

1) What is involved (in terms of the installation) in such a switch ? i.e going from one fibre FTTP to another one. We currently have fibre cable going from the phone pole, through a grey box on the outside wall and then into the house and into a white ONT(?) which then has an RJ45 cable going to a very locked down Sky provided router.

2) Inside the house,we have disabled WiFi (on the Sky router) and instead use a Tenda Nova MW12 MESH system [ https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tenda-Tri-band-Coverage-Replacement-Exclusive/dp/B08B3BBGJH ] to provide WiFi throughout the house. I am assuming this is going to able to make full use of the, near, gigabit speeds ?

3) What equipment to do you get with Hey! ? I have read some posts on here suggesting their kit is very locked down but the sales guy (at Hey!) said it wasn't

TIA for any help

In reply to a post by AdamBrunt:

1) What is involved (in terms of the installation) in such a switch ? i.e going from one fibre FTTP to another one. We currently have fibre cable going from the phone pole, through a grey box on the outside wall and then into the house and into a white ONT(?) which then has an RJ45 cable going to a very locked down Sky provided router.

You'll get a new fibre cable (most likely from the same phone pole), a new hole in your wall, and a new ONT. This can sit beside the Openreach one or elsewhere, depending on what you agree with the installer. You can power off the Openreach one once you've moved across, but don't remove it.

As for specifics about the Tenda and Hey! equipment, someone else will have to answer. But in general, very few wifi setups are able to make use of anything close to a gigabit; you'll get that from directly-wired clients.

With 802.11ac, I'd say you should expect 400Mbps best-case - i.e. network is not being used by anyone else, and you're within a few meters of the access point.

It'll be a new fibre drop from the pole most likely, through a hole in the wall, and into an termination box. From that, if you don't intervene, it'll go into a very locked down, and apparently poor performing router.

If you ask for "bridge mode" in advance of the install, they'll install an ONT instead, and you can use your own router.

Thanks both.

By "in advance" do you before the the engineer turns up ? Or can you ask on the day itself?

I requested it at time of ordering. If you wait until the engineers turn up, they may or may not have an ONT in their van.

Thanks, I'll give them a call in a couple of days ( the install is on the 4th ) to confirm I want 'bridge mode'.

Is there a username/password you need when connecting to the ONT ? Or should you just be able to connect any router's WAN port to the ONT and that's it ?

I must admit, it will be good to be able to get back to be able to use Pi-hole again LOL

You'll need the PPPoE username and password, which the installers should give you. They, at least in my case, hung around until you're connected and want to take a photo of a speed test result.

Thanks again.

The person I spoke to on Hey's live chat has added a note to the order about it being "bridge mode" install

Now I just need to make sure my old TP-Link Archer C7 AC1750 router - which I was using before I switched to Sky Fibre - can handle a gigabit Fibre connection but it looks like it can

Also do you use their Plume pods (seems to be their version of a MESH) for the extra £7pm ? If so, are they any good / worth it compared to a 3rd party MESH ?

Edited by AdamBrunt (Wed 28-Dec-22 16:28:48)

In reply to a post by AndyPandy:

You'll need the PPPoE username and password, which the installers should give you. They, at least in my case, hung around until you're connected and want to take a photo of a speed test result.

So the installer has just arrived

He had no mention, on his notes, about the install being a "bridge mode" install - but is happy to do it anyway.

Certainly sounds like it won't be as painful/long as the Sky/Openreach install. He claims he'll be 30 minutes doing the outside run (didn't give a time for the inside bit).

However, he knew nothing about a PPOE username & password; he said "with bridge mode I just get the cable to the ONT inside the house" but he did go on to say I can try to help you get connected as well as confirming Hey's router is awful compared to Linksys, etc

In reply to a post by AdamBrunt:

In reply to a post by AndyPandy:

You'll need the PPPoE username and password, which the installers should give you. They, at least in my case, hung around until you're connected and want to take a photo of a speed test result.

So the installer has just arrived

He had no mention, on his notes, about the install being a "bridge mode" install - but is happy to do it anyway.

Certainly sounds like it won't be as painful/long as the Sky/Openreach install. He claims he'll be 30 minutes doing the outside run (didn't give a time for the inside bit).

However, he knew nothing about a PPOE username & password; he said "with bridge mode I just get the cable to the ONT inside the house" but he did go on to say I can try to help you get connected as well as confirming Hey's router is awful compared to Linksys, etc

I had 2 guys install mine. One was outside up the pole, and the other was inside drilling through the wall. They were gone within an hour easily.

They/He should show you the service working before they leave. In my case they had the PPPoE details on a tablet they used to activate the service.

Good luck!