Technically if it's available at your exchange and you're on an FTTC enabled cab you should be able to order FTTPoD, however the install cost has 3 elements to it. Setup, distance based charge and excess construction charges. The further away you are the higher the distance based charge and anyone that can't get FTTC because of distance almost certainly fits in the "quote available on request" category and there's also an increased risk of excess construction charges being needed (new ducts, road closures, new poles etc.).

In the trial we weren't able to find any of our customers on lines that fell into this category but did have a couple that were sub 15Mbps on FTTC. Had we been paying (original trial lines were free) one of them would've cost over £16k and the other around £2k I think.

In reply to a post by ian72:

My understanding is that people only get an offer of FTTPoD if they already get offered FTTC via the checker - if the checker says FTTC is not available for the line then I don't think you can order FTTPoD - but I have no way to confirm that so may be wrong.

I was made aware of the FTTPoD product by an employee of Openreach who was involved in the FTTC roll-out in Northern Ireland. He was asked if there were any plans to rationalise the distribution of cabinets in order to make FTTC available to more potential customers, and he said no - my only options were moving house, satellite, or FTTPoD when it became available. It's not an official word, but at the minute it's my only hope (I don't think I could tolerate satellite broadband, and I won't be leaving this house unless it's in a wooden box )

In reply to a post by DaveTomlinson:

Technically if it's available at your exchange and you're on an FTTC enabled cab you should be able to order FTTPoD, however the install cost has 3 elements to it. Setup, distance based charge and excess construction charges.

Thanks for this information. 16k would be steep, but I'd see it as future proofing my own property, and an investment in my work, and my kids education. Hopefully it won't amount to that much though!

Setup (AFAIR) is a fixed fee, so I'm not too worried about that.

The distance based charge is based on radial distance from the aggregation node, IIRC. I don't know where the aggregation node is specifically, but if it's beside the cabinet, then I estimate it being about 2.5km away (as is common with rural telephone lines, my line runs slightly in the wrong direction before taking a turn up my road). If it was from the exchange it would be even better as the exchange is closer radial distance wise! When the FTTC roll-out was taking place, the contracted engineers did a lot of work at the end of my road, as the fibre seemed to have a junction there - this could possibly be an aggregation node (in my hopeful mind). Out of interest, does anyone know if there's a way to locate aggregation nodes?

With regard to excess construction charges, I'm hopeful on that front as well. I've talked to employees of KN Network Services, who do most (if not all) of the FTT* work for Openreach/BT in Northern Ireland. They kindly informed me that there are fibre connections running right past my house between two towns as part of a schools hookup program. While I'm not na�ve enough to think they can just "tap" off that fibre, it gives me confidence that they have ducting all along my road. I'm also confident that I know the precise location where my own telephone line surfaces from it's underground travels and snakes up the poles for the last 20-30 metres to the house. This gives me further hope that FTTPoD for me is a case of blowing extra fibre along existing ducting and performing the work required at each end.

There's a lot of assumptions in there, but hopefully I'm not just a dreamer. I'm also an electrical engineer who now works in software, so I've got reasonable expectations and an understanding of how the technology works, and the practicalities of it. The biggest unknown for me is probably the business decisions that go into it.

In the meantime, I'm going to keep setting aside money each month into my savings pot marked "FTTPoD Fund". Don't tell the wife

Cheers,

Maurice

For me it's not even the install that's the issue. It's the 36 month contract and retail propositions around the 100GBP/month mark that are the not so hot parts.

An awful lot can happen in 36 months, I take a moment of pause signing up for 12 or 18 months, let alone a full 3 years.

If the contract were less prolonged and the products available better reflected the full GEA-FTTP product set it would be a different matter.

your post says a lot, a person who is internet affluent and spends more than the average joe bloggs on connectivity stating the FTTPoD terms are an issue. Doesnt bode well.

BTW Dave, I'm currently with BT Broadband, but I had been keen to move to PlusNet when FTTPoD became an option. My employer's ISP is PlusNet and I've been really impressed with the service, so I've been wanting to jump ship, just not yet as I didn't want to tie myself into another regular ADSL contract.

Are there any communication channels I can subscribe to with PlusNet to find out more about FTTPoD products and availability in the meantime. Or to get involved in future trials of such products?

In reply to a post by Chrysalis:

your post says a lot, a person who is internet affluent and spends more than the average joe bloggs on connectivity stating the FTTPoD terms are an issue. Doesnt bode well.

Yep, the big problem is that the costs are a lot for most home users. Not so bad for businesses, but I think the lack of SLAs compared to leased lines make them less appealing to people whose income depends upon their connectivity.

In reply to a post by Ignitionnet:

If the contract were less prolonged and the products available better reflected the full GEA-FTTP product set it would be a different matter.

I'm not competent to comment on whether the charges reflect the actual costs, but a common inference in this sort of situation is that the company is under pressure from someone¹ to make the product available, but they don't really want to� then in due course they can claim "Look, there's no demand for it"


¹ Ofcom? it would make a change.

Get a quote from BTO how much in total inc VAT for FTTPoD and get a quote from Virgin Media how much in total inc VAT for Cable Broadband Stand Alone.

I bet Virgin Media come out the cheaper one than BTO.

In reply to a post by adslmax:

I bet Virgin Media come out the cheaper one than BTO.

It certainly would in my case, Virgin cable is already available at the end of my front garden if I want it!