In reply to a post by thash1zn1t:

Is there any realistic way of ascertaining where the aggregation node is apart form asking the surveyor if and when he turns up?

No. And even if you did know, it doesn't necessarily give you much indication of the cost - there could be other special engineering difficulties in connecting you.

The fact that you're only getting 15Mbps on FTTC suggests that the cable path between you and your cabinet is much longer than you think it is (probably over 2km), unless there is a gross fault somewhere. Compare with what the BT wholesale broadband checker says.

However, your FTTPoD desktop quote is relatively low, which is good news. Of course it's possible that it's in error, or that OpenReach have been tuning the process to give more accurate initial quotes.

If as you say you are "desperate" to improve your speeds, and assuming you would be happy to pay a final price of £4K-£6K+VAT, then you'll have to gamble the £250+VAT to find out. The gamble is partly that the price ends up being higher than you're willing to pay, and partly that native FTTP turns up in your area in a year or two anyway.

If i pay for the real quote does that tie me into any firm commitments for the order and can you cancel if its too expensive?

Upon paying the £250+VAT you are technically placing an order, but you are not committed. Once you receive the confirmed quote you have 30 days to make up your mind. If you do not proceed then the order automatically cancels, but you lose your £250+VAT.

Also do you have to pay the full quote amount up front before the work starts?

Yes, minus any voucher support you're eligible for (which will be collected on your behalf by the provider once installation is complete). Also, the £250+VAT you've paid will already have been deducted from the quote.

If you are eligible for a voucher, do apply for it at the same time as you place your initial survey order. This uses the time effectively while you're waiting for the survey to take place.

BTW, are you *sure* you're on FTTC and not ADSL?

Does your router/modem provide any line stats that you can share?

Many thanks for answering my questions. I am going to go for it as it will kill me to not know! Here is my connection stats.

Connection Type: Fibre Broadband (VDSL)
Downstream Sync Speed: 22.09 Mbs
Upstream Sync Speed: 2.40 Mbs

Was also wondering about the gigabit voucher scheme. i have put my postcode into the checker but it say there are no providers in my area on the voucher scheme. Cerberus is listed as being on the scheme. Is there any evidence that home users in rural areas have managed to get a discount using this scheme?

I also didnt pick a router when requesting the service and they are asking which router i want? Are there any obvious gotchas in choosing a router for FTTPod?

Thanks again

In reply to a post by thash1zn1t:

Many thanks for answering my questions. I am going to go for it as it will kill me to not know! Here is my connection stats.

Connection Type: Fibre Broadband (VDSL)
Downstream Sync Speed: 22.09 Mbs
Upstream Sync Speed: 2.40 Mbs

I'm just over 400m line-of-sight from cabinet, I estimate 900m cable distance, and I get typically 30M down, 4.5M up. It varies around the year. Not that I watch it very carefully these days, having FTTPoD as well

Was also wondering about the gigabit voucher scheme. i have put my postcode into the checker but it say there are no providers in my area on the voucher scheme. Cerberus is listed as being on the scheme. Is there any evidence that home users in rural areas have managed to get a discount using this scheme?

Cerberus are best placed to advise you. They'll be able to tell you exactly what vouchers are available and the eligibility criteria.

I also didnt pick a router when requesting the service and they are asking which router i want? Are there any obvious gotchas in choosing a router for FTTPod?

Not especially. It needs an ethernet WAN port to do PPPoE, and it needs sufficient throughput to handle the speed - which will be 330/30 initially on FTTPoD, but could be up to gigabit if you upgrade the service after a year. If you describe your existing router then it may be usable.

To be honest, if you're spending that much money on an FTTPoD service, you should spend another £150-£200 to treat yourself to a top-of-the-line router and/or wireless access points.

What router(s) are Cerberus offering you, and at what price? There are others on this forum who can advise you if those are a good choice, but you can always just buy your own - unless these days Cerberus are providing a managed router as part of the service.

When I took FTTPoD, they didn't even ask me if I wanted them to provide a router.

You don't get a router with FTTPoD from Cerberus.

Thanks again for the information, I rang Cerberus today to ask about the Gigabit voucher but its only available to home users if two or more do a joint order.

I don't need a router as i already have one. I thought you needed to buy some kind of termination device/router for the fibre but they supply an ONT or something so i just need to have a router with ethernet for the service.

I am going to put the order in tomorrow and wait and see what costs they come back with. i will update you as and when that happens.

Thanks

Hardly utter nonsense, Yes ping increases as distance increases But server distance is far less of an issue than what's between the two points, [censored] routes with lots of switches are more detrimental than pure distance.

You don't have to break the laws of Physics to improve ping times, over distance, you need better routing with less bottlenecks.
Anyone who's been around a while and that's interested in tracerts to their preferred destinations will have seen the number of hops traffic takes has increased over the years, and while yes equipment has also got faster its detrimental to timing

Yup, about what?10ms round trip. Through fibre .

You pretty much argued both sides of this, saying transmission is limited by the laws of physics (which it is) and then explaining how badly poor routing through excessive hops impacts ping.

Sure having an FTTP connection isnt by any means a guarantee of low ping, but it's bit off to blame latency on the speed of light and distance, when its the routing hardware that causes the biggest delay.

Still, for most this kind of stuff makes no difference, so long as cats chasing laser pens on youtube doesn't buffer they think they have a 'great' connection.

I'm not accusing you of being one of those people, more the advertising pushed by the industry that max theoretical throughput is all that matters.

I need some advice on selecting a FTTPoD supplier. I currently have FTTC with speeds of 25Mbps down and 2Mbps up and would be eligible for the rural gigabit voucher scheme from the government and local council for £4k total.

I have had a desktop survey quote of £12,000 and the phone line passes three other properties who are also interested in FTTP but are querying the £100+vat charge a month for fibre 300/30 that Cerberus are quoting. I realise the initial contract is 12 months, so would be able to swap to a cheaper package after that.

Are there other packages available through Cerberus or perhaps BT?

Any advice would be very helpful before I request the field survey.