FTTP Activation Date?

I currently have Plusnet FTTC but have been wanting to move away from them for a while now as we've been having various issues that don't seem to be getting sorted out. Also our street was dug up for FTTP months ago but we are still unable to order FTTP (Vodafone Gigafast) and no one seems to be able to tell us when it might be available.

I know Covid has slowed things down a lot recently but the cables are laid and there has been engineers out to the box doing works but still no one can tell us when we might be able to order. Our current contract with Plusnet is up next month so we are looking around for another ISP to move to. My initial thought was Vodafone Gigafast but recently I've seen Sky do an Ultrafast 145Mb/s down 28Mb/s up for £45/month (including SkyTV) which I believe could be a G.fast service? But I'm unsure of this.

Is there anyone I can contact who might know of impending activation dates as I'd hate to order a service from sky to then find out we could have got Gigafast if we'd waited a little longer.

You haven't said what town you're in, but I expect it's the Cityfibre network you're talking about, on which Vodafone is currently the only residential reseller. It's possible other big resellers like Sky will eventually come on board when the exclusivity period is over.

Sky's Ultrafast is FTTP, but it's on the Openreach network.

Confusingly, Vodafone *have* just started selling some Openreach FTTP, but only in a few very specific areas:
https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2020/08/isp-vo...

Vodafone/Cityfibre are pretty good about getting service live quickly, as they don't get any return on their investment until they do. So if I were you, I'd let Plusnet roll on for a couple of months, even if you're paying an extra £10-£20 per month to do this.

Note that you probably have to give 30 days notice to Plusnet to cease (or pay a 30 day penalty). They might also charge you a cessation fee, since you're not migrating to another Openreach FTTC service - although the forum post I linked to suggests they have stopped doing this.

Be aware of what what happens to your existing phone number. If you tell Vodafone to take over your phone number, then when they do so, this will automatically cease the Plusnet phone and broadband.

If you want, it is possible to have both services in parallel for a while. To do this, get Vodafone to issue you with a new phone number instead of taking over your existing one. Then when you're ready, you can migrate the phone number from Plusnet to a VOIP provider of your choice (e.g. AAISP, Sipgate), which will cease the Plusnet service. It's more of a techy solution as you'll have to provide your own VOIP-compatible phone or ATA, but it makes your phone number completely independent of the broadband service forever more.

Thanks for the reply, I am in Aberdeen (AB16 7NJ)

It wouldn't really matter about our phone number as we rarely ever use the house phone with both myself and my girlfriend having unlimited plan mobiles.

In your case the Sky Ultrafast service will be G.fast based, since that is what is available in the location.

Sky Ultrafast can be G.fast or FTTP based, depending on what is available over the Openreach network.

The Vodafone Gigafast network is live nearby, but your street has been in this state for some time. Only people who will be able to give a date is Vodafone and CityFibre who are building the Gigafast FTTP network in Aberdeen.

Could swap to Vodafone Superfast services now and then upgrade once Gigafast is available, they should have no problem with you upgrading within any minimum term.

Thanks for the reply.

I think I will try and get a date from Vodafone or CityFibre then. If not I might just end up going with Sky's Ultrafast package w/ SkyTV.