CFP ISP query

Hi,

We are currently drumming up support for a CFP and have around 60 interested households. We have received the initial estimate from Openreach and have sufficient interest so long as the final quote doesn't increase by more than 30% or so. My concern is that at least three of the households have contracts of around 24 months with ISPs who don't appear to offer FTTP. They are Plusnet, John Lewis and The Post Office.

I understand that if a household has a contract with say BT or Sky, the ISP is usually happy to move that contract over to FTTP without a penalty. What are the possibilities for households connected via non-FTTP ISPs? Will they have to take the hit, or are ISPs likely to show any flexibility& terminate contracts early?

Thanks,

Peter

I have seen a few posts on the Plusnet forums where contract termination fees have been waived for users moving to BT retail FTTP which as BT own Plusnet and presumably John Lewis which is run by Plusnet seems to make sense.

Those people with 24-month contracts have only just renewed?

Given that you don't have even your final quote, I think it's likely that you're not going live for at least 6 months, maybe 12.

Then I guess the issue is really down to vouchers, and how long after going live the voucher participants must take FTTP service. I haven't been in a CFP myself, but I thought I had read somewhere that they have 12 months to do this (can someone confirm or refute this?)

Put all those factors together, and you're not too far off the 24 months.

Of course, anyone who's participating in the CFP voucher scheme and is renewing between now and go-live would be better off switching to a provider with a 12-month contract, and/or who can upgrade them to FTTP in-contract, and/or who don't have end-of-contract price rises (like Zen or Aquiss)

BTW, Post Office broadband may be the problematic one because they recently sold their customer base to Shell Energy. I don't know who provides the underlying network, but I suspect Shell Energy have no interest in releasing contracted customers to BT or any other retail provider. Shell Energy do have "Ultrafast" products, but AFAICS they are G.Fast only.

Update: I read here that BT or EE will buy out contracts with less than 5 months remaining. And on the next page, that Plusnet might be launching FTTP in the summer.

Do Plusnet still offer static IP?

AFAIK Yes, one off £5 (but they were/are in short supply and were happy when I gave mine up a while back)

Worth considering for the future then. Thanks.

Thanks Candler,

This is what i've been saying to our CFP Participants (we've just added more people to our CFP - now around 200+ Strong), with some residents on either PlusNet or white label BT services.

It's also likely your CFP build will also take around 8-12 months at the earliest, so plenty of time in the meanwhile for Plusnet and others to get their act together.