In reply to a post by j0hn83:

That's assuming there's an existing splitter with sufficient capacity for his entire DP and only a CBT needs built. From the sounds of the existing builds around the OP that sounds unlikely.

That £1,625 becomes £2,650 if they need to build a new splitter as part of the FTTPoD build which is more than likely. So possibly an extra £1,025 (+vat?)

Assumptions are there's a splitter feeding the next door estate and capacity to continue into the rest of my estate come the time. But I really have no idea. I'd take a punt and maybe if its £1625... But an extra grand, not for me.

In reply to a post by Woolwich:

Assumptions are there's a splitter feeding the next door estate and capacity to continue into the rest of my estate come the time. But I really have no idea. I'd take a punt and maybe if its £1625... But an extra grand, not for me.

The estate next door will have lots of splitters. Each splitter serves up to 30 properties.

You need to hope that any splitter that would be planned to serve your property (and every property on your DP) has enough capacity for your CBT (usually an 8 or 12 port).

I think on a modern new build estate that is probably unlikely.

Only £250+vat will tell you for sure, and not till the trial starts.

Edited by j0hn83 (Wed 10-Nov-21 20:46:29)

The Starlink prices all include VAT @ 20%

In reply to a post by j0hn83:

Only £250+vat will tell you for sure, and not till the trial starts.

I'd check with Cerberus for example that they are indeed taking part in the trial, as they provide through BTW rather than direct using Openreach.

They ought to...but one would want to be certain before parting with the deposit (sorry 'survey fee')

I think it's unclear what is meant by "a new splitter build is required".

Case 1: the property is within the footprint of an existing splitter, but there are insufficient ports. In this case it's only necessary to add another splitter into the existing housing, and splice it back onto a fibre path to a new OLT port in the exchange, using a spare fibre from existing cables.

Case 2: the property is planned within the footprint of a splitter that doesn't exist yet. It's therefore necessary to install a whole new splitter assembly in a different chamber, and pull a new cable between that chamber and the fibre aggregation node.

I'm hopeful that case 1 is no extra charge and case 2 is the additional £1025. But it might be that case 1 is +£1025 and case 2 falls back to bespoke FTTPoD pricing.

Of course, the total distance of cables to be pulled, from splitter to CBT and if necessary from splitter to aggregation node, needs to be under 500m in any case.

My take is that "where a new splitter build is required" actually means a new Prysmian assembly/enclosure, with primary/secondary splitter trays fitted and spliced up to the AgNade feed and tertiary trays etc as needed to splice up the CBT feed.

As opposed to "where a splitter exists" basically just splice up the cores going to the new CBT. No new hardware at the splitter.

Otherwise jeez £1,025 is a hell of a markup for £25 worth of Prysmian/Commscope passive 32-way PLC splitter... even for BT Group.

But who knows...any Openreach folk here willing to risk opprobrium?

It isn't even reliable when it comes to telling you about current FTTC status !

At the moment it claims that "80Mb high speed" Internet is coming to our area soon. We've had FTTC since 2014...

In reply to a post by j0hn83:

In reply to a post by Woolwich:

Assumptions are there's a splitter feeding the next door estate and capacity to continue into the rest of my estate come the time. But I really have no idea. I'd take a punt and maybe if its £1625... But an extra grand, not for me.

The estate next door will have lots of splitters. Each splitter serves up to 30 properties.

Depends on the 'splitter' - are we talking the basic building block 32-way SASA optical splitter that snaps into splice tray (e.g. for one PON 32-way, up to 30 premises in OR GPON builds) fitting neatly inside an outdoor splitter enclosure.

Are we talking about a splitter node, which for an OR 'medium' splitter node contains a 2 x SASA splitters (primary & secondary) so feeding 2 PON's i.e. 60 connections.

The 'large' OR splitter nodes I believe have 4 x SASA splitters inside so 4 PONS or 120 end user connection from each node.

In reply to a post by Pheasant:

The Starlink prices all include VAT @ 20%

Moving on from the fag packet, here's my beer mat calculations. As we're down the pub it's cash only so no VAT.

The first year of Starlink comes to £1300 with an ongoing £74 for a (maybe?) 120/20 service. Over three years that's the equivalent of £85 per month.

FTTPoD (CBT only) is £2345 ongoing at £40 for a 115/20 service = £92 a month over 36 months.
FTTPoD with a new splitter is £3370 then at £40 a month = £120 over 36 months

So why get Starlink if FTTPoD is only a tenner or so more per month over three years? But add a splitter and Starlink is the better way to go.

But the point of FTTP for me is upload so I'd want to move to a 1000/115 service as soon as. That takes the price right up. If I need a splitter, over three years its the equivalent of £173 a month for what would cost £60 (or £54 from Zen) if OR were to finish building my estate.

You might want to consider some of the other pros and cons. For example FoD can take literally ages to get built. We waited almost 12 months, candlerb waited I think about 18 months. Cost is all up front, so unlike say a leased line - all your capex is out the gate and then…you wait. Perhaps we’re extreme outliers, but factor that into your thinking.

Starlink not without its drawbacks either. It’s a new service. Outages are not unheard of and somewhat unpredictable in nature and duration. The scaling of Starlink especially as it extends from what is essentially a rural connectivity solution in Beta to mass market is yet to be seen.

Edited by Pheasant (Thu 11-Nov-21 09:13:52)