FTTP / G.fast Availability Confusion

Hi all. Currently with PlusNet FTTC and not really had a problem, however, working from home along with the missus, plus two teenage daughters means bandwidth can be a bit scarce sometimes

Have been trying to keep an eye on the FTTP/GFast rollout in the neighbourhood (M460SQ) so I can upgrade, but seem to be getting mixed signals?

Email from Openreach says I can get Ultrafast... the Openreach website agrees (speeds up to 1Gbps).
BT broadband checker says I can only get FTTC.
BT Wholesale Checker says Planned for GFast (330/50)
TalkTalk says I can get Fibre500 (but its data only, and I want to keep the phone number)
Guy across road gets Fibre100 installed last Friday.

Can anyone shed some light please? Can I get it FTTP/GFast? If so, what options would I have (presumably restricted?)

I've checked No 1 and No 21 on the BT Wholesale checker there and both say FTTP is planned. Nothing about G.Fast.

That postcode seems to be a single small estate. Is the one across the road that in fact a different postcode?

The actual message in the notes is "FTTP is in Planned status. An order may be placed which will be processed when the network is ready". However that placing of an order means the ISP ordering from them, which doesn't necessarily mean any ISP will accept an order from an end user. They tend not to do so until it moves into the Available table.

The address checker I use. Enter just the postcode and Captcha, which gives a list of all addresses for the postcode where you can select each.

Thanks RobertoS.

It's the same postcode, no. 14. I'm 19 (in a corner cul-de-sac). If it's only planned and can only take orders, how did he get it installed last Friday?

Have you checked with neighbour to find out what ISP they went with? then try the same company yourself.

Is GF still being rolled out? Thought it had all but stopped completely.

In reply to a post by Pheasant:

Is GF still being rolled out? Thought it had all but stopped completely.

Thankfully, yes. It never made a great deal of sense to me. But of course there's still plenty available for the few in range.

https://www.speedtest.net/my-result/i/4534467181

😉

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

https://www.speedtest.net/my-result/i/4534467181

😉

Not a bad service. I guess its deployment served its purpose of holding off the business case for altnet FTTP for a while.

It's great to see Openreach having abandoned it, though. A national 1:32 PON network is an asset worth building - arguably they are building the plant to a higher standard than altnets with XGS-PON on 1:128 splits. Not that I'm worried the altnets will be stuck for bandwidth.

Shame they're only deploying GPON for now with very asymmetric products, but I can see how the economics add up.

What will be interesting is how additional products on the Openreach PON infrastructure develop. Overlay XGS-PON is the obvious one, but I wonder if there'll ever be a time a CP can rent a wavelength on a PON to deliver a point to point circuit.

Presumably you speak to the people at no. 14, else you wouldn't know the product.

As dect says, it may be worth asking them which ISP they went with. You say TakTalk won't let you keep your number, but it could be that's who they went for.

If so, it's worth asking Pulse8broadband. They use TalkTalk Business Wholesale and complaints are very rare. But emphasis the keeping of your number when talking to them. It's possible BT Wholesale just haven't got round to updating that checker, with Covid and people working from home.

AIUI Plusnet don't do FTTP at the moment anyway, so you will need to migrate somewhere.

Another solution to the keeping of your number would be to port it to VOIP. I know very little about the safest process for that, but there are plenty on these forums who do. Anyone with an Openreach circuit will have to do that anyway within a very few years (2025 I think is the cutoff), as Openreach are withdrawing their landline phone service. (Which BT Wholesale and therefore Plusnet use).

(Does a quick search)

TalkTalk do or at least allow VOIP: See this 2018 Community thread. Or I expect you could port to one of the popular specialist VOIP providers and take the the TT data-only fibre service. I suggest you ask for more detailed advice on these forums about that - as I said, I'm not qualified enough on that topic . I do know that SipGate mentioned in that thread is used by many here and has been around for many years.

Edited by RobertoS (Sat 17-Apr-21 22:10:28)

Thanks all for the responses.

Yes, I speak to them, and can confirm they are with BT.

The TalkTalk package seems to be a data only - tbh, I'm not bothered about keeping the landline personally but older family members prefer to ring us on the landline and not our mobiles. :/

It may well be that BT Wholesale haven't updated, so I'll keep checking.

It's a shame that Plusnet gave up on FTTP. I know they did some trials at some point... Aren't they a part of BT anyway?

Regarding FTTP, would I face contention? If so, is this based on the provider - so if I went with a different provider it would depend on how many users are with them, or is it based on the cabinet or whatnot?

Didn't know about the whole Openreach circuit thing either, so the VOIP might be an option. Further investigation required