Just for the record, there are some people in the local government structure who do understand what is going on. The Northumberland County Councillor for the Rothbury ward (Cllr. Steven Bridgett - Ind) has been very proactive on behalf of his electors and has managed to get a condition put into the planning applications since Storm Arwen (which left parts of his ward outside any sort of communication systems for weeks rather than days) that any new mobile phone mast in his ward must have independent power available for at least 7 and up to 16 days.

It would be really good if similar conditions could be applied to both future and existing masts elsewhere in the country.

Perhaps the mods could split this diversion from the original discussion to another topic under a relevant board?

Probably best - as its nothing really to do with the OP's original question - although a vital topic in its own right.

Am i right in thinking once a stop sell is placed, its basically 12 month notice and after the 12 month no new services/upgrades over copper are possible?

See:

https://www.openreach.co.uk/cpportal/products/the-al...

“Summary of UK 5 September 2023 stop sell rules:

— Stop sell applies at a premises level only where that premises has access to an available GEA-FTTP, SOGfast or SOGEA product

— From 5 September 2023:

- WLR and SMPF will not be available for new supply and CP1 to CP2 transfers. Modify orders to manage debt, 999 updates will be accepted
- Where a premises has access to GEA-FTTP, SOGfast, SOGEA, MPF and FTTC (MPF only), no new supply of other products, CP transfers, working line takeovers, addition of broadband to voice lines, bandwidth modify, start of stopped lines or migrations to non-Ultrafast products will be permitted
- MPF and SOTAP will be available for new supply where fibre is not enabled at the premises
- If premises get availability for GEA-FTTP, SOGfast or SOGEA post stop sell, SOTAP will be made unavailable for new supply immediately

— Consideration will also be given to investment policies in the copper network which could include VDSL cabinet capacity and repairs of the copper network”

The problem is Openreach SoGfast is available but many ISPs & wholesales are very lazy and not bother using SoGfast (have to use WLR with line rental included for any Gfast order) but only selling SOGEA for FTTC.

Edited by adslmax (Tue 11-Jul-23 20:35:05)

In reply to a post by adslmax:

The problem is Openreach SoGfast is available but many ISPs & wholesales are very lazy and not bother using SoGfast (have to use WLR with line rental included for any Gfast order) but only selling SOGEA for FTTC.

The only problem is that it limits your choice of G.Fast providers - but then that choice is already very limited, as many have bailed anyway.

Those that remain will have to choose whether to update their systems to support SOGfast, or to bail as well.

Why did they bail? Because G.Fast is a product which proved to be unreliable for many users, and they don't want the headache of dealing with the support and complaints.

I guess that at least BT Retail would continue to sell it, since they're in the same group as Openreach.

In reply to a post by candlerb:

I guess that at least BT Retail would continue to sell it, since they're in the same group as Openreach.

Nope, BT not selling Gfast for SoGfast. Must come with WLR line rental for any Gfast order. £45.99 per month for 12 months with line including for 160/30 or £55.99 per month for 12 months with line including for 330/50.

G.fast 12 months https://i.ibb.co/7gwwxJp/Screenshot-1.png
G.fast 24 months https://i.ibb.co/WDL8FwM/Screenshot.png

Edited by adslmax (Thu 13-Jul-23 11:09:14)

That doesn't necessarily mean it's WLR: it could come with Digital Voice.

Anyway, what's the problem? BT are selling G.Fast, and most likely will continue to sell it beyond September 5th. Whether they've already updated their systems to SOGfast, or still have work to do, is an internal matter for them.

BT famously don't reveal the underlying technology to consumers. For a long while, "Fibre Essentials" was FTTC, even if your property had FTTP available, but "Fibre 1" was FTTP. The only way you could tell the difference was via the predicted speeds.