Giffgaff FTTP. (looking for information on experiences)

I've been considering getting Giffgaff FTTP on monthly rolling which can give me a way out whenever wholesale comes around (if it does). I originally thought that I wouldn't be able to access Giffgaff as I am in a Mustang area but it allows me order it and says the installation method which is from underground like my old Coax use to do. Knowing this has appeared I have been wanting to move from BT Openreach 900mbps. Located in the North West UK, I'd likely move to Manchester before going to London for game servers. I am getting 8-9ms to London via BT and with an Olilo L2TP it adds a little bit of ping consistency and 1ms lower in game ping while keeping that 8-9ms to London with ping tests. My main concern is the stability of the ping inherently FTTP will be better than my old Coax experience of VMO2 but the same core exists. I can only get VMO2 GIG2 to be FTTP or I get GiffGaff on monthly and still gain access to it.

My current routing is from Birmingham at around 5.5-5.8ms seen with Speed tests to BT Birmingham allowing me to test this before hitting London at a consistent 8-9ms to London BT and accessing the wider internet.

My old Coax/Docsis from VMO2 went to Manchester at around 8ms but in game I would be 20-28ms upon reaching London.

I am wondering if people have had positive experiences using Giffgaff/VMO2 since their roll out of XGS PON in the North and how their experiences have been. Mainly being the ping consistency I don't mind a 1-2ms increase if its stable and then can move over to a different ISP if needed. This is mainly for 2 separate internet connections to the house as well. I don't want to have to go around getting 2 Openreach connections if it can be avoided and this is the only other network available in my area and I am in a limbo state with Netomnia after being in planning since 2022/23 and it moved to "its built - temporality on hold" within the past 2-3 weeks and Freedom Fibre cancelled since their merger.

There’s a long running thread 🧵 over at ISPR on it. Worth a read through…

https://www.ispreview.co.uk/talk/threads/virgin-medi...

If it's on monthly rolling, there's hardly any risk is there?

In any case, if you want redundancy from two separate fibre networks, it's a no-brainer. You can choose whichever works best for gaming as your primary, and the other as your secondary.

Therefore, I think the easiest way to answer your questions is to order it and try it out.

Project Mustang is in our area and is the only FTTP option other than Openreach. No altnet will want to overbuild a residential area where VM first offered cable modem service back in the NTL days, (what is now) Openreach FTTC became available twelve years ago, and Openreach FTTP became available earlier this year.

Unfortunately, our active Virgin Media HFC service means that the Giffgaff checker says, "We've checked your address, and sadly, we can't do your broadband just yet. We're expanding, so hopefully, we'll be able to help you out soon." Neighbours without active VM service can order Giffgaff FTTP today. Sadly, there seems to be no real movement on VM/Giffgaff allowing FTTP installs or upgrades to FTTP at premises with active HFC service.

At the moment, we have 250 Broadband from VM (Hub 3 in modem mode) as well as a TV package that we use and a digital phone service that we do not use (a long time ago, it was our fax line, but the only reason we still have it is that VM would not let us cancel it). We are currently out of a minimum contract period with VM, so they're charging stupid money.

Our primary broadband is Zen over Openreach FTTP, so the VM HFC connection is used for the VM TV boxes as well as a failover broadband connection.

I suspect our best way ahead is to find an alternative TV service (Sky Stream or, perhaps, Vodafone TV when that launches - I have a Vodafone mobile contract). If I move to an alternative TV service, I would then be free to cancel VM and order Giffgaff FTTP in its place, though I would prefer to get Giffgaff FTTP working before cancelling VM.

Does VM/Giffgaff FTTP use Openreach PIA in Project Mustang areas, or do they tend to dig from the ductwork used by HFC? Our HFC was flexi-ducted across an area that is now thoroughly buried, but Openreach installed Duct 56 to install our FTTP service.

In reply to a post by David_W2:

Does VM/Giffgaff FTTP use Openreach PIA in Project Mustang areas, or do they tend to dig from the ductwork used by HFC? Our HFC was flexi-ducted across an area that is now thoroughly buried, but Openreach installed Duct 56 to install our FTTP service.

I've just finished sorting GiffGaff in a Mustang area for a relative. It was a VMO2 install crew, they used the ducts installed for HFC.

In that case they've never had VMO2 so it was a run under the garden from the Toby installed back in the 1990s to the house and then the other way to the new VMO2 fibre cabinet.

Using PIA would add extra costs to them in rental terms. That said I did notice at least one new Mustang Fibre Cabinet around here that appeared to have had ducts installed to an Openreach chamber, but I think that may have been to enable them to reach some extra houses via the Openreach poles.