Thinking of moving to Zen FTTP, can I use my own router?

Hi All,
Im currently with a fixed wireless provider and use my own TPLink Archer C2 as my router. The WAN side is connected to the wireless modem on our roof.

As we now have FTTP in the village I am looking at moving to Zen's 100M FTTP service, I notice they provide a router but is it possible to just re-use the existing one we have and not lose all our DHCP settings etc...??

Not exactly a deal-breaker but we have a decent setup at the moment and will take some time to transfer it over............and maybe we cant do the same things with the Zen provided one?

Cheers all

Yes, using your own router will be fine, you'll obviously need your Zen username and password for the PPPoE connection (which is readily available to you in the Zen online portal). You may also need the VLAN ID number which I believe is 101.

Thats great, I was holding out for Sky to be bringing out FTTP but its looking like it is delayed...............and by the comments on here I may regret that move anyways.

100M for only £10 more than I currently pay for 20M is pretty decent especially out in the sticks where we live!

Now I just need to take the plunge and see if they will run the fibre connection to somewhere convenient.

THANKS!!!

Sky are already selling FTTP, it’s just not available to order online. You need to call them on 0333 759 4255 to place the order and they only sell 2 tiers currently - 80/20 and 160/30. The latter is £40/m iirc.

Btw you can get 160/30 with BT for only £34.99/m:
https://www.bt.com/campaign/full-fibre

Edited by deleted (Tue 11-Aug-20 22:20:38)

In reply to a post by flilot:

Yes, using your own router will be fine, you'll obviously need your Zen username and password for the PPPoE connection (which is readily available to you in the Zen online portal). You may also need the VLAN ID number which I believe is 101.

No VLAN required for Openreach FTTP

Already tried with them, the best they can offer is FTTC type connection which guarantees 7MB.............which it wont

Our village is direct to the exchange over approx 5 miles of cable (hence why they went FTTP I think) so no way will we get that speed.

It was worth a go though, however I used to be a Zen customer a long time ago (~14y) and had no bother at all during that time and atleast three other households are using Zen in the village now (on FTTP) and only say good things about the service etc...

you can get BT FTTP 160 / 30 ( fibre 100 they call it ) for 29.99

https://www.bt.com/broadband/bristol

Just looked at BTs page: https://www.bt.com/broadband/full-fibre

Its listed as £39.99pm with 24 month contract? Tied into BT (having been free of them for years) for 2 years doesnt sound great to me, they also seemed to suggest I needed to have a phone line before even getting listed on the line checker!?

For some reason our premises is no longer listed when you place our postcode into the checker, it was ~3 years ago so god knows what the deal is there, we havent had a BT phone account since we moved in ~5 years ago, we use SIPGate.

It's £29.99 if you follow the specific link that was posted.

https://www.bt.com/broadband/bristol

Despite it being a link obviously targeted at Bristol residents it will take an order from anywhere.

Edited by j0hn83 (Wed 12-Aug-20 21:51:36)

You need to order via Dean83's link >>here<<, in order to get the discounted price of £29.99/m for 160/30 (Full Fibre 100). Being tied to 24 months contract is not unusual in exchange for discounted prices. Otherwise expect to pay significantly more for a shorter contract elsewhere.

edit: beaten to it by john83

Edited by deleted (Wed 12-Aug-20 22:01:42)

In reply to a post by Highland76:

Being tied to 24 months contract is not unusual in exchange for discounted prices. Otherwise expect to pay significantly more for a shorter contract elsewhere.

I totally agree, we are happy being stuck with BT for 24 Months at the locked price we are paying.

Paul

In reply to a post by mrvanx:

For some reason our premises is no longer listed when you place our postcode into the checker, it was ~3 years ago so god knows what the deal is there, we havent had a BT phone account since we moved in ~5 years ago, we use SIPGate.

Entering postcodes into BT checkers no longer provides FTTC or FTTP information. The BT Wholesale version says so.

Using the Address option and inputting just the postcode into that provides a drop down list of all the premises in that postcode, so you can select one/each to see the estimates for it.

So now it looks like I will be ordering next week, Im now thinking of where the equipment needs to be installed etc...

Im not hugely familiar with FTTP and the required outlets etc.... Anyone got any photos of the equipment OR will install inside/outside our property? I have a colleage at work who is with UFO in York and he mentioned the box he has in his house is almost A4 sized?!?!

Cheers,

Grey box on an outside wall where outdoor fibre terminates, down near ground level

Indoors a small ONT approx 9cm x 9cm which needs power and an Ethernet cable then runs to whatever router your ISP supplies and of course needs power

In reply to a post by mrvanx:

Im not hugely familiar with FTTP and the required outlets etc.... Anyone got any photos of the equipment OR will install inside/outside our property?

The current model of the inside box, known as Optical Network Termination (ONT) is tiny, see this posting:
https://forums.thinkbroadband.com/fibre/t/4659842-re...

There's a post of the old 4-port one later in that thread. My installation, done just over a year ago, had one which was in between: single data port, with voice port which is not used.

Others have previously posted pictures of what goes on the outside - the Customer Splice Point (CSP). Basically it's a small plastic box where the fibre is coiled up and joined. I didn't get one; at that time they were using pre-connectorised cables, where the whole cable goes in one piece from outside to in.