ONT GP1000G for 2.3Gbps

I cant seem to find a straight answer for this one.

I have a GP1000G ONT.

I can now get 2.3 vs 1.7gpbs so CF have finally upgraded Peterborough to XGS-PON.

But will I need a new ONT? Some people say yes, Some say no.. Zen say no also.

So a bit confused. Looking at the specs of the ONT it seems it wont support XGS-PON??

If CF have a PON which will deliver the service to you, then you can reasonably expect them to swap out the ONT if this is necessary. And if they don't have the right PON, they won't give you the service

GPON and XGS-PON normally use different wavelengths so normally different ONTs for each are required (unless the ONT has dual functionality). When there is GPON and XGS-PON running on the same PON their is normally a wavelength division multiplexer (WDM) to allow both to exist on the same PON.

In reply to a post by Seansmit17:

I cant seem to find a straight answer for this one.

I have a GP1000G ONT.

I can now get 2.3 vs 1.7gpbs so CF have finally upgraded Peterborough to XGS-PON.

But will I need a new ONT? Some people say yes, Some say no.. Zen say no also.

Yes, you will need a new ONT, as that one does only GPON.

Nice summary of Cityfibre ONT models here:
https://support.aa.net.uk/CityFibre_ONT

Jesus..

Maybe I wont bother!

Zen say I got to pay £120 for CF to come and swap the ONT!

Er, No thanks

Dis you ask for a speed upgrade or for a new ONT?

No.

You place an order the speed upgrade. You will probably sign a new 18 or 24 month contract. They will come and do the ONT swap for free, as they cannot provide the new service without the ONT swap, and it's at their expense to do it.

I did find it a little odd..

The woman I spoke to said that since I am already on their top package its not an upgrade so I have to pay?!

Good Afternoon Sean,

Thank you for getting in touch.

The exchange you are routed to has now been upgraded to support XGSPON.

To upgrade your connection there will be an engineer visit required to your home to install the upgraded ONT, with a £120 fee.

Our Product Portfolio Manager has confirmed that there is a £120 charge associated with the second engineer visit beyond the initial activation installation. The first visit was covered by Zen and CityFibre, so no cost was passed on to you. However, any additional visits are chargeable.

That said, if CityFibre assess the order and determine that a home engineer visit is not required, we would, of course, arrange a refund for the charge.

In reply to a post by Seansmit17:

Jesus..

Maybe I wont bother!

Zen say I got to pay £120 for CF to come and swap the ONT!

Er, No thanks

That's the standard answer if they think the customer wants an ONT upgrade.
In my case that's what they told me when I enquired about upgrading to 2.5Gb and mentioned that the ONT would need to be replaced to provide it. But Zen don't know, officially, that the ONT would need replacing until after the order had been placed and City Fibre had reported back to them.
The best approach is not not mention an ONT replacement to Zen. If it's necessary CF will tell them.

In reply to a post by ParksidePeter:

That's the standard answer if they think the customer wants an ONT upgrade.
In my case that's what they told me when I enquired about upgrading to 2.5Gb and mentioned that the ONT would need to be replaced to provide it. But Zen don't know, officially, that the ONT would need replacing until after the order had been placed and City Fibre had reported back to them.
The best approach is not not mention an ONT replacement to Zen. If it's necessary CF will tell them.

^^^ This ^^^

If you ask for an upgrade, they will check their systems to see if they can give you an upgrade and use the associated script. If you ask for a new ONT, they will check their systems to see if they can replace your ONT and use the script for replacing an ONT they assume you have damaged.

If CF have upgraded the PONs then they want to sell you an upgrade and I doubt CF want to have their upgraded PON's not gaining more monthly revenue while everyone is balking at the one off cost

In reply to a post by Seansmit17:

The woman I spoke to said that since I am already on their top package its not an upgrade so I have to pay?!

I don't understand. What package are you on now, and what package are you trying to upgrade to?

Are they currently providing a 2.3G/900M service on GPON? And they consider a 2.3G/2.3G service to be the same thing?

If so, then time to change ISP - or just live with 900M upload.

No,

I am on 1.7/900 as thats the fastest I could get. CF have upgraded the network in my aera to support 2.3. So technically there is no package above mine its just the speed available has changed.

Please see my last post with a reply from zen.

I have told them to downgrade me to 900/900 as I am not paying £55 when they wont give me the full speed now its available.

If I pick a CF-area address and do a Zen availability check, it offers me "Full Fibre Max" with 2300Mbps estimated download, 2300Mbps estimated upload, 1300Mbps min guaranteed download, at £55.

I'm guessing that's what you bought was also "Full Fibre Max", but with slower download and upload speeds.

Downgrading to 900/900 sounds like a reasonable thing to do, as you're not getting very much extra for your £15 per month. Assuming you're out of contract of course.

I am just about 2 months in with Zen.

Well that's the end of that for now.

Zen won't allow a downgrade unless I pay off my contract.

Edited by Seansmit17 (Tue 01-Jul-25 13:11:31)

In reply to a post by Seansmit17:

Well that's the end of that for now.

Zen won't allow a downgrade unless I pay off my contract.

No surprises there, that's the point of a contract. You agree to take service X and pay £Y for a certain amount of time(*), and they agree to provide you with that service.

Given that you were happy when you signed the contract to get the service that you have now, for the price you are paying now, maybe it's just best to roll with it. Alternatively, if you still want to get the faster speed (just because it's available), effectively you'd be paying £5 per month extra for the ONT swap.

(*) Plus any in-contract price rises you agreed to.

New to me.

TalkTalk and VM both let me upgrade or downgrade whenever I wanted. It did mean my 18 or 24 month contract would start again but there was none of this, Pay us for the rest of the contract for a service your then going to pay for again.

That's madness.

Oh you want to upgrade? Well, Pay up the rest of your contract and then you can pay again on the new package. Never come across that with ISP's UNTIL my mother wanted to change some stuff for her EE broadband. They wanted this.

Yes ISPs are always glad to take more of your money when you upgrade when in-contract but I've never heard of an ISP that allows you to downgrade for free when in-contract. Not saying it doesn't happen but not come across it.

Certainly the provider *can* waive their rights under the contract. And it's common to do so if you want to upgrade, i.e. pay them more than you originally agreed.

But I don't think there are many companies which will let you downgrade without penalty, i.e. pay less than you have agreed to pay.

If they accounted for the total contract value at the time of sale (which is common), then letting you downgrade your contract would have to be recorded as a loss.

VM is one that does, or did.

When I moved to my current address back in November 2019 I ordered M200 at £35 per month on a 12 month contract. I changed that to M350 on 25th Feb 2020 for another 12 months. That was then changed to M500 on 30th June 2020 for another 12 months again, But then in November 2020 I downgraded to M100 but this time it was an 18 month contract.

There were some other changes over the years I was with them but the point is they let me downgrade when I asked. So it was kinda the norm for me to be able to do

Before reading your replies.

The G at end of the model number is GPON, and I know thats a GPON ONT anyway as its the one I have.

If you move to a XGS service, you will have a new ONT despite what Zen says.

It seems they are using the same name, "Full Fibre Max", for two different services - one delivered on GPON and one on XGS-PON. Which one you get depends on what the network supports at the time you place your order.

If you're already on "Full Fibre Max", you can't upgrade or recontract to "Full Fibre Max". Even though you may be on "Full Fibre Max (GPON)" and want to upgrade to "Full Fibre Max (XGS-PON)".

They *will* let you move from GPON to XGS-PON, but they charge for the ONT swap.

At least, that's how I read what has been said above.

In reply to a post by candlerb:

It seems they are using the same name, "Full Fibre Max", for two different services - one delivered on GPON and one on XGS-PON. Which one you get depends on what the network supports at the time you place your order.

If you're already on "Full Fibre Max", you can't upgrade or recontract to "Full Fibre Max". Even though you may be on "Full Fibre Max (GPON)" and want to upgrade to "Full Fibre Max (XGS-PON)".

The "they" here being Zen, on the CityFibre side they are two separate products and they have things setup so ISPs can place an order to move from one to the other. The ONT swap would be detected as required and the order would require an appointment, the ISP is not typically charged for the ONT change. This is very similar to on GPON when a customer moved to the 1.6G product but had the old 1GE ONT.

In reply to a post by candlerb:

They *will* let you move from GPON to XGS-PON, but they charge for the ONT swap.

It seems more like Zen have not got their systems setup to enable the change as they have put both as the same product on their side, so there is no journey in their system to move to the faster XGS-PON product on CityFibre.

The charge sounds either like they are looking at forcing an ONT replacement (fault route) or using the ONT move option with CityFibre. Both of which are likely to result in a replacement GP1000G. A move to XGS-PON needs the end user to be moved to the XGS-PON port/OLT as well.

To move to XGS-PON today Zen would need to place an order to move the original poster to the XGS-PON product and that will trigger everything needed, but it sounds like they don't know how to/are not able to do that.

As mentioned earlier on Calix ONTs the G = GPON you need one of the XGS-PON ONTs either a Calix model ending in X or a Nokia ONT as CityFibre use both.

So the question is, if everything is done right does city fiber charge zen for changing the ONT from a GPON to XGS Compatible one...

In reply to a post by Seansmit17:

So the question is, if everything is done right does city fiber charge zen for changing the ONT from a GPON to XGS Compatible one...

Don't focus on the ONT, you want to push them to move you to the symmetric product. Asking about an ONT swap will likely push them to look at the options they have for ONTs not the product change you need.

Zen need to order the symmetric product that will drive the appointment for the ONT swap. Just the same as would have happened if you moved from an old 1GE ONT to the 2.5G ONT on GPON when ordering the product you are now on. I don't know what Zen have in their contract but I'd not expect there to be a charge to Zen for upgrading you including ONT swap.

Long term CityFibre want everyone on their XGS-PON network so they can turn off the GPON kit. Also now Zen wouldn't be able to order the product you are on at your address as they'd only be offered the symmetric products on XGS-PON.

Ok, I'll give them a call tomorrow and just say I'm not getting the full 2.3gbps now it's available and see what they say.

I just checked now to see if my area is XGS and seems it is.

If you want another comparison, Idnet have published ONT pricing.
1 month contract - upgrade cost £90
12 month contract - upgrade cost £30
24 month contract - free ONT.

I agree with what you been told, just ask for the service upgrade, dont mention ONT at all, guess you also hoping it solves the issues you reported a couple of weeks back as well, good luck with it.

I just got off the phone with them again and all I said was that the speed showing on the site is 2.3 and I'm getting 1.7

He looked at some stuff and at first he said I'm in contract and it cant be changed, then looked more and said it be £120 for an engineer visit to change the ONT.

So it seems no matter how I go about this, if I want the full 2.3 for the £55 a month I will have to cough up £120.

Oh that packet loss is still ongoing.

Arrantly I am not the only one in my "Exchange Aera" that is having issues.

Zen are still investigating.

In reply to a post by Ad_G:

Long term CityFibre want everyone on their XGS-PON network so they can turn off the GPON kit.

I don't think that's true, unless you're talking decades away. The OLTs will remain combo GPON/XGS-PON for many years, and unlike (say) the PSTN switchoff, there's no benefit to getting people off GPON, and a substantial up-front cost in all those engineer visits.

OTOH, I would expect new installs to provide an XGS-PON ONT by default, even for lower speed services, so that future service upgrades can be done without an engineer visit.

Yeah sadly on the contract they have you, you already paying their top tier and are locked in, what you have over Zen is the packet loss issue.

Dont know what to say other than good luck. I know the feeling when a company doesnt act like they value your custom.

I think they have you cornered because both Zen packages have the same name (well at least publicly). You will probably find that the ONT upgrade cost would never be paid to CityFibre nor would you be asked to sign a new contract so that is something to consider.

In reply to a post by candlerb:

In reply to a post by Ad_G:

Long term CityFibre want everyone on their XGS-PON network so they can turn off the GPON kit.

I don't think that's true, unless you're talking decades away. The OLTs will remain combo GPON/XGS-PON for many years, and unlike (say) the PSTN switchoff, there's no benefit to getting people off GPON, and a substantial up-front cost in all those engineer visits.

In the main CityFibre don’t use combo cards, they use co-existence elements and two OLTs hence the 1:32 split on GPON and 1:64 split on XGS-PON.

Just got this email from zen today...

Not sure whats going on over there but I am getting the speed I should be lol.

Hi ,

Thanks for contacting Zen regarding your performance issues. We're sorry that you're experiencing an issue, rest assured we'll continue to work with you and our suppliers to resolve the problem.

The issue has now been passed to our Fault Management team who will aim to contact you within the next working hour to discuss the details and provide some initial timescales for the fault progression.

In line with OFCOM guidelines, as your service is performing below the 'Guaranteed Minimum Download Speed' we provided in the confirmation email we sent to you, Zen now have 30 days to investigate and resolve the issue.

If the issue can't be resolved within the 30-day period you may seek to exit our agreement without penalty, though of course we'll do all we can to resolve the performance of your service as soon as possible.

Kind Regards,
Zen Technical Support

Was looking into this again and having re-read some things, I noticed this line in the email from them:

"Our Product Portfolio Manager has confirmed that there is a £120 charge associated with the second engineer visit beyond the initial activation installation. The first visit was covered by Zen and CityFibre, so no cost was passed on to you. However, any additional visits are chargeable."

First visit? I migrated from Yayzi. So Yayzi paid the install cost for my line/ont not Zen. So does that mean Zen are £120 better off having not paid for my line install/activation....

I still think CF should be doing this for fee or a minimal cost. (£120 for a quick 2 min job is insane) The ONT is not mine to own and keep afterall!

To be fair to CityFibre its more than 2 minutes, they have to drive to you, remove old ONT, clean the fibre, check it, then install new ONT.

I think Zen are making a margin on it as I believe the wholesale rate is lower than £120. But if I remember correctly, they have you by the balls on contract so have little incentive to give you any goodwill on this.

I am considering asking for a move to either 1200/1000 or 1200/1200 (will need ONT swap) myself so I have that bigger 200mbit buffer for QoS reasons, I would assume AAISP will do the former for free, but might charge me for ONT for the latter, but the ONT swap fee seems to have vanished from their website. O_o

In same boat by the way, except with me its about half the price as AAISP arent going crazy on the markup like Zen. I got told its a ONT swap even if I were to go 1200/1000.

Zen still refuse to upgrade my ONT without paying £120 so I have ordered with a new ISP.

Not the only thing I am unhappy about with Zen but toodles. You used to be a good ISP now it just seems like they want to squeeze every penny they can out of its customers.

The next challange is the £55 x 12 months remaining. AKA £600. Yeah sure theres a contract in place but Zen wont be providing the service any longer and again, Most other ISP'S reduce the amount. EE do, Virgin do, Talktalk do SKY also.. and so on. But might have to just fork it over.

If it means never dealing with them again, So be it!

Edited by Seansmit17 (Thu 04-Dec-25 01:26:26)

So you'd rather pay Zen £600 than £120 ??

Oh well, each to their own.

More on principle. I'm not happy with a number of things from Zen so I'm out
I'd rather get away sooner rather than later.

Jezz why would you want extra speed for?

Just be happy with 1700/900! Between 1700Meg and 2300Meg is no real world different!

Edited by adslmax (Sat 27-Dec-25 08:48:11)

have you turned into "adrian" ?

God I hope not lol

In reply to a post by adslmax:

Jezz why would you want extra speed for?

Just be happy with 1700/900! Between 1700Meg and 2300Meg is no real world different!

Jezz are you paying for it? No? Then you have no opinon. k?

In reply to a post by Seansmit17:

God I hope not lol

lol, i was refering to adslmax.......... will be fttpmax soon

Oh i know xD

In reply to a post by Taras:

lol, i was refering to adslmax.......... will be fttpmax soon

Hmmmm - good idea! fttpmax