Lila Connect - VX Fibre 1gig - Stoke on Trent

[rorton]

Sorry its a more 'local' thread, couldn't see anything related to it, and seems Stoke on Trent is the first to get this.

Anyone looked at this Lilaconnect service? There is an expensive connection fee (£650) and then the service is open access with 2 or 3 providers available, and a symetrical 1gig service for £30 per month.

Seems a number of areas into Stoke have been completed, mine is being done as im writing this.

Anyone connected yet, have they gone live in any area?

 

[Caged]

It looks like you pay either £700 connection charges, and then you pay an ISP for a service each month, or you pay £50 and then £10 per month, and then an ISP for service.

Possibly a slightly confusing arrangement but does reflect the cost of these types of deployments.

 

[rorton]

oddly, city fibre have also announced they will be in the area, wonder who that will work, more people pulling their own fibres in the same street

 

[Caged]

I'd take the service with Lila / Pure for £40 per month and if CityFibre have built near you in the next year then you can move to Vodafone Gigafast before the price (presumably) goes up after the initial 12-month term. Their website talks about terms and conditions but doesn't link to them anywhere.

 

[rorton]

Yeh sounds like a plan, madness that 2 companies would pull fibre in though.
Seems pure will charge £30 plus £40 installation charge

https://home.purebroadband.net/lila-connect

there is another provider, air, which is a fiver more I think, the idea is supposed to be that there will be multiple ISPs providing a service in this fibre, so if pure go up in price after 12 months, I guess you swap to another. Open access they call it

 

[Caged]

Not clear from Pure's site but I think it's £30 to the ISP and then £10 to Lila, or you pay £650 to Lila up front.

 

[rorton]

Yeah, I wouldn’t want to pay £10 per month for 5 years which is what they want you to do if you don’t pay the £650 up front, but £650 does seem high

 

[Jez]

Yeah, I wouldn’t want to pay £10 per month for 5 years which is what they want you to do if you don’t pay the £650 up front, but £650 does seem high

Just pointing out, £10pcm for 5 years is cheaper than £650...

 

[rorton]

yeah, im reading conflicting stuff at the moment, re reading the Lila Connect site, it seems you pay the £10 per month for the duration of your connection, and I can't see where they tie you in for 5 years (think I read it on comments on their Facebook page)

 

[Sparx]

£650 is a small contribution to the large cost they have to lay fibre in the area lol

I'd actually do it if they came round here, especially for symmetrical 1Gb, sadly no one does...

 

[Caged]

It seems a bit strange to have it like a line rental charge that you pay to Lila, and then the services charge that you pay to the ISP. Why couldn't they just chuck it into the wholesale price that they charge the ISPs that use their infrastructure?

 

[the-evaluator]

It seems a bit strange to have it like a line rental charge that you pay to Lila, and then the services charge that you pay to the ISP. Why couldn't they just chuck it into the wholesale price that they charge the ISPs that use their infrastructure?

It would be much cleaner that way.

What happens when there's a fault? Does the customer to have to pinpoint where the fault lies and raise a ticket with the relevant company? Logically the ISP won't be able to raise a ticket against Lila as the ISP isn't the customer. What happens when ISP say it's Lila at fault and Lila say it's the ISP? It seems potentially very messy to me.

 

[rorton]

yeah agree with all of the above

this seems to be a service that the main company VX Fibre have setup (successfully they say) in Sweden so I assume it works there, maybe they do other services like that so its acceptable (gas, electric maybe?)

https://www.vx.se

 

[Caged]

Perhaps it's a common thing in Sweden like you say, it just seems messy - are the billing dates the same, do different suppliers have different notice periods etc.?

 

[rorton]

not sure tbh, seen nothing concrete about it, I read about paying £9.99 for the connection to the service is tied in for 5 years, but doesn't say that on their site - it doesn't look like anyone is hooked up yet - was hoping someone maybe so we could see how its working.

I sort of get it - you pay for a pipe, and then get the choice of services down that pipe.

Bit like what we have now, we pay for a pipe (although its the actual line, and the internet service on it - SKY in my example) and then you pay Netflix for a service on that pipe, or you pay Vonage or Sipgate for a voice service - not quite the same though

Does feel messy at the moment.

CityFibre are also due in this area soon, im hoping someone sensible says to use the same duct that has been put in, otherwise there will be no room in the pavement for another duct!!! Seems madness that multiple providers have to dig when a duct is there

 

[the-evaluator]

It's not something I've dealt with in Sweden, we've got a few businesses out there and connectivity falls under my remit. It's always been the Openreach style of things.

 

[The1nonly1]

not sure tbh, seen nothing concrete about it, I read about paying £9.99 for the connection to the service is tied in for 5 years, but doesn't say that on their site - it doesn't look like anyone is hooked up yet - was hoping someone maybe so we could see how its working.

I sort of get it - you pay for a pipe, and then get the choice of services down that pipe.

Bit like what we have now, we pay for a pipe (although its the actual line, and the internet service on it - SKY in my example) and then you pay Netflix for a service on that pipe, or you pay Vonage or Sipgate for a voice service - not quite the same though

Does feel messy at the moment.

CityFibre are also due in this area soon, im hoping someone sensible says to use the same duct that has been put in, otherwise there will be no room in the pavement for another duct!!! Seems madness that multiple providers have to dig when a duct is there

Bringing this back as the first area that will be able to order the service is Weston Coyney. Cables were laid in my street last week and when I emailed them, I was told probably end Q3/start Q4 to be able to order.

When I can, I'm ordering this and paying the one off charge of £650 for installation.

Also, CityFibre, where did you find this information?

 

[rorton]

Sounds good. You signing up.
City fibre here
https://www.cityfibre.com/news/cityfibre-reveals-36-towns-cities-benefit-full-fibre-rollout-accelerates/

 

[The1nonly1]

Thanks. I hope CityFibre use the existing infrastructure and dont need to lay more cables to provide this.

 

[rorton]

not sure about that, the VX Fibre/Lila connect setup is a network managed by them, and they are allowing a few ISPs service over that fibre.

Im not even sure if they would be allowed to use the same ducts?