Expected cost for 5Mb EFM connection?

bremen1874

bremen1874

bremen1874

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On Friday afternoon I was phoned by a client and asked whether an 5Mb EFM connection was a good idea. At the time BT were already onsite installing, so it was a bit of a fait accompli.

It's going to be a useful improvement over their existing ADSL connection, especially the upstream. There's a site-to-site VPN to their other (main) office that'll be much improved.

I was wondering if they've been badly bent over with cost? It'll be £316.67/month (presumably plus Vat) with no other upfront costs. I haven't seen the full details yet, but I think they may have signed up for a 60 month contract.
 
5MB (so about 50Meg) or 5 Meg? That does seem rather a lot considering even the top level package from any 'normal' provider is less than £50 for domestic. Not sure about EFM though?
 
5Mbit, Ethernet First Mile. Symmetric, uncontended, unlimited data, static IPs.

No direct comparison to a domestic connection.

I'd have preferred a business FTTC connection, but that's unlikely in that location for the foreseeable. It would have cost a lot less and would've, for the most part, been a better option.

It had previously been discussed in general terms, but never to the point where it was worth getting proper quotes.
 
Last 10mb EFM I priced up for a customer was sold to them at £385 on a 36 month contract. No upfront costs.

Oh and the 60 month contract would have been £379 a month.
 
How many pairs as that's what they charge for - they should then give an estimated max speed and a gauranteed minimum speed.

That looks like a 4 pair connection going by what we paid, but I guess it depends if the install cost is upfront or spread over the contract length.
 
leigh_boy said:
do you mind tellng me the name of the provider?
Click to expand...

This was via Gamma - cost to us was obviously lower :)

Edit - Also just double checked and it was £320+vat per month for 10mb on a 36 month contract. They also have the option to increase upto 20mb on this connection.
 
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The EFM connection I mentioned in the original post was installed by OR about a month ago. We've been waiting since then for information about it going live.

After the original install we were left with an Overture 400 series connected to 8 new copper pairs. I was assuming that we'd be able to connect this to the existing DrayTek 2820.

RIqF4w9.png

dMdlzEM.png


Now on Thursday a Cisco 1941 arrived, and apparently someone is supposed to be turning up to configure it.

Is there anyone out there that deals with EFM connections who could shed some light on what's likely to be going on?

Do we need, or even want the Cisco kit?

I was surprised to see 8 copper pairs installed for a 5Mbit connection. If they've needed to install this many I assume there isn't going to be much room for any future bandwidth increase?

My client doesn't seem to be very clear on what they've signed up for. They've even been asking myself about it, and I only know about EFM in very general terms. I'm going to try and speak to their supplier next week, but I'd like to get a better handle on it before then.
 
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8 pairs for 5Mbit? the distance must be a factor here, since in one of my companies leisure centres they've got EFM 4 pair and have a 20mb line, but they are quite close to the exchange so I guess that must help the situation.


I just had a look and it's probably just redundancy, some companies use 4 and some use 8, even if they don't "need" the 8 pair speed capability.
 
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If you've had to have 8 pairs for 5Mb then it's unlikely there's anywhere to go in terms of speed upgrades, that's just how it is sometimes.

The Cisco will connect to the output from the Hatteras box (sorry, Overture) and then hand this off to the DrayTek. The Cisco router is designated as the demarc on these sorts of services, so you do need to keep it.

A 1941 is a strange one to have though, are you sure it's not a 1921?
 
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It says 1941 on the chassis. It's an ugly 2U chassis:

PifrWBR.png


So I should be able to connect the DrayTek to the 1941 and gave direct access to the WAN IPs? If that's the case then life should be simple.

Judging by the line attenuation for the current ADSL connection it's approx. 3.3Km to the exchange, and that looks sensible on a map.
 
For all I know it is all pre-configured and just needs plugging in. It's covered in BT stickers and so it isn't new in its box.

We received the address information (just a /29) about 10 days ago.
 
Connect GE0/0 to your DrayTek, and GE0/1 to the EFM box (if it's a different port for handoff then the document with the IP addressing on will tell you).

The gateway IP is the address of the 1941, the next IP in the range is what you want to set the DrayTek WAN IP to. Subnet mask will be 255.255.255.248.
 
Cheers. It's looking like it'll be less of a pain than I thought.

Hopefully by the time I'm next on site the 1941 will be in the rack and some handover documentation will have arrived.
 
I've dealt with three leased-line installations in the past couple of years. On each occasion the ISP supplied router is always "ready to go". Saves them having to send someone out onsite to install. Just plug in and away you go.
So quite likely it's all setup.
 
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