BT/EE Full Fibre to the Home Services

the-evaluator · 18 Mar 2021 at 06:44

e36Adz said:
the email they've sent says it can take up to 10 days to hit full speeds - I've signed up for 900 mbps.

I don't know why they say that, because it's nonsense. With full fibre products that doesn't apply.

~200Mbps over WiFi isn't all that great but there's probably some tweaking that could improve it.

robj20 · 18 Mar 2021 at 06:51

The installer let me run the cable myself.
So I fed it through the floor under the stairs, along to the front of the property through the crawl space, then fed it through an air brick to outside. They then ran the cable from the pole to my house and terminated it into that grey box and connected the cable I just fed through.
He scanned the ONT and have it to me to fix to the wall where I wanted it. We then checked the connection and he left.

Not all will let you run it yourself i imagine but I refuse to have it clipped to skirting boards it looks dreadful.
Got full speed instantly and it's been rock solid since. I went for the 150mb package, don't need anything faster yet.
Oh I also told them not to bother connection the copper cable up (the cable they run from the pole is dual optical/copper).

e36Adz · 18 Mar 2021 at 07:03

If mine doesn't get up to or near 900, I suspect they'll offer me 300 Mbps instead and cap it at that. Tested last night on the ps4 which is wired and it was showing 490 dl.

the-evaluator · 18 Mar 2021 at 07:04

There's no reason why you won't get the full bandwidth but a PS4 isn't a good test client, the CPU isn't powerful enough to generate that much traffic. Plug in a proper computer and then try again.

MrRockliffe · 18 Mar 2021 at 07:36

Getting mine installed today

Looking forward to it! Then I just need a way to get the internet from the front room to the office - I’m in a rental so no drilling

e36Adz · 18 Mar 2021 at 10:56

the-evaluator said:
There's no reason why you won't get the full bandwidth but a PS4 isn't a good test client, the CPU isn't powerful enough to generate that much traffic. Plug in a proper computer and then try again.

Only had the ps4 to test it on but I should have my laptop back tonight, will test it out then.

MrRockliffe · 18 Mar 2021 at 11:50

e36Adz · 18 Mar 2021 at 11:58

Wow not bad, and you've just had it installed today?? I'll give mine a test run tonight with the laptop and see if it comes anywhere close to that. Thanks MrR

ChrisD. · 18 Mar 2021 at 12:02

Shouldn't the upload be 100 Mbps at least on a 900 Mbps package?

the-evaluator · 18 Mar 2021 at 12:02

MrRockliffe said:

You're using the BT Smart Hub 2 I guess? There's an occasional problem where it'll limit the upload to 50Mbps (it should be 100Mbps or so). There's a bit more information about it here. I'm surprised it's still an issue as I first read about it a year or so ago.

It may be something that gets fixed automatically when your Hub does an updated but keep an eye on it and if it doesn't sort itself then get in touch with BT.

You should be getting results a bit more like this:

MrRockliffe · 18 Mar 2021 at 14:34

e36Adz said:
Wow not bad, and you've just had it installed today?? I'll give mine a test run tonight with the laptop and see if it comes anywhere close to that. Thanks MrR

Yep just installed - next step is to figure out how I'm going to get ethernet to the opposite corner of the house. Most likely I'll need to run a Cat 5e through the wall and around the exterior - much easier

the-evaluator said:
You're using the BT Smart Hub 2 I guess? There's an occasional problem where it'll limit the upload to 50Mbps (it should be 100Mbps or so). There's a bit more information about it here. I'm surprised it's still an issue as I first read about it a year or so ago.

It may be something that gets fixed automatically when your Hub does an updated but keep an eye on it and if it doesn't sort itself then get in touch with BT.

You should be getting results a bit more like this:

Interesting - thanks for the info. I'm not that fussed at the moment as I won't make use of 50Mb up, let alone 100.

Edit: Just checked and it's now at 100

I will look into a better router though, something with WiFi 6. Any recommendations?

Cob · 18 Mar 2021 at 14:34

Yeah reboot your router.

Had mine installed last May. No outside box. Just a new cable ran from the telegraph pole, in through a small hole drilled in the wall, and connected directly to the ONT.

Probably helped that the telegraph pole is 30 feet from my front door.

robj20 · 18 Mar 2021 at 14:45

Cob said:
Yeah reboot your router.

Had mine installed last May. No outside box. Just a new cable ran from the telegraph pole, in through a small hole drilled in the wall, and connected directly to the ONT.

Probably helped that the telegraph pole is 30 feet from my front door.

Yeah that's the old way of doing it, means of anything goes wrong with the outside line you need a home visit.
Where as the new way they can replace the outside section separately and do all their checks without entering the home.
Distance is irrelevant really its not FTTC.

VaderDSL · 18 Mar 2021 at 15:38

robj20 said:
Yeah that's the old way of doing it, means of anything goes wrong with the outside line you need a home visit.
Where as the new way they can replace the outside section separately and do all their checks without entering the home.
Distance is irrelevant really its not FTTC.

Odd same here, just a single cable from the splitter in the pavement direct through the wall into the ONT, no splice point. Was told this was the connectorised Fttp install where the connector is physically spliced onto the fibre cable rather than thermally as is the case with the customer splice point. This was a few years ago though so they might have reverted back to installing external splice points

the-evaluator · 18 Mar 2021 at 15:42

VaderDSL said:
This was a few years ago though so they might have reverted back to installing external splice points

They switched back in June last year. The connectorised fibre is spliced onto the fibre that runs to the GPON splitter.

e36Adz · 18 Mar 2021 at 17:30

Okay so I've managed to test mine out again, but this time my laptop connected via ethernet. It was very similar to what it was on my ps4, so ~500 dl ~20 ul. I've restarted the router and tried again after awhile and it was ~80 dl 15 ul. I've rang EE but they are sticking with the 'it can take 10 days to settle' and 'it can fluctuate but your minimum speed should be 450', thats news to me? I've got no option but to just test it over the next few days and call them on the 27th if it's not upto speed.

EGuitarStar · 18 Mar 2021 at 17:50

I've been given a date of the 30th of March for my install, just got off the phone to them now. I was surprised with how quick this is, 2 weeks ago I was told it'll be between 8-10 weeks.

Is anyone here using their own router/firewall? I currently am with FTTC and wondering what config changes I'll need with FTTP.

ChrisD. · 18 Mar 2021 at 18:00

e36Adz said:
Okay so I've managed to test mine out again, but this time my laptop connected via ethernet. It was very similar to what it was on my ps4, so ~500 dl ~20 ul. I've restarted the router and tried again after awhile and it was ~80 dl 15 ul. I've rang EE but they are sticking with the 'it can take 10 days to settle' and 'it can fluctuate but your minimum speed should be 450', thats news to me? I've got no option but to just test it over the next few days and call them on the 27th if it's not upto speed.

The settling period on full fibre is BS. It sounds to me that you’re on the wrong profile.

robj20 · 18 Mar 2021 at 18:03

e36Adz said:
Okay so I've managed to test mine out again, but this time my laptop connected via ethernet. It was very similar to what it was on my ps4, so ~500 dl ~20 ul. I've restarted the router and tried again after awhile and it was ~80 dl 15 ul. I've rang EE but they are sticking with the 'it can take 10 days to settle' and 'it can fluctuate but your minimum speed should be 450', thats news to me? I've got no option but to just test it over the next few days and call them on the 27th if it's not upto speed.

You got anything else running.
I was getting about 148-151 from my 150 service, the very second all the lights went green on the ONT.

the-evaluator · 18 Mar 2021 at 18:13

EGuitarStar said:
Is anyone here using their own router/firewall? I currently am with FTTC and wondering what config changes I'll need with FTTP.

Yep. Very little config required. No VLAN tagging required unlike FTTC. I guess that EE use the same implemention as BT which would mean PPPoE (that bit is a given) with username and password of your choice. BT don't care what you use, as long as there is a username and password.