BT Infinity & FTTx Discussion

BeatMaster said:
I would definitely agree with not bothering with the BT SH2 and the mesh discs - I found them unreliable and didn’t make much difference to signal.
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There are two different types the white ones are the mesh discs which are rubbish but if you can get the black ones from the Complete Wifi setup they are much better. I managed to get one from BT free (when I did a trial) and I bought another one from the auction website and they are great have no problems. Friends of ours also have them too and they are no trouble.
 
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varkanoid said:
There are two different types the white ones are the mesh discs which are rubbish but if you can get the black ones from the Complete Wifi setup they are much better. I managed to get one from BT free (when I did a trial) and I bought another one from the auction website and they are great have no problems. Friends of ours also have them too and they are no trouble.
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That’s interesting - the ones I had were the black ones. However - it’s easily been a couple of years since I used them so no doubt have had firmware and potentially hardware updates in that time. So many factors involved but good to hear that they do work for some. Worth seeing if BT can supply them if having issues especially for free - not sure if they still do this but worth a go
 
Finally completed the switch from BT 900 package to TalkTalk Future Fibre 500. Everything went OK on the day, the only issue was changing from PPPoE to DHCP but once that setting was changed it all just worked.

I’m running the ONT connected to 3x Deco M4’s. It provides decent coverage across the house, garden room and garage plus decent performance and good reliability. The only negative is lack of controls and information.

I’ve been monitoring the internet speed for quite a few months and the results/difference is quite staggering. The setup is a Raspberry Pi 4 with a 1Gbit wired connection.

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The connection is extremely stable and literally near perfect on download speeds now. Whereas previously it fluctuated massively. The upload speed is very consistent on both BT and TalkTalk. Finally the ping has actually decreased to ~8ms.

In fact I’ve also noticed that over WiFi on my iPhone 11 beside the main Deco - previously I’d see low 400s but for the first time ever it was over 500 (!)

I did briefly try the Eero Pro 6 (that’s the blip on the graph) and didn’t find it all that great. Speed was slower and wifi coverage was less - which is a bit disappointing.

Now in the dilemma of whether to add Deco’s or switch to UDR and AP6 Lite’s. Anyone got any experience?
 
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Thinking about powercuts this Winter - Assuming my BT ONT & router are still powered (e.g. with a portable power station) then whats the likelyhood my broadband will still work ?

Is every piece of BT equipment between my house and the exchange going to still be running on backup batteries like in the copper line days ?

Its not critical for me, just curious really.
 
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GaryTheSnail said:
They have no power backups? you kidding me? :eek: Well that goes that theory then. In that case there's no way and probably need a 4G/5G backup.
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About that...This is from 2019 but have a read of page 44 of this ofcom report - kinda surprised me and suggests a lot of mobile masts won't be working at all, or not for long,


"Both EE and Three have 6 hours or more of
back-up power at around 3% of their sites. EE
has a further 4% of sites which can continue
operating for five days or more during a
power cut. The vast majority have no back-up
power"

"Of the sites which Vodafone
provides, which broadly speaking cover the
west of England and Wales, around half have
four hours of back-up power. The remaining
Vodafone sites have between 1 and 2 hours.
O2 protects its hub sites, which account for
about 5% of its total sites, with 4 hours of
back-up power. Most of its remaining sites
have no protection, with an unspecified
number of larger coverage sites having 10
minutes."
 
FTTC cabinets have backup batteries in them, however the oldest cabinets have now been there for over a decade so the battery state might not keep you online for much longer than the time needed to cover a small blip.
 
I was distracted from work by the sound of digging and saw that YouFibre are laying ducting along my road. I had no idea this was planned - I can't wait to leave Virgin Media!
 
Loagi said:
Thinking about powercuts this Winter - Assuming my BT ONT & router are still powered (e.g. with a portable power station) then whats the likelyhood my broadband will still work ?
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I'm curious does FTTP go anywhere near the cabinets used by FTTC and if so is there any active component in the cabinet that requires power?
 
In most cases, no. If you're very rural then OLTs can end up in cabinets but it's very rare. In all other cases you are fed from a handover exchange which will have generators for the Openreach equipment. That's no guarantee that your ISPs equipment installed in that exchange won't lose power though.
 
V_R said:
Not yet, still on the cards just been too busy to progress it.
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Ah no worries ta.

I need to move from BT to 'something' FTTC Based as the contract expires in two weeks. Currently paying £42ish a month with BT for the 80/20 product along with a phone package which we need.

Looking at £40 a month for Zen with the Digital Voice.. or £36ish with Plusnet, but bear in mind when moving that Plusnet/BT up their prices each year along with CPI plus some extra % they make up, so the BT/Plusnet packages do increase in cost partway through, Zen don't appear to do this yet?
 
TaKeN said:
Ah no worries ta.

I need to move from BT to 'something' FTTC Based as the contract expires in two weeks. Currently paying £42ish a month with BT for the 80/20 product along with a phone package which we need.

Looking at £40 a month for Zen with the Digital Voice.. or £36ish with Plusnet, but bear in mind when moving that Plusnet/BT up their prices each year along with CPI plus some extra % they make up, so the BT/Plusnet packages do increase in cost partway through, Zen don't appear to do this yet?
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Have you asked BT what deal they may do? They're usually fairly receptive when I ask them, at least within reason.

May be better to see than to have the hassle of changing provider.
 
HungryHippos said:
Have you asked BT what deal they may do? They're usually fairly receptive when I ask them, at least within reason.

May be better to see than to have the hassle of changing provider.
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I'll give them a call tomorrow ta, I've only looked at what they've offered as a 'Renewal Deal' online through the Customer Login so far.
 
TaKeN said:
Ah no worries ta.

I need to move from BT to 'something' FTTC Based as the contract expires in two weeks. Currently paying £42ish a month with BT for the 80/20 product along with a phone package which we need.

Looking at £40 a month for Zen with the Digital Voice.. or £36ish with Plusnet, but bear in mind when moving that Plusnet/BT up their prices each year along with CPI plus some extra % they make up, so the BT/Plusnet packages do increase in cost partway through, Zen don't appear to do this yet?
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I have deals for Sky Broadband only if you're interested? Start a conversation if you are. £23pm for 80/20 FTTC with PAYT. With Anytime calls it will be more but not entirely sure of the actual cost of that.
 
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