BT Infinity & FTTx Discussion

sparkymark75 · 20 Oct 2017 at 23:37

Well that escalated quickly! Seen some Openreach activity over the last few weeks so was hopeful that they were running the fibre and I'd be able to order in a few months. Noticed a blue rope today tied to the plastic cover where my phone line enters my house. Appears they have put a pull in to the underground DP for fibre. I checked the BT wholesale checker and was pleasantly surprised to see the following

So I went to the BT website and it let me order Infinity 3. Due to go active at the start of Nov, just in time for the arrival of my Xbox One X

What's strange though is that checking a few of my neighbours, none of them can yet order FTTP.

Caged · 20 Oct 2017 at 23:45

Noice

Davedree said:
Because there is no fttp in my area and no g fast for a good few years, 80/20 has been the cap for quite a while on infinity 2, whilst infinity 1 has seen upgrades.
When they are 75% implementing a 3 year old phase called ''Hampshire New Phase 2 Fibre'', My cabinet is full capacity as I tried to get a new quote with fake details, and because in my area virgin area 20 is oversubscribed and densely populated.

I'm not saying they will, I'm saying if they do .

The way that FTTC is deployed means it's not really possible for it to have the same sort of congestion issues that Virgin Media has. Links from the exchange to the rest of the ISPs network could get congested, and there could be congestion getting out from the ISPs network onto the Internet, but I've never heard of BT having those issues.

madman045 · 20 Oct 2017 at 23:53

sparkymark75 said:
Well that escalated quickly! Seen some Openreach activity over the last few weeks so was hopeful that they were running the fibre and I'd be able to order in a few months. Noticed a blue rope today tied to the plastic cover where my phone line enters my house. Appears they have put a pull in to the underground DP for fibre. I checked the BT wholesale checker and was pleasantly surprised to see the following

So I went to the BT website and it let me order Infinity 3. Due to go active at the start of Nov, just in time for the arrival of my Xbox One X

What's strange though is that checking a few of my neighbours, none of them can yet order FTTP.

Interesting, we get the keys to our new home a week today, currently no phone line connected, however like you, there is a pipe with a blue rope outside the front of the house. I wonder who i need to speak to, to find out if its the same situation as you

Otherwise its 5mb ADSL until Virgin can get to us which is about 2 years

MissChief · 20 Oct 2017 at 23:58

madman045 said:
Interesting, we get the keys to our new home a week today, currently no phone line connected, however like you, there is a pipe with a blue rope outside the front of the house. I wonder who i need to speak to, to find out if its the same situation as you

Otherwise its 5mb ADSL until Virgin can get to us which is about 2 years

Have you checked on http://dslchecker.bt.com?

sparkymark75 · 20 Oct 2017 at 23:59

I have a phone line but no phone number as I only have it for ADSL. You can still check if you know the postcode and door number.

Davedree · 21 Oct 2017 at 18:17

Caged said:
Noice

The way that FTTC is deployed means it's not really possible for it to have the same sort of congestion issues that Virgin Media has. Links from the exchange to the rest of the ISPs network could get congested, and there could be congestion getting out from the ISPs network onto the Internet, but I've never heard of BT having those issues.

That's my understanding too as there's a limit to the amount of cards that can host within the cabinets.
I agree and hope that there won't be an issues as it really has been rock solid in the year I've been with them, but it's still an unknown as to how much raising the line speeds will affect service, in say a year or two down the line.

MissChief · 21 Oct 2017 at 18:20

The only real limiting factor will be the backhaul within the exchange. Most ISP's will likely be running on 1GBps links which is generally going to be OK for most of the time but if everyone on a cabinet is saturating their own connection it just won't cut it. Openreach now also do 10GBps cable links now as well.

Type_R · 22 Oct 2017 at 09:49

Anyone in Nottingham / Trentside exchange had the speed boost yet on Infinity 1? No sign of it where I am, which is a little worrying seeing as I am maxing out my 55/10 profile.

Avalon · 22 Oct 2017 at 21:33

Type_R said:
Anyone in Nottingham / Trentside exchange had the speed boost yet on Infinity 1? No sign of it where I am, which is a little worrying seeing as I am maxing out my 55/10 profile.

Firstly it's 52/10, secondly it'll be applied when it's applied - sit back and enjoy the wait.

Putty · 23 Oct 2017 at 10:59

I noticed that mine was boosted before the announcement but just thought it was because I had gone for the UHD BT TV pack as well. No email to say that they're boosting the speed (even though it looks like it already has been).

Type_R · 23 Oct 2017 at 17:49

Avalon said:
Firstly it's 52/10, secondly it'll be applied when it's applied - sit back and enjoy the wait.

Strange mine is saying 55/10 then?

Although the max data doesn't fill me with much hope!

DragonQ · 23 Oct 2017 at 19:38

55 Mb/s = 52.45 Mib/s

Daaaavvveee · 23 Oct 2017 at 19:41

sparkymark75 said:
Well that escalated quickly! Seen some Openreach activity over the last few weeks so was hopeful that they were running the fibre and I'd be able to order in a few months. Noticed a blue rope today tied to the plastic cover where my phone line enters my house. Appears they have put a pull in to the underground DP for fibre. I checked the BT wholesale checker and was pleasantly surprised to see the following

So I went to the BT website and it let me order Infinity 3. Due to go active at the start of Nov, just in time for the arrival of my Xbox One X

What's strange though is that checking a few of my neighbours, none of them can yet order FTTP.

Why not Infinity 4?

sparkymark75 · 23 Oct 2017 at 20:03

Daaaavvveee said:
Why not Infinity 4?

Don't really need 300Mb. 200 is fine for now, especially as I'm coming from 1-2Mb so can't complain.

Daaaavvveee · 23 Oct 2017 at 21:04

sparkymark75 said:
Don't really need 300Mb. 200 is fine for now, especially as I'm coming from 1-2Mb so can't complain.

Did you get a good deal on it in the end?

They normally have good cash back etc on new customers.

sparkymark75 · 23 Oct 2017 at 21:11

Daaaavvveee said:
Did you get a good deal on it in the end?

They normally have good cash back etc on new customers.

£50pm for 12 months. £125 MasterCard and £70 cash back via Quidco. Limited choice of suppliers for FTTP.

Daaaavvveee · 24 Oct 2017 at 08:04

sparkymark75 said:
£50pm for 12 months. £125 MasterCard and £70 cash back via Quidco. Limited choice of suppliers for FTTP.

Including line rental?

Yeah I know what you mean, I have had FTTP for 2 years (ish) now, I am pretty much stuck with BT, unless I want to pay more with AA or Zen.

I got quite a good deal where its £46 a month for Infinity 4 and line rental.

sparkymark75 · 24 Oct 2017 at 08:10

Daaaavvveee said:
Including line rental?

Yeah I know what you mean, I have had FTTP for 2 years (ish) now, I am pretty much stuck with BT, unless I want to pay more with AA or Zen.

I got quite a good deal where its £46 a month for Infinity 4 and line rental.

Yeah, including line rental (although I don't have a house phone so hate having to pay for "line rental").

£46 is a great price. It's the price after the first 12 months I was looking at. And I didn't fancy paying the £70+ they were looking for so went with Infinity 3 for now.

Daaaavvveee · 24 Oct 2017 at 08:30

sparkymark75 said:
Yeah, including line rental (although I don't have a house phone so hate having to pay for "line rental").

£46 is a great price. It's the price after the first 12 months I was looking at. And I didn't fancy paying the £70+ they were looking for so went with Infinity 3 for now.

I think they are quite good at new customer offers, but crap at existing. We got it for that price as I cancelled, then signed up in my partners name, but the website wouldn't work, so we couldn't get the £200 MasterCard, so they just changed the monthly price for us.

We also have never used a home phone, but yes, its bloody annoying having to pay for line rental.

sparkymark75 · 24 Oct 2017 at 09:06

Daaaavvveee said:
I think they are quite good at new customer offers, but crap at existing. We got it for that price as I cancelled, then signed up in my partners name, but the website wouldn't work, so we couldn't get the £200 MasterCard, so they just changed the monthly price for us.

We also have never used a home phone, but yes, its bloody annoying having to pay for line rental.

I did read of folks having a problem claiming for the Mastercard, guess I'll soon find out if I'm one of them although at this point in time, I'm just relieved to finally get a usable broadband connection.