FTTC

[Pix]

According to BT, FTTC should be ready for service on my exchange (Calder Valley) as of today.  Are there any plans to support FTTC or am I going to have to change ISP? I've been with IDNet for a few years now and don't want to leave as I've always had perfect service + I'm using the included web & blogging space. I don't mind waiting a few months if needed but if I can get FTTC it would be a shame not to use it, especially since I'm only 100 meters from the exchange.

Alternatively, if I now have access to FTTC does that mean that I should be able to use ADSL2+ and speed up my connection that way. I'm probably on about the only FTTC exchange that didn't already have 21CN but as far as I can gather they are entirely seperate so I'd have to wait another year for ADSL2+.

Thanks,
Rich

[Glenn]

Rich,

I don't know, I would say that you are best to call support and ask them.

[Pix]

I emailed support. The reply was:-

Although the exchange in your area has been upgraded, FTTC is a trial service at the moment, so the service provider would have had to enter as part of the trial. As we were trialling ADSL2+ at the time we would have had to sign up to the FTTC trials we felt it would be unwise to enter into FTTC at the same time. Once FTTC is no longer in trial mode IDNet I'm sure will be offering access to this.

I'll probably regret it but I don't much fancy waiting around for a year or more so I guess I'll change ISP. I'm sure the next ISP won't answer a support email within 15 minutes but as an ADSL customer I'm really not convinced I'm getting the best value for money any more as the download limit seems very restrictive for the price compared to everyone else.

[Rik]

Good luck, avoid long contracts, but you know you can always come back.

[klipp]

Entanet supports FTTC but BEWARE OF THEIR TRAFFIC SHAPING!!

[Pix]

The best bet I've seen so far is AAISP. They have an even better rating than IDNet on thinkbroadband, no traffic shaping + no contract but the bandwidth policy is fairly complex with a pre-pay + time banding system. It's far more generous than IDNet provided you don't use your broadband much 9-6 weekdays but gets seriously expensive if you do. This doesn't fit in too badly for me although I'd prefer something a bit less strict. If I don't see anything better I'll go for that and then maybe swap back to IDNet when they support FTTC.

[Pix]

I decided in the end I'd try out AAISP with ADSL before making the jump to FTTC as it would only cost me 99p to migrate as opposed to the £100 for FTTC. On my first night with them, I wanted to download the last C&C game off of Steam which I got in the sale over Xmas, I start it off at 6pm when the off peak limit starts and I'm getting my usual 800k a second or so but this gradually drops until not long after 7 I'm down to 40k and I can barely even browse the web. I've never had this in 3 years with Idnet.

Other little quibbles I've got are the very slow response time for their sales department when I asked about FTTC (nothing in the last 10 days), their website doesn't work properly with IE8 (you can't place an order without using Firefox), all the security certificates for their accounts pages have expired so you get a warning every time you click on a link in there, etc..

Technically I should give them a chance to sort things out but it just looks to me like they can't cope with the amount of traffic they are getting in the evenings. I expected a lot more from an ISP that rates better than Idnet in every aspect on thinkbroadband.com. Either everyone else is getting a different experience to me or they are getting their staff to vote.

The upshot of it all is that about a day after leaving I'm moving back to Idnet again having learned my lesson. As far as I can see there isn't a single ISP offering FTTC in my area that I'd actually want to be with and I'll get a better speed most of the time with ADSL here. I've gone for the Supermax package instead to get the extra bandwidth overnight which should be enough for now + the extra bit of webspace means I can cancel the space I've got with Freeola which will go halfway towards the extra tenner a month. I hope its not too long a wait for either Idnet to support FTTC or my exchange to get 21CN though.

[Steve]

  Its as though you never left,    your the second one recently who's returning from AAISP

[Rik]

Indeed. Welcome back Pix.

[dujas]

AAISP have issues with website certification, they like to be pedantic

[Rik]

It's their style, isn't it. They always have a feeling of teenage rebels to me.

[Glenn]

When they say fibre to the cabinet, do they mean to the distrubtion box/cabinet on the side of the road? If so my distrubiton point is 20 feet from my door, under the pavement.

[Rik]

Yes, but it's full cabinets, not DPs. My cabinet is 213m away, my DP is 2m away.

[Glenn]

Not sure where my cabinet is.

[Rik]

Shame BT have sorted your line, you could have asked...

[Glenn]

I never saw the chaps that did it.

[Rik]

Left a note pinned to a bacon buttie?

[Glenn]

The neighbours dog had it.

[Rik]

The note? 

[Glenn]

Yep, it prefered unsmoked bacon.

[Rik]

 

[esh]

Any idea what rates are offered on this new trial service? Does it come in on an ethernet line and you use PPP?

[Glenn]

No idea esh, IDNet aren't part of the trial.

[Pix]

The download rate is up to 40 Mbps during the trial with it probably going up to 60 Mbps afterwards. Up rates can be as much as 8Mbps although AAISP only offered you this if you paid extra and the standard was 2. I also gather your ping times drop considerably although I don't do so much online gaming myself. The extra upload speed would be nice but if I could get ADSL2+ I probably wouldn't have been interested enough to consider moving.

I'm not up on the technical details but I gather it uses VDSL rather than an ethernet connection.

[Rik]

Thanks, Pix. 

[dujas]

Does it come in on an ethernet line and you use PPP?

No it comes in on a telephone line still, all that's really different is the transmission technology, from ADSL to VDSL (and hopefully a significant reduction in your previous line length). You have a new style master socket leading to a router and then an Ethernet or wireless connection to your PC(s).

[Simon_idnet]

We expect to be able to offer FTTC (at enabled Exchanges) from Jan 25th.
Regards
Simon

[Rik]

Now if only you could control which exchanges. Thanks, Simon. 

[esh]

Amazing. On the low-end BT FTTC "Infinity" package you can hit your monthly bandwidth allowance in half an hour.*

*Assuming you get 40Mbit. More likely 1 

[Pix]

With AAISP's peak rates I could have gone through my quota in just over 10 minutes. I reckoned a days usage in 25 seconds. Of course I'd have to actually be getting the full speed.....

This is good news for me anyway but its rubbing it in a bit that its the day I'll be migrating back. I guess I should have had more patience. I just bought a new ADSL router too since I figured I was stuck with it for a while. It has to be said after the last few days I'll be happy just to get a steady ADSL speed again. I'd like to see what the FTTC package looks like first but I'm sure I'll be giving it a go though.

The BT broadband checker still doesn't show anything about FTTC in my area although I know the exchange was done on 4th January. A&A said they were looking into this on 6th Jan but I haven't heard anything else 2 1/2 weeks later. I've no idea which (if any) cabinets around here have been upgraded yet and there doesn't seem to be anywhere I can find out. Should I assume the checker is working and wait it out or would it be worth sending this to support?

[Lance]

I think that the cabinets are new, rather than older ones being upgraded, as planning permission had been refused for some due to size and athe area they were in.

[Pix]

The checker is showing my number now with 24.1Mb download and 9.0Mb upload which are speeds I could definitely live with. I'll stick an order in as soon as I see FTTC is available on the idnet homepage.

[Rik]

Remember we'll be round in the night to siphon some off.

[dujas]

We expect to be able to offer FTTC (at enabled Exchanges) from Jan 25th.
Regards
Simon

Is the cost of the product to the ISP the same as 21CN ADSL?

[Rik]

I doubt it, to judge by BT Retail's figures.