Thinking of FTTC

Clive · Sep 10, 2020, 12:05:14

Our cabinet is within spitting distance and I'm now considering going for fibre. My router is a Billion purchased from IDNet a couple of years ago. If I order fibre through IDNet will it work seamlessly and how much more is it likely to cost for the 40Gb package?

Simon · Sep 10, 2020, 14:07:51

Super Fast Basic seems to be £38.40 per month, Clive. But I'm not sure if there's a data allowance limit:

https://www.idnet.com/data_products/super-fast-broadband.php

Clive · Sep 10, 2020, 22:49:47

I'm paying £40 a month all in at present and that is for ADSL+2, phone line and phone package that includes international calls. Have you any idea how much more I would have to pay each month for the 40Gbs?

Simon · Sep 10, 2020, 23:11:09

From what I can make out, that would depend on which phone package you wanted. I must admit, I've not delved into this yet, so I'm no expert on the pricing, but you may be able to work things out from this:

https://www.idnet.com/data_products/broadband_prices.php?VAT=1

Clive · Sep 11, 2020, 09:22:07

Thanks Simon. At the moment I'm paying £40.20 a month for ADSL2+ with line rental and full calls package including mobiles and international. I think I'll go for it but you haven't answered my second question which is will it be a seamless transfer to FTTC?

nowster · Sep 11, 2020, 09:42:32

Quote from: Clive on Sep 11, 2020, 09:22:07
Thanks Simon. At the moment I'm paying £40.20 a month for ADSL2+ with line rental and full calls package including mobiles and international. I think I'll go for it but you haven't answered my second question which is will it be a seamless transfer to FTTC?

It's not quite as simple as flipping a switch somewhere. There will be some exchange unjumpering and cabinet jumpering to be done.

Simon · Sep 11, 2020, 09:51:40

I have no experience of the switchover Clive, as I am still on ADSL2+ myself.

Clive · Sep 11, 2020, 16:12:45

Quote from: nowster on Sep 11, 2020, 09:42:32
It's not quite as simple as flipping a switch somewhere. There will be some exchange unjumpering and cabinet jumpering to be done.

But will I personally have to carry out any unjumpering? Will my Billion router simply wave goodbye to the old and embrace the new?

zappaDPJ · Sep 11, 2020, 16:55:35

Quote from: Clive on Sep 11, 2020, 16:12:45
But will I personally have to carry out any unjumpering? Will my Billion router simply wave goodbye to the old and embrace the new?

I wouldn't like to say whether you should unjumper or remove any other article of clothing but I do believe you will need a new modem/router. A quick call to support will confirm or deny

dudwell · Sep 11, 2020, 17:11:48

I made the change to FTTC 4½ years ago and my memory has become extremely vague about the details. I had a couple of ADSL routers but these were unsuitable for FTTC so I had to purchase a new one. I obtained a Billion 8800NL from IDNet already preconfigured. Following IDNet's instructions all went smoothly. I certainly didn't have to do any unjumpering (!) nor did I need the visit from a BT engineer which was generally supposed to be necessary at the time.

Clive · Sep 11, 2020, 20:28:01

That's the same router I'm using for ADSL2+ so perhaps I should phone support to confirm it will work.

zappaDPJ · Sep 12, 2020, 05:40:54

It appears technology has moved on since I switched to FTTC. Trains no longer run on steam and according to this the BiPAC 8800NL caters for both ADSL2 and FTTC: http://support.billion.com/_Internet/qsg/BiPAC-8800NL-QSGEN.pdf

robinc · Sep 12, 2020, 07:41:29

I switched from ADSL (Plusnet) to FTTC when I came over to Ident a couple of years back.

Plugged in 8800 Billion and just waited - and then it worked. No mess, no fuss, no 'engineer' visit.

Simples!

Clive · Sep 12, 2020, 09:33:34

Fantastic! That's very encouraging news. Thanks very much for all your help.

nowster · Sep 14, 2020, 10:47:54

The jumpering is done by the engineer. You'll probably be offline for an hour or so whilst they fiddle with the wires.

Clive · Sep 14, 2020, 21:34:08

Will the speed have to stabilise in the same way as it does with ADSL? I plan to order it tomorrow.

robinc · Sep 15, 2020, 07:04:16

If it did it certainly didn't affect anything that I recall....

Do remember that just cos you've got a 40/10 line - or whatever you choose - doesn't guarantee that's what you get.

Mine gives me 40/5.5 40/6 but that's life. I've got a 50 year old copper pair running out to 80 metres of armoured aluminium, connecting to a hotch-potch of of connections, many of which are corroded. Over the years at least 2 connection boxes have been found to be upside down and filled with water.....

Secondly you will start to notice that some sites really are just sloooowww - it's not you, it's them!!!

Enjoy

Clive · Sep 15, 2020, 18:56:04

Well, I spoke to a nice guy at IDNet called Johnny and the deed is done. They will let me know when BT can give me a date for the changeover. And I've ordered Mrs Clive a new computer from PC Specialist so I've earned copious Brownie points this week.

Simon · Sep 15, 2020, 20:15:05

Clive · Sep 16, 2020, 15:48:16

My changeover date is September 29th.

Simon · Sep 16, 2020, 18:22:03

Clive · Sep 16, 2020, 21:46:26

I'm quite relaxed about it.

Simon · Sep 16, 2020, 23:49:10

What could possibly go wrong?

Clive · Sep 17, 2020, 15:35:51

Perhaps I should hide the rolling pin.

krysia · Sep 21, 2020, 11:15:23

I switched from ADSL2+ to SuperFast Basic FTTC on 15/9, and it was so much easier than I expected. I had some trouble configuring IPv6, because TP-Link had sent me more complicated instructions than I needed - another IDNetter sorted it out for me some days later, and not having it didn't prevent my having a connection. I immediately got download speeds of 36 and upload of 10 on my ethernet-connected desktop. The only surprise was slow(er) wifi - the first time I did a speed test on my laptop, I got 35, but a short time after that it was only 5 and stayed like that for days. My Amazon Firestick also dropped to 2, even though it got 5 or 6 on ADSL. I phoned the computer place that takes care of us to see if an engineer could sort it out, but when he found out the switch had only taken place 3 days earlier, he told me it would be premature. Apparently it can take 10-14 days for wifi to settle down, which really surprised me. Yesterday, I checked my laptop and the download speeds were back up to 35-36, and my phone was just over 20. The iPad is still slow and the Firestick hasn't improved (ironically, the main reason I wanted the higher speeds), but I'm hopeful they'll eventually improve too. Good luck!

A bit later: laptop back down to 5! So wifi still very variable.

Clive · Sep 23, 2020, 14:30:47

Many thanks krysia.

Clive · Sep 29, 2020, 19:57:44

The allotted day has come and gone but nothing has happened. I'll phone support in the morning.

Simon · Sep 29, 2020, 20:10:01

Have you rebooted your router? Not sure if you have to, but it would seem a logical thing to do.

Clive · Sep 29, 2020, 21:44:06

Me logical? Not a chance.

I'll wait until morning before doing anything.

Clive · Sep 30, 2020, 09:55:00

Apparently BT didn't have any engineers available to do it yesterday so it's being done tomorrow afternoon between 1 and 6.

Simon · Sep 30, 2020, 10:24:57

Clive · Oct 01, 2020, 13:28:08

It's done!! And it was extremely seamless too. No noticeable downtime and no adjustments to be made to the router. I'm somewhat disappointed with the speed which is 31 Mbps download and 8 Mbps upload but it's twice as fast as I had previously and I suppose it may increase over the next few weeks. I'm happy there was no hassle and that the ID Net support were outstanding.

Simon · Oct 01, 2020, 14:15:20

Good to hear! I'd be interested to receive your feedback on general everyday internet stuff, and if it's noticeably faster.

Clive · Oct 01, 2020, 16:01:25

Already the speed has increased to 32Mbps. The loading speed of websites is definitely faster so perhaps Clive has crawled out of the 20th century to explore what's happening in the 21st. Oh wait....

Simon · Oct 01, 2020, 17:52:30

Go back, go back...!

Clive · Oct 01, 2020, 18:04:50

robinc · Oct 02, 2020, 06:46:06

Quote from: Clive on Oct 01, 2020, 16:01:25
Already the speed has increased to 32Mbps. The loading speed of websites is definitely faster so perhaps Clive has crawled out of the 20th century to explore what's happening in the 21st. Oh wait....

I must admit I do wonder about speed figures. For example according to my idnet dashboard I'm getting 36.5Mbps Down /5.5Mbps Up.
If I check my router with dslstats it shows 40.0 / 5.8
According to Firefox downloads of iso files can get up to 44.0.
They can't all be right but hey, it's better than Plusnet ever was!

We're about 500 yards from the cab.