FTTP on Demand

[Steevo]

Correct not strictly like for like, but would it be good enough for a small/medium business with a couple of employees? Yes quite easily, they are marketing FTTP directly to this market.

So unless your business is hosting some mega server farms or otherwise massively bandwidth intensive apps, or sending vast streams of email then an FTTP service would be totally fine.

For all intents and purposes what Gigaclear and the like do is lay their own local fibre distribution network from a POP (point of presence) where they pickup/share one or more BT (or virgin media etc) leased line circuits amongst their subscribers. That’s really the basic gist of it.

Which brings about the question.....what is there to stop Gigaclear or such having their own mini-monopoly in some areas just like BT. I suppose the old water company system is the best comparison - only one provider available due to location.

 

[Pheasant Surprise]

Which brings about the question.....what is there to stop Gigaclear or such having their own mini-monopoly in some areas just like BT. I suppose the old water company system is the best comparison - only one provider available due to location.

Sparse population density and (comparatively) larger distances than city, town or suburbia, I think it is what it is right None of these things are cheap or easy to rollout and any 'monopoly' would be pretty tiny.

They need a large take-up % to make the sums add up...otherwise they just won't bother.

 

[Pheasant Surprise]

OpenReach engineer called yesterday. Survey is booked in for 3 September.

 

[Brisel]

Just thinking differently here. Have a natter to Jake at https://www.rade.net/ They sorted a high speed connection for their business. It may have been microwave.

 

[Pheasant Surprise]

Just thinking differently here. Have a natter to Jake at https://www.rade.net/ They sorted a high speed connection for their business. It may have been microwave.

Thanks. Yes as I mentioned in post #27 I’ve been in touch with a local company doing rural radio/WiFi style broadband.

Had a quote for 15 Mbps up/down symmetric, 300 GB data per month for £29 per month inc. or pay 1 year up front for £319 inc. There’s a one off £175 activation. Speed boost (where available) is £5 / 5Mbps. Business plans with fixed IP and more data available.

I’ve been very happy with the performance of the EE 4G service for the past 4 or so years, which on upload and download speeds and ping times trounces microwave and rural WiFi.

The two biggest limitations with 4G is lack of fixed IP addresses and data caps!

With the VAT I’ve paid now £300 as part of this FTTP order - at least to get me to an actual real quote. I will see that through and if the capital cost to install comes out OK-ish in conjunction with the current grant from DCMS then I will go for it. As the data speeds, no data cap and fixed IP addressing win it for me.

 

[Pheasant Surprise]

So anyway, update on the FTTPoD saga.

The engineer from OpenReach came to visit yesterday. I introduced myself and chatted with him when I first came across him on the road surveying the pole route.

It would appear I was very wrong about the black enclosures, as photographed several posts above; these are all apparently copper consolidation points and not fibre at all!

So my new On Demand connection would require the fibre to be run, back to the Aggregation Node which is somewhere near or not far out of the middle of the village. There are several properties already served by FTTP in the village, and at that stage of the survey he had not re-confirmed where he thought the main fibre aggregation node was, although probably not too far from there. There would be a splitter installed somewhere along the route too.

In any event it looks like it will be at least 1.5km if not probably 2 km to get this sucker strung along the pole route from the Ag. Node to mine. The surveyor did not think that would be too much of an issue, as there were no way-leaves or anything that could impede things. In fact he said it should be far quicker to install than if it was to go via ducts (which could be blocked or otherwise full with other cables).

The final connection will be from a Distribution Point (DP) installed on the last pole before mine, on a connectorised block. Effectively the connection is simply a long ruggedised patch lead plugged into the DP block and from there run continuously without any further joints or splices directly into my place, through the external wall, routed through the building and finishing up on a termination point. We spent the best part of an hour discussing the cable route internally.

So now I wait for the final build cost to come back via the ISP....

 

[foxbox]

At least you'll feel you've got something for your survey fee if you've managed to nab the chap doing the survey anyway! It'll be interesting to see if the survey includes routing as you want as opposed to bashing it through the nearest wall and leaving it there...

 

[Pheasant Surprise]

This was posted up earlier in the week on the thinkbroadband forum:

I'm still waiting for my final quote to come though....

 

[Pheasant Surprise]

OpenReach engineer confirmed where the Aggregation Node is and its approx. 2.1 km from my place.

The fibre would run approx 450 metres in underground duct, from there it would go to an optical "splitter" and would be run aerially via poles (about 33 I think) the rest of the way to my place. There is already FTTP installed in the village, so that's some consolation.

I hope my final quote will come out somewhere between 30% and 50% off the desktop quote based on history above with this new quoting system that OpenReach have been using since March.

 

[foxbox]

OpenReach engineer confirmed where the Aggregation Node is and its approx. 2.1 km from my place.

The fibre would run approx 450 metres in underground duct, from there it would go to an optical "splitter" and would be run aerially via poles (about 33 I think) the rest of the way to my place. There is already FTTP installed in the village, so that's some consolation.

I hope my final quote will come out somewhere between 30% and 50% off the desktop quote based on history above with this new quoting system that OpenReach have been using since March.

That's really interesting, thank you!

 

[Pheasant Surprise]

That's really interesting, thank you!

That’s not all, apparently OpenReach have asked comms providers like FluidOne and Cerberus to now hold back on any new FTTPoD orders from 20 September as they cannot process any more. See post from the thinkbroadband forum.

OpenReach have stated previously that they only have “capacity” nationally to deliver 20 FTTPoD orders per month. Yes that’s across the entire UK. Nuts or what!!

They apparently have been absolutely flooded with requests for ‘desktop’ (the free one) quotes - and I guess then folks are deciding to order/pay to get a survey/get a real quote, so they're closing the floodgates I suppose until they have enough engineers and teams to deliver this stuff. The demand is sky high it would appear.

My neighbours son has landed a job with OpenReach and he’s going to be doing fibre installs. So maybe it’s not all bull.

 

[Steevo]

They apparently have been absolutely flooded with requests for ‘desktop’ (the free one) quotes - and I guess then folks are deciding to order/pay to get a survey/get a real quote, so they're closing the floodgates I suppose until they have enough engineers and teams to deliver this stuff. The demand is sky high it would appear.

Most of that is business I would assume.

Imagine if you could rent premises cheap because the broadband was rubbish and you couldn't run a large office there. Pay £5k for FTTPoD and you've suddenly got a cheaper package, than renting a fibre connected premises in the middle of town or whatever.

 

[Steevo]

Also watching this thread with interest as Gigaclear are due to start build of FTTP here shortly. I don't expect it to be speedy (build), but should be very worthwhile once completed. Just gotta work out a way of digging the fibre from the road to the house/office in due course.

The ability to have 1GBit broadband, with no phone line issues is very attractive indeed. Will make those in urban areas with their snazzy BT Infinity feel left out for a change.

 

[Pheasant Surprise]

Most of that is business I would assume.

Imagine if you could rent premises cheap because the broadband was rubbish and you couldn't run a large office there. Pay £5k for FTTPoD and you've suddenly got a cheaper package, than renting a fibre connected premises in the middle of town or whatever.

I think there is a lot of pent up demand for fibre, sheerly down to poor copper broadband performance - especially as you say in out of town areas where our cabling distances are often excessive and the performance drops off a cliff.

If you sniff that you can get 20x better performance and if running a business get a grant to pay for a substantial chuck or all of it then why not.

 

[Pheasant Surprise]

Also watching this thread with interest as Gigaclear are due to start build of FTTP here shortly. I don't expect it to be speedy (build), but should be very worthwhile once completed. Just gotta work out a way of digging the fibre from the road to the house/office in due course.

The ability to have 1GBit broadband, with no phone line issues is very attractive indeed. Will make those in urban areas with their snazzy BT Infinity feel left out for a change.

My sense is that there's finally some momentum in the fibre game. Ofcom moved a whole lots of exchanges from "Market A" to "Market B" in the latest broadband market review (including my own), this means a lot more ISP's will be attracted to offering their services over "real" fibre to a wider audience.

Not too coincidentally then, news last week that Sky will now sell FTTP and G.Fast products from OpenReach.

This is good news as a 'big' player comes into the FTTP space, so more choice of ISP's and hopefully downwards price pressure, better for us. There's rumours that TalkTalk will follow suit.

 

[Steevo]

My sense is that there's finally some momentum in the fibre game. Ofcom moved a whole lots of exchanges from Market A to Market be in the latest broadband market review (including my own), this means a lot more ISP's will be attracted to offering their services over "real" fibre to a wider audience.

Not too coincidentally then, news last week that Sky will now sell FTTP and G.Fast products from OpenReach.

This is good news as a 'big' player comes into the FTTP space, so more choice of ISP's and hopefully downwards price pressure, better for us. There's rumours that TalkTalk will follow suit.

That's interesting! I hope a big player enters the Gigaclear market also but don't hold out hope at this stage.

 

[Pheasant Surprise]

That's interesting! I hope a big player enters the Gigaclear market also but don't hold out hope at this stage.

View attachment 716768

Price wise, that's pretty good actually. This is what I'm looking at potentially after 12 months with Cerberus when the service goes 'native' FTTP.

Not only do prices drop, from FTTPoD to FTTP (native) but you can then of course change ISPs, as the minimum contract term for FTTPoD was changed in February from 3 years down to 12 months...

 

[Steevo]

Price wise, that's pretty good actually. This is what I'm looking at potentially after 12 months with Cerberus when the service goes 'native' FTTP.

Not only do prices drop, from FTTPoD to FTTP (native) but you can then of course change ISPs, as the minimum contract term for FTTPoD was changed in February from 3 years down to 12 months...

View attachment 716770

That looks very good pricing indeed.

Here are the Gigaclear comparisons. A bit more expensive....but I guess that's offset by your build costs etc.

 

[Steevo]

Oh, in fact it's better than that!

I found out what the * means....



*All prices include VAT

 

[Pheasant Surprise]

That looks very good pricing indeed.

Here are the Gigaclear comparisons. A bit more expensive....but I guess that's offset by your build costs etc.

Yes not to forget though, its not just the excess build costs (whatever they may turn out to be...), but also in the first 12 months my 'on Demand' FTTP cost is much higher than native FTTP @ £100+VAT / month.

That's also not taking into account the "Market A" surcharge (£95+VAT) per month - which in their T&Cs Cerberus should be dropping before the service goes live, as we are now officially (as of July) in Ofcom "Market B" land.

Practically however its when BT Wholesale get around to adjusting their wholesale FTTP prices etc back to the ISP that the price update (removal of 'market' surcharge to me) will flow down the chain...