Swish fibre service

[#1]

Swish are about to dig up our road and install fibre and no doubt will then be asking me to sign up for their service.

Ignoring the the moment that I am very happy with my Plusnet Fibre to the Cabinet speed (and can no reason to ever want 1 Gbps my current measured 34 Mbs is more than adequate)

• What would happen to my broadband contract if I did consider going to Swish fibre?
• Would I still be able to use Plusnet as my ISP?
• What would happen to my telephone service, currently with Plusnet?

I currently have my own internet domain and have my domain email addresses mapped to PlusNet mailboxes and the same for my website. 

[#2]

Moderators Note

This topic has been moved from Fibre to Everything Else

[#3]

Swish are an isp, so you would normally migrate to them and terminate all Plusnet services.
You could pay for both, but that might be a bit excessive

[#4]

@jcs1167957 

If Swish are installing a pure fibre network then it will have no connection to your OpenReach copper line.

If you place an order then a new cable will be run to your house and brought inside to an Optical Network Terminator (ONT).

Brian

[#5]

I have no intention of moving to Swish at the moment. I already have FTTC from Plusnet and am more than happy with the bandwidth this provides. I am also happy with my copper telephone service which is overhead to a pole in my own garden (which also services many other properties) fed from a manhole just outside my boundary. I was not sure whether this included telephone services but I now know it does not. 

Swish have however been granted a 5 week road closure for our road by  our council and their letter to residents stated that ALL vehicles would be prevented from access to the road.It is a narrow 3 metres wide hedge to hedge or less for about 1 mile with no pavement. This provoked my question. I Now expect to be pestered with Swish sales to try to get me to change o their fibre!

We are in the process of getting this closure clarified and apparently access for residents has to be maintained but I am still not sure how this can be achieved. There are two ways out of the road but one involves a 2 mile detour with about half a mile section of very narrow single track road (wing mirrors brushing hedges) with at least one very large and deep pothole!

[#6]

@jcs1167957 

Sounds like you're in for a rough time when the digging starts. If a narrow track brushes wing mirrors think what it'll do to delivery vans!

Although unlikely you could check to see if OpenReach offer FTTP. Put your number in the following and look for WBC FTTP in the left hand column. FTTC is shown as VDSL.

https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL

If in due course you do go to Swish you could port your phone number to a VOIP provider though this will terminate your PlusNet connection when the number moves. However, if you have an overlap of services you'll have internet from Swish - ready for VOIP. Many people who are on FTTP (myself included) cancel their phone line as mobiles do the job.

Brian

[#7]

As I said I have no need for FTTP. FTTC provides more than sufficient bandwidth for my needs. I will only go FTTP, in any form, when forced to do so.

Swish are passing my drive with fibre whether I want them to or not. I am just trying to understand  options.

I have had confirmation via my local councillor that they are obliged to maintain vehicle access at all times which cintractis their letter. I have still t hear back from Swish HOW they will achieve this and how they will allow visitor/deliveries/care assistants etc. I have now established email contact with someone there (they have not bothered to phone back) told bme two to three days to answer my questions.

I am hoping to avoid the narrow part of our lane!

[#8]

@jcs1167957 

As I understand things, you will not be forced onto FTTP. Although OpenReach are in the process of de-activating PSTN your copper line to the house will remain to supply an Internet service from your local cabinet.

However, you will be forced onto a VOIP service at some point in the future when PSTN is removed from your Exchange. At this time, it is not known how PlusNet will handle this.

Brian

[#9]

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@jcs1167957 wrote:

I have still t hear back from Swish HOW they will achieve this and how they will allow visitor/deliveries/care assistants etc.

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Not to mention fire engines!

[#10]

I am aware of the change to replace landlines with VOIP before too long and in fact I am talking on that very topic at our next computer club meeting in May. I have not yet however investigated Plusnet's intentions in this area. Your comments have been helpful.

My current thoughts are to migrate my own domain, including my email boxes and web site (both managed by Plusnet at the moment) to another host and I will then be able to more easily move away from Plusnet if I then choose to do so. I have looked into that possibility but not actually done it yet. My domain registration at the moment is managed by a friend and I really want to take direct control of my domain to do what I want to do.

Plusnet have made it much more difficult to raise issues now. I had t create a twitter account just to report the email outage and I have somewhat lost my faith in Plusnet since that event having been a subscriber since 2003 and before BT took them over, Ironically I was working for BT Syntegra at the time and they were substantially cheaper than the staff discount rate at BT! I was also being forced to "retire" from BT at the age of 60 about a month later. In fact I worked as contractor (initially to BT) and employee/contractor for another 14 years before finally retiring.

[#11]

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@jcs1167957 wrote:
My domain registration at the moment is managed by a friend and I really want to take direct control of my domain to do what I want to do.

I'd get that manged by yourself ASAP, then it sounds as if you'd need to get some alternative web hosting and e-mail hosting eomewhere else.

Then manage your own DNS A and MX records. I wouldn't rely on anyone else.

Been years since I ran any websites, so the only records I care about are my own domain's MX ones which I use Microsoft for Exchange Server hosting, which I am happy with.

[#12]

@jcs1167957 

Anyone who moves to Swish will lose the PTSN service unless they retain a phone line account with a copper provider. The real unanswered question at the moment about the PSTN switchoff is what happens in a power cut. Fibre cables do not carry power so everything goes down. I got my FTTP connection when OR supplied a battery back up with the ONT. They don't nowadays. Do Swish?

At best you'd only have a VOIP service for as long as the backup lasted - pay a bit of money for a good unit and you might get 5 or 6 hours. Most are for around an hour.

As to construction I would presume the contractor will be keeping a short work area - perhaps a 100 meters. Access to your house might (will) be blocked for 2 or 3 days as they pass. The real problem is once they block off the "good" exit you can't use it until they pass your property.

Brian