FTTP and Residential number porting

[#1]

I think the thing to remember is plusnet fttc is £20 ish line +£20 ish fibre.
When on contract the deal is more like £5 fibre so £25 total

Full fibre is a similar price without the line, around £25

Bt and zen have digital voice
Sky include the landline
They are £35-40

If plusnet included digital voice as an option then they’d be on the same price level.
So I think bt are pitching plusnet as a budget supplier like they do with mobile.

Also we get a free static ip (one off £5) so it’s great value. With digital voice I’m sure they’d steal bt customers…. Hence why no digital voice

[#2]

@FlossyThePig  - watch out for your exchange going "priority fibre" tho'. Then you won't have the option of moving to another ISP first as the only way to keep your phone number appears to be stay with PN on FTTC !

[#3]

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@davidj66 wrote: - watch out for your exchange going "priority fibre" tho'. Then you won't have the option of moving to another ISP first as the only way to keep your phone number appears to be stay with PN on FTTC !

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Currently I get 8 Mbps download and 0.5 Mbps (yes half a Megabit/sec) upload with FTTC due to the distance from the cabinet, hence my desire for FTTP.

We have had the landline number for over 20 years since we moved to Suffolk and I don't know how many companies/people have the number as the prime contact number. Another factor is I'm "hearing impaired" (deaf) and there are more options for a wired phone than a mobile.

Where can I find out more about an exchange going "priority fibre" as searching for the term "priority fibre"returns nothing related to it apart from the post on the PN forum.

[#4]

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@FlossyThePig wrote:

Where can I find out more about an exchange going "priority fibre" as searching for the term "priority fibre"returns nothing related to it apart from the post on the PN forum.

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Put your phone number in to the   BT Broadband Availability Checker  

Your "fibre priority programme" status should be in the notes at the bottom of the page.

[#5]

@FlossyThePig 

I can't recall if FTTP is currently available at your address.

If your Exchange goes "Fibre Priority" it might be possible to transfer an FTTC account to another provider but it probably would require a manual order to be placed and OpenReach to accept the order (from another set of postings on the Forum somewhere).

For new accounts OR will only supply FTTP or, if not available, the next best alternative.

Although hassle to get it done, if you wish to stay with PN setting up a new account for FTTP and then porting from the FTTC account to keep your number might be a good option. It seperates your internet, e-mail and phone number to allow choices in the future.

In particular, given your hearing problems, VOIP provider Sipgate apparently will e-mail a transcripion of a call if you need to see it. Look at posts #142/143/144/145 on this thread.

Brian

[#6]

Thanks for both replies.

@Anonymous: There is no mention of "fibre priority programme" status in the notes at the bottom of the page.

@bmc: Openreach installed fibre cables to the poles down our lane last March so I originally applied to upgrade to FTTP  in June but cancelled when I realised I would lose my landline number.

The question now is, if I order a new FTTP contract while retaining my current FTTC contract will Openreach install a hybrid cable from the pole outside my house?

Now for a bit of a ramble about my hearing. The whole team I worked with started to Work from Home just before lockdown so the company provided hardware to replicate our office environment (laptop, stand, multiple monitors, mouse, keyboard, etc.) using MS Teams for daily catch-up meetings. As I had difficulty with the sound on the laptop the company supplied me with a headset and USB adapter, which solved the problem. However I have a device (Oticon Streamer Pro) which uses a wireless connection to my hearing aids and plugging it into the USB adapter worked better than the headset. When I retired at the end of March all the company wanted back was the laptop.

My home computer is a Mac which has excellent sound and when I had a Zoom meeting there was no need to use any other hardware. Now Sipgate has added a "Softphone" app which should work with my Mac it may reduce my use of a physical phone.

[#7]

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@FlossyThePig wrote:

@Anonymous: There is no mention of "fibre priority programme" status in the notes at the bottom of the page.

I just rechecked what my own phone number shows, and noticed that in addition to the first line of the notes saying "The exchange is not in a current fibre priority programme",  the bottom lines of the table under the section "Exchange Product Restrictions"  shows a line "FTTP Priority Exchange" indicating the "Status" as "N".  

Does yours show that ?

[#8]

A fibre priority exchange looks like:

[#9]

My exchange changed status virtually overnight - no "local" warnings - only found out when I couldn't get quotes for FTTC with Sky after the initial news about PN not allowing upgrades to FTTP with a phone line /number

[#10]

@FlossyThePig 

If you wish to retain your number then it would involve a bit of short term hassle but you would end up with PN FTTP and your number with a VOIP provider. I can't recall if it matters but you would lose PN e-mail accounts.

Working with a staff member to ensure things don't go wrong you place an order for FTTP as a new account. When it's installed you then port your number to a VOIP provider. This cancels your FTTC service. For a short period you might be libel for monthly charges on two accounts.

If you look at post #125 on the thread you'll see a staff member talk about this. In particular PN will waive any early termination charges on the FTTC account.

As to the cables to your house, it might not matter if the copper cable is removed  - PN would surely treat it as a fault to be fixed. Porting your number out and cancelling the account "fixes" the fault. Don't take my word for this - you'll need to get PN to confirm. If not, tell the installer on the day you want your copper retained.

Short term pain for long term gain!!!

Brian

[#11]

I have been following this thread as sometime in the future I will have to go FTTP from my current FTTC installation. (We already have FTTP here but was only being offered by Zen, BT, and from memory Sky according to the OR notification I received some months back. According to a PN notification they will be able to offer shortly.) Though in theory it should be possible to reserve an existing number and then release that to an existing customer that has migrated to FTTP the easier option is to allocate a new number with the new fibre. Though for many that is not an issue for others and businesses it can be. In fact if you receive a lot of spam calls it may be beneficial. The domestic retail market is very price sensitive so I imagine the extra costs involved could be counter productive with regards to sales as well as messy. However I have been told that OR have ported the exising phone number to migrated FTTP though have no information on whether these were business, domestic, or whom the ISPs were.

[#12]

Worth just highlighting that full fibre is just a line, it doesn’t need a new number which is why if you migrate you lose your existing number.

[#13]

And where people do have numbers such as with sky and bt.
Sky I think retain the copper line
Bt give you digital voice
Plusnet is just the fttp line

[#14]

@ukguy1 

I have a neighbour who’s still on FTTC. They have recently moved to Sky FTTC and their landline has been transferred to VoIP despite being on a copper connection.

[#15]

Ah sounds like sky are also moving towards voip now then