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SoGEA or Full Fibre?

198kHz
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Re: SoGEA or Full Fibre?


@plusmouse wrote:

But having the mobiles means a power outage won`t prevent us being left without a lifeline which is the main thing. 


We know what you meant  Wink

A complex system that does not work is invariably found to have evolved from a simpler system that worked just fine
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plusmouse
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Re: SoGEA or Full Fibre?

Hey everyone, many thanks for all your information on this and as @Baldrick1  said, I will only know what`s in front of me when I contact Plusnet to find out where I stand going forward. It`s going to be a case of if they offer me a new contact via email or through my PN account, I should still phone them up to discuss my options because if indeed SoGEA is a non starter at my address, then it`s going to be FF. And that means having an engineer out to make the necessary changes for that. I imagine I should be able to keep my existing P/Net HUB 2 router as we won`t have a phone to plug into it anyway! 

 

So now I know what I`m up against and it`s clear that retaining a landline these days is either move to a VOIP service like BT, or to a separate company who offer that. Right now, I`m opting to remain with Plusnet. Well....that`s my plan anyway. 

 

 

Baldrick1
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Re: SoGEA or Full Fibre?

 


@jab1 wrote:

Just curious @Baldrick1 - what 'disruption'?

Garden/drive dug up if underground or holes drilled in walls to stabilise ladders if overhead. Hole drilled through wall possibly damaging brick faces/render. Possibility that it’s impossible to locate the router in the same location, requiring extra cabling in the house or the hub located in a poor location for decent wireless coverage.. Possibility of decoration being marked.
Setting up a third party VoIP service if required.

We are slowly getting FTTP installed in our village. In preparation I am currently installing Ethernet cable without it being strung to skirting boards etc. so that I can leave the hub centrally located.

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Baldrick1
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Re: SoGEA or Full Fibre?

@plusmouse 

To talk to Plusnet re contract renewal the direct line to the Customer Options Team is 0800 013 2632.

In the event of a power cut you can install an Uninterruptible Power Supply.  The thing to note is that with the old FTTC service the street cabinet will switch off after a half hour or so. Full Fibre is remotely powered so far less likely to be interrupted.

Personally I would take the hit and get the change out of the way.

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jab1
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Re: SoGEA or Full Fibre?

Fair enough @Baldrick1 If your phone service is underground and the current 'pipe' id unsuitable/blocked, then yes you could see some digging, otherwise they prefer to use the current route.

They don't always worry about 'stabilising ladders, I am aware of three recent installations, including mine, where Quinns/OR dispensed with that nicety.

My router moved, from kitchen to front room, although I could have left it where it was and used an Ethernet cable, but decided it was easier/cheaper to reposition the router.

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Re: SoGEA or Full Fibre?

@Baldrick1 : That would be the worst case scenario, yes! But obviously has to be considered because it may need some altering. My current Hub 2 router is in the living room at the back of the house sat next to a plug socket and the BT socket where it`s connected directly. My laptop is upstairs in my bedroom! Connected by a very long ethernet cable. I`ve ran this all the way around the doors and up the stairs! Otherwise I wouldn`t be able to use a `wired` connection to my laptop. It has a battery but I`ve never used it, nor the WiFi connectivity as it`s not transported around. Hasn`t needed to be but I prefer it being wired up for a stronger connection.

Thanks for the phone number too. 🙂

Best case scenario for me would have been to go down the SoGEA route and just drop the phoneline and recontract for the Unlimited Fibre to continue as it is, but looking at those wholesale stats earlier, it very much looks like I`m going to have to accept FF rather than kick the can down the road and face it all again sooner rather than later. If it`s inevitable, I may as well bite the bullet now. 

As an aside, I`ve been noticing that some bungalows near me have small grey colored square metal boxes installed below the windows with a wire running into the house. I`m thinking out loud here but those look to me to be Full Fibre connections? I knew someone who used to live in one home and someone else recently bought the property and that `Grey Box` wasn`t there before and we`ve had fibre optic vans floating around here all summer working on these new cables and I`ve had Virgin and BT/EE knock on my door telling me about the all singing and dancing Fibre that is now available to me. So that in itself is a big clue to what`s happening. 

 

 

 

 

 

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Re: SoGEA or Full Fibre?

@plusmouse There is no reason why your Full Fibre connection can't replace the BT master socket, and the whole setup remain as it is,

John
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Re: SoGEA or Full Fibre?

@jab1 : I`ve always worried about the very LONG ethernet cable (runs from the back of the living room, along the hallway ceiling, then up the stairs, down the wall again and into my bedroom where the wire then extends behind my units to reach the laptop! It`s worked fine and the only way I can have the laptop up here unless I use the WiFi and although that would possibly be OK, I`d rather keep the wired connectivity. Old habits and all that....

 

No doubt if/when a BT engineer came along to set up FF, they would possibly look at where the current master socket is and set it up as close to the old one as possible unless we could negotiate moving the new connection to another location. But it`ll be a brand new fitting with the old outdated wires being defunct before they erode!  

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Re: SoGEA or Full Fibre?

@jab1 

It depends on how the cable got to the rear. In my case the underground cable is directly buried under the drive then under the floor. There’s no way that it would be practicable to replace it using this route.

@plusmouse 

The incoming fibre is terminated in the grey box. A shorter fibre with a plug on the end is then spliced to this in the grey box and fed through the wall to the ONT. 

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jab1
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Re: SoGEA or Full Fibre?

Unless I'm missing something - possible, because I'm a little tired after a bad night - all those 'old  wires' are your responsibility anyway, and nothing to do with BT/Openreach, @plusmouse .

John
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Re: SoGEA or Full Fibre?


@Baldrick1 wrote:

@jab1 

It depends on how the cable got to the rear. In my case the underground cable is directly buried under the drive then under the floor. There’s no way that it would be practicable to replace it using this route.

OK. I don't think we know whether the feed to @plusmouse 's property is O/H or U/G?

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Re: SoGEA or Full Fibre?

@plusmouse 

You might want to start a new thread on FTTP installs. Useful information would be are you currently fed via an underground or overhead copper feed and is it to the back or front of your property.

 

As to your "long" ethernet cable - consider getting someone in to run an external cable terminated by ethernet wall sockets at either end. If under consideration wait until you get FTTP installed so you know exactly where the ONT is.

 

Brian

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Re: SoGEA or Full Fibre?

@bmc : The cable which powers our BB and phone runs behind the house to a pole between the gardens, where all the other houses connections meet. So as far as I know, there is no `feed` under ground that I know of. But there have been little men wearing high viz clothing up and down these poles during the summer so they may well have been rewiring or connecting some of those homes to a new connection. 

 

It would be good to have spare ethernet wall sockets yes. Not sure if those are `extras` though or costed separately? Would be worth asking about though. 

 

@jab1 : The wires I`m speaking of are the wires outside of the house rather than inside! So they will be Openreach/BT`s responsibility? They are old now right enough but thankfully, still working. 🙄

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Re: SoGEA or Full Fibre?

OK, @plusmouse - if you went for FF, they would be redundant as FF is a separate/different cable. The chances are they would be left in place, although my installer cut my copper at the point it enters my house and coiled it back on the telegraph pole.

John
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Re: SoGEA or Full Fibre?

@plusmouse 

You should be able to see a box attached to the pole which serves your property. This is a Connectorized Block Terminal (CBT). When a fibre cable is installed it is plugged into the CBT and run to the house to a Customer Splice Point (CSP). This is the grey box you spoke about.

 

With an install you never know until the day what will actually happen but one possibility is the o/h cable is attached to your house and brought down to ground level to the CSP (makes it easier to "splice" the cables together). If desirable you might be able to get them to run the cable back up the wall to enter the property at the first floor level with the ONT in your bedroom.

 

You would need power sockets for both the router and the ONT.

 

You could also ask if they would remove the old copper cable as redundant.

 

Brian