Does Plusnet's unlimited fibre involve drilling into the wall?

[#1]

Hello everyone,

I recently moved into a new flat where drilling is not allowed.

All the internet providers so far told me that in order to install fibre broadband, they'll need to drill a hole in the wall etc. Decent standard broadband looks impossible to find so I have no options here and I work from home so this is quite urgent.

Plusnet said they only need to reactivate the landline and they don't need to drill a hole or anything else, which is great but also surprising. 

I bought unlimited fibre from Plusnet and wait for the engineers to visit. However, I am worried that they will visit on the day (costs £49.99) and then tell me it's not possible without drilling and therefore I will have paid the cost of installation and will have no internet. Can someone help with this please?

[#2]

Does the flat already have a telephone socket ?

[#3]

Yes, it does. There was broadband installed previously but not fibre.

Thank you for your response. 

[#4]

Hi @jdarc21,

You should be fine if that's the case. As long as it's an Openreach phone socket and not one from, let's say Virgin as an example, we won't need to carry out any work in the property to install the service.

[#5]

@jdarc21  Plusnet "Fibre" broadband is Fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) then it connects to your premises over the standard telephone line so if you have one no drilling needed. Full fibre (FTTP) is not supplied by Plusnet yet and that would need a new fibre cable into the premises.

[#6]

Ah, so you should be fine. The fibre product from PlusNet is FTTC ( Fibre to the cabinet ), the last part of the link from the cabinet uses the existing telephone lines, so the existing socket and line will be used. I suspect that your property might also have FTTP ( Fibre to the premises ) available, which would invlove a new fibre cable from the pole or underground and would involve drilling a hole in a wall for the cable. Maybe the other providers are offering FTTP and thus needing to drill a hole.

Try putting either the existing phone number or postcode into the Bt wholesale checker here https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL and posting the results ( redact any phone number or address informtion as this is a public forum ) that will show what services are available to you.

[#7]

Many thanks, I did not know this and it now makes sense why no drilling was suggested

[#8]

Thank you everyone for answering.

I certainly feel relieved (and I learned something new

[#9]

@jdarc21 

Just to clarify on FTTP. It is sometimes/often possible for OpenReach to route the new fibre cable in through the hole used for the existing phone line. While I had my wall drilled by the time two of my neighbours were done new customer equipment was in use and they brought the cable in via the existing phone line route. For flats it would depend on how cables are routed.

You can check what's available for your property via the link previously provided. FTTC is shown as VDSL and FTTP as WBC FTTP (not FTTP on Demand).

Brian