Self install Fibre due at end of the month, you ready for it?

[#1]

The problem appears to be that a modem/router provided by or via the ISP should be approved otherwise Openreach will wash their hands of any problems

[#2]

Looking at the BT Sinet - the list of requirements for the CP supplied VDSL modem/router is extensive (Annex A) - http://www.sinet.bt.com/sinet/SINs/pdf/498v6p0.pdf

[#3]

Annex A details how the tests are done. The list of requirements is section 3 which is much more straightforward since I think they're all ordinary parts of the VDSL2 and other related standards.

[#4]

I'm not so sure that every off the shelf VDSL modem/router would meet all those standards though - some of them are things not yet enabled on the Openreach network like vectoring/retransmission.
Network interference and upstream power seem like the two things they are concerned with the most.

[#5]

Considering there are many VDSL2 modem/routers that are based on the same broadcom or lantiq chips as in the Huawei or ECI openreach modems, I can't imagine it's a massively difficult task to configure them to operate the same way.

[#6]

As I understand from the ISP Review link the problem isn't necessarily meeting the standards it is getting BT Openreach approval

Quote

We’re slowly learning from other ISPs that there is a secondary problem with Openreach’s approach, which is with regards to the difficulty of getting a modem/router of their own approved by Openreach for use with PCP-Only. So far only the largest ISPs seem to be having much luck and no device manufacturer themselves have managed to get their kit through. Apparently there has been an influx of suppliers trying to get their CPEs tested and approved, which has added further delays into the process (we’re talking several months). On top of that any new firmware update then requires the modem/router to be put through the same process again before it can be approved, which adds to the delays. Privately we’re told that BT admits the standards are too high, although it’s not clear if they plan to do anything about that. We’re still waiting for a comment from BTOpenreach.

[#7]

It must be serious delays if it's taking several months - this document suggests 4 weeks.
http://www.openreach.co.uk/orpg/home/products/super-fastfibreaccess/cpeenablement/cpeenablement/down...

Quote

The key objectives of Modem Conformance Testing (MCT) are: • To ensure that devices connecting to the Openreach network do not cause network harm which would impact other users of the network • To verify that the parameters being fed by the modem into the Openreach network are correct. Please note that we count a CP device as any piece of hardware and firmware. So a change of firmware will be counted as a new device and we will review to ascertain if testing is required. How long will it take for Openreach to complete testing and provide me with the results? – The testing will take up to four weeks to complete, this may change depending on any issues we identify and other parallel testing being carried out.

Given the limited number of VDSL modem/routers out there, it wouldn't make much sense for there to be duplicated tested equipment from different ISPs.

[#8]

It might be necessary to test a customised device if Plusnet decide to remove the USB hardware and dying gasp support which results in their modified version emitting a high pitched noise.
There seem to be 2 different issues the smaller ISPs are complaining about:
1. The requirement to get their devices tested, which is I expect is mainly due to the greater potential with FTTC for misbehaving or non-compliant devices to mess things up for others. But this just seemed to be the "secondary" issue.
2. The general concept of the FTTC service being provided on the same basis as ADSL services. I don't really see why such a fuss is being made about this. It's as if they'd prefer it if everyone were forced to use the same locked-down modem to no access to the line stats. Running modified firmware to give the end user access to the stats should presumably be banned, especially if doing that also disables automatic firmware updates.

[#9]

i guess it suits them as they don't need to worry about them as it's still under BTO ownership and they have to replace them if ceases to function properly.

[#10]

If/when vectoring comes in the possibility for non-compliant or misbehaving modems in the vectored cable bundle might become the dominant issue.
Mind you I expect his applies more to those semi-experts who think they know that they are doing - but actually don't  who decide to use their own model acquired from somewhere like ebay and probably with incorrect firmware on it.

[#11]

Quote from: ejs

It might be necessary to test a customised device if Plusnet decide to remove the USB hardware and dying gasp support which results in their modified version emitting a high pitched noise. There seem to be 2 different issues the smaller ISPs are complaining about: 1. The requirement to get their devices tested, which is I expect is mainly due to the greater potential with FTTC for misbehaving or non-compliant devices to mess things up for others. But this just seemed to be the "secondary" issue. 2. The general concept of the FTTC service being provided on the same basis as ADSL services. I don't really see why such a fuss is being made about this. It's as if they'd prefer it if everyone were forced to use the same locked-down modem to no access to the line stats. Running modified firmware to give the end user access to the stats should presumably be banned, especially if doing that also disables automatic firmware updates.

#2 is a big issue.
On adsl engineers had a knack of blaming the end users modem and raising a SFI charge.
Bit harder to do that when its a openreach modem.

[#12]

after some help on kitz's forum we cracked using zyxel in bridge mode whilst been able to access the stats.
On my line it syncs about 2mbit higher than the hg612 whilst (so far) has less errors.

[#13]

This is what Dave said a while back on it:

Quote from: dave

Hi, We've been testing the Openreach self install product, mainly with staff and friends and family of staff members and mainly using the Technicolor VDSL router noted above. We've also been watching the industry results of how self install compares to engineer install. We don't offer an option in our fibre signup journey to provide your own router for 2 reasons, first 99.99% of people signing up won't have a suitable VDSL router and secondly even if they did the router probably wouldn't have gone through the Openreach testing. While a router doesn't need to go through the Openreach testing, if the vendor hasn't met the standards set by Openreach or if they don't provide ongoing support should the standards change then there's no guarantee the service would continue to work. As with ADSL, self install FTTC will likely become the norm in time but for the moment it's still a trial process for us.

So it would look like it's not a necessity to go through the Openreach testing.

[#14]

until you try to raise a fault

[#15]

But the new fault testing should be able to pin-point the location of a fault.