I'm currently with Madasafish (who are really a division of Plusnet after a takeover) who are ceasing to be separate on 15th December. They sent me an email inviting me to move to Plusnet in advance, and quoted a 0800 number to get one started.
Which would be fine, except I'm deaf.
So I emailed, and got an acknowledgement that I'd get an answer 16 to 20 hours later - over 80 hours ago. I guess they've been swamped. Pointless doing a transfer as some bits are already run by Plusnet, including the direct debit.
Anyway, what I wanted to know is how do they do the fibre? Website implies all the way which would be novel since as far as I know, all the phone related wires down my street are copper. Perhaps fibre to street boxes, but the nearest one is perhaps 150 yards away, so not something on my radar to see being worked on.
I don't have a power point anywhere near the phone master socket, so Madasafishes earlier suggestion I used that for my router didn't and won't happen. But I fitted the master socket with a BT i plate, so the speed lost to the upstairs extension is minimal. And that upstairs extension used for the router gives my WiFi a decent range.
So although I suspect for now, 'normal' broadband still makes the most sense I would like know what is actually involved in their fibre.
BT own Plusnet, so I'd imagine their fibre offering to be the same.
Last edited by: Slidingpillar on Mon 21 Sep 15 at 15:04
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I know nowt about their fibre offering, but from recent experience (on behalf of my aunt, who moved house) their customer service resources are very thin. They were slow at responding to email - three to four days at least, and over a week at one point.
Just watch the contract rollovers - like TalkTalk they can get more expensive if you take your eye off the ball.
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>> like TalkTalk
Shudder...
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I know nothing about their current offerings, but if you would like me to ring them up on your behalf and keep slapping until they start dealing with your email(s), I am quite happy to do so.
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I know nothing about their current offerings, but if you would like me to ring them up on your behalf and keep slapping until they start dealing with your email(s), I am quite happy to do so.
Thanks for the offer, but I'll set my brother on them if they've not responded by Wednesday. Truthfully, I suspect they are rather inundated and I'm not hugely bothered at the moment. Continuity of service is perhaps more important to me than the average punter as although no-one pays me for it, I do look after two websites, the local scout group and my brothers shop.
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We've got it, but apart from having 2 'routers' instead of one, couldn't really tell you much about it in terms of how it works. Does this help?
www.plus.net/home-broadband/faqs/fibre-optic-broadband/#work
When I go to that page, I get a pop-up offering an on-line chat with a 'specialist'.
Last edited by: Focusless on Mon 21 Sep 15 at 16:12
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Does this help?
www.plus.net/home-broadband/faqs/fibre-optic-broadband/#work
Answered three questions for me! Yes it's fibre to the cabinet, copper to me and my otherwise excellent router is not good enough. And a standard fibre installation in my house is not on as I've no mains electricity near the master socket.
So at present fibre is not really sensible.
Last edited by: Slidingpillar on Mon 21 Sep 15 at 16:35
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Do you actually need fibre Sp? ... I'm well out in the sticks, but even here I can have fibre BB if I wanted it.
I'm quite happy with my ADSL2+ which gives me a download speed of around 5.5Mbps - more than enough for what I want.
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No I don't need fibre, but you know how one is, latest toys are always nice! And now user speeds have increased, far too many websites install so much junk that the display time of their page rivals what one had in the days of dial up. Then, the BBC guidelines were try and keep a page to 10k or less...
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What amazes me is that I'm 2 miles from the exchange and 1 mile from the cabinet. The copper wire winds it's way through trees & hedges and I still manage to get reasonable speeds (for ADSL) without any drop outs ...
Apart from me :o)
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Fibre advertised as an extra £10/£15 BUT there is a catch - usually 10Gb/20Gb which sounds a lot until you download a few movies or some HD TV.
ADSL2 costs me £7 going up to £10 BUT is " unlimited" i.e. no danger of unexpected add-ons should I decide to watch more films etc etc
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I went to PlusNet fibre a few months ago and my download speeds went from a paltry 2Mb to nearly 40. I live just over two miles from the exchange and about 150 yards from the cabinet so the final bit of copper cable doesn't cause too much of an issue.
Plusnet have been slow as hell answering the phone since they introduced their Youview service a month ago as they've been swamped with enquiries and can't seem to cope. They were fine till then.
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I've been with TalkTalk for nearly 10 years and am now on the 38Mb fibre service (I got a great half-price package deal for 18 months including phone, TV and broadband, although I don't use the TV service).
I used to get around 14Mb on ADSL2+, but since the switch to fibre last December it's been a consistent 37.75Mb or so and, occasionally, even higher.
Don't forget that it also helps to keep speeds up if other in the family are using the broadband service as well as yourself...:-)
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>> And a standard fibre installation in my house is not on as I've no mains electricity near the
>> master socket.
>> So at present fibre is not really sensible.
Unless the BT Openreach installation process has changed (it's a BT product after all):
1. The new VDSL modem/router (now combined for BT but not sure about others) plugs into a CAT5 socket
2. The master socket is changed to have a new front plate which has a CAT5 socket.
3. BT will run CAT5 cable to another room (internal or external but external means drilling) where you want the modem/router.
I got BT fibre in 2010 and they ran a cable up to my office.
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Anyone else, for CAT5, read ethernet. The Plusnet faq referred to earlier mentions this, but there is no neat way to get to the bedroom I use as a study from the hall where the master socket is. No way is the BT Openreach bod going to be on to move furniture etc.
I currently use an ethernet lead for the desktop PC connection to the router in the study, but the phone extension it needed was me taking advantage of an extension already put in to another bedroom which very conveniently was sited the other side other of the same wall. Bit of drill wielding, 6 inches of four core wire and job done.
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>> Anyone else, for CAT5, read ethernet.
It's CAT5 cabling but the sockets are not Ethernet.
But the master socket is where the CAT5 socket for BT Infinity/VDSL/FTTC needs to go.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Mon 21 Sep 15 at 23:14
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When I got this installed we had two phone sockets in the house (plus the usual plug in extensions)... New house. Without disconnecting one of the sockets the BT Infinity service was slower than a poor ADSL connection. Down to wiring of the second socket.
I don't think you can have the BT Infinity/FTTC faceplate anywhere other than the master socket. But they can run cabling to another room for the VDSL modem. BT Infinity now has the VDSL model in the HomeHub but not when I got it over 5 years ago. And the HomeHub I had experienced issues with Sky+ so I swapped the HomeHub for a Linksys router.
Just a thought for you... what if they could put a new master socket in the office and then your cable run for the other socket is reversed?? Not sure they can or would do that for the installation mind.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Mon 21 Sep 15 at 23:19
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By coincidence, I am converting to Plusnet Fibre tomorrow - Wednesday.
I have been with Plusnet for a few years and quite happy with the service. The only bind has been the 10GB a month limit, which I have had to watch constantly - try to make sure downloads are done before 8a.m. etc.
So now the bullet has been bitten. The only thing is, which box/PVR should I get? I quite like Youview, subscription free. Possibly the Humax DTR-T1010?
What does the team think?
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>> So now the bullet has been bitten. The only thing is, which box/PVR should I
>> get?
Is an 'ordinary' non-internet Freeview PVR not sufficient? Just curious.
The Humax gets a good review here ('our new favourite PVR'):
www.expertreviews.co.uk/tvs-entertainment/pvrs/53312/humax-dtr-t1010-review
and if you felt lucky and wanted to save a bit of cash, you could get one for £132:
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/131438372244
(we've bought a few things as not-quite-new off ebay (including our PVR) and all have been fine)
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BTW in case you weren't aware, note that the Humax doesn't have built-in wifi
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Still toying with making changes as per thread I posted earlier this year.
Today it looks like my annual bill for Virgin over the next year will be £880. If I ditch the TV entirely (we can live with that I think, just using basic BBC etc, whatever we can get for free), and accept a much lower but still perfectly good enough broadband speed, keeping the landline (we have to), then swapping to TalkTalk would save me £637 over the next year (and a bit less but still hundreds) subsequently.
Some say Talk Talk would be a bad thing and others seem to think it's probably ok. It's tempting to take the risk for that amount of cash, I have to say.
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>>If I ditch the TV entirely (we can live with that I think, just using basic BBC etc,
I haven't watched TV at all for 4.5 months, am I normal?
S'funny though seeing a big black of colour Plasma telly stuck in the corner, lifeless.
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>> Some say Talk Talk would be a bad thing and others seem to think it's
>> probably ok. It's tempting to take the risk for that amount of cash, I have
>> to say.
When TalkTalk is working ok, it's ok.
When it isn't, it's an absolute pig. I have posted elsewhere on this forum about my experiences with TalkTalk.
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I have posted elsewhere on this forum about my experiences with TalkTalk.
>>
Shudder (again).
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I've been with TalkTalk for nine years and have very rarely had to sort out a problem.
At present, thanks to negotiating a half-price deal, I have an 18 month phone, TV (which I don't use as I already have the facilities including NowTV and Plex) and unlimited 38Mb fibre broadband package for a little over £26 a month, including line rental.
I also get a 10 per cent discount for Speedy Payment and could, in fact, reduce the line rentail cost by paying annually if I wished.
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It's CAT5 cabling but the sockets are not Ethernet.
Ahh sorry, more confusion for the amateur then! Essentially the data stuff gets split from the phone at the master socket, that much I did understand, even if there seemed little reason other than to make sure the DIYer couldn't mess about even if they did know what they were doing.
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It's split at the master socket to make sure there is no interference from the phone socket. After all they are still using twisted pair cables from the cabinet and not coax like they do with Virgin Media.
Whilst in some homes it might work over the wiring in the house, there's no guarantee it will work at maximum speed. The further you are from the cabinet, the slower the VDSL connection will be. So add in say 20 feet at home of cheap twisted pair cabling and you might see a reduction in speed. Using the CAT5 cabling (if you need it extending from the master socket) does not degrade the speed.
Last edited by: rtj70 on Tue 22 Sep 15 at 11:47
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Madasafish/Plusnet have now replied to my original email, and I'm a bit dubious about one aspect of the response. Not computer technical, but a matter of business aspects and making sure I'm signed up to the right thing. So I'll discuss this with my brother when I next see him.
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I now have unlimited fibre.
The nice man has been in this morning and connected up things. The speed test says that I now get 37 whatsits instead of between 1 and 2.
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One problem I've got with PlusNet is the Youview box I got from them two weeks ago. I got it mainly because it came with Eurosport as standard and I may take the BT Sports option too at a fiver a month. I cannot get any of the ITV channels to install although they are no problem on the various Freeview sets we have dotted about the house. A previous Youview box from Talk Talk could also pick up everything without problems. PlusNet are investigating at the moment and are in contact with Huawei to see what the problem might be (A replacement box had the same issue).
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A nice little surprise from PlusNet today. I signed up last October and part of the deal was £50 cashback. The cheque arrived in the post this am, it took them long enough to send but as I'd forgotten all about it...
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1 Meg here. Dire really although we cope.
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As mentioned above, Plusnet fibre up and running.
I bought a Humax DTR-T2000 YouView box thing, with a couple of Powerline Adapters.
That's all good. I can now record, pause, catch up, rewind and all sorts of clever things. However:-
Is there a way of skipping ads when watching a recording or catch up?
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you should have a little timed ff button, like a little round circular arrow. You can set that to a time, say 2 minutes. Press it, and it jumps two mins forward.
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>> you should have a little timed ff button, like a little round circular arrow. You
>> can set that to a time, say 2 minutes. Press it, and it jumps two
>> mins forward.
I tend to record all the commercial station programs I want to watch so I can skip the adverts this way. SWMBO was watching something live the other day - it was quite a novelty to see adverts again.
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"As mentioned above, Plusnet fibre up and running."
Nearly a week later ........ how are you getting on with it, Duncan?
We moved to Plusnet 4 or 5 years ago, and found them to be pretty good - and they aren't too difficult to get hold of when you need any technical advice. We've been getting around 3 whatsits at some 3km+ from the exchange using standard broadband.
We have been considering moving onto fibre - particularly since the council's trees have grown up and knocked out our satellite signal - we are wondering if fibre would be an alternative method of getting a t.v. signal to the house.
The main box is in the hall beside the front door - possibly not very convenient for introducing fibre if the box has to be extended; the secondary socket that we currently use for our broadband is in the front study about 3m away. How did you get on with the 'plumbing' aspects, Duncan?
Cheers
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Well, it's up and running*, as I said. We are enjoying playing with the 'catch up', 'on demand', 'record', and all the other little bits and pieces.
The Humax Youview box is really very easy to use, intuitive to a large degree. I have got the app on my phone, so I can set the machine to record remotely, if I want. I like that.
So, the broadband side of it, the TV etc is all very good. Here comes the 'but'.
*We have a corded phone plugged into the main point at the front of the house on the ground floor and a number of wireless phones around the house. After a few days it dawned on us that the corded phone which is also the answering machine wasn't working. That phone point was dead.
I contacted Plusnet and they got me to take the front of the main phone point. The plug wasn't connected to anything. It seems that the Openreach sub contractor had bypassed what had been the main point and the main point is now upstairs in the study, near the router.
Plusnet wanted me to go round the house taking the fronts off all the boxes, to check if there was a double plug behind any of them. I didn't see why I should have to do that. They (or their agents) had messed up the system, they should put it right.
The answer phone is now plugged into another point. I am not happy with Plusnet/Openreach, but I haven't decided what to do, if anything.
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>> Plusnet wanted me to go round the house taking the fronts off all the boxes,
>> to check if there was a double plug behind any of them. I didn't see
>> why I should have to do that. They (or their agents) had messed up the
>> system, they should put it right.
>>
Quite right to get them back. It's not too difficult to move the master socket but the idea is the socket itself contains the VDSL filter. The modem is connected directly to the incoming line but every other socket is filtered through the master socket.
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Perhaps they put the master socket where the modem is, which is presumably optimal. Shame they didn't explain what they were doing, and leave a connected extension socket where the phone base station was.
The fact that they killed your phone socket is reason enough to get them to come and fix it, in my opinion.
I have found the ISP/BT/Openreach can be a bit jobsworth about this sort of thing though, passing the buck around. That must be changing sometime, shirley - Virgin told me a while back that nobody was obliged to provide me with ADSL and the only was to get the line looked at physically was of there was noise on phone calls - if that made the ADSL stay up, then fine, if not then they would just stop the service, deem my line unsuitable, and cancel the contract.
I eventually got a visit from Openreach who said there was no fault, but fixed it and charged me £50. It now romps along at a blistering 1.6Mbps.
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When I had BT Infinity installed, the master socket stayed in the hall. They ran some CAT5 cabling from the new master socket to a new 'VDSL phone socket' in the office for the VDSL modem. It's smaller than a phone socket and uses the smaller model type plug.
Sounds like they cut some corners for your install.
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>> Plusnet wanted me to go round the house taking the fronts off all the boxes,
>> to check if there was a double plug behind any of them. I didn't see
>> why I should have to do that. They (or their agents) had messed up the
>> system, they should put it right.
>>
>> The answer phone is now plugged into another point. I am not happy with Plusnet/Openreach,
>> but I haven't decided what to do, if anything.
A complaint to Plusnet coincided with a very noisy line (faulty earth, apparently), the faulty line has been fixed and today is the day I have been given for the phone engineer to fix the non working socket.
Now 11.32 and as yet, no sign of an engineer.
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We've just taken the plunge and ordered Plusnet fibre - the engineer will call two weeks tomorrow ......... This is the incentive we need to clear out the front study :-(
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As starter of the thread, just to say I'm now using regular broadband from Plusnet.
The reason I eventually decided on this was the fact there is no mains power at the master socket for the fibre router. There is to me at least, a reasonable option, but it would depend on whether they'd be happy with running about two times 4 feet of wire, connecting one to a new master socket and router home at the back of the TV, and connecting the other to the phone system by dint of using the existing wiring. And for my part, I'd have to buy a wifi dongle for the big PC.
At present though, if I did that, I'd no longer have a spare USB socket, and I do need to swap files from time to time between the big PC and the laptop. So I've put it off for the time being as I will sort out a new big PC at some point next year.
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We have had both TalkTalk and BT (Current provider) unlimited download fibre and there has been no difference whatsoever in performance.
I'll certainly be looking at a cheaper deal come next January when the first year of my discounted BT deal expires.
BT's offer of BT sport on PC/tablet has no pull for me and the free Wi-Fi hotspot part of the service is of limited interest. (That my change once SWMBO has got to grips with her new smartphone, but I doubt it)
Price will be the criterion.
Last edited by: Roger. on Wed 4 Nov 15 at 17:44
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>>We have had both TalkTalk and BT (Current provider) unlimited download fibre and there has been no difference whatsoever in performance.>>
I also have TalkTalk unlimited download 38Mb fibre broadband (it's the BT service) and check speeds regularly. They range from 37.50 to 41Mb plus on a consistent basis depending on the time of day; best was a 61.11Mb.....!
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A couple of questions for those with Plusnet Fibre ...........
Did you order the new Plusnet router when you arranged for the installation of fibre .... and, if so, did it arrive with you before the engineer came to do the installation?
The engineer is due here on Thursday am and, as the router hasn't yet been delivered, I contacted Plusnet yesterday to ask if it had been sent ....... I was told that it would arrive imminently. Today, I received an e-mail informing me that the router will be here in 3 - 5 days i.e. AFTER the engineer's appointment. My wife suggested that my call to Plusnet had jogged them into some sort of action.
I have just looked at the Plusnet forum, and I get the impression that Plusnet is in some degree of chaos at the moment. Is it necessary to have the new router in time for the conversion and, if it hasn't arrived, is it still possible for the engineer to do the conversion, then allow the use of conventional broadband until the new router arrives?
Thanks.
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I would think having a router is essential for the install for him to be sure it is all working. Maybe they bring a spare router/modem?
But once you've been switched to the BT Openreach VDSL fibre to the cabinet (FTTC), you won't be setup for normal ADSL connections so you will be without broadband for a few days.
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>> Did you order the new Plusnet router when you arranged for the installation of fibre
>> .... and, if so, did it arrive with you before the engineer came to do
>> the installation?
IIRC there was just one 'order' which included the router and the installation, and yes, the router did arrive before the engineer, although I can't remember how long before.
I suspect it'll come before Thursday, but of course I appreciate you want something a bit more reassuring than that :)
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My router arrived the day before the engineer called but the additional box did not turn up. The engineer went and got one from a colleague who had one on board and went ahead with the installation. Presumably he'd be able to do the same with a router if yours hasn't arrived?
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>> My router arrived the day before the engineer called but the additional box did not
>> turn up.
Additional box = BT Openreach fibre box? I think the engineer is supposed to bring that; Plusnet only post the ADSL router.
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Update ...... the box (a box) has just been delivered by the postie - I think this is it. Panic over! Thanks for the replies, chaps, but I wish Plusnet would keep customers better informed.
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The BT Openreach FTTC service (which is VDSL) originally used a separate VDSL modem with a BT HomeHub 4. Presumably when this was resold the same VDSL modem was used with a different router from the company you are using.
However, with VDSL being included in many xDSL modem/routers you only get one box these days. I would think Plusnet just have a router with an inbuilt ADSL/VDSL modem.
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Another update.....
Two tips if you are getting Plusnet fibre:
1. Make sure that the engineer has got a modem with him - otherwise, don't let him in the house unless you don't mind being without internet/email for a couple of days.
2. Make a note of the Plusnet support line (0800 432 0200) because you are going to need it in order to demand your missing modem! Always a good idea to keep a note of that number anyway, if you are a Plusnet customer.
The engineer arrived as arranged, but didn't have a modem - he thought that Plusnet were sending out the combined modem/router. Anyway, he connected up with the minimum of fuss, telling me that his test showed that we should get 40mb as opposed to the old 3mb. He then advised me to ring Plusnet to ask for the modem - or whatever they were supplying. He shot off at high-speed because he had another 3 to do in the next 90mins and the first was about 25 miles away x-country! This was when I realised that, fortunately, I had previously noted Plusnet's support number in my diary. The wait on the Plusnet support-line was 49minutes; as it was 0800, I was able to leave the cordless phone on loudspeaker and get on with some ironing!
The young lady at Plusnet was very helpful and said that they would send a modem 1st class; alas the new one-piece unit wouldn't be available until the new year. [TIP - if you're think of getting Plusnet fibre, it might be worth waiting a few months so that you can have the new unit].
The modem arrived after 2 days - a BT Openreach one. Its design is nothing like the router so its leads sprout 'from the bottom of the uni't as opposed to 'from the back' so I'll have to knock up some sort of mount for them, taking both cable arrangements into consideration.
Depending on the time of day, the download speed seems to vary between 25 and 35mb. Certainly, when I downloaded a new Tomtom map earlier today, it took about 20 minutes as opposed to the previous 3 hours.
Early days, but I understand that it will take a short while for everything to settle down and for an optimal speed to be achieved. We'll see!
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>> Additional box = BT Openreach fibre box? I think the engineer is supposed to bring
>> that; Plusnet only post the ADSL router.
>>
That's what happened here.
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Is the BT Openreach box powered? So along with the router you need two mains sockets. (I'm well aware of mainsadaptors etc).
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Yes the VDSL modem from BT Openreach needs a socket too. BT now provide a combined modem/router for their VDSL fibre broadband service. I think other providers re-selling BT Openreach's product also do this now.
You can also buy your own router/modem for use on VDSL. Pat did that recently because of the poor bit of kit provided by TalkTalk (as in it didn't provide a reliable service).
Last edited by: rtj70 on Tue 17 Nov 15 at 16:50
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I did, and the service has been perfect ever since.
Well worth the cost.
Pat
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Any body use Plusnet Fibre? - Manatee
