www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk

My address, a small village a bit but not much in the sticks, is apparently now "imminent" for fibre-optic roll-out (BT Infinity) in the next couple* of months. My 8Mb Contract is up for renewal now (another 12 months fixed).

Should I hang on..... what actually happens when fibre-optic comes?

1) Do I see a crew digging up the pavement, or does that only happen when they get a sign-up in the street?

2) Do I have to wait until they actually do my street in their schedule, whether they have sign-ups or not?

3) When the f/optic gets to my house, do they have to lay a new cable through/under my front garden/driveway?

4) Inside my house, do I have a new Point or does it replace my existing BTMaster socket?

Many more questions but let's see how we go.
______
Paul

* BT upgrade website says "not available to your number". A "Postcode Checker" website says "Coming Soon". A County Council website says "Scheduled August 2014".

1) No

2) No

3) No

4) Yes

Next question?

Technically you will not have fibre optic installed in your house as it costs too much. (As you guessed they would have to dig up the road, and your drive / garden)

What they actually do is they bring a fibre optic cable to the cabinet nearest your house (Big green box you see on the path) They also bring a fibre optic cable to other cabinets, not just yours.
From there it is de-coded from light to a voltage. This is then sent down the existing cables from the cabinet to your house.

At your house the main BT socket is removed and they install a new one with in built BB filter. The new BB router they sent to you through the post is then plugged into this new socket.
The bod doing the job will then get ONE computer in your house connected to the new BB service. If that means your desktop is NOT near the new socket, TOUGH! your existing sockets will NOT have BB but you can still use a phone on them. He will ask you to move the desktop nearer the new socket so he can plug it in and show you it does work.

OR if you have a laptop with wifi he will log you on that way.

IF you are a lucky person and live in the new part of Milton Keynes, they don't have cabinets everywhere, and they can run a fibre optic cable directly into your house. This is because when they built MK they thought about additional services and laid conduit everywhere for nearly everything, so they pull your old copper cable out and a new fibre optic cable in.

Well thats what the Open reach bloke told me when mine was installed, says his mate lives there and gets super duper fast speed.

As SE says they'll normally supply fibre optic to the cabinet, not to the house. BT Infinity will supply a router, which connects to the master socket. You then connect your computer to the router, either with an ethernet cable or connect wirelessly (ethernet cable is a lot faster btw)

PS , don't expect superfast speeds straight away. BT spend the first few weeks optimising the lines. Mine started at 16+Mb/s then built up to my (now) 30+Mb/s after a week and a half. But compared to what you have at the moment, you'll think it's like greased lightning.

Its fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) it comes from cabinet over the standard copper, all the engineer does is swap the master socket (nte5) for newer filtered socket and tests the line in your house, a week or so before you get sent the router/adapter


Take Openreach's dates with a pinch of salt unless you have seen them working at the cabinets and/or fitting the newer cabinets in the street

It taken them 3 years from the original date to upgrade around here in suburbia