Before your order a Full Fibre Broadband Installation - Read these important tips first!
Just some of the questions I get asked, which I answer below.
- What will happen if there’s a power cut, I will lose my Landline?
- What will happen to my email address, will it change?
- Should I change Service Provider just because my Internet is slow?
- Will a Fibre Broadband Installation reach further around the house?
- I live in a rented property – do I need to tell my Landlord I booked a Fibre Broadband installation?
- How much faster is Fibre, and can I get it in my area?
WARNING!
Make sure you are present when the installation takes place. Insist the engineer discusses the route of the cable, walks you around to show you what he is about to do. Insure you are in agreement as you will not be able to change your mind after!
The image above is supplied from a friend of mine in Rayleigh, Essex. She had a recent Fibre Broadband installation and as you can see, marked by the yellow tape, is where the engineer drilled through a live gas pipe!!! Yes! A “LIVE” gas pipe and then proceeded to patch it with silicone sealant and the yellow electrical tape… He then made a hasty retreat to his van and drove off!
Hopefully, this will not happen to you, however…
Firstly, when you place an order for a Full Fibre Broadband Installation, Openreach or other contractor will run a new ‘cable’. This is actually a piece of Optic Fibre. It will connect from the Telegraph Pole, or the nearest underground junction box to your new Router.
Remember to make sure you are present when the installation takes place.
Follow my checklist below to ensure a smooth installation.
Fibre Broadband Installation (FTTP) Explained - Ten things you need to know!
- The Next Generation Full Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) will be installed in the easiest most directly available place. Anticipate where the external service will attach to the building. This may not be anywhere near where your existing Router and Broadband connection is.
- In certain situations, like a bungalow where the bedrooms are at the front of the property – that is where they will want to install your new Router!
- Openreach (or the contractor) won’t want to run the Full Fibre Optic connection through your loft space
- After your Full Fibre Broadband Installation has been completed none of your current Landline Telephone Extension Sockets will work! The only place you will be able to plug your Landline telephone into is into the socket on the rear of the new Router. We can fix this.
- Your Burglar Alarm will no longer be connected to your Landline and be able to dial out. We can fix this.
- None of your Extension Bells for your Landline will work. We can fix this.
- Once installed, the position of the FTTP Fibre equipment is permanent and can’t be adjusted, re-located or extended.
- All of your existing telephone wiring will be redundant including the cable to the pole. However none of this will be recovered as part of the job, leaving often untidy unsightly wiring in the way.
- Any existing Ethernet cables you have run from your Router’s current position will be rendered useless if the new Router can’t be put in the same place. We can fix this.
- Your Landline telephone Number will have to be transferred (Ported) over to the new Full Fibre Broadband installation. During this time (possibly 12 hours advised by Openreach) you won’t be able to make or receive calls. If the Porting process doesn’t go smoothly you may lose your number for days.
Make sure the engineer tests and demonstrates the Fibre Optic installation. Check that your Ipads, Phones, TV and boosters connect with the new Router. You will need to enter new passwords for all of your Wi-Fi devices.
Will I lose my email address, what should I do?
Just some of the questions I get asked:
What will happen to my email address, will it change? Yes, if you change Service Provider, your old email address (if it was part of your existing Internet package) will cease. You will be forced to pay extra to retain it and stay in some kind of contract. You could get a Gmail or hotmail email account so that you aren’t tied to a Service Provider, allowing you to swap and get a better deal in the future.
My parents are elderly and have a Care Alarm.
What will happen in a Power cut?
What will happen if there’s a power cut, I will lose my Landline?
That could be a problem if they are elderly and rely on the Landline. Particularly if they have a Care Alarm or Pendant Alarm which used the phone line to dial out and call for help. You don’t want them to be in a situation unexpectedly cut off from raising an alarm.
Should I change Service Provider just because my Internet is slow?
Absolutely not! If your Internet is slow it could be down to a line fault. Get this fixed first, unless you are really looking to upgrade to Fibre.
Best thing to do is call your Service Provider and ask for a Line Test to make sure everything is OK.
Is the range of Fibre WiFi better? Will it cover more of the house?
Unlikely, because just like your existing Broadband, it relies on a Router to put out a WiFi signal. Although the speed coming into the house will be much faster, the range of the WiFi will likely be unchanged. If you had problems with ‘Black Spots’ you will still have the same thing.
Find out more here WiFi Problems – How to improve your Internet
If you are worried about these things, just contact me for unbiased, honest advice, or book a visit!
I live in a rented property - do I need to tell my Landlord I booked a Fibre Broadband installation?
Yes if you rent a house and are interested in having a Fibre Broadband Installation it’s best to clear it first with your Landlord. Because installing the new Fibre connection means drilling through walls and mounting a box on the side of the house. Have a look and see if you have a Telegraph Pole outside. This will give you a clue if you are overhead fed, or if the Fibre Broadband Installation might be provided underground. Digging up the drive or flower bed will normally be done by contractors and they will usually reinstate it to a good standard.
How much faster is a Full Fibre Broadband line?
Recently, a friend had Full Fibre to the premises (FTTP) installed. I asked her what speed she ended up with. “150 mb” she said. I was shocked. I naively thought that because FTTP was capable of well in excess of 500 mb / second that is what she would get. Wrong! If you want the faster speed you can have it – at an EXTRA cost! A further package upgrade!
So, my copper line at home, Fibre to the Cabinet, is giving me 80 mb which is way more than adequate for anything I’m doing. Yes, her Fibre Broadband Installation is twice as fast as mine, but not massively faster enough to warrant for me to upgrade. In any case, why would I need faster speed if I can already watch TV or surf YouTube without any delay?
Is Vodafone Fibre Broadband speed guaranteed? No!...
"The new CityFibre network couldn't cope with the demand", says this customer
Read this account from a user who took up the faster more expensive Fibre Broadband Installation package with Vodaphone.
“A tip and bit of knowledge for anyone on CityFibre / Vodafone’s Fibre to the premise internet service. I started to notice since February that the speed is degraded and the connection is unstable during peak periods. I pay for 500Mbps and can see the connection drops significantly during peak periods, to be as low as 20Mbps at times, for the download speed. There is also loads of packet loss and the connection is unstable”.
“Vodafone tell me that City Fibre have apparently acknowledged that they are aware of this capacity issue during peak periods, in the area and are already working on it. However, they don’t expect to have the work completed till May. I’ve had my ticket with Vodafone open since February and finally got this answer. I have been promised backdated compensation when the issue is fixed”.
“If you run some speed tests (using a cabled connection, not wireless) and notice the same issue during peak periods, then it could be worth a phone call. In theory anyone local to me should be seeing the same issue. I know my neighbour has a Fibre Broadband Installation and has experienced similar problems”.
What is Digital Voice Injection and do I need it?
Digital Voice Injection is a buzz word or phrase relating to the way your old analogue telephone land line will work (or won’t) in the future. Simply put, do you want your existing ‘Hard Wired’ corded Telephones and Sockets around the house to work as they always did? If your answer is ‘Yes’ then you will need an engineer to visit once your Router has been upgraded to ‘Digital Voice’.
Your old sockets worked with the analogue phone line but will be obsolete soon once you go Digital.
Fear not, I can help. Your telephone cabling and wiring can be altered and re connected to the new Digital Router but you do need a telephone engineer to do this. Call today to find out more!
What could possibly go wrong?
In the above photo what you don’t realize is that the Openreach Engineer who drilled the hole in the external wall misjudged it. He hit a gas pipe which was also alongside an armoured electrical cable. If he had chaffed this, the spark would have ignited the gas causing a large fire. It would have been a disastrous Fibre Broadband Installation with catastrophic consequences.
What the engineer actually did was to put some silicone sealant round the hole and leave – without telling the customer! They then smelt gas, called the Gas Board and as an emergency they carried out a repair. It was truly shocking that the Full Fibre Broadband Installation went wrong in such a highly dangerous way. Openreach agreed to compensate the customer just £30.
Standards have slipped
When I worked at Openreach we were trained to respect the customer’s property and to carry out all work in a neat and tidy way. The engineer who hit the Gas pipe also left dust and mess outside, and trod dirt into the carpet. When you’re excited, looking forward to your Fibre Broadband Installation, you don’t want mistakes like these happening!
Don't be left with damaged rendering or wall coating
When the engineer drills a hole in your outside wall, he should attempt to break through gently with the drill bit causing minimal damage to the rendering. Once the hole has been made and cable threaded through, it should be sealed with silicone sealant to prevent moisture from entering.
The following photos were taken by a friend after an Openreach Engineer carried out his Fibre Broadband Installation. He and his wife were disgusted with the workmanship and submitted a High Level Complaint.
External rendering left damaged by the drill shown below. Note that the hole around the Full Fibre Broadband Installation cable wasn’t sealed. Therefore rain water will run down the cable and stain the wall, also travel inside the wall.
FTTP Fibre to the Premises cable run along the gutter mesh will prevent it being unclipped and cleaned out. Cable strapping and fixing Openreach cables to gutters and down pipes isn’t recommended – nor endorsed by Openreach. Therefore this engineer shouldn’t have run the cable, completing the Fibre Broadband installation in this manner.
The photo below shows poor installation of the same High Speed Fibre FTTP cable where it entered the loft space. An ugly unnecessarily long loop of cable prevented this customer from putting their Christmas decorations away! They weren’t advised that the finished job would look anything like this. The fact that Openreach were installing it should inspire confidence and a level of trust. I’m glad this engineer didn’t do work in my property.
Messy external telephone cable and clamp left for the customer to deal with. This cable has extremely sharp ends and should have been disposed of carefully by the engineer.
These shocking images above were compiled from two actual Full Fibre Broadband Installation jobs. They were completed at two separate customers’ houses within a week. There is no excuse for poor workmanship like this. I hope that my Fibre Broadband Installation blog helps other customers to ‘quality check’ their own installations. Enjoy your High Speed Fibre Broadband Installation once it is up and running.
