BT FTTC broadband service
BT have embarked on a large scale upgrade of the UK national telephone infrastructure. This includes new broadband equipment in exchanges and back-haul to ISPs. 21CN technology is being rolled out to the whole country over a period of many years.
BT are also deploying new cabinets allowing fibre to the cabinet services. These have fibre from the exchange to a street cabinet, and then normal telephone line running to your premises. Because the cabinet is much closer this allows even faster services.
Features
| Installation | £100.00 | Normal install price of new service and changing from existing no FTTC service. |
| Monthly (line only) | £22.20 pcm† | Monthly cost for (broadband) line only, applicable when this is an extra line on the same site. |
| Monthly (2 units) | £30.00 pcm† | Monthly cost with the minimum 2 units per month of usage allowance. |
| Daytime usage | 2½GB/unit | Daytime period (9am-6pm Mon-Fri) usage is 2½GB/unit. Evening/weekend is 50GB/unit |
| National availability | Good | Available as exchanges and cabinets are upgraded to support FTTC. This is not the same roll out as 21CN ADSL and can be available on exchanges with only 20CN ADSL. You have to be connected to an upgraded cabinet, not just a suitable exchange. However, BT are rapidly extending availability throughout the UK. |
| Technology | VDSL | VDSL is a newer broadband protocol available on the shorter lines used for FTTC. The exact speed depends on line length and quality as well as the specific service offerings we have available in your area. Use the line checker to confirm likely speeds for your line. |
| Migration | £100.00 | Normal migration price. |
| Notice/Term | 30 days 12 months | 12 month minimum term, 30 days notice. |
Options
| Premium | £12.00 pcm† | Premium option provides not only additional priority for traffic over BT back-haul, but also much higher speed upload up to 10Mb/s. |
| Care | £12.00 pcm† | Enhanced care is available, providing higher priority repair service. |
| Modem | FREE | Includes an BT supplied VDSL modem as part of the ongoing service. Customers will need a PPPoE capable router or software to use the service. |
Availability
This service is only available where your line is connected to a suitable FTTC cabinet, or a new line can be installed via a suitable cabinet if ordering a simultaneous provision of phone line and broadband.
Upgrade
You can upgrade your 20CN or 21CN line to FTTC if it is available on your line. The upgrade cost is the same as a new install. See the Regrade page for help with upgrading your line.
Usage tariffs
All of our broadband services have a usage based tariff. You choose how many units per month in advance and can change from month to month if you wish. Using too little or too much is carried over to the next month within limits and using way too much means excess usage charges. The amount of usage you get for each unit depends on the time of day and what type of line you have. Only download counts, not upload. A unit is at least one gigabyte (GB) of peak download. Your usage does not have to be whole units at certain times, you can use some of a unit during the day and some in the evening, etc. Daytime usage is 9am to 6pm Monday to Friday and uses units the fastest. How it works Changing tariff
Installation
An appointment will be made for a BT engineer to come to your site. The engineers' job will be to install a new faceplate and VDSL modem. He will also confirm with you that you have a working internet connection. For this you'll need to connect your PPPoE router (or computer with a PPPoE connection configured) to the modem and check that you have a working internet connection. There has been some cases where the BT engineer comes to site expecting to install a 'BT Home Hub', this is what he would be used to when installing the 'BT Infinity' product, but is not part of our FTTC service. Do give us a call if you have any problems or questions during the installation process.
Technical
Note that FTTC works differently to typical ADSL broadband and includes a BT VDSL router which talks PPPoE. You will need PPPoE equipment or software to use the service. A PPPoE router can be used. The PPPoE service name must be left blank.
The service supports RFC4638 with baby jumbo frames to support 1,500 byte MTU, but if your equipment cannot handle this then 1,492 MTU will be the highest you can use.
During the installation of the FTTC service the Openreach engineer will fit a Service Specific Front Plate to the existing NTE5. Where no NTE5 exists, Openreach will install an NTE5 within 3 metres of the entrance to the End User premises. Where an external NTE exists Openreach will install an NTE5 with service specific front plate internally immediately adjacent to the external NTE.
The VDSL router is part of the service, and whilst it may be technically possible to use your own VDSL modem this is not supported as such and you will have to put the supplied modem back when reporting any fault. The VDSL modem supplied remains BT property.
Note: This service has a minimum term and notice period. When ceasing or requesting a migration you are charged for the service and tariff and any extras (premium, enhanced care, etc.) for the 30 day notice period. If the end of the 30 day notice is within the minimum term period you are also billed for the period from the end of the notice to the minimum term but only at the basic line-only rate and not for the usage or extras on the line.
