Fibre

OK

No.

I think that is wired directly.

Ethernet over fibre is entirely possible (a number of our customers had their primary connection that way since a 10Gbps ethernet interface was rather cheaper than a SONET one). But this was 20 years ago.

But I suppose in this instance it gives them the chance to multiplex many customers onto one fibre (or even one wavelength on the fibre).

In message snipped-for-privacy@candehope.me.uk>, charles snipped-for-privacy@candehope.me.uk> writes

I think I have a suitable connector but the output from the old BT incomer is wired.

surely you don't have a hard wired phone? It must plug in somewhere. That's where you need to extend the output of the green connector.

In message snipped-for-privacy@candehope.me.uk>, charles snipped-for-privacy@candehope.me.uk> writes

Indeed. The remote sockets are all hard wired into a terminal box fitted by BT. There are no phone sockets within reasonable reach of the hub.

No its actually GPON , well perhaps "sort of ethernet"

so the Ethernet packets are encrypted and multiplexed onto the Fibre and the ONT is responsible for this. So the ONT sees every packet and filters out and decrypts those destined for your premises.

Dave

In which case you will need to run an extension cable an unreasonable distance. Screwfix offer a 10m extension kit. Amazon sell a BT OpenReach one with a 30m cable and another unbranded one with 50m of cable. The fact that these are sold implies you are not alone.

Out of interest, how are you testing the speed?

I discovered a quirk of speed testing that I had not seen before when I was testing mine recently. I had noticed that the speed had dropped a bit (550 down service, but through my router than ran out of puff at about 400), I was now getting test results around the 250 - 280 range. I also tried plugging a laptop direct into the ONT and setting it up to do a PPPoE "dialup" connection to the ONT - that was also getting slowish speeds.

Spoke to the ISP about it, and they tested from their end. While at it I noticed that I was out of contract and could upgrade to their 1G/115M for the same price as the one I was on. So I did an upgrade for that. Saw the increase in upload speed on testing, but no change on download.

Ordered a new router that could handle the speed. Set that up just with the laptop to test - it was a bit better at around 300, but still not what was expected.

So a swapped out the router, having duplicated most of the config from the old one. Tested while in the wiring cabinet. Still not full speed. Later that evening, tested at my desktop and it was now getting a solid

I noticed then that when doing a speed test on

I thought, my ancient 3rd gen i5 laptop is not going to have the oomph to handle that. Sure enough, doing the test on that showed only 300 odd.

So most of the testing I was doing during the upgrade process was actually pointless due to the speed limitation of the laptop running the client end of the speed test sites software.

(however that does not explain the drop in performance measured from the desktop earlier.

It is possible to wire all the house extension sockets into the ATA built into the router if you want.

Yup mine has - also not used. The incoming fibre (no external termination on mine - the drop wire goes right up to the ONT) also has a copper pair as part of its cable form. Again stripped back, and rolled up out of the way, likely never to be used.

Whenever I see threads like these my heart sinks because I know that sooner or later I've got to address this issue. There seem to be quite a few issues which should be simple but don't seem to be, perhaps because at least in part there seem to be (too?) many options, such as to VoIP or not to VoIP, and whether or nor my Panasonic DECT phones will work as well as they do with the current landline service.

We took over a BT landline when we moved in 12 years ago, and stayed with the Home Saver plan we had at our previous house. For broadband I have used Zen for over 8 years, and are happy with their service (FTTC. Telephone pole wire to house for 30 metres or so. We'll get FTTP here when hell freezes over, if then...). For simplicity I'll probably move everything to Zen and use their Digital Voice service. I've already got the Fritz!Box router which seems very reliable. I've got a smartphone as a backup.

Has anyone here moved from a BT landline service to their ISPs digital voice service, and how much of a saving was there from the BT + ISPs broadband individual charges and the ISPs digital voice (and broadband of course) service alone?

I may have lost the plot by now, but isn't it a cordless system that you are trying to connect? If so, you just need to move the base station to a point where you can plug it in to your new hub.

Chris

On my W7 desktop. Not the latest software as you know.

Similar results on your suggested tests. I have no plans to complain to BT as their engineers were getting better results on their equipment. Next job is to get their supplied telephone working and then reassemble the bosses bed! The Panasonic gear can wait for more time:-)

Job for another day!

To your last question, I can answer "Yes". I moved in May - keeping my old phone number. I think I'm saving about £60 per quarter. My ISP is Orpheus Internet.

I had 4 separate DECT phones (including a Panasonic) - all of which work on the VOIP service. It happened that my incoming fibre point was very close to the copper one so no major work required in connecting the phone to VOIP. I also have a small UPS to keep the internet alive in a power cut - I simply plugged the extra kit into it. I do have a simple non-DECT phone which I could use in a power cut, The big problem is the older personal alarm systems don't work. They probably need to be replaced with modern ones - at the user's cost. Some security systems may also have trouble. I had a 4 way PAX, and that could receive incoming calls, but couldn't dial out.

It's not going to be up to you whether you convert to VOIP or not. The copper landline service is closing throughout the country. You will get a letter giving you a month's notice of the change to your service.

I know a little bit about this since I helped at (or more accuarately - ran) 3 information sessions in Surrey last month.

Its all VOIP, but there are more options...

Then you can just plug your DECT base station into the Fritz!box. The only difference is you will need to dial the full number. If you make a few calls ZEN is good value.

I think you will save around £7.00 month.

Dave

I think that would be OK for the base station only. The auxiliaries are wired for charging only. Sadly, the base station includes the messaging service which would then be located in our loft. I was hoping to re-purpose the old BT incomer after removing the external cable. No rush. Currently waiting for the supplied handset to be linked up.

Point of order.. The *ONT* has no accessible sockets.

Un-wire it then!

And connect the green socket output to where it used to go.

Well run a wire to that terminal box from the green router socket then. And disconnect the incoming wire.

I originally had my broadband from Zen and my landline phone from BT, all over copper. I then changed my landline phone to ZEN which had a £5/month lower line rental charge.

When I had FTTP installed I had changed over to Zen's Digital Voice @ £6 month, keeping the same landline phone number.

Although there is still a physical copper pair to the house it is dead.

With the conventional landline phone facility with BT and ZEN I didn't pay for any additional call plans . The phone was, and still is, kept only for allowing contact with elderly relatives who often seem incapable of dialling my mobile phone.

Zen's digital voice fee also covers a number of calls - 16.5 hours a month to uk landline and mobile number. The savings switching over to digital voice was the difference in the £6/month fee and the line rental on the old service. BT line rental is around £22/month and the Zen landline rental for the service I had before digital voice was £17/month.

When switching from Zen landline to Zen digital voice I saved £11/month. If I had an additional call package on the old service I would have saved more (assuming 16.5 hours of UK is sufficient).

Note: I believe that Zen no longer offer a switch to the landline with the lower line rental charges. They are only marketing Digital Voice over fibre to the premises. The Fritzbox router already allows a convectional phone to be plugged into it and used with Digital Voice. The Fritzbox also has a inbuilt answerphone and DECT base station if you want to go down that route with digital voice, assuming you have DECT phones.

When switching to FTTP Zen may/will provide an updated router (basically the same router with a AX prefix after the model number). It has a faster wi-fi capability.

Yes. I remember ethernet bridges with fibre sockets. That's very much possible on a single user fibre.

Oh yes. Deep dark magic happens on an Openreach fibre. I think a previous conversation resulted in the fact that upgoing signals were time division mutiplexed, but downlink signals were in some sense shared. Ethernet does not share nicely at very high traffic.

But who really knows what SONET does. It's had to find the specs and the installers haven't a clue.

They connect it, and it Just Works