Time for a re-re-think about PSTN/POTS?

[David Wade]

I just wonder if I would save anything money wise. At 350gb a month I wonder how much a SIM for that would cost. My son is threatening to move back. This will go up! I use a VPN in Spain to loop back through my to UK home setup to watch TV in Spain. Would a&A be happy for me to stream TV that way?

I like what I have now. Its not cheap but it works for what I want. In the UK ZEN FTTP with a fixed IPV4 router. In Spain FTTP with CGNAT. The Draytek router in Spain opens a VPN link back to the UK router.

I use the same WiFi SSDs at both locations, so when my wife wants to watch Coronation Street on her IPAD it works just like we were in the UK. Achieving this means there are few support issues......

Dave

[David Wade]

I have Draytek routers. All this is built in.

[The Natural Philosopher]

I think it is being used by everyone who is invisible to the end user I *ought* to transition but life is only so long

[Spike]

The A&A site says that you connect through their L2TP tunnel via your internet device. Won’t you need a similar data allowance for that too, or does the tunnel bypass e.g. your device ISP?

[Marco Moock]

Am 06.10.2023 schrieb Spike [e-mail]:

L2TP is a normal network protocol that uses UDP as a transport medium, so it can be used over existing IPv4/IPv6 connectivity.

[John Walliker]

Yes, you will deplete your data allowance from your normal service provider. The data does not by-pass them, but it gets encapsulated in a way that allows static ip addresses and by-passes most kinds of filtering. John

[Peter Able]

This field is relatively new to me - so I had to look up CGNAT. Not sure that I've got it right, but this implementation is a Samsung S5 on the Vodaphone network acting as a hotspot for up to 10 devices. So no need for IPs all round - but, as you say, no VPN capability.

Since my wife was killed off, it is just me that needs to be supplied. As it was, the FTTC speed was a 9Mbps service with loads of contention - and no plans for FTTP. The 4G signal here is typically -108dBm, but it seems to be reliable. O2 is about -112dBm. Three and EE are about

-120dBM. Vodaphone is the only of these networks which holds up a 4G connection in the house 24/7. It is a comms ghetto around here The bit-rates - both up and down - are a lot more stable than with FTTC where the bit-rate was down to about 2Mbps from 3 to 6pm.

One bit of extra performance data. A telephone call using the S5 handset seems to use about 3Mbps of the available bandwidth.

Current performance @ 10:00 today (Saturday) 13Mbps / 2Mbps

[ We could do with some levelling up in the Home Counties ]

PA

[The Other John]

Well I'm in the Home Counties (Reigate, Surrey) and my FTTC is currently giving me 70Mbps/20Mbps. The cabinet is less than 100m away and the telephone exchange is about 300m away. Our road is cabled up for fibre but I don't see the need for higher speeds as it's just me using the net.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Double what I get with FTTP although I COULD get a shitload more...

[Peter Able]

Nor I, but a guarantee of only 9Mbps from FTTC is a disgrace.

As is -108dBm from the "strongest" mobile signal provider.

As is an intermittent and unstable electrical mains supply. Three power cuts this last week. Voltage very regularly below spec. Lowest in recent times, 176V - day after day; month after month; indeed year after year. No kidding !

Gosh, I'm sounding like a northerner ;-}

PA

[David Wade]

No but BT may well see the need to retire FTTC. The cabinets need power and are a pain to maintain. They are supposed to have backup batteries which have a life cycle. With FTTP they can ditch the now obsolete Huawei DSLAMs (Looks like these need to go as well as Huawei bits in the mobile network)

and also ditch many exchanges..... ... if they have deployed fibre it does not have to be faster.

The "Full Fibre 2" package duplicates what you get with FTTP. Well no phone line. Expect a van at the door...

Dave

[The Natural Philosopher]

It purely depends on how far you are away. I would have got 6..

So I stuck with ADSL. then FTTP arrived.

Sounding like a 'merkin . For shit broadband try the Land of the Free

Shit broadband is shit broadband, complain until you get better.

[The Natural Philosopher]

FTTP is the 'final solution' for this century. Everything else will be phased out. Mobile or Starlink will infill the really remote places...

[alan_m]

Many (most/all) ISPs offer different speed packages on FTTP at different prices.

As we will be forced onto the FTTP route within a few years perhaps consider swapping over before the rush starts.

My installation was quite quick (30 minutes) but my ISP (Zen) did f**k up at their end but was sorted with a 10 minute telephone conversation with their technical helpline.

On the few occasions that I've had to contact Zen technical I always got through to someone who knows about the system and can sort the problem out immediately. They appear to be able to see the settings on your router and can modify (some of) them at their end. In my case with FTTP initially they couldn't see my router and I was talked through setting a code for City Link fibre after which everything sprang into life on the Net.

[Andy Burns]

Similar here (79.99/19.99) so the kit is running as fast as it's allowed.

The fibre from your cabinet may well go to a different exchange, the distance is not relevant to the speed.

There's Virgin fibre in my street, but I'm not interested in moving over.

[The Other John]

I'll look into it. I'm with Plusnet and have a Plusnet landline phone. I don't know yet if they will be doing digital voice and if so whether I can keep my number. Openreach says the south east will be losing copper next spring.

[Andy Burns]

They say they won't.

ceasing voice on copper (by 2025) yes. ceasing broadband on copper (anytime soon) no.

[The Natural Philosopher]

No, as fast as it is *able*. Once you have filled all the frequency bins thats it..

Fibre is not terminated at any exchange. It goes to a regional centre . The whole point 0f fttp is to dump the exchanges, which cost money to maintain and to rent. FTTC is a stepping stone - voice goes to the exchange but data does not, VOIP means even voice doesn't.

TBH i jumped at the chance since ADSL was about 3 engineer visits a year to solve crackle issues. Ive not had to contact my ISP since FTTP at all.

[Andy Burns]

openreach caps profile 17a to 80/20, and don't support profile 30a or 35a

It's hitting an artificial limit, my previous modem estimated how fast it could go if allowed, I think it was something like 110/30

[alan_m]

Not necessarily - you may not be able to buy or change to new broadband contract over copper if there is a fibre network in place.

Openreach suggest that all their copper networks will cease by 2027. It's not clear if this includes the bit of copper between a FTTC and your house.