Moving from super fast to ultrafast or ultrafast plus Routers

[Ycul0606]

Hello,

we are currently superfast broadband customers.

we would like to change to Ultrafast or Ultrafast Plus. 
Do you get a new router with both of these options or do you use the existing router? Is there a difference between ultrafast and plus routers? Deciding between them and would choose plus if the router was better.

thanks in advance 

[cookiemonsteruk]

@Ycul0606 

If you have the horizontal er115 you will get the sr203 the vertical model with telephone socket on the hub. If you already have the sr203 then you get to hold onto it as a router and the ont is the new modem

Fttp ont modem

 

[Ycul0606]

Thank you.

Do you know if you get a different router if you sign up to ultrafast plus rather than ultrafast? Is there a hardware difference between them? 
thank you 

[TechmanagerMal]

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@Ycul0606 wrote:

Thank you.

Do you know if you get a different router if you sign up to ultrafast plus rather than ultrafast? Is there a hardware difference between them? 
thank you 

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• Just done exactly that and it's the same router for both.
• I am finding it is taking longer to stabilise to the higher speed though.

[TimmyBGood]

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@Ycul0606 wrote:

Do you know if you get a different router if you sign up to ultrafast plus rather than ultrafast?

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Sky only has three models of Hub currently in-support (and the oldest is effectively obsolete).  All 'Ultrafast' accounts are allocated a Sky Broadband Hub.

There's presumably a successor model to the Sky Broadband Hub on the roadmap which will have WiFi 6 (and WPA3) to better cope with the speeds that FTTP can deliver to an address.

[reebokrebel]

I am about to go through this upgrade and I have got my activation tomorrow morning with an engineer visit booked.

Sky Broadband hub already arrived

I have been reading the guides and it says the openreach engineer will only install the fibre OTN device within 1 metre of a 13amp power socket.      Do extension cables count for this or does it really have to be near a socket?

My current master socket is in the hallway where there's no power, however, I have a hole drilled between the hall and living room so my existing router and phone can connect direct to the master socket.

How **bleep** do the engineers get about the "must be near a power socket" proviso?   Ideally I would like it still in the hallway, and I just power it by running the power adapter cable through the hole I already have drilled to the living room.   That will be better for them too as they wouldn't need to drill through the outside wall as could use already existing entry points.

[TimmyBGood]

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@reebokrebel wrote:

My current master socket is in the hallway where there's no power, however, I have a hole drilled between the hall and living room so my existing router and phone can connect direct to the master socket.

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Remember that after an FTTP installation the 'master socket' is a pointless plastic box: there's no longer any PSTN service at the address arriving or departing over 'phone' wiring, and it's the ONT which becomes the key infrastructure (which is why Openreach prefers it to be on a mains socket rather than an extension block).  You can negotiate ONT location and its power supply with the installer: whether they can use an existing copper cable entry point depends on its viability for a fibre-optic pigtail which has rather different physical characteristics (particularly bend radius).

[reebokrebel]

Cheers for the info.  There's absolutely no way it can go into a master power socket, these houses must have been built at a time when they didn't think people would one day need lots of power.  the living room only has 4 sockets, and all 4 have 4 or 6 way extension blocks to power the numerous devices needed.   So even if it was right next to a socket wallplate, would still have to go into an extension 😞

[reebokrebel]

@TimmyBGood  just to update you as my installation was this morning - yes he was happy to put it nowhere near a power socket because there was a socket on the other side of the hole I'd previously drilled and I could poke the cable through.

What you said about the original master socket being a useless plastic box - he has left that wired up, we have 2 cables coming across from the telegraph pole now.  The reason being if we had any issues with the fibre going forward, we still have the DSL to fall back on.      Not sure if they'll come back and remove that one day, or just leave it connected.

All good so far.  Seem to be getting the expected 145M.

[TimmyBGood]

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@reebokrebel wrote:

What you said about the original master socket being a useless plastic box - he has left that wired up, we have 2 cables coming across from the telegraph pole now.  The reason being if we had any issues with the fibre going forward, we still have the DSL to fall back on.     

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Not really that helpful: there typically won't be any DSL signal (or PSTN service) over the copper because an ISP won't pay the wholesale cost for both that and FTTP to be live.  It's currently Openreach policy to leave domestic copper cabling in place simply because its scrap value is lower than its recovery cost.

[reebokrebel]

Interesting, because the older Sky Q hub still seemed to have all 3 green lights on it long after I'd switched everything over to the new Sky Broadband hub.   Wanted to tidy up so I eventually unplugged it, but did seem to still be connected as well as the new one.

Maybe Sky leave a bit of a dual run period where they overlap for a bit?

[TimmyBGood]

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@reebokrebel wrote:

Maybe Sky leave a bit of a dual run period where they overlap for a bit?

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Relevant databases seem to refresh at midnight: that's why new FTTC usually doesn't start shifting data until then.

[John198080]

Interesting discussion. Since it takes so long to get an engineer out, can you upgrade and go and buy a modem/router or whatever its called these days and pre-empt the engineer needing to come out?  Presumably its the same cable and all Sky need to do is release the flow? Best, John

[TimmyBGood]

@John198080 

Moving from FTTC to FTTP requires changing from the provision of a copper 'phone line' to an optical data bearer at the address: that's always an Openreach installer task.  Moving between FTTP speed bands once the address is served by FTTP is just an administrative task by the ISP.  The router model is irrelevant.

[Spanner1982]

Hi

ive currently for sky ultrafast broadband and would like to know if there any hardware difference between this and ultrafast plus broadband? I'm looking at upgrading but difficult having a technician due to my work commitments

thanks in advance