upgrade to full fibre from superfast

[rml123]

hello

i received a call from sky offering to upgrade me to full fibre (i am currently on superfast part fibre). After initially saying it would cost a little more, they then said i would get a free upgrade. This would involve a visit from Openreach to install the full fibre infrastructure.

The installation is a few days away and I was wondering how much faster full fibre would be. I was reading it was about 20 times faster than part fibre. However the sky caller didn't tell me which package I am upgrading to. After searching the website I found "Sky Broadband Superfast is provided as Full Fibre if you have upgraded from a Part Fibre Superfast product at no extra cost".

Does this mean I have been conned and the new full fibre will be no faster than the part fibre for me? I don't really want drilling holes into my house and installing new equipment for no reason.

[jamesn123]

@rml123 

Initially you will get the same speeds, its just your product is delivered over different technology & physical infrastructure. Its not a con, but you would need to upgrade your package to a higher speed tier to see any real difference.

The other benefits with getting full fibre installed now is that you will be ready when Openreach eventually stop providing part fibre in your area (This can happen when full fibre is available in that area). Additionally the technology offers more resilience to faults compared to copper connections. 

[TimmyBGood]

@rml123 

If you didn't specifically order a 100, 150, 300, 500 or 900Mbs 'Ultrafast' product then I think you'd get 'Superfast' but at the full 80Mbs rather than 'up to 80Mbs' as is the case for FTTC.  Optical fibre is also inherently more reliable than legacy copper.

[rml123]

Well i would say it is a con because the implication of upgrading from part fibre to full fibre is that it will be faster, and it was not mentioned that it will not be. I made it clear on the call I'm perfectly happy with what I've got. OK, at some point I will be forced to switch but my initial feeling is I want to cancel it for being conned but I'll have a think about it first.

[TimmyBGood]

---

@rml123 wrote:

Well i would say it is a con because the implication of upgrading from part fibre to full fibre is that it will be faster, and it was not mentioned that it will not be. 

---

Superfast over FTTP should be faster than the majority of Superfast over FTTC, because the latter actually averages about 56Mbs at the subscription address (down from a maximum 80Mbs) due to the reduction in speed over the copper part of the circuit.

 

Optical connections are essentially unaffected by distance: it's where the address is within 200 metres of the fibre cabinet that there won't be any difference between FTTC and FTTP.

[rml123]

The olive green Street Cabinet is literally on the other side of the road opposite my house so I'll only gain a little. As I said before what I've got already is fine and stable, I only agreed to switch because I thought I would be getting something way faster. I'll probably go ahead with it when I've got over the annoyance!

[Chrisee]

@rml123 nothing stopping you upgrading to whatever speed you want bu paying the premium. Sky sell packages up to 900Mb/s but oddly charge more for higher speeds.

[TimmyBGood]

---

@rml123 wrote:

I only agreed to switch because I thought I would be getting something way faster. 

---

All ISPs on the Openreach network price by speed band because that's how the pricing of the wholesale bandwidth they buy works. Expecting Ultrafast speed for Superfast cost isn't realistic: as @Chrisee indicates Sky will happily sell you a Gigabit service over FTTP once it's in place, in return for the appropriate monthly payment.

[rml123]

Sure, but I was told I was getting the upgrade because I was a VIP customer, the same as when I was upgraded to Sky Q for free. The inference of them telling you they are upgrading you to full fibre is that it will be faster. It costs enough already, I am happy with what i have, I don't want to pay more for faster broadband when it is fast enough for my purposes already.

Also they are mixing up what Superfast means. I read today that Ofcom told Sky they have to be clear which is full fibre and which is part fibre so I am still going to be on Superfast despite it changing from part to full fibre.

Finally, from what i read, they will drill a hole in my outer wall to feed the fibre through from CSP to ONT. But it doesn't say anything about running fibres around the house. Surely they will need to do this to connect CSP to ONT? Can they splice onto the existing wiring or is that copper? I don't really want unsightly wires running round the house for no gain.

[TimmyBGood]

---

@rml123 wrote:

Also they are mixing up what Superfast means. I read today that Ofcom told Sky they have to be clear which is full fibre and which is part fibre so I am still going to be on Superfast despite it changing from part to full fibre.

That's generic advice to all ISPs.  'Superfast' is a marketing term for a speed band (actually two, at 40:10Mbs and 80:20Mbs) rather than a bearer technology.  In the past it was associated exclusively with FTTC because that's the only thing which was available at the time to carry such speeds, but with the widespread rollout of FTTP this is no longer the case.

Surely they will need to do this to connect CSP to ONT? Can they splice onto the existing wiring or is that copper? I don't really want unsightly wires running round the house for no gain.

Current wiring will be copper, and that becomes obsolete, including all internal 'phone' sockets. There's an optical pigtail between CSP and ONT (which is typically mounted on the inside of an external wall), then ethernet cable from ONT to Hub.

---

[rml123]

Thank you for the information. 

The ethernet cable sky have sent is fairly short so the ONT will have to be near the SKY router which is in a back room plugged into a phone socket which is on a party wall, not on an external wall. I understand that the phone socket becomes obsolete but its still the nearest place with a double power socket. If they can run the pigtail alongside or in place of the old line through the hallway with the ONT next to the old phone socket that's fine, but if not then I won't want it.

[rml123]

Also, do i need to insist all the copper infrastructure stays in place? If SKY put the price of full fibre up at the end of my contract but keep part-fibre the same, I am going to want the part-fibre package as it is cheaper and is fine for what i need?

[TimmyBGood]

---

@rml123 wrote:

If they can run the pigtail alongside or in place of the old line through the hallway with the ONT next to the old phone socket that's fine, but if not then I won't want it.

---

There's no guarantee this can happen but installers typically attempt to go along with what the householder wants, within the limitations of the time and materials (primarily the length of the optical pigtail) allocated for a standard installation.

[TimmyBGood]

---

@rml123 wrote:

Also, do i need to insist all the copper infrastructure stays in place? 

---

Once there's Openreach optical infrastructure at an address, no ISP can purchase wholesale copper service in the future.  Ultimately the aim is to shut down the copper network entirely because low-voltage electrical signalling over pairs of wires is essentially an Edwardian technology (i.e. well over a century old)

[rml123]

And finally, when i check sky services, my current part-fibre gives me 75.1mbps to my hub every day. Can I expect 80mbps every day when full fibre is installed? thank you...