Broadband - Fibre To The Premises (Fttp)

[countrykid]

Does anyone have any experience of having Fibre To The Premises (FTTP), rather than the more widely available Fibre To The Cabinet (FTTC) and if so which company are you with?
We are moving house in two weeks and I've just been in touch with our existing providor Plusnet hoping to simply continue with them once we've moved - we also have Plusnet mobile as we get a great combi deal.
This call resulted in me being informed that our new build house will have FTTP and as such they (Plusnet) cannot offer me a service - they have apparently ran trials but have not continued with it. They went on to say that there are very few companies offering this service aside from BT - which I am aware Plusnet is part of.
I have done a quick Google search, which suggested BT AND Plusnet are offering FTTP, but I guess that info is old. There were two other companies mentioned, but these were nothing that I've ever come across when doing the usual broadband deals search.
I'm told FTTP is the future, and many house builders are incorporating it, but it seems the market might not yet be ready if BT is pretty much the only regular company offering it.
Luckily Plusnet has waived their usual exit fee of around £130 as I have no choice but to switch companies when we move. We've been happy with Plusnet and had very good deals, so leaving them is a shame.

Any info on deals you've found would be appreciated

[4candles]

Seven ISPs offering FTTP are listed by Openreach -
https://www.homeandbusiness.openreach.co.uk/fibre-broadband/ultrafast-broadband/ultrafast-fibre-buy-it-now

[alavahalf]

Plusnet say that there are very few companies offering this service .. they will wont they, especially if they dont.
In front of me I have a building developer who builds nothing but individual detached properties. They say the process of deciding what will be installed in a newbuild is simple. They find out which service is available in the area .. usually BT or Virgin. They then send the development plans to them asking if they would like to incorporate their line/cable into the development. BT always do. BT then supply the underground trunking to the developer, who then installs the trunking between the new build and the development boundary along with a cat5 wire pulled through.
It is really up to BT if they decide they want to take Fibre directly to the property. In a new build estate it would be common practice to take it to every property.

Whether your ISP does or does not do Fttp, your choice of ISP will still use the same wire/cable. Time to find a new ISP and use the premium connection you will soon have !

[countrykid]

My thanks to both 4candles for the link, and alavahalf. The link was useful and helpful. Unfortunately when I checked out the companies shown and tapped in my postcode it came up saying the FTTP service was either not available or the postcode was not recognised. I've since been on a bt community forum and it seems this is a common problem with new builds. It appears BT Wholesale say a certain postcode is "live" but it takes xx weeks for BT Retail (or others) to have the same information via their own databases. Until it's showing as Live with BT Retail, you cannot place an order.
Via the forum and the info in the link, the advice is to ring BT and ask for the postcode to be added to their database. I'll try this tomorrow if the lines are open. Ideally I'd like to get the order placed ahead of our move on 11th, not least because with BT they currently have a £130 pre-loaded Reward Card offer valid until 10th Jan!! I'm presuming this to be a genuine incentive. Somehow, I feel I might still hit a brickwall with the postcode - we've already experienced the same trying to get buildings insurance

[4candles]

"Unfortunately when I checked out the companies shown and tapped in my postcode it came up saying the FTTP service was either not available or the postcode was not recognised."

Ah, the all too frequent 'Computer says no' problem - you have my sympathy. Hope it gets sorted by 10 Jan.

[gumboot]

Is your new home on a site that was previously unused land with no other properties nearby? If so, you could face an uphill struggle with this. What's happening here is that BT are cross referencing the postcode with currently available mapping data and the data may have not been updated. Unless the system recognises the build, it will show as not much more than a field or whatever it was previously. In that case, you would need to wait until Ordnance Survey update the maps of the area and the info gets filtered down to BT or whoever else you want as your ISP.
The clue here is that you're also getting problems with insurance cover. It's for the same reason.

[gumboot]

New build properties have postcodes allocated to them but again it can take an age for the new postcode to be recognised by the software used by insurance companies etc. The entire country is not covered by precise postcodes as there are vast areas where no properties or commercial businesses are present. This results in a single postcode covering a wide area which is no good for insurers.

[countrykid]

Thanks Gumboot.
The small development of 41 houses is in North Yorkshire. It was previously a small field. It is off a well established road with a slightly different postcode. When I do a postcode search, Royal Mail recognises it for our house number, but when for instance doing a search for Insurance etc, the postcode only shows house numbers 1 - 8.
I'm going to ring BT on a number given in a forum relating to FTTP issues/postcode not recognised and ask if they can add our address to the "system". From people posting on that forum though, it seems BT wholesale tell customers yes they can go ahead, but BT Retail who the man in the street deals with still say no. Like 4Candles said, it's the problem of "the computer says no". In short there is no "human" way to overrule the system until "somebody" loads the data, or as is suggested, OS mapping is updated, we appear to be living in a field. Thanks to everyone for suggestions etc.
I will contact the developers site office when it reopens, to ask more about this - they must have already had this issue with people already moved in. I have a feeling though they do not return until next Monday.

[ladybirder]

Could you knock on the door of someone who has already moved in and see if they can offer any more advice?

[gumboot]

Happy to help countrykid. Sounds like a good plan to me. The Royal Mail keep assuring us that postcodes are foolproof but they aren't. It's all very well having distinctive postcodes in urban areas - my street has a different postcode for each side, but it all goes awry when you go up remote areas of Scotland where areas of many square miles can have the same postcode. The OS, Royal Mail and local councils really need to get their act together over this as it's causing problems all over the country.