This topic

upgrading to fibre from copper lines

Anonymous — Thu, 15 May 2025 13:37:02 GMT

We are a small business and have existing copper lines. Being pestered to change to fibre which we are now planning to do. We have an existing telecomms provider (not BT) who have quoted me around £90/month for broadband with 2 x reconditioned handsets (as the reconditioned ones are cheaper than new, they tell me and they can save us £10/month off the bill by doing this). I'm not sure if this is a keen price or not!? We currently have one business number (with 2 x lines), so 2 people can call out or dial in at the same time. We need to be able to do the usual, put calls on hold, transfer between the 2 staff internally (who are in the same office). Other than that, nothing complicated. Our fax will go , as will our mag bell. Our card machine runs off wifi and also 4G.

Who pays for the fibre broadband to be put into our premises? Is this Open Reach or does our current provider pay for this? Or do we have to pay for it directly? If I change to another provider, would they charge us for putting fibre in?

Can I not just get fibre broadband off anyone (and would they pay to put the fibre in?) and get our own voip phones ? Our provider is telling me that we wouldn't be able to programme our our phones, I think they mentioned supplying us with Sogea phones? I can see that we can buy voip phones from between £45 and £70 each.

Any help or guidance appreciated!

Re: upgrading to fibre from copper lines

licquorice — Thu, 15 May 2025 13:52:28 GMT

Welcome to the BT residential forum, you need to post on the business forum

https://business.forums.bt.com/

Re: upgrading to fibre from copper lines

gg30340 — Thu, 15 May 2025 13:53:27 GMT

If you are a BT Business Account holder you will need to post on the BT Business Forum who should be able to assist you.

https://business.forums.bt.com/

Re: upgrading to fibre from copper lines

pippincp — Thu, 15 May 2025 15:42:35 GMT

I doubt the poster would get a reply on the business forum either, They are not a BT business customer either.

It has always amazed me how business customers (at times) can be more stupid than their customets,

Business or residential speak to your provider! No one else can assist you.

Its not rocket science is it?

Re: upgrading to fibre from copper lines

iniltous — Thu, 15 May 2025 15:59:38 GMT

As stated , a business forum is more appropriate for business users , but as BT are not your supplier , and presumably you aren’t intending to move to BT , this forum ( irrespective of you being a business or residential consumer ) , isn’t the appropriate place for you , these are questions for your current supplier or if you intend to switch , your prospective supplier .

On a general note , Openreach may provide /install the network, if an order is made asking them to do that , you pay ( indirectly ) as part of whatever your provider charges you , some may charge an installation fee upfront ( that isn’t necessarily what Openreach will get from the provider, if an installation fee is charged it’s whatever the company decides it wants to charge , not what Openreach will charge them ) or the provider may amortise the installation costs into the monthly payment you make , so they don’t charge you upfront installation costs it’s incorporated into the monthly fee over the minimum term …as far as everything else , unless you use BT , whatever you decide you want to do , has nothing to do with BT .

Re: upgrading to fibre from copper lines

WSH — Thu, 15 May 2025 15:56:57 GMT

I think stupid is a little harsh.

The real problem is that the vast majority of people outside of the business still assume Openreach and BT are the same thing. While we appreciate they have been separate companies for many years now, people still assume if it's an Openreach/infrastructure problem then BT will know the answer.

Re: upgrading to fibre from copper lines

Anonymous — Thu, 15 May 2025 16:06:40 GMT

@Anonymouswrote:
Can I not just get fibre broadband off anyone (and would they pay to put the fibre in?) and get our own voip phones ? Our provider is telling me that we wouldn't be able to programme our our phones, I think they mentioned supplying us with Sogea phones? I can see that we can buy voip phones from between £45 and £70 each.

Yes, you can get fibre installed by any IS{ that covers your address & they will pay for the installation.

As for phones, it depends who you choose & how their phones work. Many, like BT residential, simply provide a router with a phone socket that you plug a regular phone into. That may be different for a business account, it is with BT. Unfortunately you've given no detail about who your ISP is, what phones you have or who you're considering moving to. One difficulty might be migrating telephone numbers.

So you need to choose a provider & ask your questions of them, preferably more than once!

Re: upgrading to fibre from copper lines

Crimliar — Thu, 15 May 2025 16:11:50 GMT

Just be careful, do your due diligence regarding the company making the offer - check the reviews!

Re: upgrading to fibre from copper lines

pippincp — Thu, 15 May 2025 16:28:26 GMT

@Anonymouswrote:
@Anonymouswrote:
Can I not just get fibre broadband off anyone (and would they pay to put the fibre in?) and get our own voip phones ? Our provider is telling me that we wouldn't be able to programme our our phones, I think they mentioned supplying us with Sogea phones? I can see that we can buy voip phones from between £45 and £70 each.
Yes, you can get fibre installed by any IS{ that covers your address & they will pay for the installation.
As for phones, it depends who you choose & how their phones work. Many, like BT residential, simply provide a router with a phone socket that you plug a regular phone into. That may be different for a business account, it is with BT. Unfortunately you've given no detail about who your ISP is, what phones you have or who you're considering moving to. One difficulty might be migrating telephone numbers.
So you need to choose a provider & ask your questions of them, preferably more than once!

Who cares? They are not a BT customer.

Yes they are stupid, If I were your provider and told you I was going to upgrade your service the first question you would ask me is "How much is that going to cost?". If you didn't you would be more stupid than I thought.

Why aren't they asking these questions of their supplyer??

Re: upgrading to fibre from copper lines

WSH — Thu, 15 May 2025 17:24:08 GMT

They did mention what they had been quoted. It could be they are just fishing for alternative prices and general info about what is involved. As I said, the majority of people still assume BT own the infrastructure.

Re: upgrading to fibre from copper lines

Allyw7118 — Fri, 16 May 2025 14:34:41 GMT

Thanks for the lovely replies PIPPINCP and your very useful advice. I did post anonymously but happy to share my profile with you and everyone else. As you can see I am AllyW7118. Ally is my name, W is for my surname. As a business owner, 7118 is the amount of times this year I have come across patronising advisers who think they know everything, just like you.. Congratulations on increasing my number.

As a business owner, I have spoken to my provider several times and was just asking for advice, the world needs less people like you....

Bye...

Close my community account

Allyw7118 — Fri, 16 May 2025 14:38:37 GMT

Please close my community account.

Re: Close my community account

Christopher_G — Fri, 16 May 2025 15:53:59 GMT

Hi @Allyw7118

I've sent you a private message with some information about this. Please have a look at your community inbox and get back to me.

Thanks

Chris