Concerned about full fibre installation placement

[Tanzanite]

I have done a crude floorplan to make it easier to understand what I'm trying to say, hopefully.  I keep changing my installation date because I'm not happy about the change. I am chronically ill and disabled and have multiple things hardwired to my router so that I can control with my phone, lights, security cameras, climate control  in the property due to severe problems with temperature regulation etc.  Plus my desktop computer. Various things are seperated by band on my router. I do not use and will not use the bt hub because it can't do even this very basic need. Therefore I will be forced to lose my landline. I am semi-rural, mobile signals can go down with power cuts so very unhappy about this.

My main concern though is my router is in an extension socket in the living room which serves as my bedroom as well. The main bt point is in the hall near front door. Yes, I know those won't work anymore/will be gone.  The phoneline is underground and comes in next to the front door. I have it marked as 'fibre' on my floorplan. I HAVE to keep the router where it is. The extension phone point goes through the loft and down the corner of the room where the router is marked on my floorplan. Will the installer be able to run a cable through the loft (I'm in a bungalow) to where the router is because of multiple door ways there's no chance of running it around the hall which is about 20ft long. Equally, there's no chance of running it around the outside because it's far too long around 3 sides and also because that exterior wall is taken up by a huge patio door and a window an the router and plug sockets are all on the other side.

I cannot run cables myself nor do I have anyone else to do it nor do I have the money to pay someone. This upheaval makes my life worse, not better. I'm quite happy with what I have now. So much for progress. Or is there another company that can provide me with a decent router/let me use my own choice that I can use with my digital landline and will install it how I need it installed? 

[licquorice]

First of all, if you wish to keep your third party router but still have telephony, simply port your number to a third party VoIP provider.

Whilst not an ideal solution, you can connect the fibre ONT to your router using powerline adapters if it is not practical to run an Ethernet cable between the two.

[iniltous]

Are you a BT customer ? , and who is ‘driving’ this change to FTTP ?,

As far as I’m aware , although customers are frequently offered the option to change to FTTP ‘for free’  , there is no compulsion to do so , even in FTTP priority areas .

If you are on BT FTTC broadband, don’t ask or initiate an upgrade to FTTP , don’t attempt to renew your FTTC contract to get a better deal as that will require FTTP , and if offered a ‘free’ upgrade to FTTP don’t accept ‘out if the blue’ don’t respond …there hasn’t been a single reported instance of a customer forcibly upgraded to FTTP against their wishes.

It may well be eventually customers have to make the choice of taking Fttp  or be disconnected completely, but that point in time hasn’t arrived, it’s not clear if you actually do want FTTP and are initiating the change (then cancelling)  but if you don’t want to be inconvenienced, simply don’t order FTTP.

[gg30340]

You will need to discus the installation with the engineer to see what is possible but I doubt that the Openreach engineer will enter your attic unless it is fully floored.

Assuming that the Openreach engineer will only install the ONT (Fibre Modem) in the hallway at the front door and assuming you are happy to have an Ethernet cable run along the hall wall rather than be hidden, the engineer may be able to run Ethernet up the hall wall at the ONT then run the Ethernet cable along the wall at ceiling height above all the doors until it can enter the room where the router is presently located.

It may be the case that the Openreach engineer could run the fibre cable from the front door in the same way as above and place the ONT in the room beside the router.

Either way it may not be aesthetically pleasing but it should not be too difficult a job for the engineer assuming he/she is happy to do that and given your circumstances I would suspect it would be difficult to say no.

Having said that, I would also agree with @licquorice regarding the use power line adaptors.

[Tanzanite]

Of course i'm a bt customer. THEY automatically set up an order for this change, I didn't.  I don't want it. I cancelled the openreach order because I couldn't do that on my bt account but then bt straight away set up another appointment. I can only keep kicking the date further away now by 3mths at a time.

I'm quite happy with my fibre to the cabinet 78mb broadband. I'm on a social tariff so get free calls and broadband for £20 a month. Are you saying they're not switching off the copper for broadband, only the phone? In which case they can turn off the phone part then and I'll keep my broadband as it is .

I dont want internal wires going all around the walls. or powerlines. I have multiple things hardwired to the router. I want the setup I have now to stay that way. The loft is partially boarded out.  If they put in an extension point going through the loft to where my router is now, why can't they just swap it out for the new fibre? If BT want the change then they need to make it convenient, not expect customers to jump through a load of hoops or spend money to install it in the same place it is already.

Can someone confirm copper broadband is not going not be switched off next year?

[iniltous]

The PSTN (telephone) switch off has nothing to do with the full fibre FTTP rollout , the replacement IP telephony service called  BTDV can  be delivered over fibre to the cabinet FTTC as well as ADSL  , it doesn’t need FTTP .

As stated , BT /Openreach understandably want people to take FTTP once it’s available in their area but it’s not compulsory , and even if the invitation to take FTTP looks like it can’t be refused, it can , for the time being (and that potentially for many years ) there is no compulsion, even after PSTN  switch off , and exchange closures , FTTC will be around for some for years .

[gg30340]

I was offering alternatives for you to consider so that you could keep your router and its connection exactly where it is, it was not obligatory that you choose one or the other.

Copper broadband is not going to be switched off for years. It is the copper phone service that is going to be switched off.

If you don't mind having no landline phone then just cancel that part of your package and tell BT you do not want any changes made to your broadband.

Good luck getting what you want. I will now bow out of your thread.

[licquorice]

In what way does connecting your existing router to the ONT by means of powerline connectors have any effect on your current connections to the router?

[Tanzanite · Accepted solution]

Thank you!  BT really should be explaining better than trying to force people and setting up orders I didn't ask for with their talk of a 'free upgrade' that sounds all simple and wonderful, when for some it's actually a downgrade and more stress and hassle. I'll stick with my broadband as it is. Thanks for explaining that I can.