At Last! Superfast!

We uncover the truth and the LIES

At last it’s official! Superfast broadband is available to homes and businesses in South Hill parish – at least those within reach of the new “green boxes” that were fitted a few months ago. Here at South Hill Connection we attempt to bust a few myths about how to get connected.

broadband1

A new network of cabinets (or “remote nodes” to give them their proper name) has been installed in the area currently covered by the Callington exchange. Those on other exchanges are not covered by this network.

This network is enabled ONLY for Fibre To The Premises (FTTP), not for Fibre To The Cabinet (FTTC). The definitions are:

  • FTTP – a fibre optic connection is installed right into your home and connected to your router
  • FTTC – the fibre optic connection goes as far as the cabinet and normal copper phone line goes from the cabinet to your home

Clearly the installation of FTTP (the only option available to us) requires more work. The good news is that FTTP potentially offers much higher download speeds.

LIES (or myths if you prefer) you may be told by service providers

“You can (or will be able to) get a Fibre To The Cabinet connection” – no you can’t! We have been told by Superfast Cornwall that the network can only be enabled for EITHER FTTP OR FTTC. Ours is enabled for FTTP, which means no-one will ever be able to offer FTTC to us. Sky has told at least one customer that they will be able to have a FTTC broadband package at some time in the future. If what we have been told is correct, they are lying in order to keep their customers.

“BT are the only provider offering Fibre To The Home (FTTP)” – not true! As outlined above, Superfast Cornwall list three providers of FTTP to consumers, and six to businesses. BT would like us to think that they are the only option.     Many people have found that although Openreach (responsible for the telecommunications network) is meant to be independent of BT, it does appear to have a closer relationship with BT than any other service provider. It is in fact a wholly owned subsidiary of BT. This can mean that if you are with BT, things get sorted out faster than with other providers.

“Your line is not enabled for fibre broadband” – sales people with companies that don’t offer FTTP may tell you this. If you are currently on the Callington exchange (not Rilla Mill or Stoke Climsland) you can get FTTP, but only through providers who offer this service. Sales people work to a script, they often don’t understand technical details such as the difference between FTTP and FTTC.

There is a page on the Superfast Cornwall website where you can check whether your line is enabled, and it lists the providers who can help you. For residential (aka consumer) customers, these are BT Retail consumer for fibre, Andrews & Arnold, and Zen Internet. Several more options are listed for business customers.

Check available packages from these providers:

Please do your own research, but we think that of the three, BT works out the cheapest, followed by Zen Internet, with Andrews & Arnold the most expensive. We have found it difficult to deal with BT’s sales team over the phone, but Zen Internet were most helpful. We have not spoken to Andrews & Arnold.

Several households in Golberdon have ordered from BT for installation in October. We hope to let you know how they get on. If YOU have started the process, you can share your experiences by emailing editor@south-hill.co.uk