topic Re: Router location is at back of house in Broadband & Landline

Router location is at back of house

Nucky — Fri, 03 Apr 2026 17:26:47 GMT

I have EE part-fibre but want to switch to full fibre which is available to me. My router is at the back of my house. I have read horror stories about OR contractors not wanting to run cable around a property, especially if sharp corners are involved, which of course is necessary as my house is not round! How can I avoid a confrontation? I have chosen a side of house location for the new router to save further runs of cable internally, but this involves extra power points and changing the SSID which I have to do when the cabling etc is finished. Will BT allow me time to do this before shutting down my part-fibre broadband?

Re: Router location is at back of house

JimM11 — Fri, 03 Apr 2026 17:56:24 GMT

@Nucky The FTTC connection will shutdown when the FTTP goes live, you cannot have them both active at the same time.

The ONT modem can really go anywhere in the property, the EE Hub just requires a cat 5e cable from the EE Hub wan port to the Lan connection on the ONT! As to the position and dealing with the installer's doing it, if they will not agree then it's not going to happen, time and cost are the two constraint's that determine it all!

Re: Router location is at back of house

XRaySpeX — Fri, 03 Apr 2026 20:39:33 GMT

Why are you thinking you have to change SSIDs? There are ways of keeping them.

What does BT Wholesale Broadband Availability Checker > Address Checker estimate for your address? Post the whole table, the text below it and the line above it, blanking out your address.

Re: Router location is at back of house

Northerner — Fri, 03 Apr 2026 21:38:22 GMT

@Nucky @JimM11

I have the feeling to mention that buying your own better router again in this instance.

Thanks

Re: Router location is at back of house

Nucky — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 14:21:33 GMT

Thanks for your comments. To clarify, I don’t expect to have both FTTC and FTTP live at the same time. I wondered if I could determine when to go live with the FTTP? Or once installed is it switched on immediately? Are you saying that if the fibre installer can’t put the cable where I need it, they will walk off the job? Not all houses have routers at the front. In my case, the router was placed a long time ago close the telephone master socket which happened to be in my kitchen at the back of my house. Moving it to the front of the house is not an option.

Re: Router location is at back of house

Nucky — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 14:28:56 GMT

Thanks for your comment which I found a bit cryptic. What were you saying in layman's terms? The reason I was going to change the SSID is because I cannot face having to update all my many devices linked to the router, some of which have to be re-paired while others take an enormous amount of time. I did all this a few months ago when signing up for EE part-fibre: so I intend to keep the SSID of my existing router for continuity. I am a novice at this sort of thing; so If you have a better way, I am all ears!

Re: Router location is at back of house

Nucky — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 14:30:36 GMT

Thank for the thought. But I am not sure how this would help me. Where would I get such a device?

Re: Router location is at back of house

JimM11 — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 17:07:37 GMT

@Nucky This is the link to the BTW for connection, using your home number and postcode it will say how the delivery off the FF Full Fibre is expected to happen, there are really only two, underground connection and overhead from a central point, so unless you have particular knowledge of how/what your's is going to be, planning is just not an option.

For instance my home is as follows there is a pole located central to the back off all the homes, there is a 8 unit CBT installed by OR Openreach to connect FF Full Fibre to 8 homes all overhead fed, current uptake is three (3) currently in 18 months. See the linked post Solved: Re: 74 Days since placingmy order and still No Broadband or Landline.

BT Broadband

The current EE Hub's are linked below, anything from the EE Smart Hub and above there is no need to get a replacement hub, as it covers both the FF and DV needed connections.

https://ee.co.uk/help/broadband/getting-started/compare-our-range-of-broadband-hubs

Re: Router location is at back of house

XRaySpeX — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 17:06:15 GMT

As I said there are ways of keeping your SSIDs. When you 1st link your new EE router to the EE app, it has an option to copy your existing SSIDs from your old router to the new router.

Just click on the BT Wholesale Checker link I gave you & follow thro' with my instructions.

Re: Router location is at back of house

Nucky — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 17:17:15 GMT

Thanks JImM11. The route to my house is underground through conduits. BT has laid fibre down my street to every house. I have decided to do a U turn and buy a router cabinet to fit in my hall way. Hopefully , OR or its contractors can drill straight into the box. I have three Deco Mesh hubs to take it from there!

Re: Router location is at back of house

Nucky — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 17:19:07 GMT

I didn't know that! Thanks for the heads up. Very useful to know!

Re: Router location is at back of house

XRaySpeX — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 22:31:30 GMT

Isn't it possible that the fibre comes up close to where the copper landline came up?

Re: Router location is at back of house

Nucky — Sun, 05 Apr 2026 13:28:53 GMT

That's what I expect to happen.