Engineer visit necessary?

[Phenoplastic]

Hi all 

I've signed up for EE fibre max.  I'm already on FTTC ADSL (getting 76Mbps) with Plusnet. Have a landline but hardly ever use it.

They've scheduled an engineer visit in a week's time, but I'm not convinced one is necessary. I've already received the new hub/router. What might the engineer actually have to do?

[XRaySpeX]

Switch you from an FTTC VDSL2 (it's not ADSL) connection to G.Fast, at the cab. It probably won't need a home visit. 

[Phenoplastic]

Is it worth me phoning them? I would like to avoid the £50 engineer visit charge, I've read elsewhere that they might be needed to change the master socket maybe. 

[XRaySpeX]

There is no reason to change master socket if VDSL2 has been running OK from it. Anyway an engineer has been booked to do the changeover. 

[Mustrum]

@Phenoplastic  have they quoted you £50 for an engineer visit or are you assuming it will apply?

Fixed Landline Broadband installs are Free Setup, so if you have been told its £50 I would be giving them a call as soon as I can.

[IT-4BusyPeople]

EE Fibre Max is FTTP - you are currently on FTTC.

An engineer visit will be necessary to run the fibre from the cabinet to your home and potentially route the fibre to a different place in the house - specifically one which has twin mains power outlets for the termination unit and router.

[XRaySpeX]

@IT-4BusyPeople : EE Fibre Max is usually FTTC G.Fast but EE will provide an FTTP variant based on the G.Fast profiles.

[IT-4BusyPeople]

@XRaySpeX Thanks, I just assumed from a look at the website Fibre Max (FTTC G.fast) had been dropped and only Full Fibre Max (FTTP) is now being sold and given the pricing...

This article clearly states what the engineers' visit is for with a G.fast deployment.

https://ee.co.uk/help/help-new/broadband-and-landline/home-broadband/what-are-fibre-max-145-and-fibr...

Just look at the sections titled "How are Fibre Max 100 and Fibre Max 300 plans installed and set-up?" and "What will the engineer do?"

 

[XRaySpeX]

@IT-4BusyPeople : G.Fast Fibre Max will still be sold in areas that don't have FTTP but do have G.Fast. 

1. The eng will "first disconnect your old service and connect your new one at the street cabinet" but nowt about the far bigger job of laying fibre cables, drilling holes thro' walls & affixing a box (ONT) on interior wall.
2. "These plans work on our current Smart Hub routers, but you will also require an additional Openreach modem to be attached to the router via an Ethernet cable" & its pix is hardly a good description of an ONT.
3. Similarly "We'll also upgrade the master phone socket (the white box on the wall) and remove any unnecessary wiring". With FTTP they wouldn't bother to touch the phone socket. With G.Fast they could upgrade the phone socket but it's not essential.

All in all a good description of FTTC G.Fast but nowhere near for FTTP.

[XRaySpeX]

@Phenoplastic : To check which Fibre Max you can get there, what does BT Wholesale Broadband Availability Checker estimate for your phone number? Post just the whole table and the line above it, blanking out your phone number. If it doesn't recognise your phone number or you don't have one, use the Address Checker.