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Business FTTPoD

dabigm

ULTIMATE Member
As I'm not going to be getting FTTP I figured I'll go for FTTPoD. I can't justify a leased line.
But i'm finding it hard.

Cerberus networks: No response. Two emails, two form fillings in , no reply.

Fluid one: Straight up told me they would "not be looking to provide service" to me, because my company consists of just 2 people (they don't seem to be bothered about wether I can pay for the service or not, which I find absolutely shocking, nobody ever said nah we won't give you a service because you're not big enough)

Amvia: Told me I was in an FTTP area (I'm not) then when they looked into it said no we can't sorry.

So anyone have any ideas / other companies I can try ?
 
You should have been able to get a desktop quote via Cerberus by just following the availability checker through and then filling in the form. But remember, a lot of companies are just coming back from Christmas and New Year breaks, so there may be a bit of a delay.
 
As I'm not going to be getting FTTP I figured I'll go for FTTPoD. I can't justify a leased line.
But i'm finding it hard.

Cerberus networks: No response. Two emails, two form fillings in , no reply.

Fluid one: Straight up told me they would "not be looking to provide service" to me, because my company consists of just 2 people (they don't seem to be bothered about wether I can pay for the service or not, which I find absolutely shocking, nobody ever said nah we won't give you a service because you're not big enough)

Amvia: Told me I was in an FTTP area (I'm not) then when they looked into it said no we can't sorry.

So anyone have any ideas / other companies I can try ?
Did you manage to speak with Cerberus? Noticed that you posted in the thread an hour later than your OP above.


If not I'd suggest you email the chief on bob.hendy@cerberusnetworks.co.uk
 
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Strange that FluidOne won't sell you FTTPoD, back in 2017 they sold me the same service as a sole trader. I even failed their company credit check (lol) yet I still managed to order from them - I had to pay 12 months up front service charges as a "guarantee" and then from months 13-36 it was regular monthly charges. They were the only FTTPoD provider in those days and it was on a 3 year min term.

Anyway I suggest also asking AAISP for a FTTPoD. Whilst they don't publicly advertise this, they do definitely offer this if asked.
 
Did you manage to speak with Cerberus? Noticed that you posted in the thread an hour later than your OP above.


If not I'd suggest you email the chief on bob.hendy@cerberusnetworks.co.uk

I called them today yeah, they said OR had not responded and I should call back in 2 weeks :(

You should have been able to get a desktop quote via Cerberus by just following the availability checker through and then filling in the form. But remember, a lot of companies are just coming back from Christmas and New Year breaks, so there may be a bit of a delay.

Yep that's what I've done, or rather did in December. Just have to wait I guess.

Strange that FluidOne won't sell you FTTPoD, back in 2017 they sold me the same service as a sole trader. I even failed their company credit check (lol) yet I still managed to order from them - I had to pay 12 months up front service charges as a "guarantee" and then from months 13-36 it was regular monthly charges. They were the only FTTPoD provider in those days and it was on a 3 year min term.

Anyway I suggest also asking AAISP for a FTTPoD. Whilst they don't publicly advertise this, they do definitely offer this if asked.
So this one grinded my gears a bit. The guy asked me about why I wanted FTTPoD and I explained. He said what about leased lines, and I said I don't require 1:1 contention, I just need a decent upload speed and I wanted FTTPoD so I'd have the freedom to go on to a normal FTTP contract.

As soon as I mentioned not interested in leased line, he said yeah we wouldn't be "looking to supply you a service" because of the size of the business. I said I'm prepared to pay the cost of the FTTPoD no problem, and he said they would normally look to sell a business more services, like phone lines, leased lines, support packages etc and since I only wanted FTTPoD it wasn't worth it for them.

I have to say I found the sales guy rather rude and a bit on the pedantic side. Like oh dear you, your business doesn't turn over 1m a year? not interested then ... really I've never seen a network company baulk at the idea of selling a fibre line to a business. Pretty sure FTTPoD costs the same whether the business has 1 employee or 100.

I emailed them to ask , is this right that you're not interested due to me only having 3 employees ? no reply..
 
I called them today yeah, they said OR had not responded and I should call back in 2 weeks :(
To be fair to Cerberus - everything FTTPoD is in the gift of Openreach....just wait till you place an order, pay your thousands and get ridiculously cryptic, tautological and downright nonsensical updates....oh and wait up to a year - if not longer....

Just expectation setting.

Good luck chap.
 
To be fair to Cerberus - everything FTTPoD is in the gift of Openreach....just wait till you place an order, pay your thousands and get ridiculously cryptic, tautological and downright nonsensical updates....oh and wait up to a year - if not longer....

Just expectation setting.

Good luck chap.
Yep. I'm starting to think though it's either leased line or plod on as I'm doing now. Thankfully i'm not in a situation where i've got 2mbit or something, there is virgin media here. I just don't like them, and there's no viable alternative (we already tried G.Fast, it didn't work so well on a 300m long line).

But yeah it's wait. Or move ... :ROFLMAO:
 
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I called them today yeah, they said OR had not responded and I should call back in 2 weeks :(



Yep that's what I've done, or rather did in December. Just have to wait I guess.


So this one grinded my gears a bit. The guy asked me about why I wanted FTTPoD and I explained. He said what about leased lines, and I said I don't require 1:1 contention, I just need a decent upload speed and I wanted FTTPoD so I'd have the freedom to go on to a normal FTTP contract.

As soon as I mentioned not interested in leased line, he said yeah we wouldn't be "looking to supply you a service" because of the size of the business. I said I'm prepared to pay the cost of the FTTPoD no problem, and he said they would normally look to sell a business more services, like phone lines, leased lines, support packages etc and since I only wanted FTTPoD it wasn't worth it for them.

I have to say I found the sales guy rather rude and a bit on the pedantic side. Like oh dear you, your business doesn't turn over 1m a year? not interested then ... really I've never seen a network company baulk at the idea of selling a fibre line to a business. Pretty sure FTTPoD costs the same whether the business has 1 employee or 100.

I emailed them to ask , is this right that you're not interested due to me only having 3 employees ? no reply..
Sorry to hear that. My experience with FluidOne was the total opposite, no complaints at all. I suggest writing a quick email to FluidOne CEO Russell Horton about the poor sales staff member you had to deal with.

russellhorton@fluidone.com
 
Yeah, I'm a bit surprised by FluidOne there. If they offer a product, then they should sell that product. You don't refuse a customer just because you think there's no upsell value, you merely ensure that the original product is priced according to your expectations of making a viable profit, as would be normal for any business.
 
As I'm not going to be getting FTTP I figured I'll go for FTTPoD. I can't justify a leased line.
But i'm finding it hard.

Cerberus networks: No response. Two emails, two form fillings in , no reply.

Fluid one: Straight up told me they would "not be looking to provide service" to me, because my company consists of just 2 people (they don't seem to be bothered about wether I can pay for the service or not, which I find absolutely shocking, nobody ever said nah we won't give you a service because you're not big enough)

Amvia: Told me I was in an FTTP area (I'm not) then when they looked into it said no we can't sorry.

So anyone have any ideas / other companies I can try ?
Why would u want FTTPoD as Openreach rolling out FTTP (no extra charge to u) why would you risk yourself paying lots of money to Openreach as I can understand order FTTPoD is taking long time between 12 and 18 months and what IF FTTP already available to u within next 12-18 months then you will lose lots of money!

I don't recommend FTTPoD to any residential customers because it just rip off charged by greedy Openreach.
 
Cerberus are normally very good. I suspect people have been on holiday during the quiet week after new year.

Therefore, do persist gently. Bob Hendy has always been very helpful to me, even just when renewing my low-cost FTTP service (which was originally FTTPoD). And of course, check your junk mail folder. FYI, Amvia are just a reseller of Cerberus FTTPoD, so no point chasing through them (unless you happen to want to buy other services from Amvia)

There is good news in another thread, from someone who was quoted much-reduced pricing under the near network trial.

Maybe @bulldog wouldn't pay for FTTPoD, but there are plenty of us who did and are happy with the final outcome. However, it is true that there's a risk that native FTTP will come along soon; Openreach FTTP coverage is currently about 20% nationally and is forecast to grow to 80% within the next 5 years (by December 2026), so there's definitely a balancing act here. However if you do get pricing under the near network trial, then that de-risks it significantly.

It's also true that FTTPoD can take a long time to install - in my case 14 months from post-survey final quote to going live, although that was very much at the top end, including a 3-month notice delay for an unexpected road closure.

You could of course go for a leased line instead, which is usually installed quicker, and depending on your area there might be completing LL fibre suppliers. But ballpark you should expect to pay at least £300 per month with a 36-month contract, which means that FTTPoD can still be attractive in comparison if you can afford the cost up-front. In the short term, FTTPoD also increases your property value, until the time that FTTP catches up in your area anyway.
 
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Why would u want FTTPoD as Openreach rolling out FTTP (no extra charge to u) why would you risk yourself paying lots of money to Openreach as I can understand order FTTPoD is taking long time between 12 and 18 months and what IF FTTP already available to u within next 12-18 months then you will lose lots of money!

I don't recommend FTTPoD to any residential customers because it just rip off charged by greedy Openreach.
Openreach have completed their FTTP rollout in my town. I'm not included in it. Their view is you have G.Fast, you don't need FTTP because G.Fast is ok for you. And yeah I've tried G.Fast, and we had them remove it under the speed guarantee because it fell far short of the 100mbit it was supposed to get. But that's what happens when your line is 300m long and Openreach think G.Fast is good enough

My alternative is a leased line. If I get FTTPoD I can switch providers eventually.
 
Cerberus are normally very good. I suspect people have been on holiday during the quiet week after new year.

Therefore, do persist gently. Bob Hendy has always been very helpful to me, even just when renewing my low-cost FTTP service (which was originally FTTPoD). And of course, check your junk mail folder. FYI, Amvia are just a reseller of Cerberus FTTPoD, so no point chasing through them (unless you happen to want to buy other services from Amvia)

There is good news in another thread, from someone who was quoted much-reduced pricing under the near network trial.

Maybe @bulldog wouldn't pay for FTTPoD, but there are plenty of us who did and are happy with the final outcome. However, it is true that there's a risk that native FTTP will come along soon; Openreach FTTP coverage is currently about 20% nationally and is forecast to grow to 80% within the next 5 years (by December 2026), so there's definitely a balancing act here. However if you do get pricing under the near network trial, then that de-risks it significantly.

It's also true that FTTPoD can take a long time to install - in my case 14 months from post-survey final quote to going live, although that was very much at the top end, including a 3-month notice delay for an unexpected road closure.

You could of course go for a leased line instead, which is usually installed quicker, and depending on your area there might be completing LL fibre suppliers. But ballpark you should expect to pay at least £300 per month with a 36-month contract, which means that FTTPoD can still be attractive in comparison if you can afford the cost up-front. In the short term, FTTPoD also increases your property value, until the time that FTTP catches up in your area anyway.

You could of course go for a leased line instead, which is usually installed quicker, and depending on your area there might be completing LL fibre suppliers.

Cheapest is NS01/SSE at £236 + VAT for 100/100. 1000/1000 is £535
 
Openreach have completed their FTTP rollout in my town. I'm not included in it.
Sounds like you have a good chance to benefit from the trial pricing then.

The presence of G.Fast doesn't necessarily prevent FTTP being installed - in Tunbridge Wells, for instance, there's a lot of G.Fast which is being overbuilt with FTTP. You'd get it eventually as part of FTTP infill and copper withdrawal, but you may be well down the priority list.

On your 300m line, you're presumably getting the full 80/20 or close to it. Bonding two FTTC lines might also be an option. FTTP really is more of a step change, for 300/50 upwards at least.
 
You could of course go for a leased line instead, which is usually installed quicker, and depending on your area there might be completing LL fibre suppliers.

Cheapest is NS01/SSE at £236 + VAT for 100/100. 1000/1000 is £535
That’s looks suspiciously like something from linebroker…

Take those ‘prices’ with a massive pinch of salt!
 
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If Openreach told you G.fast is ok for you for a distance of 300m or more, I suggest you filed a complaint to Openreach CEO Clive Selley and write to your local MP. If FTTP is available in your area, tell him Clive as it sounded like Openreach flobbed you off, sorry you got G.fast there, no FTTP for you is totally unfairly treated to you.
 
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As for leased line is bad idea because once it has expiry contract, it will not revert FTTP on BTw checker. You still pay the rental for leased line. A big NO.
 
That’s looks suspiciously like something from linebroker…

Take those ‘prices’ with a massive pinch of salt!
I use them initially for a ball park figure. Then I contact the ones Im interested in directly. Talk Talk have a matching quote for £236 for 100/100 too.
 
If Openreach told you G.fast is ok for you for a distance of 300m or more, I suggest you filed a complaint to Openreach CEO Clive Selley and write to your local MP. If FTTP is available in your area, tell him Clive as it sounded like Openreach flobbed you off, sorry you got G.fast there, no FTTP for you is totally unfairly treated to you.
Hiya

I did. Clive actually responded, put me in touch with a Russell Milsom who is technical escalations manager in the chief engineers office. We spoke twice, good chap, but he said basically im not getting FTTP due to G.Fast and that it's ok for most people. No plans for me, or anyone else in the G.Fast postcodes near me direct from Openreach.
 
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