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CF overhead drop, external run, junction box questions

And how much they paid for the new logo and styling. I'm amazed sometimes, companies will pay a million dollars and I know a graphic designer who can do a better job for $500 LOL.

The new logo, that shade of green, plus the name of company sort of make it seem like it's an environmental NGO or something like that haha. It's not bad, but I'm not getting a technology/internet vibe from the new site.
should focus on just building in london and finishing it asap, not a logo lol
 
Watch this video, it's from the former CF CEO, now CEO of Netomia (Network) and YouFibre (ISP). Looks to me that he learnt by mistakes in CF and then went to Netomia to do it right. YouFibre has scores 4.9 on Trustpilot reviews whereas CF scores 4.8. YouFibre sells a static IP for £5, something I know some CF customers want. And their about to launch a 8Gb offering at £99. Maybe CF should be copying some of the stuff Netomia/YouFibre are doing...

 
Watch this video, it's from the former CF CEO, now CEO of Netomia (Network) and YouFibre (ISP). Looks to me that he learnt by mistakes in CF and then went to Netomia to do it right. YouFibre has scores 4.9 on Trustpilot reviews whereas CF scores 4.8. YouFibre sells a static IP for £5, something I know some CF customers want. And their about to launch a 8Gb offering at £99. Maybe CF should be copying some of the stuff Netomia/YouFibre are doing...


That was a really good interview worth watching. I do feel CF could be a bit more ambitious like YouFibre+Netomia is. 8Gb for £99 would be a no-brainer purchase for me.
 
I received more promo junk mail from CF that has the new logo on it, so they've at least gotten it on promo materials already 😂

Honestly part of the reason I'm subscribing is so they'll stop sending this junk mail. They send SO much. I contacted them twice asking to please stop sending it to my address, both times they said they would stop, the second time they even confirmed that I was taken off of the list... And then nothing, I just continued getting them.
 
Install date is scheduled for Sept 23rd, very excited.

Question, do they generally insist on testing the connection with their own router? Where I will have them put the junction box is really not a good location for testing, I'll have to plug in the ONT into my network through the wall, and my gear is not near where I'll have the junction box.

So ideally I'd like them to just install the junction box and then hand me the ONT and I'll plug it into my network, I can have my router configured to wait for a primary WAN, and then will be able to test immediately after I plug in the ONT. And their router I won't even take out of the box. If they're ok with that.

And second related question - is it possible to access the ONT at all through the network and install firmware updates and configure stuff or is it totally walled off.
 
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Install date is scheduled for Sept 23rd, very excited.

Question, do they generally insist on testing the connection with their own router? Where I will have them put the junction box is really not a good location for testing, I'll have to plug in the ONT into my network through the wall, and my gear is not near where I'll have the junction box.

So ideally I'd like them to just install the junction box and then hand me the ONT and I'll plug it into my network, I can have my router configured to wait for a primary WAN, and then will be able to test immediately after I plug in the ONT. And their router I won't even take out of the box. If they're ok with that.

And second related question - is it possible to access the ONT at all through the network and install firmware updates and configure stuff or is it totally walled off.
They will do a speed test on their equipment prior to leaving. They have to demonstrate to their superiors that they have done the installation by the book and you're getting the service you've paid for. Once they shut that door, feel free to rearrange things.
 
They will do a speed test on their equipment prior to leaving. They have to demonstrate to their superiors that they have done the installation by the book and you're getting the service you've paid for. Once they shut that door, feel free to rearrange things.

Ah. That's gonna be tricky, one of them is gonna have to get up on a ladder and hold the router while testing unless it has a really long cord, but I'm sure they'll figure it out.
 
TL;DR: Seriously way too long, don't read 😂

Finally had CF installed today. Very exciting day. I was thinking about making another thread about it, but I think it makes sense to post here with the additional context leading up to the install.

So it all went well. The guys were great, two showed up, one "outside" and one "inside" guy. I had pretty specific requirements for how I wanted the outside cable routed and they accommodated me as much as they could, made some suggestions themselves where in the end we sort of combined our ideas and it worked out well.

The only thing that kind of sucked was they had to drill a pretty large hole in the front of my building to anchor their ladder for safety, which left a big hole that they filled with silicone. I'm waiting 24 hrs to paint over it... as much as you can paint over silicone, but hopefully it'll look ok. I just generally try to minimise the amount of holes drilled. They also drilled holes along a section of the wall to put plastic inserts for cable clip nails, otherwise they said they wouldn't go in in that section... even though another cable was affixed just a few meters above it with clips going in the wall no problem, but they drilled those holes before I could stop them.

Anyway, overall it was good though, they routed the cable well. The cable is very thin, so in my case the best way to conceal it is to just paint over it, which I am doing tomorrow. The front of my building is painted bricks, so it's already sort of "bumpy", so having a thin cable with those small 3mm cable clips routed along edges is hardly noticeable when painted over. I actually recently noticed an old telephone line going into the building that I didn't even know was there because of how well the paint had concealed it. But if you have a plastered/flat wall without many elements or angles to route around, this may not look so good.

I should also say the guys were very friendly and answered all sorts of nerdy questions I had, and we had a nice conversation. This is my first fibre service that I'd been looking forward to for years, so I was excited to see it installed. The splicing was fun to see, they showed me the actual fibre which is the size of a human hair.

They put the junction box outside my network cabinet, I routed the indoor cable inside to the ONT and connected it to my network. At first I had an issue where my Asus router could not get an IP, it said "Your ISP's DHCP does not function properly". To fix that I had to use the MAC Clone feature to copy the ISP router's MAC and that immediately worked. I think alternatively I could have called them to let my router's actual MAC in. I'm surprised this is a thing they haven't fixed yet, how many calls do they get from people trying to use 3rd party routers. But anyway, it was an easy fix.

The first Speedtest was glorious as expected, although the needle doesn't instantly reach 930 mbps down, it takes a few seconds, on every server I've tried. That's probably normal. But on the upload it's an instant 930 mbps up. 4ms latency to the CF London server, jitter and bufferbloat are good without any need for QoS or anything, not stellar but definitely good enough. CGNAT kind of sucks, but I knew about it and have planned to work around it. I'll still ask for an IPv4 public address even though I know they don't honor those requests anymore, but doesn't hurt to try.

Speaking of account management, one thing that sort of shocked me is that CF doesn't have any. There is literally no way to log into your account online, you need to contact them for everything. I don't know if they email statements, it's kind of crazy that there is just nothing online. I haven't even set up any sort of user name or security information, if I contact them I have no idea how they'll verify my identity. I guess it's one less thing to manage, but wow that's sort of insane, I've never seen that before. They're not a small ISP, they should have some sort of online account management. It's probably a cost saving measure, although I wonder if that's offset by the increased amount of customer service calls.

Sorry I'm typing so much, I doubt anyone is going to read all of this, but I'm using the opportunity to summarise my thoughts. It was exciting to get symmetric gigabit as you can imagine, especially for the price. I went through TopCashBack, so I got a £120 Amazon voucher + £66 cashback, so for the first year I'm basically paying £11/month. This is really the reason I got it, I don't actually need it otherwise to be honest and I may cancel after a year. It was fun to plan and anticipate, but after that first speedtest, it was kind of a "ok, now what" moment, because the reality is 99% of my needs can be met with a 50 mpbs connection, but hey for the other 1%... this will be fun. Maybe I'll downgrade to the 150 mbps service next year. I kind of want to keep jumping around introductory offers to save money, but I'll see if that will be worth it in the end.

Random final thought if anyone actually got to the end - is it possible to log into the ONT at all to update firmware, etc. or is it totally locked down? I don't think I'll try anyway, but I'm curious.
 
TL;DR: Seriously way too long, don't read 😂

Finally had CF installed today. Very exciting day. I was thinking about making another thread about it, but I think it makes sense to post here with the additional context leading up to the install.

So it all went well. The guys were great, two showed up, one "outside" and one "inside" guy. I had pretty specific requirements for how I wanted the outside cable routed and they accommodated me as much as they could, made some suggestions themselves where in the end we sort of combined our ideas and it worked out well.

The only thing that kind of sucked was they had to drill a pretty large hole in the front of my building to anchor their ladder for safety, which left a big hole that they filled with silicone. I'm waiting 24 hrs to paint over it... as much as you can paint over silicone, but hopefully it'll look ok.
You can remove the silicone with pliers once it's dry and fill the hole properly with outdoors filler and it will be like knew. Or fit a big permanent hook so future FTTP installations don't have to drill again!
At first I had an issue where my Asus router could not get an IP, it said "Your ISP's DHCP does not function properly". To fix that I had to use the MAC Clone feature to copy the ISP router's MAC and that immediately worked. I think alternatively I could have called them to let my router's actual MAC in. I'm surprised this is a thing they haven't fixed yet, how many calls do they get from people trying to use 3rd party routers. But anyway, it was an easy fix.
This point continues to be inconsistent, some people are fine without cloning some aren't. I didn't have to clone and it worked fine for me.
The first Speedtest was glorious as expected, although the needle doesn't instantly reach 930 mbps down, it takes a few seconds, on every server I've tried. That's probably normal.
No, it must be something in your system/switch.
4ms latency to the CF London server, jitter and bufferbloat are good without any need for QoS or anything, not stellar but definitely good enough.
It depends where you are. I am in SE London and have 1-2ms latency
Speaking of account management, one thing that sort of shocked me is that CF doesn't have any. There is literally no way to log into your account online, you need to contact them for everything.
True but since there is nothing to change and no other services provided what would an account management site give you? I prefer cheaper prices.

I don't know if they email statements, it's kind of crazy that there is just nothing online.
Yes you do get an email monthly reminding you of the direct debit amount and date but it comes from gocardless.com not CF. Good enough for me.
I haven't even set up any sort of user name or security information, if I contact them I have no idea how they'll verify my identity.
Whatever you submitted when you signed up for the service is what they will use to identify you.
I guess it's one less thing to manage, but wow that's sort of insane, I've never seen that before. They're not a small ISP, they should have some sort of online account management. It's probably a cost saving measure, although I wonder if that's offset by the increased amount of customer service calls.
Again there is nothing to change other than your direct debit and a lot of companies don't let you change that over an account management site anyway.
Sorry I'm typing so much, I doubt anyone is going to read all of this, but I'm using the opportunity to summarise my thoughts.
You are underestimating people's boredom...
It was exciting to get symmetric gigabit as you can imagine, especially for the price. I went through TopCashBack, so I got a £120 Amazon voucher + £66 cashback, so for the first year I'm basically paying £11/month. This is really the reason I got it, I don't actually need it otherwise to be honest and I may cancel after a year.
Don't cancel. Support Altnets. Cancel big Telcos and let them learn the lesson.

It was fun to plan and anticipate, but after that first speedtest, it was kind of a "ok, now what" moment, because the reality is 99% of my needs can be met with a 50 mpbs connection, but hey for the other 1%... this will be fun. Maybe I'll downgrade to the 150 mbps service next year. I kind of want to keep jumping around introductory offers to save money, but I'll see if that will be worth it in the end.
Did you actually see how fast a website loads? 150 Mbps it's perfectly fine. But what you get with CF is lighting fast latency which makes web pages load instantly (in a good machine like a MacMini M2).
Random final thought if anyone actually got to the end - is it possible to log into the ONT at all to update firmware, etc. or is it totally locked down? I don't think I'll try anyway, but I'm curious.
No, nothing to login to.
 
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I know what you mean about not wanting holes to be drilled if it can be helped. I ran some conduit from the soffit through the loft and back out the other side of the house where I wanted the ONT to be installed. They used the drawstring I had put in and after painting the external fibre you hardly notice it. We have render on our house so they definitely would have needed those plastic cable clip fixings (I.e. drilling).

Oh BTW I get instant 930Mbps/downstream on speedtests, always have. Different provider than you (Toob) but don't really see why that would make a difference.
 
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You can remove the silicone with pliers once it's dry and fill the hole properly with outdoors filler and it will be like knew. Or fit a big permanent hook so future FTTP installations don't have to drill again!

I put a whole bunch of paint on it and it mostly stuck, just cracked a little around the edges, but it's acceptable. If it completely falls off I'll do what you suggested. I don't want to put a hook, but if installers want to drill again in the future I'll ask them to use the same hole (if possible). I don't get why this is necessary, I know it's for safety but can't they just have the other guy hold the ladder... If it's a proper ladder and set at the right angle and there's a guy holding it, the risk of it slipping away I think is not measurably higher than having a hook. I got the sense that maybe they were amenable to not drilling the hole if I had really insisted maybe they wouldn't have done it, but I caved in.

Anyway, I have a feeling that in a few years the fibre that CF installed will be the same one that nearly all ISPs serving my address will be using, maybe sans Openreach. I think eventually all the small FTTP ISPs will consolidate or be bought up :( So I'll try to avoid having another fibre routed into the house for now, the only other available is Hyperoptic, but they are much more expensive.

This point continues to be inconsistent, some people are fine without cloning some aren't. I didn't have to clone and it worked fine for me.

I actually reverted the setting back to my router's real MAC, so it disconnected again, and I called them out of curiosity to see what they would do. The guy said he just had to "reset the MAC table". As soon as he did that, it instantly connected, I was looking at the router GUI. I asked if they only allow one MAC per connection and he said no, but he said it's kind of unpredictable, sometimes multiple devices can work, sometimes the MAC table needs to be reset, and once that's done if you want to go back to the original Linksys router you may have to call again... They really need to sort this out.

And as I suspected, with the complete lack of account management, there was no identity verification at all, I just gave him my address and name and he did what I asked. What if I'd asked to cancel or switch plans, I don't know how they would handle that, maybe they would send an email or ask for bank information. Oh well, doesn't really matter.

No, it must be something in your system/switch.

I tested it today and it was instant. It sometimes makes a difference whether I select a server or use the default, because by default it does the auto selected server *plus* several other ones, whereas if you select a server it only tests with that one, and in the former case you saturate the connection faster and more easily. I always manually select to avoid testing with multiple servers at the same time. I'm talking about speedtest.net.

With CF I always select the CF server, which I assume is plugged right into CF's main gateways via Ethernet probably in the same room. I get 947-948 up and down every time, kind of surprising as I thought 1000BASE-T maxed out at 939. A nice surprise was when I tested some servers in New York and got as little as 72ms latency, which is fantastic for London-NY. With Virgin and Openreach I was getting around 100ms, so this means CF has faster links to the American Tier-1 providers. I talk to computers in NY a lot, so this is nice. Also getting full gigabit down and 500 up to NY servers, which is kind of crazy.

True but since there is nothing to change and no other services provided what would an account management site give you? I prefer cheaper prices.

You're right, I guess changing payment method may be minorly annoying, but otherwise it's fine, as long as it works. I just wonder how much it really saves them, and how much it would cost to set up some basic account management.

Don't cancel. Support Altnets. Cancel big Telcos and let them learn the lesson.

Well the alternatives, even with new customer offers and cashback and vouchers, are still more expensive than CF's 150 mbps plan, so that's probably what I will downgrade to in a year for £20, will try to negotiate for less if possible.

Did you actually see how fast a website loads? 150 Mbps it's perfectly fine. But what you get with CF is lighting fast latency which makes web pages load instantly (in a good machine like a MacMini M2).

Oh yeah, I mean I can't tell the difference between 100 mbps and 1 gbps in web browsing/streaming/regular use at all, even vs. 50 mbps it's not too noticeable. Maybe scrubbing through 4K videos on YouTube there is a small difference. As far as latency, I think even with Openreach VDSL2 or Virgin HFC, latency to the nearest internet exchange is like 5-10 ms with almost no jitter. So with CF getting 4ms, it's basically the same. Because all services are fibre after the first 100-200m.

I did run a few tests on packetlosstest.com (highly recommended) to see jitter and latency spikes and there were nearly none with CF, but there also weren't really any with Virgin or even VDSL2 from Openreach from what I remember - maybe *slightly* more, but we're talking the occasional spike from 10ms to 20-30ms, which you would never notice. So other than the speed, I'm not seeing a noticeable difference in performance vs FTTC, maybe I've been lucky with the other connections I've had, or maybe I will notice it as I use the service more.

I typed so much again... still excited and it's what's on my mind.
 
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