Andersen
Member
Well, the time has come, after 16 years of Virigin/NTL cable connectivity and now we've finally been Openreach FTTP'd (a couple of years after the rest of the town), we're in a position to move to another provider.
Currently, the BT Ultrafast (500Mbps) service is looking like our best value option though I'd probably prefer to use Zen again but the prices aren't really competitive. The last time I used BT as an ISP was back in the 90's when I had an SDSL connection at a previous home before ADSL2 became a thing. The connectivity landscape has changed somewhat since then and I'm a little confused as to what's what and hope somebody might be able to clarify things a little.
Are BT generally reliable speed and connection wise? Obviously see some horror stories but guess there are many many tens of thousands of people perfectly happy with their service?
I gather I no longer need to take a landline with them to get their internet service? Though I can get some form of optional VOIP service. My current landline is via Virgin and the number was originally ported from BT when we moved into this house, can I re-port this number back to BT's VOIP service (or a third party VOIP provider if that's possible)?
Do, God forbid, BT implement CGNAT on their connections?
Are BT connections IPv4 or IPv6? I've studiously avoided IPv6 up until now, going as far as disabling it entirely on both home and office infrastructure and servers so might need to get up to speed.
How "sticky" are the assigned IP address(es)? Whilst Virign's IP isn't static, I've had the same one for 5+ years since the last big upgrades Virigin did at their end. Probably ties in with the previous question but if it's IPV6, what sort of network do they allocate?
Do BT do any kind of port blocking/filtering on incoming (and outgoing for that matter) traffic if I want to self host any kind of server?
Finally, for now, am I right to think that I can just dump their unwanted modem/wifi router and hook my existing pfSense box straight into the ethernet port on the ONT and reconfigure the PPoE(?) configuration and get online without messing with any of the existing internal IP setup here at home?
Sorry about that list but I thought it best to get most of it out of the way at the start and any advice would be much appreciated.
Thanks
Peter
Currently, the BT Ultrafast (500Mbps) service is looking like our best value option though I'd probably prefer to use Zen again but the prices aren't really competitive. The last time I used BT as an ISP was back in the 90's when I had an SDSL connection at a previous home before ADSL2 became a thing. The connectivity landscape has changed somewhat since then and I'm a little confused as to what's what and hope somebody might be able to clarify things a little.
Are BT generally reliable speed and connection wise? Obviously see some horror stories but guess there are many many tens of thousands of people perfectly happy with their service?
I gather I no longer need to take a landline with them to get their internet service? Though I can get some form of optional VOIP service. My current landline is via Virgin and the number was originally ported from BT when we moved into this house, can I re-port this number back to BT's VOIP service (or a third party VOIP provider if that's possible)?
Do, God forbid, BT implement CGNAT on their connections?
Are BT connections IPv4 or IPv6? I've studiously avoided IPv6 up until now, going as far as disabling it entirely on both home and office infrastructure and servers so might need to get up to speed.
How "sticky" are the assigned IP address(es)? Whilst Virign's IP isn't static, I've had the same one for 5+ years since the last big upgrades Virigin did at their end. Probably ties in with the previous question but if it's IPV6, what sort of network do they allocate?
Do BT do any kind of port blocking/filtering on incoming (and outgoing for that matter) traffic if I want to self host any kind of server?
Finally, for now, am I right to think that I can just dump their unwanted modem/wifi router and hook my existing pfSense box straight into the ethernet port on the ONT and reconfigure the PPoE(?) configuration and get online without messing with any of the existing internal IP setup here at home?
Sorry about that list but I thought it best to get most of it out of the way at the start and any advice would be much appreciated.
Thanks
Peter























