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Probable move from Virgin Cable to BT Ultrafast

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
 
I moved from Plusnet FTTC to BT FTTP 500Gb package a couple of years ago and have been really pleased with the speed and reliability. No issues really so I haven’t had to call the support line. The wireless performance and functionality of the Smarthub 2 is poor but it’s not a problem for me as I have a Wireless access point .
 
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)?

All of the above.

You can buy BT FTTP without voice. although you may find there are better offers on the standard service with voice. The voice is presented as an ATA port on the router (or with BT Business I think you get DECT). This is *not* a standalone SIP account that you can use with your own equipment; if you want to use the BT voice service then you are forced to use the BT router to terminate your FTTP line, as the voice service is heavily locked down and tied to their provided router.

You can also port your Virgin mobile number to a third-party VOIP provider. Doing so should terminate your VM line. So the sequence to do that would be:

1. Order BT FTTP, completely independent from the VM service (i.e. not a migration)
2. Set up and test your VOIP service (you can do this before step 1 if you like)
3. Port your phone number to your VOIP service.

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.

Not having a BT line myself I can't answer about the stickiness, although in general FTTP does tend to stay up for long periods of time; they might have to kick you off when upgrading their BRASes.

From what I've heard, BT don't do CGNAT - you'll get a real address - and AFAIK no filtering. BT do IPv6, and have done for several years. It's not something to worry about; most people won't even know it's there. If you do worry, then yes you should learn about it :-) But equally you can ignore it or disable it.

On the forums, I don't hear any complaints about the actual Internet service, but there are plenty of complaints about customer service.

Personally I would take 300M from a small business provider like Cerberus over 1G from BT any day, but that's because they have real staff who talk to their customers.

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?
You can, but as I said, this will completely disable the BT voice service. Hence if you plan to do this, then better to migrate your voice number to an independent VOIP provider.
 
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