What happens when you have a customer than can only get ADSL?

According to the latest data from Thinkbroadband.com, 99% of premises can now access "fibre" broadband. We appreciate that’s little comfort for those in the 1%. The remaining 1% are mostly in rural areas or have exchange only lines in town/city centers. We expect the roll-out of FTTP, either through government-backed programs or commercial deployment from the likes of Openreach, will resolve this issue for many addresses. Openreach aims to increase its coverage by millions of addresses, more than doubling the current coverage, over the next few years. Openreach are delivering the equivalent of a town's connectivity each week, 60,000 premises every week. Should we have ADSL customers and without alternative access as the 2025 switch off approaches, we will ensure that a solution is in place. SOTAP could be the solution.

What obligation do OR/BT have to supply a service? We have a customer who is on a FTTC/P enabled exchange, but they are in the middle of nowhere and FTTC speeds are slower than existing ADSL2.

In the UK the government has legislated for a Broadband Universal Service Obligation (USO). The USO is a UK-wide measure intended as a “safety net” to deliver broadband to those premises that do not have access to a decent and affordable connection.

The Government have defined a decent connection as one that can deliver 10 megabits per second (Mbps) download speed and 1Mbps upload speed (along with other defined quality parameters). Ofcom has defined an affordable connection as one that costs less than £45 per month.

The USO provides a legal right to request a decent broadband connection, up to a cost threshold of £3,400 per premises.

But it should be noted that the USO only applies to two broadband retailers, BT and KCOM in Hull.

BT and KCOM can use any technology capable of delivering the minimum technical USO standards, including mobile broadband. Depending on the technology used, some consumers may receive a higher quality connection than the minimum standards.

Details of the USO can be found here.

When are you going to make your VoIP service compatible with third party equipment. The Fritz routers are not always ideal for some small businesses.

We would encourage you to look at our CloudComms proposition, which is not dependent on the Fritz Solution.

We have Zen FTTC customers who cannot get FTTP, what should we be doing with their analog service?

You should be looking to move FTTC customers who cannot get FTTP to SOGEA.  If by analog you are referring to the voice element specifically, then an IP alternative would be required which in Zen's instance would be delivered by CloudComms. 

What is the plan with the Lease Line / Ethernet services that come with the ADSL / FTTC back up lines?

We will offer SOGEA / FTTP backup options.

When will the trial of the 4 port FTTP installs be completed, to allow us to order the 4 port ONT at the point of order?

Openreach are continuing to trial new multi-port ONTs in parts of South Wales and West England. So far Openreach have not confirmed launch dates or the timeframe for a national rollout. Zen hopes to receive an update from Openreach later this month (Feb-23)

For a customer who has FTTC with WLR and doesn't use the phone line what would be the timeline on how long a migration would take and could this be done without any loss of service on the broadband circuit to the customer?

The minimum lead time would be 1 working day.  When a FTTC line is migrated to SOGEA there is typically no more than a few seconds downtime.

Can we move a GFast contract to a SoGFast?

At the moment Zen does not support SOGFAST.

Are Openreach going to allow multiple FTTP connections to a house?  We have a customer with a lot of home workers and they prefer a dedicated business line.  If the end user has personal FTTP, we can't install a Zen business FTTP.

Openreach and Zen both support installing multiple FTTP connections at a single address. Today that generally involves installing multiple ONTs. But, Openreach are trialling a new multi-port ONT that will allow upto 4 connections. The trial is running in parts of South Wales and West England. So far Openreach have not confirmed launch dates or the timeframe for a national rollout. Zen hopes to receive an update from Openreach later this month (Feb-23)

What plans do Zen have to apply pressure to Openreach where exchanges are only offering ADSL and no sign whatsoever of FTTC/SoGEA?

We will continue to encourage OR to build out FTTP to rural locations.

When regrading a line from FTTC to SoGEA, is there end user downtime? If so, how long is it normally?

When a FTTC line is migrated to SOGEA there is typically no more than a few seconds downtime.

Can you confirm there are no plans to turn off SOGEA? So if you put a customer on SOGEA in the absence of FTTP they can stay on it indefinitely?

Openreach have no plans to turn off SOGEA for customers without access to FTTP. SOGEA and FTTP are Openreach long term strategic products.

How do we get around engineers using existing line plant from existing numbers when the selected order type was new?

It is Openreach's policy to use spare pairs to install SOGEA when possible. Openreach should never use existing line plant if it is used for an active service (unless a working line takeover has been requested).

Is anything happening to GFast circuits in the switch off?

G.Fast relies upon a WLR line so it must be migrated to an alternative product before the WLR network is switched at the end of 2025. A significant percentage of G.fast enabled areas have already been overbuild with FTTP and it's Zen expectation that this trend will continue as Openreach build to 25 millions premises.

Can we get a better idea of when Openreach will be in an area rolling out FTTP. All we see currently is "Before 2025" etc which is no use whatsoever.

Your Zen Account Management team will be able to supply copies of Openreach's deployment reports. These report detail all the addresses that can access FTTP right now. But also the addresses Openreach hope to cover in the next 3 months and in the next 4-15 months.

What are the physical differences between SoGEA and FTTC?

Both SOGEA and FTTC use a technology called VDSL. VDSL runs on the copper line from the street cab to the customers premises. The difference is with FTTC the copper line also carries a voice signal back to the exchange. With SOGEA the copper line will not carry voice back to the exchange.

What’s your approach for customers with WLR3 lift lines and/or gate lines for example?

We would strongly encourage customers to engage with the equipment providers directly, OR has been clear that the emphasis must be on these providers to deliver an alternative, and we are seeing many GSM options enter the market, especially for lift lines.  All lifts carrying passengers in the UK require an emergency communication system (Lift Regulations 1997):

– Allows passengers to summon help if they become trapped in the lift

– Available for use at all times when the building is occupied

– Power backup capable of supporting MINIMUM 1 hour of standby, 15 minutes of talk time and issuing an alert if the power backup falls below these levels

– Places a test call every 3 days (minimum)

Vast majority of emergency communications equipment installed on these lifts is ANALOGUE and designed to work on copper lines

– Specifically, these units rely on Dual Tone Multi Frequency (DTMF)signalling to operate correctly

WLR3 lift lines can be replaced by either SOGEA or FTTP, an Analogue telephone Adaptor (ATA) and VOIP service. The ATA should be tested to ensure it correctly supports all 16 DTMF tones required by lift alarm systems. It's important to ensure that a suitable UPS is installed to ensure all equipment remains operational during a power outage. You should put in place a robust maintenance plan for the UPS.