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Compton Fibre Newsletter No.9
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Many thanks to all 19 DCMS voucher holders who have placed orders for the new Full Fibre service. Please read the sections below about your vouchers.
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Many thanks also to all the others who were willing to act as substitutes if necessary. I have a note that 13 of you have also placed orders.
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It's now unlikely that we'll need to call on any of the substitutes. But we need to wait until all the installations are complete and signed off to be sure.
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Installation status
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The first three Full Fibre installations are now up and running; all users are very happy with their new speedy internet access.
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Based on their initial feedback and research on the internet, here's a set of about a dozen Questions and short Answers.
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I hope the rest of us might find them helpful as we wait for our installation dates stretching out over the next 10 weeks.
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What do I have to do to get ready for the installation engineer?
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The Openreach engineer will need to drill a hole in an outside wall to bring the fibre into your house and fix a little box called an ONT (Optical Network Terminator) on the inside wall.
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You need to decide where the ONT will go, close to a power socket and somewhere the fibre cable won’t get knocked.
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Make sure the engineer has clear and easy access to the location inside and outside.
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I’m a voucher signatory, can you remind me what I signed up for?
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- To take up a contract of at least 12 months,
- With a download speed of at least 30Mbps, and at least twice your existing connection speed,
- On a connection that is gigabit-capable and
- is installed within 12 months of the voucher date.
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(because of the delayed installation dates, Openreach have asked DCMS to extend the vouchers' expiry date to the end of April)
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What speed can I expect to get?
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Your order confirmation email should tell you your estimated download speed.
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Note that this is the speed you should get at a computer plugged directly into the router.
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The speed you get over wi-fi will depend on how far your device is from the router and the thickness of your walls. Options for improving wi-fi coverage include BT's Complete WiFi add-on and devices from other vendors.
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Post Installation Check (for voucher holders)
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If you are one of the gigabit voucher recipients, you may be contacted on behalf of DCMS to set up a visit or collect information about your new connection. These spot checks are generated randomly.
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Voucher process completion email - (for voucher holders)
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If you are one of the gigabit voucher holders, you will get an email with the subject
Gigabit voucher scheme - process complete
This will be after any post installation checks, and after DCMS has processed your voucher.
Please make a note to forward that email to me when it arrives.
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What if I want to increase my speed?
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With BT, if you want to change your order before installation, it seems you have to cancel and reorder. This may mean you lose your installation slot.
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BT told me on the phone that if, after installation, you'd like to go to a faster speed, the upgrade can be activated within 24 hours.
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Do I have to use the router supplied by my ISP?
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You are strongly advised to use the supplied router.
But if you have a good reason and the skill to set it up, you can use a different router.
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Openreach have announced that the PSTN (Public Switch Telephone Network) will be switched off at the end of 2025.
If you wish to keep your old landline for now, you should be able to do so with BT. The old connection remains in place. Other suppliers may not offer this option.
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BT are introducing Digital Voice as their new home phone service, running over your broadband connection. BT aim to switch all their landline users over to Digital Voice by the end of 2025.
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Why should I choose Digital Voice?
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As well as better call quality, BT's Digital Voice lets you do several things that aren’t possible with normal landlines.
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Is there a downside to Digital Voice?
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BT Digital Voice appears to be tied to BT and the BT Smart Hub 2.
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So if you decide to go with different broadband provider at the end of your contract, you’d have to find a different solution for your phones as well.
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And if you’ve chosen to use a different router, you can’t use BT Digital Voice.
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And finally, a reminder that if you receive unsolicited calls about your broadband or any other services you use or are considering, please be especially vigilant.
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Several local residents have recently reported very plausible-sounding calls which proved to be scammers.
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- If you have any questions or feedback that could help other users, please let me know. I'll pass them on or update the website.
- Once all the vouchers have been redeemed, we should be able to wind up the company that we had to create to manage the process on behalf of the community.
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About this newsletter: We set up this newsletter so that we can send you occasional updates about the project. You can always keep an eye on the project website at cfp.comptonshawford.uk.
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If you have any questions, please reply to this email.
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Adrian Walmsley
Community Lead
Compton Community Fibre Partnership Ltd
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