FTTP Speed Upgrades - What changes?

[JB-21]

Can anyone confirm what the process is when you upgrade FTTP packages e.g. 500 to 900  on CityFibre

I’m curious to know what sets the speed profile and where it’s set? Does it need an engineer visit to change something on the ONT? Or is it carried out at the exchange? CityFibre side or VF side equipment or both?

(I’ve started the upgrade process and want to better understand the technical side in case of problems 🙂)

[Ripshod]

No need for any engineer to visit you. Your speed is controlled automatically by vodafone and Cityfibre's servers via the exchange. The upgrade should be overnight and seamless (zero downtime). 

[CrimsonLiar]

It should just take a remote change of settings.  Erm, good luck!

[JB-21]

I’ve just been reading CityFibre have started upgrading to XGP-PON so wondering if upgrading to 900 will in turn get me a new ONT too? (Which I suspect will be an engineer visit?) 

It seems Nokia & Callix equipment is in use each side of the fibre, anyone have any links as to what technology stack they use? E.g. What equipment is at the exchange / who (CF/VF) controls said equipment from premises to LINX?

[Cynric]

@JB-21  I think that these questions are beyond the scope of this forum. The people contributing here are not employees of VF, BT, CF, or any of the component manufacturers. I guess that there could be someone who may have some knowledge of parts of the network, but you seem to be asking for the full stack at both ends and some of the middle.

[JB-21]

@Cynric I’ve found there is usually current or former network engineers / infrastructure professionals lurking in ISP forums so my philosophy is, there’s no harm in asking, you might be surprised! 😀

(Many many years ago I was involved in the creation of Freeserve and was also a fully qualified MCSE, very out of date compared to FTTP but the fundamentals of networking are still the same.)

My original email from VF said I would need an engineer, a later email says I don’t need one so doesn’t look like I’ll get the new 10g or 2.5g XGS-PON - In case it’s of use to anyone later, I did find this info on them; https://www.calix.com/content/dam/calix/mycalix-misc/lib/prem/i/gp-indoor/index.htm?toc.htm?103782.h...

[Ripshod]

While you have an ONT at your premises that will deliver the service you'll not get a PON. Vodafone are keeping things as cheap as possible and will hold off til the last minute. Once customers can order >1Gbit services PONs will be installed.

Vodafone always have been, and always will be, "late to the party. Up until now I've only ever installed PONs in business premises. 

[JB-21]

It looks to be CityFibre rather than VF that will supply them (it's CF's part of the stack); the PR below sounds like it's more commercially viable to use PON's going forward but I'd guess they will only swap in circumstances such as;

a) Faulty ONTs

b) New installations

c) > 1GB service ordered

d) CF run out of space at a exchange

"CityFibre, the UK’s largest carrier-neutral wholesale Full Fibre infrastructure platform, will begin deploying XGS-PON access technology as standard from April 2023. This will enable the introduction of residential and business services at symmetrical speeds of up to 10Gbps – around ten times the capability of CityFibre’s current G-PON based architecture.

The rollout of XGS-PON will allow CityFibre to support more customers on each OLT port, enabling substantial network cost savings, reducing power use across its networks and improving the efficiency of its future network expansion."

https://cityfibre.com/news/cityfibre-to-upgrade-all-networks-to-10gbps-xgs-pon-technology

[Jayach]

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@JB-21 wrote:

It looks to be CityFibre rather than VF that will supply the

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Vodafone supply nothing other than their router, so yes, CityFibre or Openreach are responsible for every thing else.

[JB-21]

Just to update this on my experience…

After a few months into my Full Fibre 500 contract, a friend was asking about Fibre and so I looked at Vodafone to see what the current prices were. I noticed that the Full Fibre 900 service was the exact same price I was paying for 500 (£29 pm) … so I got onto chat and asked if I could upgrade and was told yes! 😀 

Unfortunately there was a ‘stuck order’ on my account so they were unable to proceed until that was resolved…. Roll forward several hours of chat with several more agents, an escalation to complaints (just so that I could get someone to actually own the issue and get it resolved) and a week later, I received an email which said I was now eligible for an upgrade so proceeded with the new contract.

I received several emails and SMS messages, informing me it could take up to 7 days and need an engineer, the following day I received another message saying my go live day would be the next day and no engineer was needed and it could happened anytime up-to midnight.

The next day, I reconnected the PPPoE connection on my router and performed some speed tests, only to find I was getting the exact same results. I asked my complaint handler to check the order had actually gone through. Once confirmed it had, I switched off the ONT and left for 30 mins, reconnected it this time with the Vodafone router, waited a few minutes and that seemed to have fixed my profile. 

Swapped back to my own network equipment and I am now getting up to 930 Mb/s from speedtest.net 😃 - the complaint handler closed my case and also gave me a nice ‘gesture of good will’ payment for the hassle I had in the process 🙂 (which I am going to put towards a new WiFi 6 Access Point for my network.)

Overall great result, Vodafone upgraded me for the same price, fixed the system issues and compensated me for the trouble.