Can Vodafone's proposed fibre upgrade be used by other broadband providers?

[Shooby]

Hi.

I have been informed by Vodafone that they are proposing to upgrade my current 'copper' landline connection to full-fibre. That's all seemingly good - faster, more reliable, same LL phone number, same monthly cost, etc. and with no installation cost to me.

My only Q is, if Vodafone carries out this upgrade, what happens if in the future I wish to change service providers?! Will the new BB provider be able to 'take over' Vodafone's physical fibre connection? Or, with the old 'copper' line removed, will I now be 'tied' to Vodafone, at least without the new provider adding an additional fibre?!

Thanks.

[Jayach · Accepted solution]

It really depends on who's Full Fibre they will be using in your location, but no, you will not be tied to Vodafone.

However the choice of other ISP's will be more limited if it is CityFibre, than if it is Openreach.

[Shooby]

Thank you.

Chances are I'll be 'happy' with one of the CityFibre ISPs, but what would happen later on if I preferred to go OpenReach? Would this entail a separate fibre to the house? Alongside or instead of the City one?!

To the other points - Vodafone have stated that my current LL phone number will be retained, even tho' it'll now be a digital service - I'm ok with that.

(But, if you check my other threads, it details the utter nightmare when I transferred from TalkTalk to Voda a year or so back, and they failed - initially, until huge pressure was brought to bear - to keep my number as they'd promised. All ultimately resolved.)

Thanks all.

[Jayach]

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@Shooby wrote:
Chances are I'll be 'happy' with one of the CityFibre ISPs, but what would happen later on if I preferred to go OpenReach? Would this entail a separate fibre to the house? Alongside or instead of the City one?!

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Yes, Opentreach and CityFibre share some infrastructure (ducts/poles etc) but the actual fibre belongs to one or the other so if you have both to your home, they will be separate fibres and ONT's.

[Cynric]

@Shooby Some people have had a nightmare moving their traditional phone line number from copper to fibre. Just have a look around the forum. Obviously it may not happen to you, but just keep an eye on it.

[Jayach]

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@Cynric wrote:
@Shooby Some people have had a nightmare moving their traditional phone line number from copper to fibre.

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I'm not on any other forums that do FTTC to FTTP, but I do wonder if it's just Vodafone, or are all ISPs having the same problems?

[Cynric]

@Jayach  I would assume that all ISPs will have to face the same problem because of the end of copper wire is coming.

As an aside, it does make me wonder whether the area code part of the telephone number will become redundant.

[Jayach]

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@Cynric wrote:
As an aside, it does make me wonder whether the area code part of the telephone number will become redundant.

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It already has become redundant, users on VoIP services can choose any area code they like.

However I was referring to Vodafone's inability to port numbers correctly, and I wondered if all ISP's were having the same problem. (somehow I doubt they are)