From 15th February this year BT Openreach will be changing the way they install FTTC (Fibre to the Cabinet).
Openreach will no longer provide modems for installations of FTTC and will be introducing a self-install option which removes the need for an engineer to attend the customer’s premises.
Prior to this, the customer was given their go-live date and an AM (08:00 – 13:00) or PM (13:00 – 18:00) appointment slot.
This required the customer to be at the premises at least within their appointment time frame, which was seen as rather inconvenient by many.
Now, the customer will be given two options:
- Self Install
- The Openreach engineer will only do the jumpering activity at the local street cabinet and then close the job, with no visit to the premises at all
- Managed Install
- The Openreach engineer will visit the premises but only to plug directly into your integrated device, rather than install an Openreach modem.
Self install appointments will be day-long so it’s advisable to connect up your hardware at the beginning of the go-live day ready for when the engineer performs the jumpering at your local cabinet.
There’s no reason why you couldn’t connect your kit up a few days before your appointment and simply leave it there, waiting for the engineer to complete his work.
The secondary effect of this change is Openreach no longer supplying their own modems. It means customers must supply their own FTTC enabled router or vDSL router.
Openreach have released a list of approved routers which can be found below this article. This list will be updated as of when Openreach make additions to their own.
Any non-certified kit could result in engineering charges if a fault is found. If you are using a router which is not found on Openreach’s list then please call Packnet on 0161 660 2350 for advice.
If you have any further questions regarding this then please don’t hesitate to give us a call on 0161 660 2350 or email us at voip@pack-net.co.uk.
Approved modem list
- Cisco 887
- Cisco 897
- ZyXEL VMG8324
- ZyXEL VMG8924
- Technicolor TG789
- Technicolor TG588
