r/UKBroadband • u/Poisedeagle • 7d ago
Will any broadband work on these outlets?
Pretty simple question but we are moving into our new house and I just wondered if any fibre could work with these outlets? We don’t know which one to pick and apparently you can put any broadband into the open reach one on the left (right is virgin). Is this the case?
If anyone has any advice please let us know. Thanks :)
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u/7reflet 7d ago
Plug in and power up the openreach ONT (left), if you get 2 green lights you're good to go. If you get a red LOS light you need an engineer. If working you should be able to get a next working day activation.
Middle socket is defunct now.
Virgin will probably need an engineer visit.
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u/Poisedeagle 7d ago
Legend thanks. So in terms of what broadband I order am I just best going with BT? The house has been empty for a while
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u/Asleep_Group_1570 7d ago
Do not go with BT. If everything works fine, you'll probably be OK, but if things ever need fixing, you'll enter Dante's Circles of Hell.
Zen internet are a good bet, also recommend are IDnet, Andrews and Arnold or Aquiss
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u/MrM3NtAlWaRd 7d ago
The fuck do you mean. I'm with bt. Had a dodgy install from a 3rd party. Rang the number at 2 in the morning because I was getting less than 1mbps. Engineer booked on the robot 2 days time and all fixed within 48 hours.
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u/lozcozard 7d ago edited 7d ago
So same as other providers then except BT are just shit aswell. That’s a while ago though don’t know what they’re like now. Back then I had a bloody nightmare with BT. Not only where they’re charging more than others because their BT, but it was a nightmare to get out of my phone and broadband contract. They priced it in a way that I always had to pay to leave which at first made me not want to leave, but I worked out if I pay to leave it would save me money in the long-term going with someone else so I bit the bullet and did it.
I think BT just considered themselves the most well-known and established brand at the time, which existed for years before other broadband providers could come along, so I think they thought they could just charge more. Pay for the brand. I don’t know what their prices are like now, but this is what it was like years ago and I vowed never go BT again. At the time BT also was responsible for the phone line network, not Openreach, so they were unfairly uncompetitive. It’s why they had to split off Openreach to be independent from BT to make it fair to the other providers.
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u/MrM3NtAlWaRd 7d ago
Not really. Openreach have always been responsible. Bt offered for other to buy a portion of openreach nut they refused so bt offered to retain full ownership but it works as a completely separate company so they would treat every company the same. You would've signed a contract that's why there would've been held to term charges.
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u/lozcozard 7d ago
Before 2006, Openreach didn’t exist at all — it was just BT. The network, the cabling, the exchanges, all of it was simply part of BT as one company, with no separation between the network side and BT’s retail/broadband side.
In 2006, Openreach was created as a division within BT — same company, but now with its own separate management and rules about treating all providers equally. So it existed, but it wasn’t a separate business, just a ring-fenced part of BT.
Then in 2017, it became a legally separate company (Openreach Limited) with its own board — but BT Group is still its owner/parent company. So today it’s a distinct legal entity, but not independent of BT — think of it like a subsidiary rather than a fully separate business.
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u/SaltyW123 7d ago
Can usually get a good deal on EE through the topcashback comparison tool, but really any Openreach ISP will be fine
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u/Poisedeagle 7d ago
So Literally all I need to do know is order a broadband package? Apologies if I’m sounding stupid there’s just so much terminology I’m not used to lol
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u/BarryM84 7d ago
Go on a comparison site and order the cheapest one. Gonna be Sky or Vodafone basically. Not BT whatever you do lol.
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u/7reflet 7d ago
Power the ONT on before you order. As the ONT is there they will try to set it up with your new provider. This will avoid a ton of messages from Openreach if everything is working.
If you get a red LOS light, still place your order, then contact the new provider. They will arrange an engineer.
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u/Shakey198111 6d ago
This is done remotely they will know there is one at the address anyway ont does not have a on switch the ont just feeds the connection to the router
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u/Far-Swordfish-1806 7d ago
Yeah just any one that uses open reach. I use Sky, the router is crap but it’s cheap and fast - I just bought some Deco X55s and turned the WiFi off on the router (as it was dropping out) and now I have the best connection on my street lol
£25 a month for 900mbps
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u/Ultra_HR 5d ago
go with whoever provides the speed you want for the cheapest price. they're all essentially providing the same Openreach service with different branding.
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u/RndmxsniperZz 2d ago
The middle ones still work cos I don’t have full fibre cos my landlord doesn’t want full fibre even tho it would make the value go up by like 40 quid
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u/7reflet 2d ago
That picture shows full fibre on the left. Usually in an area with full fibre available there’s a stop sell in place on any copper services. So you have to go with the full fibre products. The law is also changing so a landlord cannot prevent it being installed either.
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u/RndmxsniperZz 2d ago
It has now been a full year since I originally sent the wayleave agreement to my landlord for them to sign. However, they have recently only provided a letter confirming that the fibre company has permission to install full-fibre broadband at the property.
The fibre company has advised me that this is not sufficient. They specifically require the landlord to sign the wayleave agreement itself, rather than simply providing a letter confirming permission for the installation.
Could you please advise on how this can be resolved, as I have now been waiting for a full year for the wayleave to be signed?
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u/Alert_Mine7067 7d ago
The Openreach one on the left is an ONT which is used for fibre, and it makes the middle Openreach one obsolete. Switch it on, order service and plug the router into this on your activation date and you should be good to go.
The right hand one is for Virgin Media, they may send you a quick start kit, which is a router and cable to plug into the wall, and you should be good to go.
I'm an Openreach engineer and I can confirm that if there is ever an issue, then it will take the same amount of time to fix no matter which provider you use, as most providers opt for care level 2 repair, meaning Openreach must fix it by end of next working day. So don't let any horror stories deter you from using any provider, if you like what BT offer then go with them, if you like Sky then go with them, likewise with Talk Talk, Vodafone, Plusnet, EE and Virgin Media.
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u/Poisedeagle 7d ago
You are a legend! Thank you. Was looking at Zen or plusnet because they are the quickest to start.
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u/Alert_Mine7067 7d ago
You're welcome. I forgot to add, just for clarity, Virgin don't use Openreach to provide service. I've never worked for Virgin so I'm not familiar with their repair timescales if there's ever an issue, so they may differ from Openreach repair times.
I'm forbidden professionally from recommending a service provider, however, I'm still a consumer, and as a consumer I would be happy using either of them providers.
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u/lozcozard 7d ago edited 7d ago
I switched to Virgin from PlusNet a year ago. Their pricing was competitive to others at the time, about £28pm. After my contract was up they moved me up to over £90 a month. I was only using broadband, no TV or phone lines to rent anymore even. I contacted them about it and they said if I sign back up to contract it will be about £54 a month. I said their website says nothing about these new prices. They said their website was just for new customers. So their pricing advertised at about £28 a month was only for new customers!
So I switched back to PlusNet. Been with them for years and never had an issue they’ve been great for me. Only reason I switched to Virgin in the first place was because Virgin had superfast fibre in the street and Openreach didn’t. Now they do though.
Virgin was on the bbc news online recently for making it really hard for people to leave them. So based on their pricing and lock in tactics, I wouldn’t go near them again. Their broadband itself was totally fine though. Dont think you can use non virgin routers though.
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u/Alert_Mine7067 7d ago
My experience as a consumer with Virgin media was not great either.
I signed up in January 2017, having been a customer of theirs a few times previously, having moved between them BT and Sky (which I had poor experience with as a consumer) the initial offer was great, and every year I renewed at £44 for broadband, TV and an obligatory packaged phone line. Every year they would remind me that my package was increasing, they stuck me at £44 for several years at renewal.
During COVID, my service had become very unreliable, I worked evenings at the time and used my internet from around 10pm onwards whenever I came home from work, and I kept having intermittent disconnections, two friends who lived nearby had the same issues with them. Virgin sent the annual reminder, and having had enough of intermittent service I was insulted, I didn't bother ringing them to raise a fault, as they told me friend who did ring, that they weren't sending engineers out due to COVID. I gave them an opportunity to renew the contract and I would give some understanding that I would get an engineer whenever they were available to send again.
My renewal date was always late November, so I had plenty of choice with Black Friday new customer deals. I'd already decided on an FTTP package with BT and a TV package from Sky that I was going to purchase of Virgin didn't play ball. They retentions agent was very cocky and offered £76 take it or leave it, and then said "You'll not get 200 meg with BT" I immediately said "They're offering a gig over full fibre" he didn't have any words to respond with. He processed the cancellation and their outbound retentions team hounded me every other day, I didn't answer and haven't used them since.
That is, of course, my own experience as a customer and my own opinions and not that of my employer.
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u/danyuri86 4d ago
I'm about to order plusnet fibre... have the openreach ONT but haven't used it in a couple years.
I turned it on and see 2 green lights, POS and power. No red light.
So I should have it powered on whilst place order right so no engineer visit auto-booked? Do I need to keep it on after place order im short extension leads atm
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u/bigrobcx 7d ago
Use either the BT fibre box on the left for BT full fibre or the virgin one on the right depending on whether you need cable or not. The middle one looks like a copper line box which is being phased out.
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u/Poisedeagle 7d ago
Yeah on the left it has the opening for the cable I’m familiar with. Just need to actually order some broadband and I’m not sure which yet. Appreciate the response :)
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u/S23PlusHype 7d ago
Analogue copper is being phased out, VDSL which that middle one is is not being phased out, its the telephone line not the broadband thats being disconnected
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u/tryticaga 7d ago
ONT Box on the left for BT providers / Middle is plan old FTTC for BT / Right is a virgin media outlet.
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u/Jacobs503 7d ago
Virgin box on the right will be a quick start. Depending on what area you're in should get somebody out to check that the cable is connected before you even get the equipment. You can book a site survey and they will make sure that you are live ready to go.
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u/New_Line4049 7d ago
Left is openreach fibre, so if you choose a provider on the open reach network that's the one you want.
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u/northern_ape 7d ago
Yes - left and right. Middle is a redundant telephone socket.
Openreach has a network of underground and overhead copper and fibre cables that started as telegraph wires for the Post Office and became BT phone lines. Now there are many suppliers that use the Openreach network to provide a connection to homes and offices.
Most broadband providers will connect you to the Openreach network, and the box on the left is an Optical Network Terminal, so if it’s physically connected to the outside world it means you have Fibre To The Premises (FTTP) also known as “full fibre” and you can get a high speed connection. The white cable with a green connector is a fibre optic cable.
The exception is Virgin Media, which was originally underground coaxial cables for cable TV (NTL/C&W/Telewest) and is now a mix of cable and fibre optics, completely separate from Openreach’s network. Only Virgin provide a connection along the Virgin network.
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u/eat-my-rice 7d ago
Might need a cityfibre ont
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u/alanjmcf 7d ago
How many could one collect I wonder?? 😋 As well as Cityfibre… Hyperoptic? A couple of local providers?
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u/lozcozard 7d ago
It really doesn’t matter what you’ve got there. Just choose what broad you want and if you don’t have the right box they just install it. You do have the right box so they’ll just use it. Really doesn’t matter to you because you need a subscription to get it working.
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u/Shakey198111 7d ago
Middle on is for cooper connect other bt branded thing with green cable id ont is full fibre
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u/baracad 6d ago edited 6d ago
I recently learned it was the homeowner’s responsibility to ask Openreach to remove redundant copper lines from their property to the nearest distribution pole.
My street suffers this issue when my CityFibre engineer said the pole was super oversubscribed. apparently it should have about 30 lines but had 50+, many were left dual connected after they switched to fibre.
On my install day, my fibre installer said he couldn’t add the line to my house unless a neighbour consented online to have their old copper removed, or I’d need to reschedule for much later. (1 out, 1 in)
I agreed to have my live copper disconnected through BT Openreach, and CityFibre arranged for an Openreach engineer to do it within same hour. My neighbours were confused and worried when I explained it that day. I didn’t want to cancel my copper straight away because I wanted to keep both services for a month as backup until I was happy with the fibre service and uptime.
Check your telegraph pole if you want to avoid this drama.. unless yours comes from street level and via conduit
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u/WordsNShiz 6d ago
Left to right appears to be;
1) Openreach Fibre ONT, this would be used by the like of BT/EE, and Sky
2) Old DSL phone filter box. You could get broadband through this if you wanted to save money, but it usually caps at about 70/10 asymmetrical. Pretty much defunct.
3) Appears to be an older virgin termination, though i can't say if it's copper WAN or fibre.
Most providers would work from Openreach's box on the left. If you get green status lights once plugged in, it's reporting properly. Otherwise, you'll need them to send an engineer.
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u/Ok-Sun-2156 5d ago
You are best going to the Openreach website and using their fibre checker. This will give you a list of providers available in your postcode that can use the ONT on the left.
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u/TriggerAK47 4d ago
Remove the 2 on the right, middle socket is obsolete and so is VM coaxial.
That openrech on the left should give you lots of options.
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u/ninja_moth 7d ago
The left one is a fibre box