Warning if you are thinking about going to full fibre broadband

[Ian Key]

I am in the process of upgrading to full fibre broadband without a landline as no-one called me on it nowadays as I use my mobile for phone calls. The engineer removed the old copper cables and replaced it with fibre. He then rang Openreach to activate the line but they couldn't do it for another 24 hours as there is a problem at the exchange. This turned into 10 days and counting.

Meanwhile I'm bending my providers ear as my EV charger is connected to the internet along with my alarm system and smart light bulbs until they agree to reinstall the old phone line as I was still covered by my old contract. I came back online yesterday after nearly a week with no internet as the engineer reconnected my service which is why I haven't been on the forum for the last 6 days.

So if you are thinking of going full fibre don't let them remove your old phone line until the fibre is up and running.

 

[tsedge]

I am in the process of upgrading to full fibre broadband without a landline as no-one called me on it nowadays as I use my mobile for phone calls. The engineer removed the old copper cables and replaced it with fibre. He then rang Openreach to activate the line but they couldn't do it for another 24 hours as there is a problem at the exchange. This turned into 10 days and counting.

Meanwhile I'm bending my providers ear as my EV charger is connected to the internet along with my alarm system and smart light bulbs until they agree to reinstall the old phone line as I was still covered by my old contract. I came back online yesterday after nearly a week with no internet as the engineer reconnected my service which is why I haven't been on the forum for the last 6 days.

So if you are thinking of going full fibre don't let them remove your old phone line until the fibre is up and running.

Glad to hear you are back. When we had ours one they left the old cables in place and tested it before they left, there were no issues. Hope it gets sorted.

 

[johnb80]

Meanwhile I'm bending my providers ear as my EV charger is connected to the internet along with my alarm system and smart light bulbs until they agree to reinstall the old phone line as I was still covered by my old contract. I came back online yesterday after nearly a week with no internet as the engineer reconnected my service which is why I haven't been on the forum for the last 6 days.

This is a major concern of mine, the EV chargers that dont work if the internet connection is lost. All of the advertising is great, the flexibility etc but theres never a mention of what happens when the web feed goes down.

 

[Robf]

This is a major concern of mine, the EV chargers that dont work if the internet connection is lost. All of the advertising is great, the flexibility etc but theres never a mention of what happens when the web feed goes down.

I guess it would be time to get the granny charger out, not ideal

 

[Ian Key]

This is a major concern of mine, the EV chargers that dont work if the internet connection is lost. All of the advertising is great, the flexibility etc but theres never a mention of what happens when the web feed goes down.

Luckily I have a Zappi charger and can control it from the wall unit. A few buttons and menus presses got it working but I didn't tell them that

 

[johnb80]

Luckily I have a Zappi charger and can control it from the wall unit. A few buttons and menus presses got it working but I didn't tell them that

Yep, me too. Some of the members on here recommending the likes of Hive wallboxes and similar seem oblivious to their dependency on communications, the Hive unit using GPRS which is due to be switched off!

 

[Ruislip Resident]

Can they tether from your phone?

 

[Ian Key]

Yep, me too. Some of the members on here recommending the likes of Hive wallboxes and similar seem oblivious to their dependency on communications, the Hive unit using GPRS which is due to be switched off!

They might have to run an ethernet cable from the wallbox into their router

 

[johnb80]

They might have to run an ethernet cable from the wallbox into their router

Assuming of course it has an ethernet connection and relevant connection protocols in the firmware.

 

[Alb]

Could you not have used your mobile phone as a hotspot?

 

[siteguru]

My Wallbox Pulsar Plus is connected to my home WiFi ... if the Internet goes down my home WiFi local network still works, so I should still be able to connect to the Wallbox. (If all else fails there's also a Bluetooth connection).

 

[johnb80]

My Wallbox Pulsar Plus is connected to my home WiFi ... if the Internet goes down my home WiFi local network still works, so I should still be able to connect to the Wallbox. (If all else fails there's also a Bluetooth connection).

That still depends on whether the wallbox has local intelligence or if it connects back to a remote server as the Anderson wallboxes do. If it relies on the remote server for scheduling etc, lose the connection and your wallbox is an expensive wall decoration.

 

[Lguk]

My understanding is the device is remotely programmed but holds your settings 'offline'

I went full fibre with an Altnet (Gigaclear) and they left my copper in place so my adsl is still up as a fallback.

 

[siteguru]

That still depends on whether the wallbox has local intelligence or if it connects back to a remote server as the Anderson wallboxes do. If it relies on the remote server for scheduling etc, lose the connection and your wallbox is an expensive wall decoration.

Communication to an online server is an additional feature for mine - it allows the device to be queried online via web browser. However local connectivity using the app should work "offline" (i.e. the local network (LAN) is active but simply no Internet connection) provided you're connected to that LAN ... and there's always the Bluetooth fall-back - that's how you set it up in the first place and enable the WiFi connection.

 

[johnb80]

My understanding is the device is remotely programmed but holds your settings 'offline'

That will depend on the device, the Anderson wallboxes were rendered useless for a few days when they ceased trading, I suspect the Hive wallboxes may be similar when you hear comments like 'they did a remote reset', 'they have software issues' etc.

I went full fibre with an Altnet (Gigaclear) and they left my copper in place so my adsl is still up as a fallback.

Very wise, that said once fibre is in and running, it's very reliable.

Communication to an online server is an additional feature for mine - it allows the device to be queried online via web browser. However local connectivity using the app should work "offline" (i.e. the local network (LAN) is active but simply no Internet connection) provided you're connected to that LAN ... and there's always the Bluetooth fall-back - that's how you set it up in the first place and enable the WiFi connection.

Thats a half decent approach, not dissimilar to MyEnergi ZAPPI.

 

[dragon2611]

Yep, me too. Some of the members on here recommending the likes of Hive wallboxes and similar seem oblivious to their dependency on communications, the Hive unit using GPRS which is due to be switched off!

Not for a while yet, 3G will go first, there's still too much stuff around that uses 2G/GPRS.

But I've seen cases where Openereach will remove the copper line when installing FTTP even when it still had an active service on the old line.

 

[Ian Key]

Not for a while yet, 3G will go first, there's still too much stuff around that uses 2G/GPRS.

But I've seen cases where Openereach will remove the copper line when installing FTTP even when it still had an active service on the old line.

That's what happened to me. They removed the copper line without checking the FTTP was working, which it wasn't. After a couple of days and a few couple of calls to my supplier later and they agreed to put it down as a line fault. 24hours later the Openreach engineer was reinstalling the copper wires.
Good job too as the latest update is that it's going to be another week at least before the fault at the exchange is sorted and my fibre is working.