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On Friday, 4 December 2020 09:09:36 GMT antlists wrote: |
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> On 04/12/2020 01:40, Dale wrote: |
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> > Also, our local power company is about to start rolling out internet |
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> > service. It's done with fiber and the slowest package, 200MBs/sec, is |
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> > over 100 times faster than my current DSL. It only costs $4.00 a month |
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> > more than what I'm paying now. Their fastest package is 1GBs/sec. |
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> > Dang, I can't even imagine that sort of speed. Another good thing, same |
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> > speed BOTH ways. I can upload videos just as fast as I can download |
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> > one. Yeppie!! |
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> > |
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> > My only thing now, I hope it works like DSL/cable/etc and just requires |
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> > me to plug in a ethernet cable. In other words, OS doesn't matter. I |
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> > suspect it does but we will see. |
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> |
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> We went to fibre recently. They put a new box on the wall which takes an |
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> RJ-45 instead of the previous situation where ADSL took an RJ-11. |
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> |
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> All the blurb says "works with BT Hub 6", which we already had, so I |
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> didn't bother getting a new router (you had to pay for the "latest and |
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> greatest" Hub 7). |
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> |
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> When the guy installed it - "where's you new router, it won't work with |
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> this one". No apparently you can't just plug it into any old network |
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> port, the router needs a dedicated WAN link and the Hub 6 came in two |
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> versions, one with an ADSL modem and one with a fibre uplink. |
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> |
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> So it sounds like you need to swap your ADSL router for a cable router |
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> or whatever it is, but apart from that you'll be fine. |
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> |
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> (And then some sales guy working on behalf of BT knocked on the door, |
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> was surprised to find we were already BT customers, and rigged up some |
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> deal that (a) threw in a Hub-7 free, (b) changed our calling plan to |
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> remove the one-hour limit and add free calls to mobiles, and (c) knocked |
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> about £2 off our monthly bill!!!) |
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> |
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> Cheers, |
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> Wol |
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|
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The full fibre to the premises (FTTP) connection requires a different port and |
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modem to the ADSL broadband. |
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|
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The basic functionality of an (A)DSL broadband modem is to convert electrical |
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signals coming down the copper telephone wire to ethernet frames. The basic |
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functionality of a fibre modem is to convert the optical signals arriving |
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through the fibre cable to ethernet frames. |
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|
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In the UK, the old copper telephone wires coming into the customer premises |
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terminated on an RJ11 connector, which was plugged into the corresponding RJ11 |
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socket of the ADSL modem, or into the more frequently provided by the ISP |
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modem+router+WiFi combo box. |
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|
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With fibre the modem, now called an Optical Network Terminal (ONT), no longer |
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has a RJ11 port. Instead it has an optical port to receive the fibre cable |
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coming into the premises. The ONT also has an RJ45 ethernet port for the LAN |
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side - where you connect the router's WAN port with an ethernet cable. It |
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also has a telephone port for VoIP and a power connection. It may also have a |
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UPS connection to provide power to keep the phone working when the mains power |
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supply suffers an outage - some ONT boxes have an internal battery for this |
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purpose. |
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|
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It follows that an old ADSL router combo box with an RJ11 WAN port is no good |
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for fibre - although it can be used as a dumb switch or a WiFi Access Point in |
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your LAN. Instead a router with an RJ45 ethernet WAN port is required. More |
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expensive routers/switches come with SFP transceiver ports, in which you can |
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plug either optical or ethernet cables. |
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|
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Prices for fibre are more expensive depending on the ISP and a new contract is |
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required. Initial discounts are meant to entice earlier migration to fibre, |
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but prices will increase by 30% or more after the discount period expires. If |
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you want to stay at the same speed as ADSL or use fibre for telephone only, |
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then the price could be the same as the old copper connection, but again it |
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depends on the ISP. |