Week or two back I received some advertising bumf through the letterbox. Few months prior to that we'd seen BT working on the green cabinet around the corner. Tied these two together and it seems my estate now has 'Fibre to the Cabinet' FTTC. That means my internet data only has to fight copper for about 100 yards, rather than 5.5km to get to a decent environment.

I rang BT, coming away with the news that I might expect up to 40Mbits/sec, it tested out at 28Mb/s. I thought I'll have a bit of that. First problem, getting a MAC from my current ISP. About 1996 I signed up with (what was then) a small ISP just N of London. Nildram. Moved to ADSL with them when they offered it. Never better than about 300Kbyes/s download where I am now. Last couple of years Nildram were bought out by Pipex, then Talk-Talk, then Opal (if I've got that right.) Seemed to happen in fairly quick succession. I dreaded hassling them to provide the necessary Migration Access Code, needed to swap ISPs. Requested it (of Nildram, double check with Opal) 26 October. 11 October it arrived. Formal complaint lodged with Ofcom after five days. ASA are interested, but only from next March.

So, phoned BT, requested the move. Pause. Start to think about the TV adverts. Modem+wifi one box... Not what I have, or want. After an afternoons Googling, a failed telcon with BT 'tech' help (they told me I must have FTTH, Fibre to the House, since I was getting BT infinity. Initially I was told that since I didn't have the service installed... no tech help available? FTW? Anyway, kind lady who answered my call decided she didn't know if 802.11b was supported and put me through to tech help. Never mind.

Their tech support was ... what I half expected, quite definitely first line. Didn't know the DHCP range, didn't know whether I was fibre to the house or to the cabinet (latter, see this clear piece for techy details)

Worth looking at their t'c and c's too. quote

8. Your agreement with us starts on the date we accept your order for the service. The minimum period starts from the date we start to provide you with the service as set out in the relevant service terms and the MPSA (if applicable).

So... payment? 'agreement'? What's that? starts when we agree, verbally, to sign p, yet their claws are into you for 18 months starting from when they actually provide the service? And you need to go to a separate uri for the cancellation charges. I'm curious when I start paying, whether it's when I signed on or when the service is provided.

So. They insist:

1. The provided modem sites adjacent to the 'master' phone point. But yes, they can extend that if you don't want it there.
2. I can't re-use my modem (which I'm quite happy with), since it's ADSL and I need VDSL (Very High Speed Digital Subscriber Line 2 )
3. They also provide... I pay for, BT Home hub, I think. although the BT engineer prefixed this with 'fibre', perhaps that was just to confuse me

Thats what I'm given. The constraints are:

• No nat. Use their kit and it's all exposed
• Has to be on 192.168.1.xxx - No alternatives with their kit
• Limited to 3 ethernet connections to the hub. Switch called for if more needed
• The wifi is 8.2.11n. No mention from the support guy about a/b/g, although the Quick start guide says it is available.
• No, BT don't support any other wifi/routers.

That means I 'dump' all my current kit, possibly including my wifi setup, to move to this VDSL setup.

Funny BT never mention any of this when you talk to their sales guys. Surprisingly I'm not too hopeful of it all coming off without more hassle. A friend gave me this as a potential place to go when you want to raise the hassle stakes. Thanks Marcus.

I'll blog about the install and the service... if it happens

Also there is a rather curious bt fon. From which

When you join BT FON, you share your bandwidth with other BT FON members who are in range of your wireless router connection, and in return, you can get access to broadband whenever you are in range of another member's connection. BT FON members can also access FON hotspots anywhere in the world. BT Total Broadband customers who are members of BT FON can also have access at BT Openzone Hotspots.

Which has me rather puzzled when you mix it with security concerns? How the heck do I keep out Joe Bloggs, yet let in 'friendly' Jane Doe, another fon user?

For those interested: Links are:

• Terms and conditions
• Termination charges