Fibre broadband with home phone - Frequently Asked Questions
Browse through our most commonly asked fibre broadband with home phone line questions.
All your fibre broadband with home phone questions answered
Plusnet fibre is our standard fibre optic broadband service, offering superfast average download speeds up to 66Mb†. Standard fibre packages use a working phone line to set up your connection, if you don’t have a phone line we can sort this as part of your order.
†Based on speed available to at least 50% of customers at peak time (8-10pm). Speeds vary by location. Check what packages and speeds you can get via our broadband postcode checker.
Standard fibre optic is provided as Fibre To The Cabinet (FTTC). It differs from standard broadband and sometimes described as part-fibre, as it uses a combination of fibre and copper cables to get you connected. Fibre optic cables from the BT Exchange carry signals to your street cabinet, and then copper cables are used to carry the signals to connect to your home using a landline.
Fibre cables can handle a much larger amount of data which means these packages are much quicker than standard broadband. They provide faster speeds, so they’re great for streaming, downloading and gaming on multiple devices.
Much faster speeds, making it more suitable for sharing Internet access in your household. Unlike standard broadband, the distance from your local telephone exchange doesn't determine the speed you can get.
With fibre optic broadband, the distance from your nearest green street cabinet and the quality of the line between the cabinet and your property determine your speed.
Yes, fibre broadband uses the same technology (Dynamic Line Management) as standard broadband to give you the best possible service.
You'll probably see your speed vary over the first 10 days, as the broadband system runs tests to find the best speed for your service. This can cause your speeds to go up and down. You may even get disconnected a few times. Don't worry, this doesn't mean there's a problem, so please bear with it.
Our fibre broadband service is available to anyone in a fibre-enabled area.
If you're a new customer and want to see if our fibre packages are available in your area, all you need to do is enter your details into our broadband postcode checker.
If you’re already with us and want to check if you can upgrade to a faster fibre package, just sign in to My Account to see your deals.
To see if our fibre packages are available at your address, all you need to do is enter your details into our broadband postcode checker.
Note: There are some reasons why you may not be able to get Plusnet Fibre, even though you live in a fibre optic broadband enabled area.
- If you're connected directly to a telephone exchange, rather than via a green cabinet
- If your line is too far from your nearest green cabinet to support a stable fibre optic broadband service
- Work hasn't yet been done at your nearest green cabinet
- Your green cabinet isn't suitable for fibre optic cabling
To see the best Plusnet deals you can get in your area all you need to do is enter your details into our broadband postcode checker.
Already with us and want to check if you can upgrade to a faster fibre package? Just sign into My Account to see your available deals.
If you're new to broadband your service should be up and running after 5-10 working days. If you're transferring your service from another provider there's a 10 working day minimum period and you'll be able to choose a set up date if you wish. We'll email you as soon as possible to confirm the date your service will start.
Once you've been notified your service is live, setting up your router takes just a few minutes depending on your set up.
Note: On the go live day your broadband and telephone won't work for a short while; this is whilst the engineer is connecting your service at the green cabinet.
An engineer may carry out work at the telephone exchange and green cabinet.
Once you've been informed your service is ready you'll just need to plug your new fibre router into either the supplied microfilter or directly into your master socket with one of the included yellow Ethernet cables. The setup guide will explain which of these two options is applicable to you.
Yes. Bear in mind however that this will almost certainly reduce your overall broadband speeds.
If you have a master socket with a double socket especially for broadband you can plug your extension into that - you won't need to use a microfilter at all in this case.
If you have a master socket with only one socket which is shared with phone and broadband, you'll need to use a microfilter and plug your extension into that. Never filter at both ends of your extension lead!
Best broadband speeds are always obtained by plugging your router directly into your master socket.
Yes. A Plusnet Hub Two router is available with all our fibre packages. We'll make sure it arrives before or on your go live day.
We strongly advise taking one of the routers we supply, unless you're an experienced Internet user. If you'd rather use your own, make sure you check it is compatible.
The following questions should help you decide:
- Does your router say VDSL2 Fibre in its description? (You may want to Google the model name)
- Have you bought your router from a reputable high street/online retailer?
If you answered YES to both questions, it is likely that your router is compatible with our service. If you answered NO, you may want to take our router to be on the safe side.
Should you find that your router isn't compatible once your broadband service is up and running, call us on 0800 432 0200.
