Conversion to PureFibre - What to expect?

[RonAKA]

I got hounded until I finally agreed to go to PureFibre instead of my bonded modem copper Internet 75 plan. They agreed to maintain my current rates until the contract time expires. I have a T3200M modem and a 5 port ZyXEL ethernet extender box. One Optik TV set top box is wired and the other TV is wireless. 

Will they leave this modem in place or upgrade it? In other words will all my existing wiring and setup remain as is and not disturbed?

I take it that an ONT box may be required? Where would they locate it, and does it have to be powered with AC? Would it normally be located where the fiber comes into the house, or beside the existing modem?

Do they run ethernet from the ONT box to the T3200M modem assuming it is retained? 

Is there an option to run fiber right to the T3200M modem and not use an ONT box? I see that there is an optical service provider input on the modem.

Thanks for your help in this. 

[polecat · Accepted solution]

@RonAKA  My move to fiber. An ont (needs 120 outlet ) A 3200 modem ( needs 120 outlet ) hard wired to ont.  My phone was  moved to fiber  and i asked for  battery back up ( needs 120 )outlet . The tech will connect tour existing copper to the ont. I asked for the phone to be moved to fiber. Push button phones will work during an outage with backup. The tech will make you existing setup work . Polecat

[RonAKA]

We do not have a landline phone any longer. The two copper lines go to the T3200M but our phone service is a VOIP with Ooma, which uses an ethernet port on the modem. I presume they will just disconnect them? 

Will have to check how far the power outlet is from where the ONT may be located....

[RonAKA]

It looks like I am in luck. There is an AC outlet near where the fiber will come through the basement wall. 

[NFtoBC]

Looks like you are set! As long as it is easy to put an Ethernet cable between the ONT an the T3200M, nothing else needs to be changed with your network.

[RonAKA]

The basement ceiling is still open so it should be reasonable to get the ethernet to the T3200M. A bit of cable fishing required but not much.

[RonAKA]

The plot thickens. Nobody showed up from Telus to make the connection to fiber. I phoned Telus and ended up on hold for an hour. When I finally got through I told them I was very disappointed in their service. They told me that no appointment had actually been made to connect up the fiber. I told them I wanted to cancel the conversion to fiber. They told me that would be a bad idea as they are disconnecting the copper service. Is this for real? In any case I finally agreed to get converted on a new date.

It is sad to see the level of service that Telus has degenerated to. I will keep my Shaw coax in place, as I see a switch to Shaw in my future. 

[Dimo-X]

Missing an appointment can definitely be annoying. It's good that they setup a new date, and in the long run the conversion should be a good thing.  Hope the new install date is not much longer.

[RonAKA]

They did promise a $50 credit to my account for the missed appointment. However, what really upsets me is that they threaten to cut off the copper. It makes me wonder if this is just an intimidation threat? Is someone that depends on copper for a land line phone going to be cut off? I find that hard to believe. 

[Kent2]

The phone will be moved from copper to fiber. That is what happened when they  put fiber in at my house. It works fine with all your old handsets.  The copper to my house was pretty much on its last lags 

[RonAKA]

That is interesting. I wonder what they would do if I refused to accept the conversion to fiber? I have a contract for my current setup that goes until April of next year. I guess there is always the option of Shaw...

[Nighthawk]

Eventually all the copper phone lines will be switched over to fibre so the conversion will eventually be required. Shaw phone is basically the same thing except over coax. 

My landline was switched when I got fibre and have had no problems with it so far.

[RonAKA]

The technician connected up the fiber today. He installed a termination box just inside the wall in the basement. It is not powered and does not need an AC plug in. From this box he installed another fiber extension cable to the outlet box were the copper wall sockets were located. The two copper wire outlets were replaced with a single fiber outlet. From there a short fiber extension cable was installed right to the T3200M modem. No ethernet cable was used, so I have no ONT box. The fiber goes straight to the optical input socket on the T3200M.

No significant improvement in internet performance is apparent in what I use it for. Here is what I got with Ookla before and after.

Service - Ping - Jitter - Download - Upload

Copper - 4ms - 0ms - 79.6 Mbps - 20.9 Mbps

Fiber - 1ms - 1ms - 89.0 Mbps - 99.3 Mbps

So the main improvement seems to be a reduction of the ping and an increase in the upload speed. Not sure either will be of value to me. The tech tells me that they are important to gamers...

I asked the tech if it was true there is a plan to remove the copper wire. He said that he was not aware of any plan and in fact Telus rents the copper out to small internet suppliers like Prime, and expected it to stay in place so they can make money in that market. 

[Dimo-X]

Looks like your getting 10mbs faster connection on your downstream. The reduction of ping time would also mean you have less latency, which is always a good thing. The comment the technician made about keeping the copper lines might be something that is decided on a case by case basis... but I can't see it being an indefinite thing. 

[RonAKA]

The interesting part is that I am getting virtually the same 85+ download and upload on my wireless laptop. However the ping time is poor at 15ms. But that is my wife's machine, and I don't use it. My iPhone tests out at 3 ping, 1 jitter, 65 down, and 72 up. 

[RonAKA]

One last point is the tech had to reset the T3200M modem so I lost all my setup. Had to reset the modem password, disable the SmartSteering, rename the two SSIDs, set them to not broadcast, and set the passwords for each. Also had to reset the channels I had selected to avoid local traffic. I guess if nothing else it refreshes my memory of how I had the modem set up...

The tech seemed to have some difficulty setting up the Optik TV, but eventually got it done. Total job was probably close to 3 hours.