Zen Internet has cut the price of installation for its fibre-based broadband services by more than half.
Instead of the usual £110.40 for set-up, Zen Internet is now charging customers who want FTTC (Fibre to the Cabinet) broadband a more reasonable £48. This fee covers the cost of an Openreach engineer visit and the installation of the VDSL modem.
Which UK ISPs provide FTTC and FTTP broadband?The eagle-eyed ISPReview spotted the price drop and has got a bit more information from Richard Teng, managing director of Zen Internet:
“Fibre is only going to grow in scale and importance over the coming years, so to make it even easier for customers to access Zen’s award-winning Fibre Optic Broadband services we are reducing the installation cost to less than half price.”
Zen Internet sells both FTTC and FTTP (Fibre to the Premises) broadband packages and has recently announced a big £3.5 million investment programme. The cash will be used to upgrade Zen’s network and will ultimately result in lower priced fibre-based broadband. Today’s news looks to the first signs of Zen’s drive to get more people taking up its fibre services.
BT is currently trialling a self-install option for FTTC, which could remove the need for an engineer to visit your home. The main reason that an engineer will need to visit your home is that setting up the VDSL modem requires additional work to tune out any electrical interference that could hobble your broadband speeds. The ongoing trials are specifically looking at how this could be made easier and more convenient so subscribers could do it themselves.
It’s currently expected that self-install for fibre-based broadband won’t be an option until 2014 at the earliest, is at all. Until a DIY option is a reality, there will always be some extra charge for a professional installation in some form.
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