Get your WiFi ready for fibre
How to get ready for fibre
- Choose a double power socket for your fibre equipment to be plugged into
- Improve your WiFi with our handy hints
- Choose a central place for your router
- Note any WiFi issues to talk to our Home Tech team about
Here's what happens
Pre-installation visit
When you ordered fibre, you booked a time for a Guernsey Fibre engineer to visit your home.
During this visit, they'll talk to the landline account holder, for around 30 minutes to check:
- where your existing broadband, router and landline connections come into your home
- the location where the new fibre equipment will go
- your mobile phone signal
- any Lifeline (or personal care alarm) equipment you may have.
They will be in uniform and can show you their photo ID, so you know who they are.
Equipment
Your fibre broadband will need some new equipment installed:
- Splice box - usually outside
- Optical Network Terminal (ONT) and cabling box
- Cabling connecting the ONT and the router (up to 7m)
- Battery backup if you have a personal care alarm
Once it’s been agreed where the equipment will sit, the engineer will talk to you about a day and time to install it. We will send you an email confirming when this is.
Fibre equipment
Routers
Routers are connected to the fibre broadband in your ONT and then spread a WiFi signal around your home.
If you ordered a new Sure router, it will be sent out by recorded delivery. If you haven’t received your router 2 days before your installation visit, please call 700700 for a tracking reference.
Using your own router
If you didn't buy a new router when you ordered fibre and your current router is more than 2 years old, it’s likely it won’t be compatible with fibre. Your engineer can advise if you need a new router in the pre-installation visit. If you are using your own router, please have your login ready to share with the engineer.
Your router’s location is important as it affects your WiFi signal.
Don't place your router near:
❌ TV
❌ Sound bar
❌ Microwave
❌ Radiator
❌ Mirror
❌ Fish tank
❌ Cordless phone
❌ Baby monitor
What you need to do
Both the router and ONT need electricity, so must be plugged into one of your double power sockets. The engineer can provide a free 5-metre four-socket extension lead if you need one.
Or you can ask an electrician to install a new double socket near to where the fibre equipment will be installed. This needs to be fitted before your fibre installation visit.
During the pre-installation visit, the engineer will advise on the best place for the fibre equipment, taking into consideration where you’d like it. For a free standard installation, the engineer needs to install the fibre equipment within three metres of the nearest habitable room where the fibre cable appears at your property and a maximum of four metres from a power supply.
On your first visit, your engineer will talk to you about making emergency calls in a power cut. If you or someone in your household relies on a landline to call the emergency services (for a health condition) and you don’t have access to a mobile phone you may be classed as vulnerable, and eligible for a free fibre battery backup or a free mobile phone. If you’re not classed as vulnerable but you’d still like a Guernsey Fibre battery backup, you can buy one for £26.85 if it is installed at the same time as fibre, or £59.35 post-installation.
Fibre equipment with battery backup
If you are having a battery backup unit installed, this will be at your second visit and the engineer will explain how to test it.
Your installation visit
Around a week after your first visit, the engineer will visit again to install fibre. This will take between two and four hours and your broadband and landline won’t work for this time. Your electricity won’t be affected.
The external fibre cable location varies from building to building, some will be fed by an overhead pole, and some will be through an underground duct (pipe).
The engineer may need to drill a very small hole through an outside wall of your home into a ground floor room or under the roof eaves - but they will leave everything neat and tidy. The fibre cable is then fed into your property.
Your installer will take this cable to a splice box. This may be on the outside wall of your home, or inside (depending on where the main fibre cable is).
The ONT, cable box and router will then be fitted in your pre-agreed locations,plugged into your double power socket and connected.
The engineer will also install your router and check your WiFi and fibre connection is working.
If you didn’t upgrade to a new router, your device might run slowly as your old router is less able to handle fibre’s speeds. The engineer will be able to advise if your router is compatible with a fibre connection, or they can provide a new one.
Fibre broadband needs a router to send the signal around the house by WiFi. This signal is affected by where the router is placed, the thickness of your walls, and the surfaces nearby.
Your installation engineer will be happy to set-up one of your internet-enabled devices and ensure that you have a fully working service before they leave. They’ll also carry out their own speed test.
The engineer will ask you to choose a broadband and router password. If you choose a new password, you’ll need to enter this password in any internet enabled home technology such as a TV, tablet, mobile phone, laptop, and connected thermostats.
At the end of the installation, the engineers will tidy where they’ve been working and ask if you are happy with the work.
Your Sure Fibre will be live from the end of the installation visit. The engineer will leave your home satisfied that both your fibre and your WiFi are working properly.
All phone sockets that were live will still work with a landline handset plugged in but you may hear a slight difference in your home phone dial-tone and system announcements. Customers who rely on Star Service call features may notice some differences in call features.
