[thomseddon]

For clarity - whilst most connectivity infrastructure in London is underground, it's almost always within a primary duct, so running new infrastructure is usually a case of pulling in a new cable as opposed to "ripping up the street".

In fact, anyone approved can use BTs own ducts and poles via their PIA product[1], which has created a resurgent and incredibly active market of "alternative" network providers ("alt nets"). London for example is now well served for broadband by Community Fibre, g.network, Hyperoptic and others alongside the incumbents.

[1] https://www.openreach.co.uk/cpportal/products/passive-produc...

[cameronh90]

It may be in a duct, but occasionally the manholes are in really awkward locations - like in the middle of an extremely busy road.

I've been waiting for symmetric fibre for a year, and they're trying to install it, but getting the permission to close the road to lift up the manhole is proving to be a challenge.

[thomseddon]

Yeah it's certainly not without issue, the network is full of blockages, collapsed ducts etc.

Traffic management and road closures can be hard work, we've had to wait over a year before for a road closure as it would affect multiple bus routes. (And as an aside, lockdown was extremely productive for network build like this!)

[djhn]

But my impression of London (from living there for a few years in the 2010s) was that it is very much a 6am-11pm city and everything is shut at night. Surely infrastructure work can take place during night shifts?

I found the experience of working in the city and living in Westminster frustrating, because shops, public transport and even pubs(!) would effectively have closed by the time you finished work.

[cameronh90]

It's a bit later nowadays, at least in the normal sorts of places you'd go out (Soho, Shoreditch, etc.). Though, what are you doing working until 11pm?

In any case you'll still find the roads can be busy at all hours. The night is used, as you say, for a lot of infrastructure type stuff which means the main roads are still busy, getting the city ready for the next day.

[djhn]

I no longer do - working in the City wasn't for me. And neither was living in England. A week in the summer and over Christmas turned out to be just the right amount of blighty for me.

[alias_neo]

Hyperoptic we're great. I could pay £5/month for a static IPv4 so I wasn't stuck behind CGNAT, their IPv6 worked great and I could use my own network equipment and they're provide the configs; though I hear they're less forthcoming with that info for people running not-ISP hardware these days.

First monthly contract I've parted ways with reluctantly (I moved home).

I got the first year free from one-month discounts by referring all my neighbours.

[cm2187]

I still haven't figure out how to get IPv6 with hyperoptic with my own router. Other than that, I second, good service.

[alias_neo]

I was using a Uniquiti EdgeRouter and it was fairly trivial, then I switched to a pfSense box and it was a little harder but not much.

The hard part is that you have to clone the UDID (I think that was the value, sorry don't quite remember now), they used to allow any hardware to join the network but that's no longer the case; so you have the clone the value from the hardware they provide you with.

[avianlyric]

Don’t bother. Their IPv6 setup is notoriously broken. They have a number of IPv6 misconfiguration in their core switches which makes using IPv6 with your own hardware almost impossible.

Unfortunately it seems they’ve also let go of all their good network admin. It used to be possible to find someone at Hyperoptic capable of investigating and fixing these issues, but no more.

[alias_neo]

Something definitely changed around COVID time, they stopped providing the info to set up your own kit freely, they wouldn't put you in touch with L3+ tech anymore and you couldn't connect your own kit without cloning IDs.

I had an issue one time, around 2020 and I couldn't fit the life of me get past a zero-knowledge L1.

Back in 2017-18 when I joined they put me in touch with one of their network engineers who helped me configure my EdgeRouter.

[cassianoleal]

I've been using their IPv6 for years on my Turris Omnia (TurrisOS is based on OpenWRT and also open source) plugged directly to their switch. Everything works via DHCPv6 and RA. I get a /56 PD that I can use for my LAN subnets as I wish. The IPv6 Internet is fast and stable.

[avianlyric]

I also used their IPv6 setup for years. But then it got broken after they did maintenance, and I’ve never been able to get it fixed.

I’ve talked to insiders about this stuff, and there’s a number of known long running misconfigurations issues. Which unfortunately I’ve probably been hit with. I’ve also been told the odds of it getting fix via support is zero at this point.

In my case their switches refuse to assign an IP to any of my gear. My config hasn’t changed, and I’ve done some pretty in depth debugging. TL;DR I need to spoof some non-compliant with my gear to get their gear to play ball. I’ve zero interest in playing that game, I need IPv6 to be rock solid reliable, or it’s just not worth the effort.

[cassianoleal]

Ugh, that sounds painful. Absolutely agree with your last sentence.