Manchester’s CityFibre streets

Manchester learned fibre twice: once as a cable city, again as a CityFibre city, while Openreach quietly lit cabinets into FTTP like the rest of the country. The result is a comparison that finally looks like a market. People then pick a colour — purple, red, the one their mate has — and skip the year-one arithmetic. The streets deserve better. So does the bill.

Two machines on one terrace

Where CityFibre and Openreach FTTP are both live, you have genuine plant choice. That is rarer than a national journalist thinks and commoner than a suburban myth thinks. It is the whole point of overbuild.

Take the better year. If they are within a couple of pounds, pick the install that is simpler for your building, or the retailer whose complaints data you can stand.

The retailer layer is the product

CityFibre’s bet is wholesale. Your bet is which shopfront on that wholesale you can live with. Compare them against each other before you compare the colour to BT.

A cheap CityFibre intro that rises hard in month 13 is not morally better than Openreach. It is a number.

The edges of the build

New-build estates, business parks, and the last street before the fields can sit outside the pretty map. Greater Manchester is not a single coverage blob.

If you are on the edge, a dated CityFibre infill and a live Openreach FTTP are not a puzzle. Buy live.

Purple is a wholesale company. Your bill is a retailer. Stay adult about both.

The north’s CityFibre streets are one of the few places the market looks like the slide. Use the market. Do not join a colour.