Which telecommunications home connections are sensible?

Hello everyone,

in our new development area, fiber optic is being laid, which could roughly coincide with our move-in date. We have already signed the contract with Toni (BBV) for €600 for the house connection + €100 activation. Are we thus well equipped for telephone, internet, TV?

Or should we still apply for an old-fashioned Telekom copper connection for about €800?

We have requested a cable connection from Vodafone, but received a rejection for our area, even though the city marked the cable connection as possible when selling the building plot.

Should we additionally have a SAT system installed? Our general contractor offers it for €1800. Problem: We have a hipped roof and W, E and S will be covered with photovoltaic panels. So the SAT dish should be mounted on the north roof on a long pole. That should be possible because we only have a 20° roof pitch, but it does not look very nice because from the street view you see the back of the dish.

What do you think?

We have completely decided against SAT or cable and only watch via Internet TV now. In my opinion, you can save the 1,800.

We have completely decided against SAT or cable, only watch via Internet TV now. In my opinion, you can save the 1,800.

I agree. We still had a satellite dish that we had built onto the terrace roof. But it has now been taken down. We don't need it anymore, we watch TV over the Internet.

Since I also have photovoltaics on the south side, placing the dish on the north side would be the only option, but I didn’t find that appealing, so it is on the east gable. Booking through the general contractor is always more expensive. I ordered a dish with LNB on Amazon for less than €100 and “my” electrician mounted it. It probably cost about €500 including adjustment, if anything. It was done in conjunction with other work, so I can’t say exactly.

Or should we still apply for an old-fashioned Telekom copper connection for about €800?

What is the Telekom connection supposed to be used for? If it is intended as a backup for making phone calls, then I would rely on mobile communication. If it's about the internet, first check what the line can deliver. I would not book a Telekom connection if fiber optic is available.

Something has already been said about satellite. I would skip it and invest the €1800 in proper network cabling, for example for access points.

I also thought you could save yourself the trouble, in the old house it worked perfectly fine. But in our new development area, Inexio / Deutsche Glasfaser is responsible for the expansion and it’s a complete disaster. I have been chasing the house connection for a year(!), meanwhile I have various phone numbers of contacts besides the hotline, and I am cheerfully passed around in circles. No one is responsible, always some other excuse. I am now glad that we have the copper cable in the house. I wouldn’t have applied for it at my own expense, but it was included in our house price. At first I thought "we don’t need it", now I think that slow internet is better than none.