It will soon be easier to take out or change a fiber subscription: Bouygues, Free, Orange and SFR have undertaken to indicate the famous PTO reference, essential for the connection, on invoices and in the customer area.
All those who have already subscribed to a fiber optic subscription know how difficult it is to obtain the PTO, this famous reference number written on the optical terminal socket – the small box fixed on the wall by the technician during the initial connection from local to fiber to connect the fiber box and access the Internet. However, it is essential to unambiguously identify the accommodation in the event of a change of operator or to take out a subscription after having moved into a dwelling that is already fiber-optic. But it is not always easy to know what it is or to find this number. This is why, in order to facilitate the procedures for users, theRegulatory Authority for Electronic Communications, Posts and Press Distribution (I’Arcep) has asked operators to include this reference on their customer area and their invoices.
PTO reference: a number listed on invoices and the customer area
The PTO reference is a unique and durable number which makes it easy to identify a fiber optic network socket in the operators’ information systems, and therefore to facilitate the definition of the “optical path” as well as the intervention of the technician. It is written on a label affixed to the socket and most often takes the following form: OO-XXXX-XXXX. For example, in the photo below, the PTO part number is FI-1605-5745. It is therefore quite difficult to access, especially if the socket is behind an imposing piece of furniture – a detail that we do not always think about when moving in. This is why, at the instigation of Arcep, Bouygues Telecom, Free, Orange and SFR have all committed to including the precious PTO reference of their subscribers on their bills from 1er July 2023, and on their customer area from December 31, 2023 – you will therefore have to be a little patient. No need to search for hours or bend over backwards to find the case, it will only take a few clicks to get it.
The telecoms policeman is very satisfied with this “advanced step for subscribers, in order to make it easier and more reliable to order a fiber subscription in premises that have already been connected “. Especially since this type of “point of delivery” (PDL) number is already found on electricity and natural gas bills. This is why Arcep declared that “the same will apply for fiber optic networks to the subscriber“.