Just trying to get ahead of the curve here... I'm hoping that we will start groundworks next month and my plan is/was to get the grey BT duct (duct56 if I remember correctly) laid and brought up through the slab and also outside the driveway, hopefully right by the BT connection point. Once the house is erected we can then get the cable pulled through and the connection made. Happy days! I learned my lesson on the last build that you don't contact Openreach unless you want to lose all will to live and be presented with five-figure bills so I've just contacted Plusnet and BT to see about initiating a new connection so that I can get some free ducting. For some reason this is proving harder than I feel it should be.

So do I persevere down this route or should I just plan for Starlink? Obviously, this is the least effort route but 1) I hate the thought of putting money in Eon's pocket 2) I'm not sure the council will approve the fitting of a dish on the roof/gable of the house, as we're in a conservation area.

Personally I'd want to pursue wired broadband until such a time as I could rule it far too expensive to bother with. There may be other options than Openreach (though maybe not in East Lothian).

Not used Starlink but believe it works quite well and is pretty reliable. But, it is not very reliable in terms of a long term contract. Price plans going up and down, restrictions being added/removed, etc. Elon is renowned for constantly changing pricing within his companies, especially if his finances are stretched. So on that basis I don't think you can rely on it long term. Who knows when he will decide to raise the price to extortionate levels.

Long term there will likely be other satellite options (and 5G/LTE/6G options) but it is a gamble and wired internet may well prove more problematic to install later if not done now. At the very least I'd want the ducting in and ready for any future need.

We’ve had Starlink 200mb for about 6 months and while it’s better in every way than the Sky broadband we endured for years, I’d go for a decent FTTP solution in a heartbeat if it was available. Ironically, it’s due to our village next year, neatly coinciding with the completion of our new house which is, of course, in a village with zero prospects of FTTP…