toob installation: what happens and how long it takes

toob sells full fibre (fibre-optic cable all the way into your home) over two separate networks:

• Its own network. toob began building in Southampton in 2019 and started building outside Southampton in 2021, beginning in Camberley. On this network, toob says, it builds and delivers the infrastructure itself.
• CityFibre's network. Since 2022 toob has partnered with CityFibre, a wholesale network that doesn't sell broadband to households itself. toob's first customer on CityFibre was connected in Portsmouth that year. toob says the two "work together" to bring full fibre into homes.

toob says you get the same service whichever network sits underneath; a postcode check shows which applies.

A clue from the plans on offer

The packages shown at your address can hint at which network you're on. ISPreview reported in April 2026 that toob's 300 Mbps and 600 Mbps plans are sold only on its own network, and toob says home900 and home2300 are available across its whole footprint. toob's plan pages, checked October 2026, list home150 (which toob calls its best value service), home300 and home600 only for the same 19 places in Hampshire and Surrey, though the FAQ on its main home broadband page names just 15 of them. Its social tariff, toob essentials (50 Mbps, for people receiving certain government benefits), is offered in selected toob network areas. So being offered home300 or home600 suggests toob's own network, and seeing only home900 and home2300 may mean CityFibre's. It's a clue rather than proof; our guide to finding out which network your broadband is on covers other ways to check.

toob's pages don't say who physically turns up at a CityFibre address. CityFibre's help pages say that when you order from a provider on its network, the provider contacts CityFibre, which arranges for one of its installation partners to visit and install (see our guide to what happens at a CityFibre installation).

Either way, contact toob: CityFibre says questions about your installation go to your provider, because your contract is with them. Here's how each company describes the job (checked October 2026):

toob says the visit length depends on the installation type your address needs, but it doesn't publish separate timings or fees for non-standard home installs. For how another independent network sets out its installation types, see our guide to what happens at a Trooli installation.

toob publishes a minimum wait, not an average. Here's the sequence its pages and terms describe:

1. Check your postcode and order. toob needs at least 5 days between your order and your installation (10 days for business broadband). If you're not ready yet, you can order now for an installation on a later date.
2. Pick your slot. You choose a preferred arrival time from the available slots when you order. toob's support page says Monday to Friday in one answer and Monday to Saturday in another, so go by the slots you're shown. The terms call your scheduled go-live day the Activation Date.
3. Outside checks, if needed. toob says you may see its teams outside your address a few days before installation making additional checks. At CityFibre addresses where existing underground ducts or overhead poles are being used rather than new ducts, CityFibre arranges a pre-install visit to your street. You usually needn't be in, and CityFibre says work on your property happens only with your permission.
4. Your router arrives. toob posts the router a few days before installation, with tracking by email. You need it to complete activation, so if there's been no delivery attempt by 12 noon two working days before your installation, call toob.
5. Installation day. The engineer usually calls when they're on the way, which toob says can be up to an hour before they're due. If your slot passes with no contact, call toob.
6. Go-live. You connect the router after the engineer leaves, which completes activation. toob confirms the Activation Date in an Activation Email. That's the day your minimum contract period starts, and your first bill comes on or within 3 days of it.

The terms say the scheduled Activation Date may change, and you can ask to move it until 2pm the day before. To compare other providers' published lead times, see our guide to how long broadband installation takes.

toob's support pages and terms ask for the following:

• Permission. You need the homeowner's or landlord's permission for the installation. If you rent and place the order yourself, toob says it's your responsibility to agree this with your landlord first. Our guide to broadband for renters covers how to ask.
• Existing full fibre. If your address already has full fibre installed and you're in one of toob's service areas, toob asks you to call it on 02392 065558 before ordering, so it can ask a few questions and make sure the equipment is set up and working as it expects.
• Two mains sockets. The engineer needs a mains socket next to where the inside fibre box will go and a second one for the router.
• A router spot in mind. The box's position is agreed on the day, usually in the room where the fibre enters. Tell the engineer where you'd like the router so the box can go as close as your layout allows.
• Someone aged 18 or over at home. toob's terms require clear and safe access at the agreed time with someone aged 18 or over present. CityFibre asks the same.
• A date that still works. You can change the appointment in "my account". toob says changes are free up to 2pm on the working day before, and a fee may apply after that. Its charges page also lists a missed-appointment fee if you don't cancel before 2pm the day before.

If you live in a flat, toob says it aims to connect all flats in its planning areas but that landlord permission may be needed. Where service has already been run through the building, toob connects you to the nearest point. See our guide to full fibre in flats.

toob describes a standard installation in a few steps:

1. Bringing the fibre in. The installation team brings a brand-new fibre cable to your home, either overhead from an existing telegraph pole or underground via ducting.
2. The outside box. A small box is fitted to an external wall where the cable arrives.
3. Through the wall. The cable goes through a new small hole in the wall, which is fully sealed.
4. The inside box. The fibre ends at a small fibre box on an internal wall. Any fibre run inside your home is tacked neatly to the wall.
5. Tidy-up. The engineer tidies up and checks you're happy before leaving.

On CityFibre's network, CityFibre describes the same two boxes in its own terms: a junction box outside, about the size of a mini-iPad, holding the fibre cable, and an ONT box inside, which must be plugged into a power socket. ONT stands for optical network terminal, which Openreach describes as the box connecting the fibre line to your router; toob calls it the fibre box (see what the full fibre ONT box does). CityFibre says its engineers can arrive at any point in your window, and it texts when they're on the way and when they arrive.

Limits worth knowing before you book

• Main building only. toob's terms say it can only install to the main building of your home, using the available route under or over ground. If you hoped for the fibre box in a garden office or detached garage, ask toob before ordering.
• Cost. Every toob home package lists free installation, and its terms say that if an installation fee does apply it'll be shown on your Order Confirmation.

For full fibre visits across all UK networks, see our guide to what to expect at a full fibre installation.

With toob, the last step is yours: its support page says you complete activation by connecting the toob router after the installation. If your address already has working equipment and no installation is needed, you connect the router from 6am on your activation day.

New customers get toob's wi-fi 7 router, made by Linksys (ISPreview names the model as the Linksys Pinnacle 2). toob says it can use the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands at the same time. toob recommends plugging devices in with an Ethernet cable for the fastest speeds. Our guide to Wi-Fi router speed ratings explains what labels like AX3000 and BE9300 do and don't tell you.

If it doesn't work straight away

toob's own order of checks is:

1. Check the cables and the lights on the fibre box.
2. Switch off both the fibre box and the router.
3. Turn the fibre box on first, and only switch the router back on once the fibre box's lights look normal.

Still no service? Contact toob.

Using your own router, mesh and static IP

• Your own router. You must use toob's router to activate. After your first bill, toob says you may connect your own router directly to the fibre box, but should keep the toob router safe in case it needs to help you remotely.
• Mesh Wi-Fi. If you've added toob's complete wi-fi mesh option, toob says that kit is sent once you're connected, not before.
• CGNAT and static IP. toob says it uses CG-NAT as standard, meaning you share a public IP address with other customers, and that a static IPv4 address is an optional paid add-on. Our guide to CGNAT, static IP and IPv6 explains when it's worth paying for.

If you already have broadband at the address, Ofcom's One Touch Switch process, launched on 12 September 2024, means you contact only the new provider, here toob. Your current provider must then send you the switching information, including any early termination charges and what happens to other services you take from it, and it keeps your service running until toob's is live. (Source: ISPreview's report of Ofcom's rules, and toob's pages.)

With toob it works like this:

• Opt in when you order by choosing "I'm happy for toob to manage the switch".
• Be eligible. You need to be the account holder with your current provider, living at the address, with a live service.
• Your old service stays on until toob activates the new one. toob then tells your old provider to complete the disconnection, which toob says is typically done by the end of the same day. toob doesn't charge you until your new service is live.
• If the installation can't be completed on the day, you stay connected to your current provider, and its charges carry on.
• Exit fees are still yours. toob's terms say you're responsible for anything your old provider charges for leaving early, including when you switch with One Touch Switch.

toob says One Touch Switch isn't available for business broadband, for customers taking its "up to 9 months free" offer, or for moving between toob products at the same address. If it isn't available, or your details don't match, you cancel your old service yourself, and toob recommends you don't do that until the toob installation is complete.

Your home phone

toob is broadband only, so you choose whether to keep your phone service and number with your current provider or disconnect it. Other services such as TV or mobile carry on, but you may lose bundle discounts. toob partners with Phonely, a digital (VoIP) phone provider, and its terms say a digital phone service needs a separate agreement and won't work in a power cut. To keep your number, see our guide to keeping your landline number when you switch.

toob publishes its own switching compensation policy (version 1, published 12 September 2024) for customers switching to toob home broadband using One Touch Switch. It covers two things:

toob says you don't need to claim: compensation is applied within 30 days of the missed appointment, or of the switch being completed or cancelled, and normally as a credit to your next bill. Exclusions include toob giving at least 24 hours' notice of rescheduling, you cancelling or moving the appointment or not being available, you delaying the activation date, and the router not arriving or not being collected in time for your appointment, as long as toob has sent it to you. Check the current version on toob's site.

If you're not using One Touch Switch, ask toob what applies. Our guide to automatic compensation for broadband problems explains Ofcom's separate voluntary scheme.

When the engineer can't finish

toob's terms say it may be unable to set up the service for safety, technical or other reasons. It may then arrange a follow-up appointment, or cancel the order if your minimum term hasn't started.

Changing your mind

toob's terms let you cancel your order without charge up to 2pm on the day before the scheduled Activation Date. After activation you also have a 14-day cooling-off period. See our guide to the broadband cooling-off period.

The fibre cable and the inside and outside fibre boxes are toob equipment and belong to toob; the router is the exception. toob's terms say they mustn't be uninstalled without its consent, so if something needs moving during building work, ask toob rather than doing it yourself.

If you move home, toob's support page says that where toob is available at your new address, there's no extra charge for a new installation and you start a new contract there. If toob isn't available, it asks for at least 30 days' notice. The catch is in the terms: moving during your Minimum Contract Period without starting a new toob agreement at the new address means an Early Termination Fee, and the terms say that still applies if toob doesn't serve your new home. If you might move out of toob's areas before your contract ends, ask what you'd owe before choosing a contract length. Our guide to broadband when moving home covers the rest of the move.

What toob offers depends on your exact address. Our toob broadband deals page covers the provider, and you can compare deals at your postcode to see what's available there. Our fibre broadband deals page shows the fibre options for your postcode, and our broadband deals by area pages show who covers your town.

We compare deals through a partner; we don't sign you up, and you agree your installation date with toob when you order. When toob's Order Confirmation email arrives, check the scheduled Activation Date, Minimum Contract Period, monthly price (toob's terms say the annual rise is set out there), any installation fee and your arrival window, and tell toob straight away if anything looks wrong.