BT Wholesale UK Broadband Checker Adds a Few New Details UPDATE

The BT Wholesale Broadband Checker service, which is more intended for UK network operators and ISPs but has always been useful to help consumers check the capability of Openreach based lines, has recently added a few new options at the bottom for ‘Exchange Product Restrictions‘.

Each of the three new options under this category appears to hold a Yes or No (Y or N) answer for ‘FTTP Priority Exchange’, ‘WLR Withdrawal’ and ‘SOADSL Restriction’ (credits to Simon for spotting). The exact context for these settings is a little unclear, but we can help to paint the picture below.

The mention of FTTP reflects Openreach’s national gigabit Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) rollout, while WLR is connected to the withdrawal of BT’s traditional phone services via Wholesale Line Rental and SOADSL (Single Order ADSL) is the broadband-only version of copper ADSL lines (no phone service) that isn’t expected to go live until September 2022 (the hybrid fibre FTTC and G.fast equivalent – SOGEA – is already live).

The BTW availability checker also includes a little extra detail for each of the three fields:

FTTP Priority Exchange
The premise/line is associated with exchange which is NOT part of current fibre priority programme.

WLR Withdrawal
The premise/line is associated with exchange where WLR is not withdrawn.

SOADSL Restriction
The premise/line is associated with exchange where SOADSL service is restricted.

UPDATE 15th Sept 2020

We wanted to get a bit more detail on this and BTW was kind enough to provide it.

FTTP Priority Exchange
Indicates whether the premises/line is associated with an exchange that is part of a current fibre priority programme

• Y means the premises/line is associated with an exchange which is part of a current Openreach fibre priority programme. If FTTP can be served to this address then it will have priority over other products.
• N means the premises/line is not associated with an exchange that is part of a current fibre priority programme.

WLR Withdrawal
Indicates whether the premises/line is associated with an exchange that is part of a current WLR withdrawal programme

• Y means that the premises/line is associated with an exchange which is part of a WLR withdrawal programme. If fibre products can be served to this address then they have priority over other products.
• N means that the premises/line is not associated with an exchange which is part of a WLR withdrawal programme.

SOADSL Restriction*
Indicates whether the premises/line is associated with an exchange where Openreach has restricted SOTAP

• Y means the premise/line is associated with an exchange where SOTAP is restricted. Openreach will not provide SOTAP because alternative Openreach fibre products are available to order. This means BTW will not be able to support SOADSL at the address.
• N means that Openreach is not restricting SOTAP. Therefore SOADSL can be supported, subject to BTW providing ADSL at the address.

* Note the BT Wholesale product SOADSL will consume the Openreach product SOTAP. SOADSL is not yet available to order from BT Wholesale; we’re making the flag visible in preparation for the future launch of SOADSL.