Frustrations Over Unreliable FibreNest Broadband on Carlisle Housing Estate
Residents of the 100-home Amberwood estate in Carlisle (Cumbria, England), which was originally built by Persimmon Homes and thus served by a single full fibre (FTTP) network from FibreNest (recently acquired by OFNL), have expressed frustration after another protracted broadband outage hit the area – allegedly the latest in a long list of disruptions over the past 6 years.
The latest outage is said to have disrupted internet connectivity for three long days earlier this month, which FibreNest attributed to being caused by “malicious damage to infrastructure owned by its network partner, Virgin Media” (likely a reference to a core fibre link that feeds data capacity to the development).
However, residents told the local News & Star that the latest outage is part of a long-running pattern of unreliable service stretching back more than six years, with complaints highlighting a lack of support from the ISP and the need to spend extra money on 4G/5G based mobile broadband as a backup due to local connectivity being deemed unreliable.
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“This isn’t a one-off – it’s happening all the time, with days of no internet,” said estate resident Melanie MacPake. Complaints like this have cropped up on other estates where FibreNest / OFNL are present (example) and tend to be exacerbated by the fact that the operator is often the only gigabit-capable broadband network present, which in this case stems from the fact that FibreNest used to be part of Persimmon and thus held some degree of exclusivity over the estate.
FibreNest’s dominance of such estates often makes it challenging for rival networks to enter (residents in other areas have previously described this as being similar to a mini “monopoly“). Persimmon Homes did respond to this criticism in 2021 by launching a wholesale product (FibreNest Wholesale) that rival ISPs could harness (here), but this has thus far not been attractive enough to entice any other providers.
The new owner of FibreNest, BUUK Infrastructure (GTC, OFNL – Open Fibre Networks Limited), has said that it plans to introduce customer choice across FibreNest-served developments in 2026. But this is currently only likely to reflect an expanded choice of retail ISPs, albeit via the same underlying network infrastructure (i.e. the ISPs on OFNL’s platform), and should thus not be confused with real competitive infrastructure layer choice. This may also not be enough to address the unreliability of the existing infrastructure.
A spokesperson for FibreNest added that it “strives to deliver the best possible experience for its customers” and “continuously reviews all aspects of its service“. But it’s currently unclear whether they plan to make any changes that might improve the resilience of their underlying network on the estate.
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At present situations like this rarely catch the eye of the government and thus wider debate, since they exist at a fairly small scale relative to the wider UK broadband market. But it’s possible that may change as the national deployment of full fibre lines slowly reaches its target of near universal (c.99%) coverage by 2032. This could potentially shift some of the focus back toward resolving infrastructure competition in such niche areas. But hope is not a strategy.
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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“The only alternative fixed line choice is Openreach’s super slow copper based broadband and phone network”
These developments operate restrictive practices that mean the Openreach network is locked out of the development entirely. The only wired option for residents is via the developers chosen monopoly network.
This isn’t always the case. I did find that Openreach’s copper based FTTC services did appear to be present at several addresses tested on the estate. But the results across different postcode checkers were variable (e.g. BTW showed no results, but ISPs with unbundled exchanges like Zen showed positive and so did Openreach itself).
Likely that you are checking non Persimmon homes on the estate if you are getting Openreach availability.
The article this is lifted from reads..
“They have a total monopoly on the estate so none of us can move to another provider. We were told after 18 months we could change, but now it’s been over six years. ”
“The company said it joined OFNL in August 2025 and plans to introduce customer choice across FibreNest-served developments in 2026. In the meantime, it said customers can seek alternative mobile data providers. “
if this was a persimmon development and fibrenest built the fibre network as requested by the developer (nuance here is that Fibrenest was owned by persimmon) the outcome so was all of these sites will be an Openreach lock out and no choice for the residents — i assume the ones that were FTTC were show homes at entrance to development as thy would have been required before majority of rest of the development
Once the developments are complete and the road has been adopted by the council there isn’t really anything stopping Openreach or any other network building to the homes beyond the economics.
I doubt the developer will allow the roads to be adopted any time soon when they can lock the residents in and charge them a nice annual sum for maintenance.
There are always options – for consumers and for other infrastructure builders.
Even today consumers could use 5G or Starlink if they don’t want Fibrenest.
And if any other infrastructure builder thought the estate could be commercially viable, they could use Access to Infrastructure legislation to force the land owners hand.
The ATI regulations solution would take years, endless legal wrangling and ensure that the properties aren’t commercially viable by the end of the process.
It would also only give access to the existing ducts. It wouldn’t change that they are on private property and wayleave is required to place cables in them.
The ATI don’t circumvent wayleaves. Openreach PIA same story, need wayleave if the road/pavement the ducts and poles are on/under isn’t adopted despite use of existing infrastructure.
They might run into issues mounting an external antenna, such is the control that developers maintain even for freeholders.
and OFCOM said…….(Silence)
If there’s meant to be competition between incumbent and altnets, why not between altnets and monopolies?
Openreach won’t even touch it until the roads have been adopted by the council. My sister has a Persimmon Home in Lancashire and the service from Fibrenest is diabolical. Luckily I have Starlink units spare for work so I can drop one off if it’s an extended outage but it’s definitely a bi-monthly occurrence.
Now if all the residents would get together & each picked a mobile broadband service so no one was paying for this unreliable fixed line service, that would surely get noticed by the ISP & might encourage them to either sort the network out, or just give up & allow other network operators access to install equipment.
I remember OFNL failing twice a month in our estate like, but in last 3-4 years it is rock solid (touch the wood). I am wondering why FibreNest is so bad if OFNL owns them.
I’m about to move (in the next 6 months), this looks to be a warning for yet another item to check before we make an offer.
ofcom should force them to open up PIA, otherwise they have a massive monopoly