Netomnia Apologises After Damaging Customer’s Openreach FTTP Line and Kit

Alternative UK broadband operator Netomnia has apologised to one of their YouFibre ISP customers after an engineer they sent out to install the new full fibre connection botched the setup, not least by ripping Openreach’s existing optical modem (ONT) off the wall and using the incumbent’s own fibre cable to finish the job – breaking a second FTTP connection in the process.

Before we get started it’s important to underline that, for the most part, engineers that enter your home to install a new broadband service will generally do a clean and professional job – that’s just as true of Netomnia as it is of any other UK network operator. But there are always rare exceptions and over the years we’ve covered plenty of hatched jobs, where for one reason or another an engineer leaves behind more than just a mess.

The latest example of how not to install a full fibre connection comes from the Derbyshire (England) town Ilkeston, where Netomnia’s new Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network recently started to go live. Jack, one of ISPreview’s readers, then decided it would be good to get YouFibre to install the new service as a complement (NOT replacement) to his existing FTTP line from Openreach, which was separately managed by retail ISP Olilo.

Granted it’s not particularly common for consumers to have two FTTP lines from different ISPs installed to the same house, but there’s no reason why you can’t do it. During this process engineers are generally expected not to touch the fibre line and kit of rival networks (some exceptions exist for the management / removal of old copper lines, but that’s not relevant here).

What went wrong

“After [Netomnia’s engineer] had left, I noticed the Openreach ONT was unplugged on the floor and the Netomnia ONT was in its place on the wall. I had no internet service on Olilo as a result, and after moving the Ethernet cable from the YouFibre router into my own, had no internet service on YouFibre either and had to call their support team, who then fixed the YouFibre line,” said Jack before realising the extent of what had gone wrong.

Olilo later arranged for an Openreach engineer to visit and repair the broken line, but when their subcontractor, MJ Quinn, arrived to assess the situation he discovered a much bigger problem. According to the engineer, Netomnia’s engineer had used Openreach’s external wall box (CSP – Customer Splice Point) for their own service and had also unplugged Openreach’s fibre cable at the CBT (Connectorised Block Terminal) in the road and plugged it into their own network. Not to mention the drill holes left inside the house around their ONT.

A second engineer visit was then actioned to confirm the best fix and both agreed that Jack would require a new fibre installation to correct the problem, which has since taken place. “I now have 2 fully working broadband lines from Openreach and Netomnia, but with unnecessary damage to my property … as well as having had an entire broadband line down for 4 days due to the negligence of YouFibre. Despite contacting YouFibre many times, their communication has been lacklustre. A complaint was logged on 17/7/2026 which has still had no response at all, despite being promised contact within 48 hours,” said Jack.

A spokesperson for Netomnia told ISPreview:

“We regret the disruption and inconvenience experienced by the customer. We take the standards of our engineers and installation partners extremely seriously. We are aware of the installation referenced and have reviewed the circumstances internally. We have taken the appropriate steps following our review and will continue to monitor and investigate the matter as required.

To date, we have found no evidence of any wider issues. Incidents of this nature are extremely rare given the volume of installations we complete, and we remain committed to delivering a high standard of service and working responsibly alongside other network operators.”

According to Jack, Openreach’s second engineer had indicated to him that they’d seen similar issues in the area from Netomnia in the past, although after asking our sources we could find no evidence to corroborate that claim and Openreach declined to comment.

Olilo are understood to have since passed invoices for the repair work from Openreach onto YouFibre and are awaiting payment, while Jack is still struggling to get much communication from YouFibre: “It’s interesting that they claim they have taken the appropriate steps which seemingly don’t include talking to their actual customer,” said Jack.

UPDATE:

Since writing this article late last week we understand that Jack has cancelled his YouFibre service and NanoFibre, who were the contractor for YouFibre, have agreed to pay Openreach for the reinstall and to tackle any cosmetic damage to the property. NanoFibre’s engineer, the one responsible for the original damage, has also written a personal letter of apology to Jack.

“Seems like an odd situation where their contractor is left dealing with YouFibre’s customer directly and I hear nothing from the actual company I signed up with,” said Jack. Curiously, after cancelling, YouFibre did contact Jack but only with a sales pitch, as it seems their sales team wasn’t aware of his recent experience.