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FTTP Available But Not Available?

Paddywack41

Member
Folks, After being stuck on 2MB broadband and a year long "Not My Problem" between Vodafone and Openreach, we where finally informed by Openreach 4 weeks ago that we have got FTTP at our address. Naturally I leaped onto the internet to try and get an FTTP package and after waiting 10 minutes for the pages to load I saw from the Openreach page that there were about 6 providers in Northern Ireland that would be able to provide me with this holy grail of broadband.

Having been with Zen before and very happy with their service I saw that they were offering 100MB or 300MB (To be fair I was expecting up to 1GB). I also checked out Giganet and they were offering either 100MB or 300MB. The other mainstream such as Sky and BT where only showing me 2MB.

I therefore went on to speak to Zen to see that if i went for the 300MB would I be able to upgrade should the higher speeds become available. I was informed that there was no 100MB or 300MB available and that I should contact Openreach. I spoke via Twitter to Openreach and was told to check their website which said I could get up to 1GB and I should speak to my providers.

I finally found a contact through work whose brother works for BT and who was able to confirm via Openreach that there was definitely FTTP to my address but now I am at a loss as to where to go from here. Having spent a year with this yo yo between a "We wont speak to you" from Openreach and a "We cant help you, you need to speak to Openreach" from Vodafone, I really don't want to go through it again.

Any idea as to why my apparent availability isn't actually available?
 
If it's only just gone live very recently then there could be a database update delay between Openreach and the ISPs. Alternatively, there could be a problem like the one we reported at the weekend, where new orders filled up all the initially available capacity:

https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.p...city-problem-on-openreachs-uk-fttp-poles.html

I'd be inclined to do a full address check via BT Wholesale to see if they can identify FTTP as being available to you (ignore the 'FTTP on Demand' entry on their checker, that's an entirely different thing):

 
Thanks for your help Mark. Used the checker but it seems a bit of complicated to understand. I do see alongside WBC FTTP that it shows a download of 330 and marked as Planned. Guess I will just have to go to Zen and get myself on a waiting list.
 
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If it's marked as planned then it's not yet fully live yet and you won't be able to order it.
 
Similar to the post above, I seem to be in a frustrating recurring loop between Openreach (OR) and ISPs, but still can’t order FTTP. Any clarity and help appreciated. Apologies for the long post, the situation is:
  • Got email at end of Dec 2021 saying ‘Our engineers have finished upgrading your area to Full Fibre and you have access now to Ultrafast Full Fibre broadband’, so contact your ISP to order fibre.
  • I assume it has to be FTTP, as my property is not connected to any underground cabling. My property is adjacent to the exchange, about 20 meters away. My current copper telephone line comes overhead from the exchange via a telegraph pole directly into my house.
  • So, I contacted my own provider, Plusnet early in Jan 2022, to order FTTP. But they don’t currently offer it on the OR network, so passed on to BT.
  • After some communication with BT they informed me that they can’t provide FTTP either. I quote directly from an email from them her: ‘I have checked both EE and BT sales systems again today and both show ADSL. When I have checked www.openreach.com it shows FTTP in the area. However when I go to my sales systems it only shows ADSL. There must be an issues with Openreach not updating their side to allow us to order FTTP for your address. You would have to go back to them to get this changed as not something I can do from my side’
  • So, I contacted OR on line to confirm FTTP is available. They got back to say the following: ’ ‘Firstly, I can confirm that subject to our engineer's pre-installation survey (which happens on the day your service provider (eg. BT, EE, Sky, Talk Talk etc) arranges the installation appointment), you should be able to order fibre to the premises (FTTP/Ultrafast Broadband) straight away’.
  • Since then I’ve got back to BT and I also contacted Sky, but same response, they can’t order FTTP.
  • Finally, to add to the confusion, I contacted OR again today via a section on their webpage that shows ‘fibre is available’ at my address, to ask for more details about fibre and to try to speak to someone, but I got the following email response as a result: ‘At the moment [my address] isn't planned to have Ultrafast Full Fibre built in the next year. I know this isn't what you wanted to hear.’
I’m confused! OR insist FTTP is available to order, ISPs say they can’t as their systems won’t let them and it’s OR’s fault. Can’t speak to anyone at OR in person.

What’s going on here and what else can I do to order FTTP?
Thanks
 
Similar to the post above, I seem to be in a frustrating recurring loop between Openreach (OR) and ISPs, but still can’t order FTTP. Any clarity and help appreciated. Apologies for the long post, the situation is:
  • Got email at end of Dec 2021 saying ‘Our engineers have finished upgrading your area to Full Fibre and you have access now to Ultrafast Full Fibre broadband’, so contact your ISP to order fibre.
  • I assume it has to be FTTP, as my property is not connected to any underground cabling. My property is adjacent to the exchange, about 20 meters away. My current copper telephone line comes overhead from the exchange via a telegraph pole directly into my house.
  • So, I contacted my own provider, Plusnet early in Jan 2022, to order FTTP. But they don’t currently offer it on the OR network, so passed on to BT.
  • After some communication with BT they informed me that they can’t provide FTTP either. I quote directly from an email from them her: ‘I have checked both EE and BT sales systems again today and both show ADSL. When I have checked www.openreach.com it shows FTTP in the area. However when I go to my sales systems it only shows ADSL. There must be an issues with Openreach not updating their side to allow us to order FTTP for your address. You would have to go back to them to get this changed as not something I can do from my side’
  • So, I contacted OR on line to confirm FTTP is available. They got back to say the following: ’ ‘Firstly, I can confirm that subject to our engineer's pre-installation survey (which happens on the day your service provider (eg. BT, EE, Sky, Talk Talk etc) arranges the installation appointment), you should be able to order fibre to the premises (FTTP/Ultrafast Broadband) straight away’.
  • Since then I’ve got back to BT and I also contacted Sky, but same response, they can’t order FTTP.
  • Finally, to add to the confusion, I contacted OR again today via a section on their webpage that shows ‘fibre is available’ at my address, to ask for more details about fibre and to try to speak to someone, but I got the following email response as a result: ‘At the moment [my address] isn't planned to have Ultrafast Full Fibre built in the next year. I know this isn't what you wanted to hear.’
I’m confused! OR insist FTTP is available to order, ISPs say they can’t as their systems won’t let them and it’s OR’s fault. Can’t speak to anyone at OR in person.

What’s going on here and what else can I do to order FTTP?
Thanks

Please update with the checker results from the following.

- Openreach checker

- BT Wholesale checker

Obscure any personal address related detail you do not wish to make public.
 
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Thanks for your response, see the screenshot below and the OR checker tells me that 'ultrafast full fibre is available at your address' and supports speeds of up to 1Gbps. OR actually included the same screen shot below in their latest email to me to confirm FTTP is available at my address.

Screenshot 2022-02-08 at 18.38.27.webp
 
The key takeaway there is beneath the table:

"FTTP is in Planned status. An order may be placed which will be processed when the network is ready"

In other words, the FTTP serving your property is not quite complete yet. Some providers will allow you to place an order at this stage and others simply won't as their systems won't allow it.

I would suggest you keep an eye on the checker, over the next few weeks. Once the final updates and tests are made the network becomes ready for service and the relevant database records are updated.

In particular the line in the table starting WBC FTTP. Typically when the database is updated this will flip from "Up to 300" & "Up to 50" and change to "Up to 1000" & "Up to 220". The text beneath the table will also be updated to read:

"FTTP is available and a new ONT may be ordered"

At that point you should be able to place an order with a wider variety of ISPs.

Good luck.
 
Hi 'Pheasant' thanks for responding and interpreting the information in the checker. As a layperson, some of the acronyms didn't make any sense to me. But the line 'FTTP is in Planned status. An order may be placed which will be processed when the network is ready' seems to be confirming what the various ISPs have been saying to me. That is, the system is not ready yet. Despite what OR are insisting i.e. 'you should be able to order fibre to the premises (FTTP/Ultrafast Broadband) straight away’. Very frustrating.
Cheers
 
And as Mark has said above, even once the Wholesale checker text says "an ONT may be ordered" be prepared for ISPs to make ordering available at a random delay after that, it may be a few days or several weeks, and different ISPs ordering systems will move at a different pace.
 
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And as Mark has said above, even once the Wholesale checker text says "an ONT may be ordered" be prepared for ISPs to make ordering available at a random delay after that, it may be a few days or several weeks, and different ISPs ordering systems will move at a different pace.
Yes, again depends on the exchange area and whether the ISPs have their backhaul ready. If it’s a ‘new’ headend then expect a longer delay, dependant very much on the ISP.
 
If BT Wholesale have you as 'Planned' for more than a few months and other ISPs are available, consider escalating this.

My area had Openreach FTTP work completed around July 2021 and Zen/Sky/TalkTalk/Vodafone became available over the next month or two. BT Wholesale kept showing 'Planned', the same as your case, until this month.

Last week I contacted BT who in the first instance forwarded the query to Openreach - I guess that's somewhat of a standard response as queries about availability come down to them 99% of the time.

After a brief call with Openreach where I explained that I didn't think the problem was on their side and they quickly agreed, they made contact with BT Wholesale on my behalf. I had a call back the next day to say that some records were incorrectly completed and with the click of a mouse, 80% of a London exchange had WBC FTTP available to order.

I have to say I was impressed with the speed of resolution and lack of being messed around.
 
I realise yours was more of a database issue, but It used to be the case the BTW were typically first off the bat when the FTTP infra. was deemed 'ready for service' by Openreach, but they are often or not lagging behind the other big ISPs that use their own backhaul in a lot of cases.
 
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