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FTTP - So Close Yet So Far

cessna150

Member
Hello everyone, long time reader of ISPreview but recently registered.

I live in an area which has mostly been upgraded to FTTP (Openreach) over the past couple of weeks (population of around 6,000). FTTP is present one street over (<50 metres) and across the rest of the town.

We live on a close which hasn't yet had any upgrades.

Using Openreach's checker it says we aren't in an area with any plans to be upgraded. I contacted Openreach via the fibre enquiries form and was told our area would be upgraded at some point after January 2025.. which is two years away!

I'm eager to upgrade as currently with Plusnet on their 67mb FTTC plan although due to distance from the cabinet we only receive ~25mb which is quite poor.

Is it likely that the information I've received is correct, and that they are potentially excluding a couple of roads for two years?

Any insight would be much appreciated and many thanks to all replies.
 
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Is it likely that the information I've received is correct, and that they are potentially excluding a couple of roads for two years?

As someone with a lot of experience with the "Fibre Enquiries Team" over the last few years, I can confidently state that you shouldn't place too much faith in what they tell you. You could literally send the same query from three different email addresses and get three different responses back.

However, and also from direct experience, Openreach rollout plans, and implementation, is sporadic so don't be surprised if the response back from a more informed team is that you're not covered in their plans or that "the project" has been delayed.

The best, and most reliable, method of understanding their plans is checking for planning and civils work and monitoring local activity on the ground.

EDIT - https://bidb.uk/ is a great help with the latter (look for blue dots locally)
 
Few things you can do:

1) Keep an eye for Altnets in your area, the TB map is good to see what's close to you:

https://labs.thinkbroadband.com/local/broadband-map#7/51.310/-1.730/

If you scroll down you can search for a post code and enable the Altnet FTTP layer. Once you identify any Altnets active in your area visit their site and do a search for service. Register your interest with them if they allow you to.

2) Do the same thing on the BT site (https://www.bt.com/broadband/full-fibre-learn) and click on "Let me know when I can get Full Fibre" and give them your email to know when you can get Full Fibre with them.

3) Print some fliers and ask your neighbours to do register the interest to BT and whichever Altnets might be coming to your area as well.

4) If your house is serviced via an overhead cable from a telegraph pole keep an eye for black boxes at the top of the pole in your street/pole as this will indicate some FTTP service.

5) If you house doesn't have a BT Openreach Telephone Master Socket buy and fit one as it can usually improve your FTTC speeds a bit.
 
Thats the nature of telcom rollouts, they have a tendancy to not be all inclusive and just stop short of been that for a variety of usually undisclosed reasons.

As an example cityfibre were heading in my direction over 18 months ago and stopped 50m away from me at the other side of a park entrance, and although my address is planned, its still at least 9 months away so the delay for that short distance is huge.

What I will say, the fact they came so close probably does mean they will cover you at some point as eventually the business case will be its cheaper to do infilling than to go to entire new areas, and indeed only a few months ago Openreach announced they changing strategy in that direction.
 
Thats the nature of telcom rollouts, they have a tendancy to not be all inclusive and just stop short of been that for a variety of usually undisclosed reasons.

As an example cityfibre were heading in my direction over 18 months ago and stopped 50m away from me at the other side of a park entrance, and although my address is planned, its still at least 9 months away so the delay for that short distance is huge.

What I will say, the fact they came so close probably does mean they will cover you at some point as eventually the business case will be its cheaper to do infilling than to go to entire new areas, and indeed only a few months ago Openreach announced they changing strategy in that direction.
Specially with Openreach they seem to panic and rush to an area where Altnets have landed first. Obviously they prefer to "defend" an area than go into a new area no other FTTP competitors have as it will have better impact in their bottom line.
 
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Thanks to everyone that commented.

@GreenLantern, I'll fit a new faceplate and see if that helps at all - even slightly would be nice.

Unfortunately I spoke to someone from the executive level complaints team today who provided the news that due to ducting facing the wrong direction from where the closest FTTP properties exist, that work on ours isn't due to start until December 2024 with works taking 6-12 months after that until live.

Therefore FTTP won't be here for another 2-3 years, which is a shame indeed.

The closest AltNet is CityFibre in another town approx. 5 miles away which doesn't intend to serve our area.
 
Have you thought about Starlink if 4/5G is not an option?
 
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