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FTTPod, now available to whole street

gringofyx

Casual Member
Hi All,

I placed an order for FTTP-on-demand via Cerberus in July last year - OpenReach has just finished and I'm awaiting the final bits of installation.

My area (Darwen) isn't scheduled for FTTP rollout for at least 12 months

I just received an email from BT (my current supplier) that FTTP is now available to the whole street, and I've checked with OpenReach and the whole street can get FTTP too.

Is this right? Did I pay for FTTP for the whole street?

I'm not some old miser that wants my neighbours to suffer, but I've paid over 9k for the installation and had a bit of a nightmare waiting for the installation, and this is a service that my business needs.

I've always been led to beleive that everyone else would have to wait until the official rollout, but I think if OpenReach had just opened it up to everyone then my business should really have some kind of compensation.
 
Usually all the people that are on the same distribution point as your order, so that could be all the houses that connect to the same pole or if underground the same manhole cover which you all share will become enabled as part of your order, and you usually get some sort of discount because of this, although not much. This is usually specified as properties passed on your quote. So with on demand it could be just you that gets enabled or dozens depending on how the network is organised where you are. It could be the whole street if all the properties happen to connect back to the same distribution point, more likely with smaller streets.

It wasn't the case usually they would enable more than those other properties that were on the same distribution point, as that would mean running additional fibre to other poles or other manhole chambers (if underground) which is extra work. Nothing stopping them doing that extra work at their own cost if they were anyway.
 
Thanks Phil, that makes sense - there are dozens of houses on the same pole so I assume that's what's happened. Although if I knew this earlier then I would've looked to split the cost with my neighbours rather than have my business take the whole cost.
I think I would've been eligible for government vouchers too if I had known
 
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Thanks Phil, that makes sense - there are dozens of houses on the same pole so I assume that's what's happened. Although if I knew this earlier then I would've looked to split the cost with my neighbours rather than have my business take the whole cost.
I think I would've been eligible for government vouchers too if I had known
Working with your neighbours might have been more trouble than it was worth as not everyone would want it or pay up their share.

Lets hope you get your ONT soon and get connected up first! I think there have been cases where other neighbours have managed to order their FTTP connection installed and go live before the person that essentially paid for it has, and that is annoying!
 
Working with your neighbours might have been more trouble than it was worth as not everyone would want it or pay up their share.

Lets hope you get your ONT soon and get connected up first! I think there have been cases where other neighbours have managed to order their FTTP connection installed and go live before the person that essentially paid for it has, and that is annoying!
i would cry at the cost of 9k jesus
 
The utilities pull the same stunt, get one person to pay for upgrades that are then used to improve the service to others free of charge to them. I was asked to pay well over £20,000 to run a new water pipe along our lane to get water. The existing pipe supplies two other properties and is over 80 years old (and in appalling condition - loads of leaks).

I refused and put in a well for our water as it was cheaper. The water company have closed the land to repair the ancient pipe a handful of times since then. Last time (around Christmas last year) I chatted with them and the chap in charge said the pipe should have been replaced years ago. I have a pipe running from our house to the lane that's capped off. When the water company eventually get around to replacing the pipe in the lane I may well get connected to it, if only as a backup in case our well fails.

There really should be some regulation in place to prevent one person bearing the burden of cost for a service used by others, but AFAIK there isn't.
 
i would cry at the cost of 9k jesus
I paid around £6K but got a voucher. This was 4 years ago almost now, and its paid for itself over the cost of a leased line.

When you have poor connectivity and run a business it's not that much cost when compared to other alternatives. The problem in 2023 is many places will get FTTP in the coming years so its more of a gamble perhaps if you get much benefit for the expense to get it a bit quicker.
 
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I agree, but 60Mbps doesn't cut it for a business that operates entirely over the internet.

OpenReach did throw an army of vans and engineers at the problem, so for a time I felt like I was getting my moneys worth until I found out that 19 other addresses are now benefiting from it.

I thought about it in 2019, and then in 2020 - until finally I just couldn't wait. My choices were either to pay the 9k, or rent an office (at 6k per year), or move house.
 
I agree, but 60Mbps doesn't cut it for a business that operates entirely over the internet.

OpenReach did throw an army of vans and engineers at the problem, so for a time I felt like I was getting my moneys worth until I found out that 19 other addresses are now benefiting from it.

I thought about it in 2019, and then in 2020 - until finally I just couldn't wait. My choices were either to pay the 9k, or rent an office (at 6k per year), or move house.
understandable! slow speeds are really bad for me even tho im just a gamer lol. happy days for you, hopefully you get the ONT installed soon.
 
I agree, but 60Mbps doesn't cut it for a business that operates entirely over the internet.

OpenReach did throw an army of vans and engineers at the problem, so for a time I felt like I was getting my moneys worth until I found out that 19 other addresses are now benefiting from it.

I thought about it in 2019, and then in 2020 - until finally I just couldn't wait. My choices were either to pay the 9k, or rent an office (at 6k per year), or move house.

Why didn't you go with Starlink?
 
I did think heavily about StarLink and almost took the plunge, but:
* Dish placement, there's lots of trees where I am
* Reports of intermittent availability
* Capped top speed (at the time)
* Capped usage (at the time)
* Reports of contention as more users adopt the service
* Elon has enough money

Ultimately I decided that a wired connection was more stable and can acheive higher speeds. The business can absorb the cost, whether it's 1k or 20k
 
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I got FTTPoD in 2019: as a result several of my neighbours also became enabled to order FTTP, and one has taken it. From my point of view, it's a bonus that I've been able to do this corner of the street a favour.

It doesn't detract from your own benefit from having the FTTP, and you were happy to pay that amount to get it, so smile and be happy that some good karma came out of it. As has been said already, you also got a £50 per property discount from your install cost for each additional property that now has FTTP available. In the short term it also helps your property value should you want to sell before FTTP is more widely available.

Sharing the cost with FTTPoD is actually a pain. If you did it officially via linked orders, then each property has an extra £1000 charge for BT and Cerberus setup charges, and they all have to take the higher-cost broadband from Cerberus for the first couple of years. Also if any one person pulls out, the order is cancelled for everyone and everyone loses their money.

If you did it unofficially via a quiet agreement with the neighbours, there's no guarantee that they'll pay up when the time comes.
 
Yeah agreed, if I was happy to pay 9k over a year ago for a service - then what difference does it make if I still get the service I paid for and others benefit too.. it's only an internet connection
 
When you get your desk quote it tells you how many properties will also get FTTP.
Example below.
Screenshot_20230921-203913-300.webp
 
Hey thanks @drsox I just checked all of my emails from Cerberus and I never got anything like this.

For those interested though, I've learned that it covers 19 properties and the 9k cost covers two years at 900/115
 
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For those interested though, I've learned that it covers 19 properties and the 9k cost covers two years at 900/115
Considering it includes the cost of the service for 2 years (at £ 45/month that's £ 2160) and that you probably won't pay VAT and can pass it as a business expense (so it's tax free) it's a really good deal. The value of the property itself will also slightly increase. So I would say the neighbours being connected it's a nice side effect.
 
Hey thanks @drsox I just checked all of my emails from Cerberus and I never got anything like this.

For those interested though, I've learned that it covers 19 properties and the 9k cost covers two years at 900/115
When you request a FTTPoD quote from Cerberus, as I've done numerous times, you should get an initial "desk quote" - Try searching your emails for "Your FTTP on Demand Build Estimate (Our Ref: <snip>)"

I have several desk quotes going back to 2018 and each and every one contains a line on the "Number of premises passed".

Assuming they've done nothing unique with you then you should have been presented with this information as I have been, and as drsox above.

If you genuinely haven't got a desk quote, and or this line is missing from yours, it would be interesting to see what Cerberus has to say (not that it makes much difference now but interesting nonetheless)
 
Last edited:
Considering it includes the cost of the service for 2 years (at £ 45/month that's £ 2160) and that you probably won't pay VAT and can pass it as a business expense (so it's tax free) it's a really good deal. The value of the property itself will also slightly increase. So I would say the neighbours being connected it's a nice side effect.
£1080.
 
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