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RESOLVED -- Openreach FTTP - Houses Missed - Advice Needed

LewisW296

Casual Member
Good Evening,
To give some background on the situation...
I live on a new-build estate in South Wales. Originally, we were left on copper connections due to the Developer messing up their communications with Openreach. This was back in 2017/18. A few months ago, Openreach appeared en masse and began doing work in the manholes which, after a quick query with them, revealed they were installing FTTP to all properties on the estate. Skip forward a few months (basically the beginning of November) and our neighbours were informed they could now place orders for WBC FTTP.

My emails to Openreach have been met with both "Not in our plans" and "forwarded to an internal team". I have now not heard from them for nearly 6 weeks. The majority of this estate has now got FTTP installed & working with their ISPs.

My partner was able to speak to one of the engineers (a contractor, unknown company) who installed our neighbours new FTTP yesterday and they looked into the manhole in which my house and 4 others are connected. This revealed there was no CBT equipment in the hole, just copper wire connections. He simply could not understand why.

I spoke with my neigbour who confirmed to me that he had seen Openreach (during their initial work) go into that manhole several times but he could not confirm what they were doing. Ultimately, we just assumed it was the same as the rest of the estate.

So my first question would be this;

Would CBT equipment of been installed on that first pass of work or would another team of been contracted to fit it afterwards? Am I simply being impatient and overanxious?

It seems to me, that Openreach have either forgotten that manhole or elected not to install any equipment into it. In terms of speaking to our ISP, that's a complicated situation involving 4G internet with EE who have already said before "Don't ask for our help with that equipment as it's not what our SIMs are for" and our Sky contract is a rolling one as we were expecting the FTTP. As such, Sky will not offer any support.

How should I go about proceeding to get Openreach to investigate and install the FTTP they've given elsewhere on the estate? As for location of the exchange, it is approximately 200/300m away.

Any advice would be really appreciated.
 
Centralised departments and databases simply show whether your post code/premises is available based on the current records. There may be many explanations such as you are to be fed from another CBT in an adjacent street and the records are wrong or they simply got to the budget limit and your houses required more than just a dist fibre and CBT.

What prompted Openreach's return so soon after FTTC. Is it a OR FTTP rollout?.

I assume you have checked https://www.openreach.com/fibre-broadband/where-when-building-ultrafast-full-fibre-broadband if you are in an area proposed to be covered then it is a mistake they may return.
 
Centralised departments and databases simply show whether your post code/premises is available based on the current records. There may be many explanations such as you are to be fed from another CBT in an adjacent street and the records are wrong or they simply got to the budget limit and your houses required more than just a dist fibre and CBT.

What prompted Openreach's return so soon after FTTC. Is it a OR FTTP rollout?.

I assume you have checked https://www.openreach.com/fibre-broadband/where-when-building-ultrafast-full-fibre-broadband if you are in an area proposed to be covered then it is a mistake they may return.
Hi there,

The estate is completely new. As far as I know, each manhole was to be equipped with its own CBT as as ducts and pits are new and presumably fed through existing infrastructure on the feeder road (which existing before the estate with residences on it).

OR did not install FTTC on this estate in any form. The entire estate has been copper wire connections.

The village we are in is listed in the Ultrafast rollout with a 2025 completion being the target. However, our estate was built without fibre so the estate has been done first with only some minor works elsewhere.
 
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Your situation is not unique and mirrors mine. New(ish) estate, Openreach install FTTP to part of it and then stop.

I'd love to give you some assurances but Openreach is a law unto itself. If your village is listed in the ultrafast rollout for 2025 that's some comfort but it's not going to be as simple as "hey you forgot a few CBTs, would you mind popping back" unfortunately.

As for why they've stopped the rollout, it could be issues with the headend exchange (your local exchange is irrelevant for FTTP), spine issues, OLT issues ducting issues further down the chain, financial constraints - the list is endless.

You could persist with Openreach but as you've already discovered their communication isn't great. Maybe @Mark.J Can take a look for you.

Best of luck!
 
Your situation is not unique and mirrors mine. New(ish) estate, Openreach install FTTP to part of it and then stop.

I'd love to give you some assurances but Openreach is a law unto itself. If your village is listed in the ultrafast rollout for 2025 that's some comfort but it's not going to be as simple as "hey you forgot a few CBTs, would you mind popping back" unfortunately.

As for why they've stopped the rollout, it could be issues with the headend exchange (your local exchange is irrelevant for FTTP), spine issues, OLT issues ducting issues further down the chain, financial constraints - the list is endless.

You could persist with Openreach but as you've already discovered their communication isn't great. Maybe @Mark.J Can take a look for you.

Best of luck!
Well I tried going down the route of bugging them on social media in a hope of getting them to reply. Nada.

On a side note, I also tried going through my ISP (Sky) who, whilst helpful on the 3rd person, was unable to do anything their end. Admittedly, I was quite depressed by this but apparently they "can only use existing infrastructure and have no say in the rollout" but allegedly, they also cannot see that my neighbours are connected currently as the OR database isn't showing them as upgraded yet.
 
A slight update, BT contacted OR who informed them that our line is further down the que (and we're in their plan) and we're currently looking at 6 months for install & availability. As the BT chap said, it looks like they forgot about us but are coming back to it as part of the bigger plan for the local area.
 
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A slight update, BT contacted OR who informed them that our line is further down the que (and we're in their plan) and we're currently looking at 6 months for install & availability. As the BT chap said, it looks like they forgot about us but are coming back to it as part of the bigger plan for the local area.
Somewhat positive.

if you want to chivvy them along / get more affirmative action, you can complete the Openreach form "why have my neighbours got FTTP form and I haven't"

...failing that (basically no decent response to the above in 1-2 weeks) just go right to the top and email Clive Selley and have a moan (sorry formal complaint) to the executive complaints team. Bit extreme (and somewhat overused tactic) but usually gets rsults.
 
Hi,
I had a similar problem to yours where the entire estate (also in South Wales, Pontyclun) had been FTTP enabled apart from my apartment block and after many general emails to Openreach which got negative responses I decided to email the top man (clive.selley@openreach.co.uk) explaining the situation. He was very helpful and made my building a priority case and now some 4 months later my building is finally being upgraded to FTTP so drop him an email and he may be of some help.
Good luck,
Gareth
 
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Hi,
I had a similar problem to yours where the entire estate (also in South Wales, Pontyclun) had been FTTP enabled apart from my apartment block and after many general emails to Openreach which got negative responses I decided to email the top man (clive.selley@openreach.co.uk) explaining the situation. He was very helpful and made my building a priority case and now some 4 months later my building is finally being upgraded to FTTP so drop him an email and he may be of some help.
Good luck,
Gareth
Somewhat positive.

if you want to chivvy them along / get more affirmative action, you can complete the Openreach form "why have my neighbours got FTTP form and I haven't"

...failing that (basically no decent response to the above in 1-2 weeks) just go right to the top and email Clive Selley and have a moan (sorry formal complaint) to the executive complaints team. Bit extreme (and somewhat overused tactic) but usually gets rsults.

This may indeed of worked. I had a response the next morning asking for my telephone number and a phone call within 15 minutes of replying. We went away this week and according to our neighbour, a CBT has just been installed by Openreach whilst we were away. After asking the engineer, they quoted end of January for ordering! I'll keep you all posted.
 
This may indeed of worked. I had a response the next morning asking for my telephone number and a phone call within 15 minutes of replying. We went away this week and according to our neighbour, a CBT has just been installed by Openreach whilst we were away. After asking the engineer, they quoted end of January for ordering! I'll keep you all posted.
Great. Did you email or complete the form?
 
Hiya, I'm due to move property tomorrow, I had open reach come out yesterday to fit my FTTP as it my property shows as having it available etc. Along with the rest of my area....after 45 minuites of faffing around, he come back to say that apparently openreach had forgotten to put up the pole to which the fiber cable comes over from the telegraph pole and then attached to.....not only that, all properties that were vacant during the I Initial upgrade of this area, They ripped out the copper connections so no me, and numerous other properties noe have ABSOLUTELY NO access to any sort of internet!!!!! Surely this isn't right and isn't allowed to just leave us completely disconnected???? I've been told it can take days, weeks or months but it has to go back to a planner to figure out how they'll get the fiber to my property.....I found out today though, that another tenant been facing this Same issue for over a month now, still waiting for his broadband, but openreach have supplied him with a mifi, whereas sky don't care, there going to keep charging me, not just for my broadband, but for my sky glass TV too, which, obviously, NEEDS broadband to operate!!!!

I have severe mental health issues, am also physically disabled therefore stuck in doors day in day out, I cannot go through this. This is very unfair!!!! Why the hell would they rip out the copper cables to force people to get fiber if they didn't bother putting the pole on the land where mine and other properties are to attach the cable to!!!!! I'm absolutely disgusted as they are not giving me any information, I'm going to be continually charged for multiple services that I cannot use, and neither of them seem to care!!!! It says on oepnreachs own page that my property is in FTTP stage one, which supposedly means they just have to fit the filter inside my property, why are they lying as this clearly IS NOT the case!!!!!!!
 
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it has to go back to a planner to figure out how they'll get the fiber to my property
Not a lot you can really do until they have a plan unfortunately as they'll likely need planning permission if they need to close a road or erect a pole.
sky don't care, there going to keep charging me, not just for my broadband, but for my sky glass TV too, which, obviously, NEEDS broadband to operate!!!!

Drop Sky like you'd drop a cat poop in your hands. Albeit, Sky dropped my fibre package when we moved into a property with no fibre but if their systems are telling them you can get fibre, they'll think you're pulling their leg. You should definitely try and escalate your complaint with Sky though and get the Openreach emails in writing.

It says on oepnreachs own page that my property is in FTTP stage one, which supposedly means they just have to fit the filter inside my property, why are they lying as this clearly IS NOT the case!!!!!!!
What does the BT Wholesale site say? Ultimately, the information is wrong because some part of the work wasn't done properly and this may well change in the coming days.

My advice, write a polite email to Clive Selley. If you go in all guns blazing, you'll probably be ignored but if you explain the situation in your email, you may well find a better outcome.

And whilst I don't mind you tagging your post onto my own, you may be better off starting your own thread as I'll likely be editing this thread title soon to mark it as resolved thanks to the help I've received. Providing all goes well on the 29th.
 
I found out today though, that another tenant been facing this Same issue for over a month now, still waiting for his broadband, but openreach have supplied him with a mifi, whereas sky don't care
Openreach won't have supplied him with a mifi - but maybe BT have, if BT is his ISP.

Sky can't charge for the broadband service they're not providing. On top of that, Sky have signed up for the automatic compensation scheme which means they should be compensating you just over £5 for each day they're unable to provide you with the service they agreed to provide, regardless of whether it's Openreach that's at fault. Therefore, calm down, take control - get your own 4G dongle, and let Sky pay for it. If it takes a month, you'll be quids in.

You'll still pay for your Sky Glass, but that's because basically you're just paying hire-purchase on a TV over 36 months. That seems reasonable enough to me.

Your problem is not unique. When we moved into our house, we were without broadband for over a month. The copper cable was there: but because the previous owner had decided to keep their business number, we were unable to activate our own service until they eventually ported it away.

It's very frustrating, because it's out of your control - but dealing with this sort of thing is part of life. We tethered to our mobiles, and used cafe wifi. Back then, there was no compensation.
 
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