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Hi, just asked BT for a more detailed quote, does anyone know if you can use USO money in combination with rural broadband gigabit vouchers to further bring the cost down, or are these two schemes mutually exclusive?

I asked Ofcom this, who said it wasn't up to them to decide. I am hoping yes because it would be great to stack the various funding schemes to cover anything over the £3400 threshold.
 
I asked Ofcom this, who said it wasn't up to them to decide. I am hoping yes because it would be great to stack the various funding schemes to cover anything over the £3400 threshold.
fingers crossed, I am also unsure at to why they only forecast 70% takeup, where I live we are all on BT ADSL, given that fibre essential is faster and the same price as standard broadband in this area (£27.99/month) surely the expected takeup would be 100%?
 
fingers crossed, I am also unsure at to why they only forecast 70% takeup, where I live we are all on BT ADSL, given that fibre essential is faster and the same price as standard broadband in this area (£27.99/month) surely the expected takeup would be 100%?

Ofcom's forecast of 70% is partly based on evidence from the state aid funded BDUK roll-out, which is after 7 years now reaching close to that same level. The assumption of 100% take-up can happen in some areas but the reality is usually more modest and so 70% is still a pretty good figure.
 
The USO system sucks. I get a phone call to my landline, which is a translated SMS to say we are contacting to you say we will contact you with your quote.

Then I get an email saying they will contact me with the quote.

Just email me the details!

Perhaps I'll get a call tomorrow. Seems like my quote is done, pending on me getting the details
 
The USO system sucks. I get a phone call to my landline, which is a translated SMS to say we are contacting to you say we will contact you with your quote.

Then I get an email saying they will contact me with the quote.

Just email me the details!

Perhaps I'll get a call tomorrow. Seems like my quote is done, pending on me getting the details
Interested to see how this compares to the initial figure they quoted for you, have a feeling they are quoting high numbers in the first instance.
 
I called BT today to get my quote.... rounding up by a couple of quid (quote was high end of £59k),

£60,000 per property to pay...

I asked for the detailed quote so I can break down the numbers, check the number of eligible homes are included etc, however was told that the detailed breakdown couldn't be provided as BT open reach are only providing the quote price. This deviates from item 5.139 per the Ofcom USO delivering the USO document which says a detailed quote should be made available.

So, onto the complaints part of the process we go....

This number doesn't make sense, because I've had quotes for F.O.D ranging from free install to close to £100k install fees and community schemes ranging from £9k per property. Seems like "pull a random number from the air" has struck again with no way to cross check the calculations.

I'll be taking the complaint to Ofcom to dispute the breach of procedures to see if I can get the information expected. clearly, we won't be paying £60,000 per property for a connection..

Without even knowing how many properties that £60,000 includes, I can't estimate the number of properties excluded and what impact to the cost it would make. But, some quick math suggests if we get 18 properties at £3400 to apply in our area, cost should fall to £3,400 per property. unless, the cost for hooking up each of those properties increases the cost etc.
 
I called BT today to get my quote.... rounding up by a couple of quid (quote was high end of £59k),

£60,000 per property to pay...

I asked for the detailed quote so I can break down the numbers, check the number of eligible homes are included etc, however was told that the detailed breakdown couldn't be provided as BT open reach are only providing the quote price. This deviates from item 5.139 per the Ofcom USO delivering the USO document which says a detailed quote should be made available.

So, onto the complaints part of the process we go....

This number doesn't make sense, because I've had quotes for F.O.D ranging from free install to close to £100k install fees and community schemes ranging from £9k per property. Seems like "pull a random number from the air" has struck again with no way to cross check the calculations.

I'll be taking the complaint to Ofcom to dispute the breach of procedures to see if I can get the information expected. clearly, we won't be paying £60,000 per property for a connection..

Without even knowing how many properties that £60,000 includes, I can't estimate the number of properties excluded and what impact to the cost it would make. But, some quick math suggests if we get 18 properties at £3400 to apply in our area, cost should fall to £3,400 per property. unless, the cost for hooking up each of those properties increases the cost etc.

Ouch, sorry to hear that, still waiting on our detailed, quote, I will be sure to complain to Ofcom too unless I receive a proper detailed quote on paper. Why would they expect you to hand over £60K without knowing what its for!

We are 3km from the exchange in rural south Somerset, so I think we are very likely to be priced out of the scheme, however, this begs the question, whom is this scheme actually serving?
 
Ouch, sorry to hear that, still waiting on our detailed, quote, I will be sure to complain to Ofcom too unless I receive a proper detailed quote on paper. Why would they expect you to hand over £60K without knowing what its for!

We are 3km from the exchange in rural south Somerset, so I think we are very likely to be priced out of the scheme, however, this begs the question, whom is this scheme actually serving?

Somerset, my old stomping grounds, where about?

As the crow flies, we are about 2.5k (estimated) from the exchange. line length though is long as it has to do a nautilus shell shape along the rural lanes to get to us, meaning we can only get about 2mb down on a good day via classic ADSL1.

In theory, the quote price should be the same if you are the first to apply, or the 21st to apply because of inclusion of eligible properties and a 70% uptake forecast. Assuming, the number of eligible properties is accurate which I can guarantee it isn't.
 
funnily enough I also received the 'text' phone call message on Friday and email follow-up
Think I may get the title of largest quote - £1.1m inc VAT

No detail on properties in scope and no access provided to detailed quote (complaint raised with them as no one would buy a service without a detailed quote)
I know the quote must include several properties as I own two properties and the quote value is identical for each USO request

I asked for a CFP quote over a year ago which was £500k which covered premises across two exchanges (whilst my USO quote was for properties within 1 exchange only)
Also, since that CFP quote was produced, a fibre cable has been laid to our exchange for a local mobile mast which surely would have resulted in a reduce total infrastructure cost??
 
So to keep the thread going ... 60 days passed and a quote of £47.8k was produced. This is in the context of a CFP quote from last year of £77k - 28 properties. This is to install a connection to me alone, yet it includes (if I understood the rep correctly) an assumption that 70% of households would take the service up and thus enable OR to access grants of £3.4k per subscriber. What they would pay for the connection or if they could even get one was not clear. This seems a contradiction. How can OR access grant funding for 70% of households, but charge only 1 of them with the total cost? Or have I misunderstood?
 
no way to know without a detailed quote. did they offer you the quote so you can see how the calculated the number? if not, raise the complaint to ofcom with the rest of us so they can tell openreach they've been naughty :p
 
no way to know without a detailed quote. did they offer you the quote so you can see how the calculated the number? if not, raise the complaint to ofcom with the rest of us so they can tell openreach they've been naughty :p
Agreed - request detailed quote in writing is next step
 
and the results are in... £50K initial quote turned into £28K detailed quote, although there was no breakdown provided, apparently a common consumer complaint, hardly surprising.
 
Your post reminded me.. BT are meant to be sending a formal letter of complaint which can be used to file a complaint with Ofcom and outline the next steps (as per the chat I had with them).. was meant to be here within 10 days.. today is day 10..... no letter. Will give it until next week in case the post is just being slow.

something tells me I have to call to complain about not receiving the letter of complaint.
 
I called Ofcom today to file a complaint, assuming it was the correct process. I did this because I hadn't yet received the deadlock letter from the USO team which outlines the processes to follow. The person I spoke with at Ofcom was very helpful in validating the information in this thread, that a detailed quote must be provided. I was advised to speak with the USO team again to push the matter.

I spoke with a very helpful person on the USO team who seems used to having this conversation :), and confirmed for some reason my deadlock letter hadn't been sent yet for an unknown reason (overdue) and it would be processed today. He was kind enough to also confirm that the USO team is putting pressure on Openreach to provide the required information internally.

It was advised to follow the deadlock process as the more people who do it, the more weight it adds to the issue and the faster the ombudsman (or others involved) can flex their might with Openreach.

I'm curious if anybody else has received their deadlock paperwork yet? If not, I do recommend chasing it up with the USO team after 10 days (expected lead time of deadlock letter) in case it's fallen between the cracks as well.

So, I'm waiting on the letter which will outline the next steps in the process.

In theory, every single USO request above the threshold should be going via this process, I suspect the ombudsman will be getting a lot of complaints on this issue over the next few weeks
 
I'll be back on the phone to the BT USDO team on Monday. They promised me a week ago they'd get back tome following their periodic meetings with OR
Interestingly, a neighbour on the same exchange got a quote for £180k which compares favourably to my £1.1m! so we'll both be pushing for the detailed quote
 
I'll be back on the phone to the BT USDO team on Monday. They promised me a week ago they'd get back tome following their periodic meetings with OR
Interestingly, a neighbour on the same exchange got a quote for £180k which compares favourably to my £1.1m! so we'll both be pushing for the detailed quote
This is very interesting, as in theory the price should be the same for ALL USO applicants on the same exchange/locale as the cost is shared. It does make you wonder, given the secretive non-disclosure of details if somebody in the sales team of openreach just shook a magic 8-ball and picked the numbers at random. I suspect (and it's just opinion) that openreach know all this already and this is just a delaying tactic
 
I'll be back on the phone to the BT USDO team on Monday. They promised me a week ago they'd get back tome following their periodic meetings with OR
Interestingly, a neighbour on the same exchange got a quote for £180k which compares favourably to my £1.1m! so we'll both be pushing for the detailed quote

I really want to see the breakdown of the 1.1m quote
 
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