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What should I expect with FTTP install...

qmmmur

Casual Member
So here's the story. December 9, moved into a new house (which had to happen quite rapidly for various reasons). I contacted zen and said I was moving. They said that FTTP was offered at the premises and gave us the prices. I opted for the 100/10 package. Salesperson on the phone said that Openreach would have the order submitted to them and it would be around a 14-21 day lead time. Openreach contractors (not their own engineers) came around two days ago and said that they weren't prepared to do the installation as the box would require a single cable over 68 metres. They said I would get contacted by Openreach soon saying how things would proceed.

This is where things get bad. I called Zen and they said they have no documentation from Openreach on why the install wasn't completed. Openreach (via Zen) sent me an email saying that the national lockdown may delay installs of new FTTP unless there is already a connection or one under 30mbps. To be clear, we have had no connection since December 9th and I'm supposedly WFH. Zen said they will review and get back to me on Monday with an update. I asked if it was possible to just have an FTTC connection installed and I would start a new contract for that, but they said that even that would require some form of Openreach doing work which would only begin in March. Additionally they said that it might even be worse because my current order was placed before the lockdown and so that is more likely to complete. That said, I have no confidence in either party to negotiate for what I need, which is a basic bloody connection at this point so I can do my job.

What kind of hell am I in for if I just 'push through' for the FTTP. Would I be better off taking their grace period and leaving and trying with another provider? Is OFCOM the place to complain at this point?

Thanks everyone.
 
Putting FTTx aside for one moment. Does the new property have any existing OR infrastructure? Any pre-existing cables going from a DP/Pole that you can see?

The reference to 68 metres is the maximum cable length/span OR will allow so that seemingly suggests there's no existing infrastructure and that would render the topic of this or that providor moot.
 
I'm not entirely sure. To give you what information I can we live down a one way road at the end of that road. The pole with the fibre is at the start of that street and I assume is to service a radius around it which is densely packed with houses. There is a black wire connected to that pole which enters our house approximately near a Master Socket 5C (at least thats what it seems like) - I'm not sure if this is actually meaningful or if its just power or something else entirely. Every house is seemingly connected to this pole in some way so its likely its just power if I had a gun to my head. The people who lived here previously had some internet I assume, but perhaps it was standard ADSL.

Does that suggest that there is actually no infrastructure for FTTC/FTTP at the house already?
 
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Caveat - keeping this overly simplistic, not insulting the Ops intelligence.

So what you're describing is dropwire that carrys the twisted copper pair from the pole into the house. Openreach have a firm rule that no cable can span more than 68 metres so either the contractors just couldn't be bothered and found an excuse or the existing dropwire is sufficiently old and was put in place at such time before the 68 metre rule came into effect and exceeds that length.

Let's assume you have twisted copper pair to the house. You could either go for ADSL or FTTC(VDSL) which would require some work at the property and/or the DP/Pole and/or PCP/Cabinet.

FTTP would require a new/additional cable from the pole to the property and it's this that the contractors seemingly object to do on the grounds of the cable span being too long.
 
Caveat - keeping this overly simplistic, not insulting the Ops intelligence.

So what you're describing is dropwire that carrys the twisted copper pair from the pole into the house. Openreach have a firm rule that no cable can span more than 68 metres so either the contractors just couldn't be bothered and found an excuse or the existing dropwire is sufficiently old and was put in place at such time before the 68 metre rule came into effect and exceeds that length.

Let's assume you have twisted copper pair to the house. You could either go for ADSL or FTTC(VDSL) which would require some work at the property and/or the DP/Pole and/or PCP/Cabinet.

FTTP would require a new/additional cable from the pole to the property and it's this that the contractors seemingly object to do on the grounds of the cable span being too long.
Yep that's my understanding of the issue entirely. When you say work at the property does that insinuate work required inside?
 
Not necessarily but I can't say either way as I'm sure you can appreciate. Again let's assume your master socket is wired up and there's no issues with it then any work for ADSL or FTTC would be done externally.
 
Not necessarily but I can't say either way as I'm sure you can appreciate. Again let's assume your master socket is wired up and there's no issues with it then any work for ADSL or FTTC would be done externally.
Thats exactly my thought. Zen were adamant that *any* contract I took out would require an engineer and thus would set me back to at least March. Im surprised there isn't a way to expedite or escalate this considering I'm meant to be teaching university online.
 
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They're correct in one sense, whatever service you order it will require an engineer to do something somewhere even if its just a frames engineer on the MDF or an engineer to add a jumper in the PCP (for example, not an exhaustive list).

However if they're saying any service would require an engineer *visit* to the property then that's a different distinction.
 
It is my understanding that if you do not have a working broadband or less than 30Mbps then there is an escalation process to bring the installation back before 1/3/21. It could be ZEN have not established this with OR yet.
It might not just be the span length but other issues, even a new intermediary pole which would take time.

ZEN should be pressing for an explanation on your behalf. The external work should be able to continue even if the internal install is minimised due to Covid precautions.

Check DSL availability on https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL/AddressHome
It could be ZEN can get you on a base service and upgrade to FTTP later.

4G any good for you in the interim?
 
T
It is my understanding that if you do not have a working broadband or less than 30Mbps then there is an escalation process to bring the installation back before 1/3/21. It could be ZEN have not established this with OR yet.
It might not just be the span length but other issues, even a new intermediary pole which would take time.

ZEN should be pressing for an explanation on your behalf. The external work should be able to continue even if the internal install is minimised due to Covid precautions.

Check DSL availability on https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL/AddressHome
It could be ZEN can get you on a base service and upgrade to FTTP later.

4G any good for you in the interim?
They mentioned getting me a 5G dongle to help with connectivity issues but honestly teaching / meetings online use up a lot of data. I'm meant to be lecturing to 70+ people in a week over 4G which is just going to be disastrous I know it. It's not so bad though, however we've already spent 120 quid just on data packs to keep us going.

I have no idea where they would install an intermediary pole though as all of the land is public or someone's backyard. Oh well - I get the feeling this is going to be a back and forth for a while until its done or something changes.

Thanks for the insight everyone.
 
I thought I would report back here because things got interesting.

Today I got a call from the excellent CSR who was handling all of this. They got in contact with provisioning who then said that openreach had got back to them and have set an internal installation date for the 18th of Jan. Apparently, according to an official email I just got from them "ALL external work has been completed". I think its likely openreach will show up and it will show that there is no ONT/splice box for the fibre but who knows.
 
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