FTTC and VOIP.

[#1]

@RobPN that's my understanding too.

TBH If OR are quoting £2216 to provide FTTP, then there must be existing FTTP close by. OR don't do very much for that cost!

Which MAY mean that FTTP would be available in the near future...

[#2]

Firstly, OK for you to say £2216 plus VAT go ahead, We have already spent nearly £200,000 and only footings.  National Grid wanted £12,000 [& more to pay] Water charged £6,000. I wont go into the Bat, Tree, Hedges, Newts surveys, all charging a couple of thousand each.  Our downsizing disabled bungalow  is costing the price of buying a 4 bedroom detached house!

As we have a speed of 80mpbs and live in a village, it is fast enough for us hicks!  As far I know and have spoken to many villagers, no one has FTTP.  I am perfectly happy to pay for a connection to the cabinet, new phone connection etc.  I would like to make a bet that if we accepted the quote and gave the 3 months notice, we would not have FTTP at the end of the notice. Anyone willing to take the bet???

Over the years our rural communities have missed out as it is not cost effective to include us.  We never had channel 5 for years until TV went digital, we dont have a cell phone signal, walking up the road might get you 3G and that is being stopped.  I cannot believe that fibre will get to us in 3 months.  I have been trying to see an Open Reach van around so I can stop and have a word, they are as scarce as Great Crested Newts!

[#3]

@zeichen

From the BT letter:

"Although Full Fibre is available at your plot, your contribution required for installation would be higher than the £2,000 per plot cost cap for developers outlined in the Building Regulations. We can still offer a Full Fibre infrastructure install to your total site with a contribution from you of £[2216]+ VAT ."

Surely you need this?

"Alternatively, we can offer a connection to our [FTTC] network which we calculate would offer Broadband speeds of 68-80Mbps. Note that this infrastructure may not be compliant with Building Regulations, so we suggest discussing this as early as possible with your Building Inspector."

[#4]

Yes plese, we need this, but how do we get it.  We only received a form to complete for fibre, when returned asked for FTTC, no answer, nearly a month ago.  Despite chase ups, cntact form completed on Openreach website.  Silence!  Hence email to CEO next week if still not heard.  I thought it would be easy!

[#5]

@zeichen 

I had hoped to view the contract to see what it said but if it's an online form then I guess that's not possible. I would specifically have been looking for anything along the lines of "Do you accept the quote - Yes/No" and, if no is selected, does it state they would then default to to FTTC.

It does change the narrative if you e-mail the OR CEO (or anyone else). You've been offered FTTC (SOGEA) but cannot find a way to ask for this and, given your vunerable status, it's causing stress to think you may not have a connection when the house is ready for occupation.

Although it's been a month since you returned the form it could just be the administrative wheels of OR are turning slowly.

Brian

[#6]

@zeichen 

Part R of the Building Regs makes interesting reading. To quote from Part RA2:

2.2 Developers should work with network operators to provide a gigabit-capable public electronic communications network connection for each new dwelling erected unless the cost exceeds the cost cap of £2000 per dwelling or the network operator declines to provide a connection.

2.3 Where a gigabit-capable public electronic communications network connection is not being installed because a connection is not offered within the £2000 cost cap, developers should work with network operators to provide the next fastest broadband connection which can be installed without exceeding the £2000 cost cap.

Thinking outside the box, will you be leaving the old property immediately after moving in? It occurs to me that whilst you may need to install a duct to satisfy the buiding inspector I fail to see why you can't simply order a FTTC connection to the new building once it's completed and, if necessary, temporarily run an Ethernet cable between the two buildings until it's up and running.

[#7]

Thanks, your thinking was mentioned to our Builder and as they are laying the water and drainage supplies today, I asked if he could price an ethernet cable, probably less than 80 mtrs so sounds a good idea.  At least then we are guaranteed wi-fi.

Also, out of interest, I found an acknowledgment of my first contact form to the Developer Portal, dated 9th September and they would reply within 48 hours.  Perhaps they meant 48 days.

I am giving it a couple of day and then CEO email unfortunately.

[#8]

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@zeichen wrote:

... Builder and as they are laying the water and drainage supplies today, I asked if he could price an ethernet cable, probably less than 80 mtrs so sounds a good idea. 

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Rather than Ethernet cable I would ask the builder to lay BT 54mm duct containing a draw rope so that either copper or fibre can be pulled through, see: https://www.openreach.com/building-developers-and-projects/fibre-for-developers/guides-and-handbooks for duct laying insrtuctions.

You can buy the dust on line but if there's a building development in your area it might be worth having a word with the site manager. They may have a pile of unwanted spare. If you don't ask.....

[#9]

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@zeichen wrote:

I asked if he could price an ethernet cable, probably less than 80 mtrs so sounds a good idea. 

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Do be careful with ethernet between buildings - there can be different earth potentials between the buildings which can cause problems, and in fault conditions can cause equipment damage that wouldn't occur otherwise.

Fibre is safer, but needs slightly more expensive equipment at each end.

[#10]

Still heard nothing and decided to email the CEO, which made me read the small print of the FF offer.  Evidently the "2216 plus VAT is an initial cost and they invoice later the actual price, when it has to be paid in full, and would be at least 3 months!

So email to CEO, carefully written, but it came back immediately " domain missing or malformed'.  So openreach.co.uk is malformed or missing?  Has anyone any idea how I can the email to him as I keep checking and it is the up to date email that appears on google?  

[#11]

@zeichen 

From DuckDuckGo I got

clive.selley @ openreach.co.uk

(delete the spaces either side of "@")

Brian

Edit : Double check the spelling of the address on your e-mail

[#12]

Double checked, tried 3 times, wouldnt accept a space between selley and @,- Server error: '501 <clive.selley@openreach.co.uk.>: domain missing or malformed'  Even tried without the dot between his name, no luck.

[#13]

Its a dot, not a space between first and second name.

Just look on Google

[#14]

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@zeichen wrote:

Double checked, tried 3 times, wouldnt accept a space between selley and @,- Server error: '501 <clive.selley@openreach.co.uk.>: domain missing or malformed'  Even tried without the dot between his name, no luck.

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@zeichen 

In the address you've posted here you've added a superfluous dot at the end after .uk

[#15 · Accepted solution]

SUCCESS!!!!

I changed the email address from Openreach to BT [as he is CEO of both] and it went through and lo and behold I had someone phone me this morning to answer my complaint.  They are agreeing to a connection to the Cabinet, copper and will contact my Builder and write and confirm, checking up on this in then days' time.

Thank you everyone so much, it has been a slog and I really appreciate everyone's help.  I now understand things much better and hopefully we can at least transfer over with Plusnet when we move and then try and sort things out by going to Zen after.

I have bought my husband a wi-fi phone so have a few weeks to try and teach him how to use it [a technophobe!] all we have to do next is remember to turn our phones on each day and take them with us as we move around! 

Thank you everyone!