Fibre availability - not really related to the trial, but hoping to tap into some knowledge

[#1]

Apologies in advance for what seems like a bit of a mis-post, but I can see there is a fair bit of knowledge in here around FTTP supply so I was hoping to find some advice on this question.

I live in quite a rural area and, despite there being numerous closer FTTC cabinets, the one my property is connected to is a long way away. That results in a connection speed of 15 down 1 up - and yes, that's the speed on FTTC not ADSL.

FTTP isn't available according to the availability checker, only FTTP on demand with it's rather expensive install costs.

A few weeks ago there was a lot of activity and what looked like Openreach vans in the area and lo and behold the telegraph poles running right past my house now have "Warning - Overhead Fibre" signs on them and new cables. I can see fibre repeaters on some of the poles and the cables run into a local business park.

I can approach the owners of the park and try to get some more info, but it seems a little cheeky to rock up and say "Oh, hai, I'd like to connect to the infrastructure you've just paid for" so I was wondering if there was any way of checking whether this is a general upgrade for the area or whether it's a private fibre line - presumably FTTP On Demand installed at quite some cost.

There are some tags on the fibre connection which have some job numbers etc and a contractor ID of "MUS" which looks to be Morrison Utility Services - who I understand are an openreach subcontractor.

Is my best option just to go and talk to the site manager (talk to another human, in this internet age? What a terrible thought!) or is there some whizzy checker I can use to find out what sort of obscenely fast and tempting fibre connection is running fifty feet away from my house?

Thanks,

John

[#2 · Accepted solution]

Hi John. I'm not sure how much help I can provide here, but if you haven't already I'd recommend filling out this form to query the fibre availability with Openreach. 

(With this option, the good news is you don't need to leave the house and speak to people. )

Hope this helps. -Anoush

[#3]

Perfect, thank you!

I do jest to some degree about the whole “not talking to people” thing, there are other reasons for not wanting to make first contact with the business park owners. They’re good people, but if I can keep it strictly business between an ISP and myself it would make life easier!

[#4]

No problems. Let us know how you get on.

[#5]

Oh god, I'm dealing with BT

I'd forgotten just how much fun that could be.

Going back round the loop again after having been told that sadly I can't have fibre at all because my cabinet isn't enabled but maybe I'd like to keep an eye on a web page to see when FTTC or FTTP will be available at my cabinet. Also there's a government project to roll out FTTP in my area, but it's a major civil engineering project so obviously they can't give me dates.

Not only is that not what I asked, but the cabinet is FTTC enabled because I've bloody well got it

To add to the enjoyment, the paragraphs in the response were in different fonts. It's almost as if chunks of boilerplate text had been lifted out of different documents and pasted into a response. I'm sure that couldn't be the case though. <sigh>

Ding ding! Seconds out, round two......

[#6]

Sounds about right for any dealings with BT/Openreach/Wholesale etc.

[#7]

This has gone absolutely nowhere. I chased on 9th and 25th April with complete radio silence from BT.

I am now submitting a new form with the old reference number on it asking for an update and/or a sensible response. I even gave them job and circuit number details from the install tags on the fibre cables to try and be helpful.... nothing.

Oh and the link they gave me to check for availability doesn't exist, it must be very old.

Genius level stuff all-round, basically

[#8]

I know you fttc already but have you checked

https://www.dslchecker.bt.com/

And

https://www.homeandbusiness.openreach.co.uk/fibre-broadband/when-can-i-get-fibre?

The two above can give differing results

Also have you checked your council's website for faster broadband?

Moderator's note by Mike (Mav): Post released from Spam Filter.

[#9]

Sorry to hear you're not getting anywhere.

I'll be happy to raise the request on your behalf by filling out a similar formwize (From an ISP point of view).

Can you send me a PM with the details you've found out for me to include?

[#10]

@Gandalf thank you very much for the kind offer, and I genuinely appreciate the help. Apologies it has taken me so long to respond.

I did in the end get a response from BT - the same garbled cut & paste nonsense, essentially.

I've decided to just wait and see what happens - apparently there is a wider scheme in progress in the area to put in FTTP as part of a rural development initiative etc etc. Certainly I can see evidence of other overhead fibre installs being carried out locally, but I expect it will be a relatively drawn out process as infrastructure projects like this tend to be.

I'll just bide my time for now - if I need speed urgently for work I just (ab)use the 4G hotspot on my work phone

Thanks again,

John

[#11]

No problems at all John.

Keep us posted.

[#12]

I have had no response at all from any of the Open* contacts despite registering for updates on when FTTP would be available in my area in multiple places. I checked availability in February before entering into a new FTTC contract and there was still nothing available.

Last week I noticed an OpenReach van at a property just up the road with a guy running cable from the telegraph pole to the property, so that was my clue to go and check again. 

We get there in the end!

Sorry for dredging up an old thread but I did promise I'd update. I got nowhere being proactive so the best advice I can give anyone else who's not with PN would be to keep checking https://www.homeandbusiness.openreach.co.uk/fibre-broadband/ultrafast-broadband/ultrafast-fibre-fttp and wait.... and wait.... 

[#13]

Cheers for the update and I hope that the Openreach activity is a good sign for you!

[#14]

@charltjr 

Typical, FTTP becomes available just after you sign a contract!!!

Unless you are happy to accept cancellation charges you'll need to wait until near the end of your contract to change providers and get FTTP.

However, if you do wait then there's more chance of a choice of providers (perhaps even PlusNet!!!). Currently only BT and Zen of the reasonably well known ISP's offer a product (I believe).

Brian

[#15]

I know! You couldn't make it up.....

I will probably cancel at some point. I'm likely to be homeworking later in 2019 and my current upstream bandwidth isn't going to be good enough. 

I can get an 80/20 FTTP connection for £36 a month - that would do fine for me, don't see the point in paying more for faster speeds. Will see what's around nearer the time as I imagine the market is still evolving.

Yay for rural broadband subsidies