BT open reach email (won't install fiber)

FoxEye said:
I've just had this email and unfortunately there's a high chance it's legit.

We live in a fully pedestrianised estate with no vehicular access. As well, everything is in ducts (very, very, very old GPO-branded ducts). There are bollards surrounding our estate which only emergency vehicles are allowed to unlock/remove.

Looks like we're not on any plan up to and including 2026, now. Given the access problems, we might not get anything this decade.

I knew this was going to happen. Just knew it.

e: having re-read @Caged reply above, I think we're "direct in ground". The existing cable from the pavement to our property is just buried (very shallowly) in the garden, no ducting between the pavement and the property.

I think we're fubar'd.

e2: Confirmed by OpenReach they will not provide service to our street. Not economically viable. No future plans. Will not happen. Advised we can have a whip round and pay to have the street dug up ourselves, or go fixed wireless. Otherwise, we can go swivel. And we're in the middle of a large ish town. In fact, if we were rural, we could apply for funding.

But being an "bad street" in a town is actually worse than being at the arse end of nowhere. There is no money if BT decides it doesn't want you.

We are "direct in ground" and there is no ducting, so they would have to dig up the whole place and install all new ducting, everywhere. They just won't do it. In fact, nobody will.
Click to expand...
I work for an Altnet as a network surveyor and whilst there are always solutions to direct buried areas (many estates were built this way by GPO) they involve either installing toby boxes (disruptive, expensive and then every install requires digging up a garden/driveway) or to go Overhead by installing new poles (residents are often furious about this and will push back). The best alternative would be to dig up everything and install ducts where buried cables were before but this is far too expensive to be commercially viable for most Altnets. Poles are now the most common option for areas like this as Toby boxes are expensive to provide but if residents are totally opposed to them then it's likely that area will be descoped i.e. totally removed from FTTP plans. For the worst of these areas it will be up to Openreach to eventually do the work but it could be a decade before it's completed for some :(
 
scoobyrichuk said:
I work for an Altnet as a network surveyor and whilst there are always solutions to direct buried areas (many estates were built this way by GPO) they involve either installing toby boxes (disruptive, expensive and then every install requires digging up a garden/driveway) or to go Overhead by installing new poles (residents are often furious about this and will push back). The best alternative would be to dig up everything and install ducts where buried cables were before but this is far too expensive to be commercially viable for most Altnets. Poles are now the most common option for areas like this as Toby boxes are expensive to provide but if residents are totally opposed to them then it's likely that area will be descoped i.e. totally removed from FTTP plans. For the worst of these areas it will be up to Openreach to eventually do the work but it could be a decade before it's completed for some :(
Click to expand...
Yup, I've been told now that nobody can guarantee it will be before 2030. In fact, we've been told such areas represent "a longer-term ambition for the UK in general" and not subject to any timescales.
 
Second and final reply from BDUK, essentially confirming their first. They hope a commercial provider will bring gigabit broadband to us at some point in the future. They say that whilst there is a chance, no matter how small, that a commercial provider could change their minds, then it would be inappropriate to spend public money to help us. It doesn't matter that BT and the other provider have both said there is no chance, because the numbers don't add up for it to be worth their while.

BDUK "understand my frustration" - aka don't care a jot.

Basically abandon all hope, because you rolled the dice and it came up 1, so move house if you ever want decent broadband. Your street ain't getting jack, but we'll happily string you along with talk of "hope for the future". Hope without timescale. Just, wait and wait and see and maybe? No promises.

Pathetic, really. This country really doesn't care about having decent, modern infrastructure for all. It's a sodding lottery. If you lose, you lose permanently, because why spend a few billion on essential infrastructure when you could waste hundreds of billions on a white elephant like HS2?
 
That seems ridiculously poor. Do you at least get decent 4 or 5g or is your only alternative really starlink.
 
Dave85 said:
That seems ridiculously poor. Do you at least get decent 4 or 5g or is your only alternative really starlink.
Click to expand...
I'll start to explore wireless options more seriously now I know that FTTP isn't happening for us, basically ever. I was waiting on replies from everyone, and now I have them all and they're all negative.

Let's see what wireless can offer!
 
Update,

Hope everyone is well.

Our road wasn't on the planned list because there was no room on the pole outside. They removed redundant equipment and we now have room on the pole. The engineers said they would have the cable installed this week (city Fiber).

How long after they install the cable can I get the connection to the house (typically)? Do they install the cable to the pole, and then you have to arrange the connection to your home; what's typically the lead time, I only ask as going on holiday and want to be efficient with the connection.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom