DSL Checker Accuracy/Fibre woes

Associate
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18 Oct 2010
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856
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Newcastle upon Tyne
Hello Guys

Having a bit of a nightmare getting fibre at the new house. Pretty much every supplier is offering fibre to the address, but I can't seem to get it.

- Ordered with Vodafone - they cancelled my order without telling me why. Said it was a line issue when I called.
- Re-ordered wth Vodafone - they cancelled again without my acknowledgement. Line issue had been resolved, but there was no more capacity at the cab.
- Tried with Plusnet - Called before they had the chance to cancel to ask about capacity, they said there wasn't any capacity and offered me 1-3Mb ADSL for £18.99/month. (I know it's the line rental).

- Decided to reach out to Openreach directly to ask about the cabinet that I should be connected to. Got a response back saying they needed to pass on my query to a specialist team to resolve.
They later sent an email back to me confirming that there WAS capacity at the cabinet.

- Reached out to Plusnet again - Let them know that Openreach themselves have confirmed there is capacity at the cabinet. They put the order through, had issues, but then got a confirmation date, only to be told that fibre isn't available at the address. Currently asking them why there has been such a high Openreach presence at the cabinet recently and if that work is impacting at all.

DSL checker says I can get VDSL and FTTPod, and the Openreach site says that the cabinet covers up to FTTC and that fibre is availble.

How accurate are their records?
I checked with a neighbour last night and they only have ADSL, so it's not looking good, but why are everyones records showing as fibre as available if it's not...

Debating what to do next, FTTPod may be a bit too much. 4G suppliers take advantage of a 30 day rolling contract by bumping the price (EE at £99/month). Wireless Broadband from Wildcard? Not sure, and their website is terrible.

TLDR: Does anyone work for Openreach?

Apologies for the wall of text, needed to get it off my chest in the hope that someone offers a fruitful suggestion.

Andrew/Ox
 
Soldato
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UK
FTTPoD is a bit of a red herring to look at, but those results suggest you should be able to get a good result with FTTC VDSL. It’s unfair but you may get better results with one of the ISPs who give you a bit more of a personal touch like Zen or Andrews and Arnold. You’ll pay more but they’ll probably get the job done with their better customer service liaising with BT Openreach. Once in situ when your contract is up migrating to a.n.other VDSL ISP should be easier.
 
Associate
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I'd happily pay for FTTPod if it wasn't going to be tens of thousands, but I think it would be.
I have been looking at Zen and following some of the other threads on here relating to them, I do appreciate how they ended up sorting Houseys issue for him in his thread; but £44/month leaves a bit of a bitter taste in my mouth. It is an option I guess. May even just give them a cheeky call to see if they can do a check.

Plusnet are going to try and get either a new line installed, or my current line re-routed to the cabinet.
Will be good being able to speak with an Openreach engineer, even if he brings me bad news.

Ideally I'd like Openreach to check their records and correct that first, because it may highlight some other reason why we're meeting resistance.

I've owned the house since the 25th of May, so it's definitely been a waiting game!
 
Caporegime
Joined
17 Jul 2010
Posts
25,660
Sadly Openreach won't do an investigation for you, it needs to be asked for by an ISP. Ask an ISP to complete an ORDI request to Openreach but if you don't get any joy by Sunday and if you're happy to sign up to Sky Fibre I might be able to fix it.
 
Associate
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Just spoke with Zen, who've said that fibre isn't available and suggested that I'm best getting in touch with a local MP to approach them about it. (As some of their customers have been successful doing that).
Great phone call though, and pleased to say they'll have the match on in the Zen office!

Zens checks are obviously a bit better, or maybe they're actually doing them...

Plusnet have activated a phone line to do some checks, which is where they're getting the ADSL only thing from. I've asked the previous owner to find out what package she was on, as she has said she was definitely on fibre.

MissChief I can consider it, just going through the Sky fibre order and it says that I can have Sky fibre max. I've got a feeling the same hurdles will be hit though.
 
Associate
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A second line install is happening on the 23/07, and they've requested a fibre install at the same time, so that if it's possible, it'll have to be routed through the cabinet.
This order has committed successfully, which is a good sign, but I'll get an update on Tuesday from Plusnet after they've spoken with Openreach again.
After that point, it'll just be a case if the engineer can physically do the install or not.

Hopefully I get a chance to speak with the engineer during his visit. Would be good to see what is going on from their perspective.
Better get some biscuits in ready, just in case it'll help improve the chances of my install.
 
Associate
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Engineer arrived on the 23rd and installed a new master socket for me, didn't bother bringing in another line as I didn't really need it.
He managed to connect me up to the fibre cab, and told me there was about 4 spare slots remaining.
The cable tests failed, but he managed to trace it down to a fault under ground somewhere between the poles and the cabinet.

Noticed the diagnostic lights on the Plusnet Hub had changed just before bed last night, from a flashing orange (line fault) to a solid orange (incorrect username/password)
I tried to login with my details but it failed. (around 11pm), left it as the defaults overnight and they activated the line at around 1am.
Restarted the hub this morning and put in my details and it worked.

I now have fibre! Two months late, but at least it's in!

Turns out it's all the business processes that slow everything down. 5 working days here, 10 working days there. All adds up. Especially when they're working with inaccurate information.
Even the engineer was complaining about being sent from pillar to post, as he is applying for a staff line at his new build house.

If anyone else has similar issues, speak with the previous owner, my mind was put at ease when she forwarded me her original BT infinity 1 confirmation email.
Persistence has also paid off too. Thank you everyone for your input. :)
 
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