OpenReach and Competitor at the Cabinet

HorsleyA

HorsleyA

HorsleyA

Associate
Joined
28 Sep 2021
Posts
12
Location
Crockenhill
Can anyone enlighten me regarding an issue we have in our village around FTTC/VDSL and clarify my understanding?

Our Village is served almost entirely by a single PCP Cabinet. There are 2 FTTC cabinets one owned by CallFlow and one by Openreach.
CallFlow no longer use their Cabinet and no longer provide any VDSL services as they are focusing on the Trooli Full Fibre network which is not available in our area either.
Openreach have active VDSL customers from BT, TalkTalk, Sky and Plusnet but will not allow any new connections as they claim that a competitor has a cabinet and due to Ofcom guidelines they have to shut down their services. As such none of the Carriers that use Openreach can offer NEW VDSL services.
So in effect no one in the village is able to get a new VDSL service from any carrier.
My question is what competition could Openreach be referring to, I assume it must be callflow but why would Ofcom regulations stop them offering VDSL services to the other Carriers from the Openreach cabinet?
I understand that OpenReach manage the access network but who owns and manages the VDSL Modems/DSLAMs? Is it Openreach and they grant access to the various CPs directly or is it BT Wholesale who then pass on the service via WLR?
I just need to figure out how to get Openreach to re-instate the VDSL service offering to the CPs.
Any help or guidance greatly received
 
It is incredible that everyone is desperate to get Fibre and we have FTTC but Openreach will not let us use it. We could get a better service in 2015 then we can get now. Openreach appear to be moving us backwards!
 
What does "almost entirely by a single PCP cabinet" mean? Afaik if a cabinet is sub-loop unbundled then it's not a case of Openreach not wanting to offer a service, the technology doesn't allow for it (or didn't at the time).

Is the issue that you're on a cabinet served by the Call Flow VDSL cabinet, and can't get service?
 
Thank you for the replies, I will post the images from the online checker but let me answer a couple of the questions first.
Myself and my neighbours are on the same PCP cabinet (cabinet 4 on the swanley exchange). As you will see in the images It says that I cannot get Fibre but it shows my neighbours already have fibre.
I have called BT many times, I have also opened 3 different cases with OpenReach and all of the them claim that due to there being a competitor Ofcom guidelines prevent them from offering services.
When I say "Almost entirely by a single PCP Cabinet" I mean that most of the village connect to the primary connection cabinet (PCP) number 4 but some residents are connected to a different cabinet (Cabinet 12).
My understanding (But I am not an openreach engineer) is that the VDSL cabinets are separate from the PCP Cabinet. Everyone connects to the PCP and there are then links across to both the CallFlow and the Openreach VDSL cabinets.
I will post the online checker results so that you can see the disparity.
 
Sorry I am trying to attach screen shots but it does not appear to be working

 
Until I work out why I cannot attach pictures here are some details from the online checker.
When I use my BT Phone number (Not Address) is states I am on cabinet 4 of the swanley exchange, WBC FTTC Availability is 'Planned' and the observed speed shows that I am on ADSL.
When I use my neighbours BT Phone number it also states he is on cabinet 4 of the swanley exchange, WBC FTTC availability is 'Available' and the observed speed shows that they are on VDSL
When I use either of our addresses (Rather then phone number) it shows the same cabinet but WBC availability is "29-Apr-25"
So 3 different answers for the same cabinet.

As for CallFlow I have had a long in-depth conversation with them and they have closed down their cabinet as they only ever had 2 customers and it was not financially viable. There are now no CallFlow customers and everyone with VDSL is via the OpenReach cabinet that according to the online check is either 'Planned' or not available until 29-Apr-25

Finally if you go to the Codelook web site it states the the cabinet does have FTTC as it states "FTTC Available from 11th January 2013, expanded 13th April 2017"

https://www.telecom-tariffs.co.uk/codelook.htm?xid=854135&postcodeloc=14838&cabinet=P4

So why if the cabinet exists and many people have VDSL do Openreach say it is not available?
 
I have called Ofcom and that tell me to call my supplier which I have done numerous times, I have opened multiple tickets and opened a complaint.
I have also opened ticket with the Ombudsman.
Ofcom also said to raise it with my MP so I have done that.
Our village has been in this situation for years with Openreach simply blocking access to the Infrastructure that is in place with no reasonable explanation.
The official reply is:
With regards your enquiry about FTTC (Fibre to the Cabinet) availability, our Technical Team have advised that a competitor has installed a cabinet in your exchange area. This means that in accordance with OFCOM guidelines, Openreach has to remove/close down the FTTC cabinet we have in place. Unfortunately, we are unaware who the competitor is.

But as mentioned previously the only potential competitor was CallFlow but they have decommissioned their cabinet. What I cannot get my head around is why is there is a competitor do Openreach have to shut down their cabinet. Surely as Openreach support multiple carriers (BT, talkTalk, Plusnet etc) and do not sell services directly to consumers there is not any conflict.
And does this mean that any cabinets that gets upgraded to FTTC but already has someone else's cabinet will not be able to provide services?
It makes no sense to me.
 
That looks weird, you shouldn't get wildly different speed estimates from two neighbouring houses on the same cabinet. And a 2025 FTTC estimate is wrong as nobody will be installing VDSL by then.

I would email [email protected] which will get it into the executive complaints team at Openreach. Calmly state your current situation (your address and phone number and checker result, your neighbours details) and mention what you've been told by lower down Openreach teams.
 
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