WTF can you do about Openreach being apparently incompetent

jeff83nz · 23 Aug 2018 at 16:27

Soooooo the installation for our fibre keeps getting kicked down the road due to issues with "openreach" so Sky say. I mean there is no way to check this. Funnily the update on 17 August and 23 August are exactly the same (cabling work completed, updating their systems....what it takes two weeks to update systems.

I am not sure if I smell a rat, if it is openreach, sky being dubious. I do not know.

The thing is it appears you legitimately can not do anything. Openreach are the problem, but you can't talk to openreach. Nice little thing they got going on there.

Waiting three weeks on an original installation date to get something which was in the flat before seems ******* bonkers.

God I hate BT.

Caron from Sky
23 Aug 2018 2:44 PM

Hi, just a quick update on your order.

Openreach have completed all the cabling work needed to bring Broadband and Talk to your home. They are currently updating their systems and, once this is done, we'll send you a confirmation of your engineer appointment by post and SMS, including delivery of your Sky Hub. An engineer will come to your home on that date and activate your services. If Openreach tell us they can activate your service without the need of a visit, we'll contact you before this date and let you know.

You don't need to do anything - we'll stay in touch with Openreach until your services are up and running, and we'll text you with an update on 29/08/2018.

RPA from Sky
17 Aug 2018 3:36 PM
Hi, just a quick update on your order. Openreach have completed all the cabling work needed to bring Broadband and Talk to your home. They are currently updating their systems and, once this is done, we'll send you a confirmation of your engineer appointment by post and SMS, including delivery of your Sky Hub. An engineer will come to your home on that date and activate your services. If Openreach tell us they can activate your service without the need of a visit, we'll contact you before this date and let you know. Don't worry, your billing for broadband and talk won't start until your services have been activated. We will contact Openreach again and provide you the latest update by 23/08/2018

Ashleigh from Sky
13 Aug 2018 1:15 PM
Hi , just a quick update on your order.

Openreach have told us they're currently experiencing an issue with their systems, which is preventing your order from progressing. We're working with them to make sure it's fixed as soon as possible.

You don't need to do anything - we'll stay in touch with Openreach until your services are up and running, and we'll text you with an update on 17/08/2018.

jeff83nz · 23 Aug 2018 at 16:41

Called Zen. Asked whether if switched to them they could resolve it.
Immediately got a better answer which is our cabinet is full, so effectively waiting for it to be upgraded or someone else to fall off.
So the whole thing is a lie from Sky effectively. A complete lie.

bremen1874 · 23 Aug 2018 at 17:27

Where did they lie?

They've even kept you informed on the days they said they would.

Caged · 23 Aug 2018 at 17:39

Do you show as being on a waitlist if you use https://dslchecker.bt.com (address lookup) to check for services?

Iron-man · 23 Aug 2018 at 20:16

Oh dear so Skys fault's then.

For info you can talk to Openreach on twitter but not sure you need to now you know where the issue is.

GGizmo · 24 Aug 2018 at 13:31

bremen1874 said:
Where did they lie?

The cabinet is full. So they wouldn't have done any cabling work as there is no free slot.

MissChief · 24 Aug 2018 at 13:35

Ok, first of all why would sky intentionally delay your activation? There's no benefit to them whatsoever. If sky could activate you in 24 hours they'd do so. This is all onto Openreach and while there have been accusations of them treating BT customers better I'm yet to see any evidence of this and if it is the case then OFCOM would be very happy to see it.

Openreach are a royal pain in the arse at the best of times but they have their process and are semi-decent at providing updates. Even Sky contacting them and asking what's happening every day will just be 'we'll supply an update on the day we said we would'. Yes it's frustrating but there's not a huge amount you or sky can do about it.

Steveocee · 24 Aug 2018 at 13:37

I think @MissChief used to have (or still does have) a hand in Sky broadband related stuff?

If the cabinet is full though you genuinely are out of luck until BTOR introduce more capacity or somebody else cancels.

Steveocee · 24 Aug 2018 at 13:38

MissChief said:
Ok, first of all why would sky intentionally delay your activation? There's no benefit to them whatsoever. If sky could activate you in 24 hours they'd do so. This is all onto Openreach and while there have been accusations of them treating BT customers better I'm yet to see any evidence of this and if it is the case then OFCOM would be very happy to see it.

Openreach are a royal pain in the arse at the best of times but they have their process and are semi-decent at providing updates. Even Sky contacting them and asking what's happening every day will just be 'we'll supply an update on the day we said we would'. Yes it's frustrating but there's not a huge amount you or sky can do about it.

And there you were!

MissChief · 24 Aug 2018 at 14:08

jeff83nz said:
Called Zen. Asked whether if switched to them they could resolve it.
Immediately got a better answer which is our cabinet is full, so effectively waiting for it to be upgraded or someone else to fall off.
So the whole thing is a lie from Sky effectively. A complete lie.

So if the cabinet was full the order would have failed within 24 hours of being placed. It may be that there was only one or two free ports available when you placed your order but if the cabinet was full then fibre couldn't be ordered at that point.

docsonic · 27 Aug 2018 at 00:56

Visit www.telecom-tariffs.co.uk & search by postcode. This will give you the status of your cab. If it's at 100% then your joining at the back of the queue with your order.

You could also Google openreach broadband checker & enter your postcode and house number & it will tell you if you can order currently. Or if demand is too high it will tell you that you may not be able to.

What did dslchecker.bt.com say?

bremen1874 · 27 Aug 2018 at 02:27

docsonic said:
Visit www.telecom-tariffs.co.uk & search by postcode. This will give you the status of your cab. If it's at 100% then your joining at the back of the queue with your order.

Are you sure?

The only percentage they appear to show is the proportion of the addresses in the postcode area that would connect to each cabinet. If there's only one cabinet for the postcode it'll always show 100% irrespective of how full it is.

docsonic · 27 Aug 2018 at 08:58

I see what you mean, not all the post-codes for my cab are at 100%. Oh well - guess the only way is to keep an eye on the dsl checker

Caged · 27 Aug 2018 at 10:50

I find the constant reference to Openreach from Sky a bit weird, like a political decision to hammer home who their supplier is. I doubt they'd do that if a third-party peering provider was having issues that was causing service problems.

The contract is with Sky, so it's irrelevant to the customer who the last-mile supplier is.

sg0 · 27 Aug 2018 at 19:00

MissChief said:
Ok, first of all why would sky intentionally delay your activation? There's no benefit to them whatsoever. If sky could activate you in 24 hours they'd do so. This is all onto Openreach and while there have been accusations of them treating BT customers better I'm yet to see any evidence of this and if it is the case then OFCOM would be very happy to see it.

Openreach are a royal pain in the arse at the best of times but they have their process and are semi-decent at providing updates. Even Sky contacting them and asking what's happening every day will just be 'we'll supply an update on the day we said we would'. Yes it's frustrating but there's not a huge amount you or sky can do about it.

They may economical with the truth in this regard as to keep him as a potential customer.

Avalon · 29 Aug 2018 at 09:55

sg0 said:
They may economical with the truth in this regard as to keep him as a potential customer.

To what end? No OR reseller can install him, it’s not like he can jump to another provider and they can magically find a port. This wouldn’t be the first time OR had added capacity and taken a fortnight (or longer) to update the system, Sky seem to be doing the right thing, if the OP wrongly wants to think otherwise then so be it.

jeff83nz · 29 Aug 2018 at 22:03

I got another update today.
exactly the same as the last. Cabling done waiting on openreach to update their systems we will contact you in another week.

There is literally nothing you can do. Like I just want a realistic time frame, do I need to buy a 4g modem for home and get a **** tonne of data some how.

Caged · 29 Aug 2018 at 22:13

What does http://dslchecker.bt.com/ say?

sg0 · 30 Aug 2018 at 00:10

Avalon said:
To what end? No OR reseller can install him, it’s not like he can jump to another provider and they can magically find a port. This wouldn’t be the first time OR had added capacity and taken a fortnight (or longer) to update the system, Sky seem to be doing the right thing, if the OP wrongly wants to think otherwise then so be it.

Err Virgin, other ADSL or VDSL providers? Im assuming the OP has a phone line? if so, nothing stopping him getting a rolling monthly ASDL service. When capacity is increased switch to the VDSL service. Actually after reading the OP's last post about 4g modem maybe he doesn't have a phone line.

Whats interesting is Zen is saying they it's a capacity issue and are unaware of openreach engineering work being carried out on a new cab or on his local FTTC cab. Whilst Sky were happy to take the order and later say a different story. First off Sky say...

jeff83nz said:
Openreach have told us they're currently experiencing an issue with their systems, which is preventing your order from progressing. We're working with them to make sure it's fixed as soon as possible.

This implies an unexpected temporary technical problem. Then they say...

jeff83nz said:
Hi, just a quick update on your order. Openreach have completed all the cabling work needed to bring Broadband and Talk to your home. They are currently updating their systems and, once this is done, we'll send you a confirmation of your engineer appointment by post and SMS, including delivery of your Sky Hub. An engineer will come to your home on that date and activate your services. If Openreach tell us they can activate your service without the need of a visit, we'll contact you before this date and let you know. Don't worry, your billing for broadband and talk won't start until your services have been activated. We will contact Openreach again and provide you the latest update by 23/08/2018

Which now looks like its just standard procedure, how this changed in 4 days is quite miraculous. All ISP's have the same level of access to openreach's systems and information so the question is who's fibbing? well it just looks to me that SKY are hedging their bets. They are not the first company ever to use this kind of tactic. Builders do it all the time, you get a good quote they tell you 4 weeks because they have to finish a few jobs ahead of you and the next thing you know 3 months have gone by because you get assurances every 2 weeks. Its better to have customers waiting then to have no customers, I get it.

Avalon said:
No OR reseller can install him

If this is the case why are they keeping him hanging?
New deals are coming out all the time and if people are strung along they are unlikely to go elsewhere.

bremen1874 · 30 Aug 2018 at 00:24

Do you really think Sky would use tactics to hang onto a single customer?

A connection like this that doesn't go smoothly will just be an additional unwanted cost to them on a low margin product.