Yeah true, maybe I just lucked out then!
YouFibre
- Thread starter oldestgregg
- Start date
From YouFibre support when asked about why my address is suddenly not planned:
"So it can be due to the exchanges around the area not being compatible with our network I do apologise for this"
I decided to email Netomnia and it's over.
"I have looked at your postcode and at this time the works in this direct location are on indefinite hold. The pre-existing services that our team were hoping to utilise are not suitable to be used. We often look to deploy and use a build method known as Physical Infrastructure Access (PIA). Physical infrastructure access solution is an Openreach product which allows communication providers access to poles and duct for their own installation. Communications providers could utilise this infrastructure to deploy their own fibre networks.
When we have attempted to use pre-existing services in the area the team located, no ducts and no chambers which meant the schematics that were provided were inaccurate and not viable for us to complete a roll out in this direct location.
As we cannot use Physical Infrastructure Access and other methods have not yet come back within a viable cost we have the area on indefinite hold.
Our team have assessed other build methods to complete this section of deployment however, these have not been commercially viable to deploy.
Due to this, we have placed your are on indefinite hold. Our design team will work on this to determine if a viable method and route can be found to complete the connections."
The thing I don't get is why did they spend over 2 hours couple days ago outside on the streets over multiple days? Surely if there wasn't anything there you just look and say "Nope" and drive off... I guess I'll have to be with Openreach now.
Hurts so bad man like I would rather they have just never actually had build plans ever.
"So it can be due to the exchanges around the area not being compatible with our network I do apologise for this"
I decided to email Netomnia and it's over.
"I have looked at your postcode and at this time the works in this direct location are on indefinite hold. The pre-existing services that our team were hoping to utilise are not suitable to be used. We often look to deploy and use a build method known as Physical Infrastructure Access (PIA). Physical infrastructure access solution is an Openreach product which allows communication providers access to poles and duct for their own installation. Communications providers could utilise this infrastructure to deploy their own fibre networks.
When we have attempted to use pre-existing services in the area the team located, no ducts and no chambers which meant the schematics that were provided were inaccurate and not viable for us to complete a roll out in this direct location.
As we cannot use Physical Infrastructure Access and other methods have not yet come back within a viable cost we have the area on indefinite hold.
Our team have assessed other build methods to complete this section of deployment however, these have not been commercially viable to deploy.
Due to this, we have placed your are on indefinite hold. Our design team will work on this to determine if a viable method and route can be found to complete the connections."
The thing I don't get is why did they spend over 2 hours couple days ago outside on the streets over multiple days? Surely if there wasn't anything there you just look and say "Nope" and drive off... I guess I'll have to be with Openreach now.
Hurts so bad man like I would rather they have just never actually had build plans ever.
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They certainly were for us, but they were willing to get stuck in and fix them. According to the civils guys it was "a right old mess" round here, so I'm very grateful that they didn't walk away. Rather sounds like @GregI had no ducts at all!
I know that the other half of where I live is all dug-in copper. No ducts, no chambers, no poles. Youfibre have put that part of the estate on hold and, talking to the engineers working on our half, their proposed solution would be "poles or it's not happening". Knowing that half of the estate, there would be an almighty stink about poles, so I think it'll be a fair while longer before they get connected...
Well, after the install two weeks ago, yesterday my service went live! I'll forgive Youfibre this as I was the first install on a new exchange, which has apparently been a bit challenging to commission.
Long and short of it is that the service works well, is as performant as advertised and I've had no problems with it so far:
Just one thing to note - if you're using your own router (something youfibre are quite happy for you to do), it's a straightforward DHCP over ethernet connection. The one catch is that the ONT will only support a DHCP lease to a single MAC address at one time, so if swapping from the old router to the new, you need to wait for the lease to expire (1 hour) at which point the new router will be issued with the IP address and everything will spring into life. I lost a bit of time on this through impatience before I realised from the logs what was going on, and just left things to sit for an hour! Rebooting the ONT did not work for me - I just had to wait.
Looking forward to better internet from here onwards!
Long and short of it is that the service works well, is as performant as advertised and I've had no problems with it so far:
Just one thing to note - if you're using your own router (something youfibre are quite happy for you to do), it's a straightforward DHCP over ethernet connection. The one catch is that the ONT will only support a DHCP lease to a single MAC address at one time, so if swapping from the old router to the new, you need to wait for the lease to expire (1 hour) at which point the new router will be issued with the IP address and everything will spring into life. I lost a bit of time on this through impatience before I realised from the logs what was going on, and just left things to sit for an hour! Rebooting the ONT did not work for me - I just had to wait.
Looking forward to better internet from here onwards!
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Interesting. May be above my technical knowledge to get something like that up and running initially but will do some research on it.
Bit more fettling to add a little traffic shaping so that the impact of one user thrashing the link is minimal to others!
(Note that while the ultimate speed is very slightly lower, the yellow, blue and magenta ping results are far more consistent now than they were, showing a more consistent service when under heavy load)
Have uploaded the best part of 1TB of data to my shiny new backup service too (shoutout to Hetzner's Storage Box and the wonderful BorgBackup) with no hint of instability. Was getting around 3-400Mbps uplink to Hetzner in German which, while not being perfect, was more than enough to seed my backups in just a few hours. Daily incrementals now take just a few seconds.
So far, so good here and entirely delighted with this. Long may it last.
(Note that while the ultimate speed is very slightly lower, the yellow, blue and magenta ping results are far more consistent now than they were, showing a more consistent service when under heavy load)
Have uploaded the best part of 1TB of data to my shiny new backup service too (shoutout to Hetzner's Storage Box and the wonderful BorgBackup) with no hint of instability. Was getting around 3-400Mbps uplink to Hetzner in German which, while not being perfect, was more than enough to seed my backups in just a few hours. Daily incrementals now take just a few seconds.
So far, so good here and entirely delighted with this. Long may it last.
Associate
I’ve been checking Youfibre regularly for the past few months and on the 27th of June it finally said “
GREAT NEWS!
We are currently designing our ultrafast, full-fibre network for your area.”
and on BidB it says you fibre is planned (and I can see is netomnia is scheduled to start work near my street on the 12th of July).
Today I checked youfibre’s website again and it’s changed from designing to building our network. Does anyone know how long it takes from here for the service to go live?
GREAT NEWS!
We are currently designing our ultrafast, full-fibre network for your area.”
and on BidB it says you fibre is planned (and I can see is netomnia is scheduled to start work near my street on the 12th of July).
Today I checked youfibre’s website again and it’s changed from designing to building our network. Does anyone know how long it takes from here for the service to go live?
Mine was first shovels in the ground at the end of Jan, connection finally live end of June. This is completely area specific though and yours may be quicker or much slower!
Associate
Netomnia just got back to me today and confirmed they hope to have it live by the end of October 2024. Hopefully it’s much earlier than that.
That's good news. Be aware that our date moved back a few times before it settled on July, which they actually managed to beat (just!)
Is yours a new exchange or just new streets around an existing Netomnia-served area? The fact that ours was a new exchange definitely seemed to slow things down a bit and most of the fibre deployment in the streets looked to be completed weeks before the exchange was actually turned on. My install was even completed as a "dry install" two weeks before it was actually commissioned, and I got the feeling that this wasn't normal for them and was due to delays in getting the exchange commissioned.
Fortunately, it isn't yet mandatory to be 100% truthful when filling in forms on the internet. Make some stuff up
Oh, absolutely.Fortunately, it isn't yet mandatory to be 100% truthful when filling in forms on the internet. Make some stuff up
Associate
My exchange is completely new. Only get openreach FTTC here. The only reason we’re even getting Youfibre is because of a new housing development in my area. I can see Netomnia in a few streets around my area on Bidb. The one closest to mine says “
MJ QUINN ARE TO INSTALL 1X FLOORBOX ND LAY APPROX 1M OF DUCT IN FOOTWAY/VERGE” on mastdb.
Sounds very positive. It's worth chatting to the contractors if they're working on stuff outside your house as you may find out a bit more about what's going on. I did and, when they asked which was my house, I was helpfully able to point out my pole which, being a bit hidden in bushes, they'd completely missed. Within 30 mins they'd dug a trench and run some ducting to it, so it was well worth the quick chat!
Seconding the "talk to them if you see them" recommendation - I wouldn't have Lit Fibre unless I'd spoken to the contractors, who turned out to be a second team sent when the first lot couldn't find the chamber, and we would likely have been dropped from the build if we hadn't prodded around in a hedge for it buried under about 20cm of decaying leaves.