How do I make a complaint about FTTC roll out in my area?

After the recent demise of the be network I've had enough. I've been told by BT openreach time and time again: just another 3 months, no really just another 3! This has been happening since July. There is still no [censored] cab erected next to my existing regular cab. I am sick of the horseshit being thrown my way by BT. So who do I complain to? Can someone please help me regain my sanity!

IMHO, you can't.

Well, that's not strictly true - you can but you'll get platitudes in return.

I've recently been in contact with SuperfastCymru or SuperFarce to be more correct.

Despite specific questions, the answers are pretty much a pro forma.

Just have to sit and wait.

What makes you think that you have the right to complain? BT are a commercial company who will spend the money that they have to make the most profit from their customers for their share holders. They do not have to set their plans in stone. And if they can keep you hanging on by telling you just wait 3 months then they will.

If you have a choice then go with that. If you have no choice, like many of us, then you will just have to sit and wait. The rest of our exchange has had FTTC for nearly 2 years now. They tell us that the lines on my cab will get FTTP. They have been working on that for 18 months. But like you I have no choice but to sit and wait.

In reply to a post by brightd:

What makes you think that you have the right to complain?

Of course he has the right to complain, and BT have the right to ignore him.

But if enough people complain about the same issue, they may decide that their initial decision was wrong.

Or they may not.

What makes you think that you have the right to complain?

In fairness, this is a government funded program i.e. our taxes.

Someone, somewhere must be responsible. Though having grown up on Yes Primeminister I'm beginning to doubt that is the case.

Write to your MP?

Actually if the cabinet was announced in July originally probability suggests it is a commercially funded one.

First stage is to determine whether commercial or BDUK funded, then chase the right people.

Odds on answer from both will be: We are busy rolling out super fast broadband as fast as we can and are working are way through the areas.

Which means: We are getting the easier to do areas done first and any that hit a snag go to the back of the queue to be looked at later.

You are aware they can be legitimate operational reasons for delays?

I can tell you of some cabinets that are 12+ months delayed...

Lol, that site is hilarious

In reply to a post by fiddler:

Someone, somewhere must be responsible. Though having grown up on Yes Primeminister I'm beginning to doubt that is the case.

"If nobody knows what you're doing, then nobody knows what you're doing wrong!"

I'd say that covers all "fibre broadband" roll-outs involving BT, not just Wales.
Talk about the whole thing being ass about face, the fact there is pretty much only one provider, hilarious!

Sit and wait is very true, however if you are in Anglesey or Gwynedd the delivery has been quite immpressive and there is no way you can say the area isn't rural.

Looking at the real map, from nothing there are now large numbers of exchanges in both areas enabled.

But if I was in Powys I would be very disappointed as none have been done yet. Looking at the terrain it doesn't actually surprise me as apart from Newtown there is nothing for 30miles until you get to Llandrindod and Buluith Wells and none of these are exactly big towns then another gap to Brecon.
It wouldn't surprise me if there were very few cabinets existing between Newtown and the the Wells to work on!

In reply to a post by kitcat:

Sit and wait is very true, however if you are in Anglesey or Gwynedd the delivery has been quite impressive and there is no way you can say the area isn't rural.

That depends how you define rural - if you're >2miles from an exchange or cab you're probably no better off unless you have FTTP.

That said, it's mostly telegraph poles where I live (Carmarthenshire/Powys) so is there any hope of the overhead copper being replaced with fibre and having FTTP?

Edited by deleted (Sat 01-Mar-14 17:54:25)

Fibre via overhead poles has been done elsewhere so its not impossible, but given the budgets are such that to ensure value for money, it is not about delivering to the person who shouts loudest, but covering the maximum number of people for the minimal cost that ticks the delivered box

At some point, the copper will need replacing. The old adage of doing a job properly once probably applies.

Regarding value for money, my exchange was recently upgraded to 21CN. Seems a waste of money if fibre is coming (at some point).

It depends. My parents exchange was also upgraded recently to 21CN and now they get 20Mbps broadband but the PCP they are connected to is around 900m away so they probably won't see much benefit if fibre does turn up.

With telecoms, the adage of doing just enough, just in time is probably more apt. Statistically, and therefore financially, it makes more sense to do just enough than to give people 20x the speed they want (or want to pay for) when it costs 5x as much and takes 5x as long.

The estimates for BT's NGA still stands at a 20% takeup, so there's plenty of people who will benefit from plain 21CN connectivity. But there are plenty of reasons internal to BT for them to upgrade anyway: the 20CN DSLAMs are life-expired, and the backhaul cost per Gbps is a lot cheaper on 21CN.

My upgrade was due June 2012. Exchange went live after 33 out of 34 cab appeared....#34 being mine. It was bumped to Sept 2012 and then pulled altogether.

A bit of a fight with the West Sussex Better Connected people and BT and they backed down in Dec 2012 and put it back on the rollout. Cab appeared in May 2013 with the go live of Oct 13...then Dec 13 then 31th March 2014. That's little over 3 weeks away and the BT works that were on Roadworks.org for a couple of weeks ago go postponed for this week.... which didn't happen and now the work has vanished from Roadworks.org.

I'm not holding my breath anymore for the fear of turning blue.

Don't get bothered about it. They're not in a hurry.

Mine has been "almost there" for four years now. Roadworks for the site of the cabinet have been booked at least a couple dozen times, and they've never once done anything. Multiple other cabinets around here were installed two years ago and never even connected up.

I think perhaps what happens is rollout pressure to get an exchange "ready to accept orders", ie get two or three cabinets working, then abandon it and move onto others.

Just checked my number again - fttc due end of March! Won't hold my breath (especially since they've not even booked any roadworks, so it's actually impossible it'll be even started on by then).

Edited by arfster (Fri 07-Mar-14 04:45:25)

In reply to a post by kitcat:

Sit and wait is very true, however if you are in Anglesey or Gwynedd the delivery has been quite immpressive and there is no way you can say the area isn't rural.

Looking at the real map, from nothing there are now large numbers of exchanges in both areas enabled.

But if I was in Powys I would be very disappointed as none have been done yet. Looking at the terrain it doesn't actually surprise me as apart from Newtown there is nothing for 30miles until you get to Llandrindod and Buluith Wells and none of these are exactly big towns then another gap to Brecon.
It wouldn't surprise me if there were very few cabinets existing between Newtown and the the Wells to work on!

If I lived in Llandudno where my Dad does I'd be livid. Llandudno is still being shown as 'Under evaluation'. I really don't get it. Llandudno is not some quiet little holiday resort that goes dead out of season. It's a vibrant town of 20,000 people. Presumably BT has good reasons but it's always been slow to get any kind of network upgrade.