How much does it cost to have FTTP installed?

I am on the Whitchurch (THWI) exchange. We were one of the winners of the Race to Infinity. Most of the cabinets in the town have been deployed with FTTC and have been available for 18 months or so. My cabinet was not deployed with FTTC and we understood that we would eventually get FTTP. I live in a cul-de-sac of 20 properties off a road where the phone lines are supplied by telegraph poles and overhead cables. In our newer properties (1977) the phone lines are supplied underground by armoured cable.

Over the past 18 months BT or their contractors have installed new trunking into the pavement on the other side of the road, installed a new pavement cavity and installed the fibre aggregation node in the cavity (although I did not see them do this personally).

In late March the BT BROADBAND AVAILABILITY CHECKER updated to say:

Telephone Number 0125689xxxx on Exchange WHITCHURCH is served by Cabinet 2
Featured Products Downstream Line Rate(Mbps) Upstream Line Rate(Mbps) Downstream Range(Mbps) Availability Date

WBC FTTP Up to 330 Up to 30 -- Available

WBC ADSL 2+ Up to 14.5 -- 12.5 to 16 Available
WBC ADSL 2+ Annex M Up to 14.5 Up to 1.5 12.5 to 16 Available
ADSL Max Up to 8 -- 7 to 8 Available
WBC Fixed Rate 2 -- -- Available
Fixed Rate 2 -- -- Available
Other Offerings
Fibre Multicast -- -- -- Available
Copper Multicast -- -- -- Available

So on 29th March I placed an order with my ISP, PlusNet to join their FTTP trial. On 10 Apr 2014 I was told:

I have placed the FTTP order for you and provisionally booked the installation appointment for 28/04/2014 between 8 AM and 1 PM.

On 11 Apr 2014 I was told:

Our suppliers have advised a site survey is the next course of action with your order. Following this, your order will get sent to planners who will forecast an estimated date and hopefully an external appointment booking.

On 15 Apr 2014 I was told:

As per our conversation, I have been in touch with our suppliers this morning, and it seems that the existing infrastructure in the lead up to your property is not adequate enough to provide fibre right up to your premise.

Openreach's surveyors have planned a build, and have requested that they check back up for updates on this on 14/05/2014. I know that this is ages away, so my apologies.

An open reach surveyor did come and we discussed how they would channel across the road from the cavity, across my garden and they would terminate the fibre on the front wall of the house. The next stage would be to install the fibre into the house. I signed a Wayleave agreement for British Telecommunications plc to allow the work to go ahead.

On 14 May 2014 I was told:

Our suppliers have informed me that they need to erect a new pole in order to be able to connect the fibre to your premise. To do this, wayleave is needed.

Wayleave is basically when Openreach apply for permission to carry out work on ground that is owned by somebody else. Usually the ground is owned by the council. But on occasion, they have to request to build on private property (I think under your circumstance it's the former).

Openreach have sent off the forms applying for this, and we will need to wait for it to be accepted before any further work can be carried out. We have been asked to check back as of 22/05/2014.

And then today, on 22 May 2014 I was told:

I have contacted our suppliers regarding your FTTP order and they have advised that unfortunately you would be required to pay excess charges of £3277 if you would like to proceed with the order.

So I live in the middle of a small town covered by the BT Commercial rollout for fibre. BT decided to deploy FTTP to my cabinet so I have no choice of FTTC (which I would have been happy with). Now BT are telling me that they want over £3000 to connect my house to the aggregation node which cannot be further than 25m from my front door. Other than the fact that I do not see why I should be paying towards the BT commercial rollout this price seems far higher than the suggested FTTPoD prices. PlusNet have told me that the only choice I have is to pay up or cancel the order. Does anyone have any suggestions where I should go next?

Should be just the £90 GEA-FTTP install fee since it is native FTTP.

They can raise excess construction, just like they can for a telephone line too. How does your existing telephone line reach the property?

It won't be the aggregation node, but if its just 25m it will be to a fibre manifold that serves other properties. This issue should have been spotted when the original roll-out was planned and survey work undertaken.

I am tempted to say its 50/50 that someone has messed up and is dealing with this order as if it was a fibre on demand order.

If you can email me address details and what info you have so far, then I'll pass this onto BT management for someone to double check. If there are a few other properties that would be in the same situation, i.e. neighbours then sounds even more of a mistake.

Andrew, thanks for the offer to look into the situation. I have e-mailed you with my address and phone number.

The telephone line comes into the house through an underground armoured cable as I understand it from neighbours who were here when the properties were built. They say that there is no ducting. There are 16 houses built in 1977-8 in the garden of a larger house which is now 4 flats. I am not sure exactly what is installed in the pavement cavity 25m from my front door on the other side of the road. The BT surveyor said that was where the fibre would come from.

There is certainly an aggregation point (based upon your pictures) in a pavement chamber in the road at the end of our cul-de-sac less than 100m from the house.

Edited by deleted (Thu 22-May-14 20:30:59)

Where are you, a post code would do ?

I have sent you the postcode in a pm.

Is a genuine native FTTP order I think looking at the OP's posts on the PN forums.

Seems like the Openreach database showed FTTP as available, an order was placed and now there's an excessive construction charge (which I've never seen for FTTP before).

A photo of the current telephone pylon would be interesting.

There is no current telephone pylon. My current copper phone line comes in underground in an armoured cable.

Can you see where it comes in? Is it in any ducting or conduit?

Internally I have no modern master socket. Behind the old fashioned master it appears that the armoured cable comes straight into the back box. Certainly the earthing appears very robust. A neighbour who was here when the houses were built said that there is no trunking for the copper. The armoured cable is just buried in the ground.

The BT surveyor also suggested that the fibre would come from a new pavement chamber which was installed over the past 18 month as part of the fibre roll out. So the fibre will be totally independent to the copper.

Ok - this is beginning to make sense.

I think the issue is that Openreach don't want to pay for getting the fibre from the street to your home. They either have to put in ducting or an overhead pole to run the fibre - neither of which will be particularly cheap. Here's the Openreach pricing for excessive construction charges - http://www.openreach.co.uk/orpg/home/products/pricin...

It's poor planning from Openreach in the first place though (particularly if there is no ducting to the houses). If all the houses in your area are in a similar situation, then Openreach should have looked at FTTC.