[FTTP] Getting Openreach to fix their Database

I'm about to move into a new-build flat in Acton on Monday. On my snagging visit last week I was shown the FTTP equipment which is already installed in the flat. According to the developer, everything is set-up and should be ready to order.

See a pic of the installation here: FTTP ONT

Unfortunately that's not entirely true. When I lookup my postcode I get no availability information at all. A call to BT yielded the same result, they are unable to let me order any service since they can't determine any availability.

Reaching out to Openreach's New Build Department has been unsuccessful so far. They claim "equipment usually get's installed a few days before a tenant moves in", that's nice to know, but merely ignoring the fact that I already have the ONT in my new utilities cabinet.

It's increasingly hard for an end-customer to reach someone at OR who can actually fix the problem. Anyone here at TBB who might be able to help?

Cheers,
maui

In the new builds I�ve worked in with native FTTP there is usually some bumf knocking about with details of how to order on it ... not at yours I presume ?

You can see in your photo that the PON light is lit, so it should just be a matter of ordering and connecting up the router on the go live date.

I take it your address & postcode is already correctly showing on the Royal Mail database? Because many new builds don�t get added to Royal Mails systems immediately (which OR use) and you need to chase this up with RM if necessary. If everything is ok with the RM side of things then email your full address and landline no to one of the forum mods Andrew, and he should be able to get OR to correct their database.

[email protected]

Edit: perhaps you should try ordering just a voice service from bt (fva) for now which once goes live, may update the BT DSL checker. If going with BT broadband you will need a voice service from them anyway....forget about going with Sky/TalkTalk/Vodafone etc as they don�t supply a service over FTTP.

Edited by deleted (Fri 20-Oct-17 14:02:08)

Agreed...

We did fire off an email about Infinity 3/4 vanishing from some BT site pages, but was still offering Infinity and Infinity 2 to those with native FTTP option.

The key is to check with the retail, wholesale and Openreach pages as mistakes in any of them can cause issues.

BTW Friday afternoon is a bad time to send emails like this, Monday morning is best as I can then forward it on after the checks and likely someone is in an office at Openreach.

BTW Friday afternoon is a bad time to send emails like this

Poets day innit

So my issue is definitely their database. BTw Checker and OR W&W have trouble showing anything for my postcode (and all the "new" addresses it contains)

The postcode itself has been resolvable for quite some time via Royal Mail.

I've sent an email containing my details. Thanks again for helping me speak to someone at OR. I'd rather not send another angry email to the OR & BT CEOs (Which I did last year, and ultimately got me FTTC in Hammersmith)

Not here, usual 9am to 7pm in office chair and then night time tasks while watching TV

Watch out for pressure sores then Andrew

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

We did fire off an email about Infinity 3/4 vanishing from some BT site pages, but was still offering Infinity and Infinity 2 to those with native FTTP option.

Yeah it was the same with my order last year, BT's System did its checks and said I can get up to 300 Mbits or 330 Mbits (cannot remember) sadly it only showed Infinity 1 and Infinity 2 packages on their site.

I phoned and I was able to get Infinity 4, so it was just a site issue.

I did check the other day and it was showing all 4 Infinity packages, so I guess its fixed now.

Paul

Who put that lot in that position?

Electronics that close to the CU - potential for lots of noise and interference (not on the fibre though).

And mounting those boxes - right in the middle of the "safe zones" where the cables run to and from the sockets and cover blanking plates, the installer was fortunate not to get a shock although there is no proof that the fixings screws are not live.

I was talking about it worked 10 days ago (last check), but on Friday it was not showing the options for 3 and 4 to be clear.

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

I was talking about it worked 10 days ago (last check), but on Friday it was not showing the options for 3 and 4 to be clear.

Ah, ok, well for me its showing options 3 and 4 shown in this image.

So maybe its fixed now.

Paul

That would be a good question. Given that it's a new-build, and the fact that I will still have to pay line-rental with FTTP anyways. Should I have to go ahead and order a plain BT landline? Just worried this will just complicate things.

Post deleted by baby_frogmella

In reply to a post by baby_frogmella:

Should I have to go ahead and order a plain BT landline? Just worried this will just complicate things.

If you're 100% sure there's no copper line installed in your new home (usually new builds with Openreach FTTP don't have copper as well) then the quickest way to resolve this is to just order a BT voice line (fva) - if ordering over the phone DO NOT mention anything about broadband. Once your BT line is active, you'll find the BT checker will magically show WBC FTTP at which point you'll be able to place a broadband order.

Openreach now tells me this:

I can confirm that your property will be provided with a full fibre to the premises line (a fibre cable all the way from the exchange direct to your property). This means you will have access to ultrafast broadband from a selection of service providers.
In your case, our engineers now need to connect your property to the onsite splitter (this is the onsite equipment that connects your premises to the fibre network)
Even If your premises have already been pre-fitted with an Optical Network terminal (this is actually a modem and will be connected to a wall inside your premises) they may still need access to your premises.
In general, this part of the journey should take around 2 weeks. Once completed, we should be able to move on to the final stage of works, which will be commissioning (the final testing of the network).

I find it rather odd that they would equip a whole block of flats with FTTP and then never connect them up, exposing customers to 2+ weeks of additional wait time.

In reply to a post by mauimauer:

I find it rather odd that they would equip a whole block of flats with FTTP and then never connect them up, exposing customers to 2+ weeks of additional wait time.

Not odd at all, as not every resident will be taking out the service so makes absolutely no sense for Openreach to spend time & money pre-wiring all premises. OR can add splitters as and when required. Anyway ~ 2 weeks is not a long time to wait, many people have to wait years for FTTP.

Well, a little bit more escalation on my part seems to have brought it very close to being "available"
The ONT PON light is not blinking anymore, it's steady green, indicating an active optical link. All of this happened remotely, which would indicate the new estate was in-fact already wired up to all units by OR.

Now it's just their database that is preventing me from ordering. Is this something that will update spontaneously, or does OR rollout their DB updates on a fixed schedule (ie. let's say midnight)

If you would like to send a private message to me, I will be happy to provide a quotation and place an order for you. We have done this with new build properties before and had the service live the next day as a 'succession provide'

Have you ordered a voice only service from BT (fva) as suggested earlier? If yes, then once that goes live it should correct the BT/OR database wrt broadband services.

I think that is considered advertising on these forums and if so is against the rules.

Post can remain but consider a warning given (first offence leeway)

Being helpful on the FoD side where choice is limited is different to saying order from us on GEA-FTTP and all will be well.

If the PON is now lit and that happened on Tuesday I'd give it Wednesday 8th for the checkers to update

No, BT and OR have advised to not order any single LL/FVA since it will also be dependent on the correct state of their database.

The 8th, for a database update. Boy, that seems long. OR actually reached out and said it should definitely work by Thursday (ie. tomorrow).

At least I got some updates now. The most frustrating part is when they won't give you any insight (which I guess is also fine for a consumer not really interested in the nitty gritty details)

48 hours is common, but giving a week allows for other issues delaying the update

By the strike of midnight I finally got internet. The checker database was actually fixed last friday. Looking at BT and Cerberus, BT was only able to give me an installation date 3 weeks out (and for some reason did not let me remove the Premium Install option) so I bit the bullet and went with Cerberus.

The same rationale as Zen applies here, it's a bit pricier but in the need you're in capable hands and can talk to real people if you need to. Thanks to the efforts of Martin and Neal of Cerberus, I got the service activated in just 2 days (not counting the weekend really).

The static IP is nice, they also hand out a /64 v6 network, but I still have to fiddle with my EdgeRouter to get that assigned properly.

All well that ends well

Glad to hear you got it sorted in the end. Which speed tier did you go for with Cerberus? What does the TBB speed test look like for your connection?

www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest

It's a bit strange BT gave you an installation date as it looks like the service just needed to be activated.

Was there a leaflet left with a BBEU number? I think this is provided for flats that already have FTTP installed and ready to go.

Well, no, all I ever got was the S/N of the ONT. That's all Openreach ever wanted. BT on the other hand had no clue...and my interaction with their support was a hot mess. (I understand FTTP is rare)
But they insisted it'll take 2.5 weeks and I would need an engineer to visit the premises.

Neither of those things were the case.

I'll unpack my wired workstation tonight so I can get some good measurements off the WiFi

That's a bit strange as you should have been left with at least this - https://www.ournetwork.openreach.co.uk/resources/sit...

I think the S/N of the ONT is the BBEU or network identified ID that they need to activate the service. Obviously it's all done remotely.

Do Cerberus provide you with a phone line also? Most of the new build flats these days pre-wired for FTTP do not come with a copper line, so you're pretty much stuck with mainly BT Retail if you want a phone/internet service (unless you go VoIP with another provider).

In reply to a post by AndyHCZ:

That's a bit strange as you should have been left with at least this - https://www.ournetwork.openreach.co.uk/resources/sit...

I think the S/N of the ONT is the BBEU or network identified ID that they need to activate the service. Obviously it's all done remotely.

Do Cerberus provide you with a phone line also? Most of the new build flats these days pre-wired for FTTP do not come with a copper line, so you're pretty much stuck with mainly BT Retail if you want a phone/internet service (unless you go VoIP with another provider).

Cerberus can provide PSTN services in addition. These can be for voice, ADSL and for FTTC purposes - whatever matches the customer requirement at the time.

Is that thinly veiled advertising?

Anyway, you cannot provide a PSTN service if there is no copper line. It's increasingly common with native GEA-FTTP new builds that they are pure fibre builds.

I agree Andy, and Cerberus has had a warning for this already ...

Someone else had mentioned Cerberus but the post while answering a question avoids the question of what happens with voice services in FTTP only builds, i.e. does Cerberus do Fibre Voice Access

Never received any leaflet. To be fair, the Developer has probably botched a lot of this. Half of the development is still without service (and blinking ONTs).

Oddly enough the whole place is also wired with BT extension sockets in every room. Right
now I'm trying to find out if they all end up in the utility cabinet where the ONT is (since there is no master socket whatsoever).

If the cables turn out to be Cat5e or better I might just replace the sockets with RJ45 jacks...
I know this is slightly OT, but does this look like something "better than phone wire"?

There�s normally a pre made cable with a PSTN jack at either end. It should be plugged into the �TEL1� jack under the ONTE and then into the PSTN socket adjacent to it. This should make all the other extension points live. (If the FVA service is live at the ONTE)

Difficult to see if that�s CAT5 they�ve used... they�ve split the pairs too far back to tell.

you�d need to remove a little more of the sheathing to tell for sure .. I suspect it may be.

And is there any colour on the White wires? The Cat5e requires them to be identified.


And the Ty-wrap is doing b-all ... it should be round the sheath holding everything in place.

Well, I followed the cables back to the utility closet.

Bingo! It's CAT5e!
I guess I'll need some new wallplates and a patchpanel.

In reply to a post by mauimauer:

Well, I followed the cables back to the utility closet.

Bingo! It's CAT5e!
I guess I'll need some new wallplates and a patchpanel.

Hopefully none of the cables are daisy-chained off other sockets then, i.e. each one goes back individually to the utility closet.

That's the case. Found 4 individual ends in trunking box in the utility cabinet

Or, if it suited better, use one to shift the router away from the ONTE ?

Or perhaps leave the router in the cupboard, but use some of the cable to a separate WiFI AP.