FTTP Ready to order doesn't mean ready to install

A word of warning for future users of this site. Just because the Openreach database sates you can order FTTP, doesn't mean you will get it.

I'm on a new build estate so you would think Openreach would know what cables are in the ground, where they run and where the distribution points are.

3 weeks ago FTTP suddenly became available for me to order. Great I thought, time to say goodbye to my 1Mb ADSL connection. My first mistake was getting my kids hopes up that we were getting "better internet" (as my son calls it!).

I placed an order with BT for Infinity 3 which was accepted and an appointment for the engineer to attend to install my broadband was made for 2 weeks later. So the day came, the OR engineer turned up when he said he would. I knew as soon as he arrived that there was going to be an issue when he stated that "the system" was showing my DP as being 200m away and he could only run a cable around 150m.

He examined a few of the underground chambers near my house and told me there was one across the road. He then went on the phone to find out what to do. He then told me that he was handing it back to the planning department to sort out what needs to happen and told me I'd get an update by today.

So I called the FTTP team at BT this afternoon. The guy I spoke to, spoke to OR and called me back. They need to send someone out to do a survey, which will happen before next Friday and then I'll know better by then whether they intend to connect me to the nearby DP or the further away one. I'm led to believe the nearby DP isn't yet active which is why I've not been connected to it already.

I'm surprised that Openreach don't know what their network looks like, especially one that's just recently been laid. It's also frustrating that their systems show a product as being available to order, which I take to mean everything is in place on their end.

I think if I had usable broadband it would be make the wait more bearable.

Rant over

It doesn't work like that with your setup. You have copper going to your property (as you have ADSL).

In fibre only new builds the Fibre ONT is already installed and fibre connected to every property.

Your developer probably choose copper initially then changed their mind to FTTP, the reason you have both. In these circumstances they rarely install the fibre to each property until it's ordered. Makes sense to me as not everyone will want it.
If the developer planned ahead the likelihood is it could have been activated the day you moved in.

Okay, I understand that. The OR guy that came out said that I'd be getting the new connectorised method of connection. He would have been able to do it that day if either a) the DP they were telling him to use wasn't so far away or b) the closer DP was active.

So the installer pulling a fibre cable through on the day wasn't the issue. It's OR not knowing what the setup was.

In reply to a post by sparkymark75:

It's OR not knowing what the setup was.

It is too easy saying this. What it really means is one bloke made a mistake. Either in believing the existing hardware had sufficient reach, or in believing more hardware was ready than was in the ground.

Either way, it comes down to one person making a decision about what gets put into the database.

From that point onward, the rest of OR believes the database.

In reply to a post by sparkymark75:

Okay, I understand that. The OR guy that came out said that I'd be getting the new connectorised method of connection. He would have been able to do it that day if either a) the DP they were telling him to use wasn't so far away or b) the closer DP was active.

So the installer pulling a fibre cable through on the day wasn't the issue. It's OR not knowing what the setup was.

All BTOR need to do is the following:

Install another FibreDP and daisy chain it back to the one on the end of the other fibre cable.

If there is no more fibres left, then BTOR will need to run another fibre cable from the Splitter Node up to your hardware.

Once done and tested, update their database, then go live.

This is assuming there is enough space in the ducts and the splitter node.

Paul

In reply to a post by PaulKirby:

In reply to a post by sparkymark75:

Okay, I understand that. The OR guy that came out said that I'd be getting the new connectorised method of connection. He would have been able to do it that day if either a) the DP they were telling him to use wasn't so far away or b) the closer DP was active.

So the installer pulling a fibre cable through on the day wasn't the issue. It's OR not knowing what the setup was.

All BTOR need to do is the following:

Install another FibreDP and daisy chain it back to the one on the end of the other fibre cable.

If there is no more fibres left, then BTOR will need to run another fibre cable from the Splitter Node up to your hardware.

Once done and tested, update their database, then go live.

This is assuming there is enough space in the ducts and the splitter node.

Paul

I totally agree with you there.
Look at all the hassle I had to go through dating back to end of 2011, BT kept insisting there was absolutely no fibre in my area, even though I took photos of all the hardware (when the engineers did work in the chambers I took a crafty NINJA photo LOL) and sent it to them.

Then 5 years of arguing later we now have fibre, so its true you just need to be persistent and keep at them.

Paul

In reply to a post by PaulKirby:

Install another FibreDP and daisy chain it back to the one on the end of the other fibre cable.

If there is no more fibres left, then BTOR will need to run another fibre cable from the Splitter Node up to your hardware.

In the connectorised setup, I don't think a DP provides any means to splice fibres together,to allow daisy-chaining, so the latter case is more likely.

In photos of connectorised equipment in chambers, I recall seeing a lot of small cables (with the spiral plastic protectors). See 6th image here:
http://blog.thinkbroadband.com/2016/06/a-peek-at-the...

In reply to a post by WWWombat:

In reply to a post by PaulKirby:

Install another FibreDP and daisy chain it back to the one on the end of the other fibre cable.

If there is no more fibres left, then BTOR will need to run another fibre cable from the Splitter Node up to your hardware.

In the connectorised setup, I don't think a DP provides any means to splice fibres together,to allow daisy-chaining, so the latter case is more likely.

So if no daisy chaining is not happening, then they are wasting a lot of fibre cables and reducing the available space in the duct, how stupid is that.

In reply to a post by WWWombat:

In photos of connectorised equipment in chambers, I recall seeing a lot of small cables (with the spiral plastic protectors). See 6th image here:
http://blog.thinkbroadband.com/2016/06/a-peek-at-the...

So each cable is going from the splitter node to an individual connectorized block.

Like I already said above, they will be wasting a huge amount of fibre cables if that's what they are doing.

Plus sod having to sit up the stop of the poll joining all the fibres to the connectorized block.

Much better and safer to have a premade connectorized block with a pre-length of fibre cable already fitted and sealed, to then tack to the pole and then into the chamber to a form of DP where they are all joint together.

See I would of still had the FibreDP installed and have that connected up to the Connectorized Block at the same time.
Then when the engineer arrives to install the FTTP to the home/building they would just need to use the premade fibre cable.

Paul

Far too much logical thinking going on in here

All the fibre in my area is underground.

Yep, connectorised blocks come pre made, you run the tail back to a common node and splice there.

Even if half way up a pole you leave long enough tails so it can be brought down to ground level for the infrequent splicing it may need.