Neighbour got G.Fast install date, but nothing on openreach

Hi,
I'm in a USO postcode. Neighbour 2 doors away has been given a G.Fast install date of 2 months time in both email and letter from BT. I rang BT and checked the Openreach website for their and my address, but nothing shows there beyond ADSL for any of us.

Is it possible one arm of BT and/or Openreach doesnt know what the other arm is doing?

regards
Patrick.

Do you mean this checker?

If so, it is a BT Wholesale checker, which is why it doesn't recognise LLU phone numbers, and if you read the small print on the Postcode option it tells you it only shows ADSLx results.

If it is a truly Openreach site you are using I expect there is a similar warning. This is because any given postcode can be served by multiple cabinets, and vice versa.

If you take the Address option, then enter just the postcode in that, it gives a drop down list for all addresses with that postcode, (including those with LLU-numbers), and then the correct estimates for each address on that list.

In any case, USO and G.Fast are only related in the sense that if G.Fast is available to an address, by definition the USO does not apply. The address can already get speeds much higher that the 10Mbps minimum that triggers the USO.

G.Fast is an add-on to phone cabinets (PCPs) that already have an FTTC twin and G.Fast is only offered to addresses that can get high FTTC speeds.

Thanks for reply.
I used this checker - https://www.openreach.com/
and went to the correct house within the postcode.
It says same as the http://www.dslchecker.bt.com/adsl/adslchecker.welcome#
that only ADSL is available.

http://www.dslchecker.bt.com/adsl/adslchecker.welcome# says we're on Market A exchange, while Thinkbroadband says we're on a Market B exchange, whatever that means or is relevant.

I suspect G.Fast is being installed, as until it arrives we are in a USO area.

If G. FAST is being installed then there must already be VDSL2 (FTTC). Are both addresses on the same exchange and cabinet?

At the top of the checker it should show a cab number for each Premise, if these are the same, post your post code and Witchunt may be able to tell us what, if anything, is going on.

If there is no Cab number it means you are straight from the exchange (EO line) and the above still applies.

May be FTTC may be FTTC with G-Fast may be nothing!

As I said, under no circumstances does the USO guarantee G.Fast. The (current) provision of G.Fast is only ever to those close to a PCP that has an FTTC twin.

Anyone who can order G.Fast already has access to well over 60Mbps.

That is not to say that FTTC will nor be installed in a USO-qualifying area, but it is only those close to the cabinet that would perhaps be offered G.Fast. And then, probably only at a later date.

Seeing as G.Fast would be an extra and unnecessary cost where FTTC is provided to fulfil USO obligations, in the short term it seems unlikely to me.

I suggest the information you are being given is either wrong, or incomplete.

For instance, FTTC that is installed under schemes such as BDUK tend not to appear on the BT Wholesale or Openreach checkers until after brought into service.

We're 3.5km as the crow flies from the exchange, and ~5km via the line route.
Postcode for both addresses is BS40 5RE.
Report for my telephone number:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/l2jpam3o9nl3u5g/me.jpg?dl=0
Report for Neighbours telephone number:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/in7y679jrt5axkd/other.jpg?...

Both properties on FTTC, and are so far from the cabinet that ADSL is just as fast. Neither has G.fast (it would be under "Featured Products").

Check again with your neighbour what they've been promised. You can be sure it's not G.fast though. (G.fast has to come from the PCP, and the PCP needs to be within about 300m of the property served)

Are they even sure it's from BT? Not another company like Gigaclear?

I've seen both the email and letter the neighbour received from BT saying "Fibre is coming" (IMO a bit disingenuous advertising).
The letter goes on to say you will receive a speed improvement an no extra cost of ~x3, and we're sending a new router. You can plug new router in now, and we'll contact you on switchover day to enable the improvement.
The router being posted is a "BT Smart Hub 2" which states ADSL, VDSL and G.Fast as in its spec - https://shop.bt.com/products/bt-smart-hub-2-097683-D...

Edited by syncropatrick (Thu 05-Mar-20 13:16:04)

Both of those show VDSL. (Which should say VDSL2).

VDSL2 is FTTC, (Fibre To The Cabinet). From the (FTTC) cabinet to the premises, which goes via the PCP is copper, using VDSL2 rather than ADSL2+, and the speed of up to 80Mbps down, 20Mbps up, depends on that distance.

If the FTTC estimate is as low as those two screenshots show, then G.Fast would not be available to you or your neighbour.

The router will be G.Fast capable, but neither you nor your neighbour will be able to receive it.

Is it possible the VDSL2/FTTC provision is what is new, and what you are waiting for is BT Wholesale to do the switchover?

Edited by RobertoS (Thu 05-Mar-20 13:21:19)