TalkTalk UFO install - access to telegraph pole?

I've got a TalkTalk UFO broadband installation date next Monday - this is the UFO service put in by FibreNation in various towns, not the Openreach FTTP service.

My question: there is quite frequently a work's van from an unknown neighbour (they store it there and walk a couple of streets away) parked on the footpath directly in front of my telegraph pole, preventing engineer access to the pole - a previous landline repair was unable to go ahead because of this f****** van.

When the street was dug by FibreNation and the fibre was put in earlier in the year, it appeared to go to the telegraph pole I'm connected to rather than to the individual properties on the street. I've been allowed to order at my address and given an estimated speed, so I assume I am able to connect to the service!

Will the engineer who comes to install my service require access to the pole in order to do the install? I'm a little worried that he will show up, say "I can't do the job because of that van" and clear off. (The installation is booked for 7-9am and the van normally leaves at 8-ish.) I've got university starting the following week and classes are largely online, which is why I've gone for the fibre.

Edited by abigailk (Tue 15-Sep-20 09:53:23)

Only seen TalkTalk UFO installs that are underground before. So first that might be over a pole.

Is it possible to talk to van driver and request they leave space around pole for that day. As unknown a polite not under wiper blade explaining expecting possible work on pole from 7am that day.

Thanks, Andrew. I'll write a polite note explaining the situation - or see if I can catch him when he arrives home one day this week. It'd be very easy for the van driver not to obstruct the pole, it isn't a busy street and he could park a few metres back from it without an issue.

I'm not quite clear on what the installation is going to look like - they've run fibre under the street to each telegraph pole in the neighbourhood, and then up to the top of the poles. (In parts of town with terraced housing, they've done the more traditional "fibre to each property" thing, as far as I can tell, but this is an estate with semi-detached houses and gardens.)

When I booked the install, TalkTalk confirmed that Openreach (or their contractors) are doing it, so I assume they will run the fibre from the pole to the house, and then down the wall and in. It will have to either replace or be in addition to the existing copper wire (which I'm not bothered about keeping).

Sod's Law says in the van driver leaves it clear, someone else will park there. Let's hope not.

if the van driver leaves it clear, if the op has a car they can park there then move as required

And if they don't have a car ...
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Get a hi-vis sleeping bag quick 🥳

Or as many streets do, place wheelie bin with not attached in the spot when its empty.

Thanks, that's a good idea - I'll leave my car in the van driver's "spot" while he's out the day before, and shift it when the OR engineer arrives.

This Street View image - https://i.imgur.com/9tl1TCS.png - shows the pole issue. The van parks on the footpath directly in front of the pole, almost touching it (and completely blocking the footpath). This is the pole that has now had fibre run up to it and that my house is connected to.

How very selfish of the van driver.

I dare say it won’t help, but I believe there is legislation coming in to make any parking on pavements illegal.

There has definitely been an increase in "work's vans" (including Openreach!) parked/stored around residential areas over the past few years - I suspect some bean-counter has seen some kind of cost saving in having people take their van home at night rather than travelling to a base each morning to pick it up. This particular van is branded up with the name of a big national company (PHS Group).

It is a pain for everyone else, though - a lot of people don't have enough parking, and neighbourhoods are littered with the [censored] things.

Edited by abigailk (Tue 15-Sep-20 18:07:22)

In reply to a post by abigailk:

There has definitely been an increase in "work's vans" (including Openreach!) parked/stored around residential areas over the past few years - I suspect some bean-counter has seen some kind of cost saving in having people take their van home at night rather than travelling to a base each morning to pick it up. This particular van is branded up with the name of a big national company (PHS Group).

It is a pain for everyone else, though - a lot of people don't have enough parking, and neighbourhoods are littered with the [censored] things.

You may want to check with Zarjaz if he takes his [censored] van home

You may want to check with Zarjaz if he takes his [censored] van home

He does.

But it isn’t blocking access to any line plant.

Isn't it a bit heavy for you to take it?

Though I suppose lots of people take buses or trains home.

Edited by RobertoS (Tue 15-Sep-20 19:01:18)

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

I believe there is legislation coming in to make any parking on pavements illegal.

If that is simplistic, knee jerk legislation, that could have an impact on jobs.

Very old, narrow streets, nowhere else to park except half on the pavement. There is no car parking anywhere for the houses, yet since mid 1990s most people need a vehicle of some sort to get to work (way outside town, not on bus routes etc).

Legislation needs to be adaptive, in that example, then one side of the road should be prevented from parking on, allowing pavement access, and the other side should be marked out in bays.

Then the parking can be managed, rather than free for all.

It is illegal to park on the pavement, and should be reported to your local police, not only is it illegal but very inconvenient for disabled people in wheelchairs, mothers with prams etc.etc.

In reply to a post by APTMAN:

It is illegal to park on the pavement, and should be reported to your local police, not only is it illegal but very inconvenient for disabled people in wheelchairs, mothers with prams etc.etc.

In very bold type but unfortunately wrong.

It is illegal to park on the pavement in the 32 London Boroughs and the City of London (Greater London (General Purposes) Act 1974) unless there is signage specifically allowing it. In the rest of the UK, parking on the pavement is not banned unless the Local Authority has made a Traffic Regulation Order to proscribe it. The Police or Civil Enforcement Officers may take action in the event of causing an obstruction if there is no TRO but obstruction is not defined in law.

Lots more information available in about 10 seconds worth of search engine time so no need to make incorrect statements nor to type them up in shout mode.

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

You may want to check with Zarjaz if he takes his [censored] van home

He does.

But it isn’t blocking access to any line plant.

Good to hear

I came across some overhead works recently in the YO10 4** area, the contractors vans had FibreNation branding. Some streets actually have a mix of regular toby boxes in the footway and pole-mounted fibre DPs.

The initial works appeared to involve digging a trench and leaving a loop of fibre on the poles, a week or so later that fibre had been terminated in a DP at the top of the pole.

Some of the poles are getting quite busy with copper DP, Openreach BFT manifolds, Openreach CBTs, UFO/FibreNation DP at the top. As some feed 20+ properties do UFO/FibreNation have to remove Openreach OH feeds when a customer switches (or Openreach remove the UFO/FibreNation OH feed when a customer switches back) to keep within the loading limits on the pole?

Surely if there's works to be done there's usually barriers/cones or something put up to advise people not to park there?

In reply to a post by darkmast2:

Surely if there's works to be done there's usually barriers/cones or something put up to advise people not to park there?

Telegraph poles need accessed all the time, sometimes at a few hours notice.
To do what you suggest you would need to cone them off permanently.

In reply to a post by tdw42:

I came across some overhead works recently in the YO10 4** area, the contractors vans had FibreNation branding. Some streets actually have a mix of regular toby boxes in the footway and pole-mounted fibre DPs.

The initial works appeared to involve digging a trench and leaving a loop of fibre on the poles, a week or so later that fibre had been terminated in a DP at the top of the pole.

Some of the poles are getting quite busy with copper DP, Openreach BFT manifolds, Openreach CBTs, UFO/FibreNation DP at the top. As some feed 20+ properties do UFO/FibreNation have to remove Openreach OH feeds when a customer switches (or Openreach remove the UFO/FibreNation OH feed when a customer switches back) to keep within the loading limits on the pole?

This is what's happened here (Kirklees area FN rollout) - I'm not up on the technical details of what the parts are, but I was at home in lockdown during the early summer build-out so I was watching! The trench was dug down the street to each pole and the fibre was left coiled up part-way up the poles, later they arrived and ran the fibre to a "black box" at the top of the pole, and that's how it is now. A couple of months later (presumably after they'd set up their infrastructure at the exchange) I got a letter saying it was available to order.

My pole only feeds five houses and there isn't any other fibre here - Openreach haven't "done" us, perhaps because FibreNation have. I don't know if they will take down the copper when they put up the fibre, or leave both - I will report back as to what it physically looks like if the installation goes ahead successfully!

As for footpath parking, I didn't want to start a big argument! The van is a bit of an irritant in general (blocks the footpath and causes the road to narrow, lots of annoying traffic arguments and Mexican standoffs outside particularly when sat navs send 40 ton trucks along the street, not to mention obstructing Openreach's pole) but it's not the end of the world.

PS. Quick question re. FibreNation - TalkTalk UFO is the only service currently available to order (and is reasonably priced, so I'm fine with that). Is it likely that there will be competing providers on the infrastructure in future or is this a bit like Virgin, where it's a one-provider thing?

Edited by abigailk (Wed 16-Sep-20 09:49:51)

In reply to a post by abigailk:

PS. Quick question re. FibreNation - TalkTalk UFO is the only service currently available to order (and is reasonably priced, so I'm fine with that). Is it likely that there will be competing providers on the infrastructure in future or is this a bit like Virgin, where it's a one-provider thing?

There will be competing providers in future. FibreNation was bought by CityFibre, and I'd expect them to integrate the acquisition.

CityFibre currently has Vodafone as exclusive reseller for the residential market, but only for a limited time and on a city-by-city basis. After that they will open up the network for wholesale access to whoever wants it.

In reply to a post by candlerb:

In reply to a post by abigailk:

PS. Quick question re. FibreNation - TalkTalk UFO is the only service currently available to order (and is reasonably priced, so I'm fine with that). Is it likely that there will be competing providers on the infrastructure in future or is this a bit like Virgin, where it's a one-provider thing?

There will be competing providers in future. FibreNation was bought by CityFibre, and I'd expect them to integrate the acquisition.

CityFibre currently has Vodafone as exclusive reseller for the residential market, but only for a limited time and on a city-by-city basis. After that they will open up the network for wholesale access to whoever wants it.

That's good news. I'm on a cheap 18-month deal with TalkTalk which jumps in price after month 19. In 18 months, there could be other providers on the network and I can jump ship to someone else's new customer offer...!

This saga continues! I'm still working at home this week, so I'm able to see what's going on. Two blokes turned up in a pickup truck early this morning, parked at the top of my driveway and sort of had a look at the pavement in front of my house, scraping at it a bit before clearing off.

I'm not sure why they'd need to do anything with the pavement if it isn't an underground install, and the fibre hasn't been run down this side of the street, only down the side of the street with the poles. I do hope it's able to go ahead.

Did you speak to them? what did they say?

They were here and gone within a couple of minutes - I was about to go out and say hello and they raced off.

In reply to a post by abigailk:

They were here and gone within a couple of minutes - I was about to go out and say hello and they raced off.

Two thoughts from me (both possibly wrong),

1) your new connection may not be installed overhead via the pole.
2) the wrong team came out and a pole climbing team needs to be sent out.

Fibrenation/Cityfibre where possible try to use existing or new u/g ducts up to the customer premises but o/h cabling is still used in certain cases. As others have said, don't rule out the possibility that you may be be getting u/g cabling.

https://www.fibrenation.com/faqs/#Working+on+your+st...

A quick update on this - Openreach rejected the order. I can't actually reach TalkTalk to discuss why this may have been, which suggests that I may have dodged a proverbial bullet with regard to this ISP's customer service!

I only found out by pestering them on their forum to ask why My Account wasn't working - I didn't actually receive any communications from them, so I would have been sitting at home on Monday morning wondering where my engineer was... not great.

Edited by abigailk (Fri 18-Sep-20 15:34:17)

Sorry I'm confused, I thought this had nothing to do with Openreach as it was TalkTalk over FibreNation not Openreach.

In reply to a post by abigailk:

A quick update on this - Openreach rejected the order. I can't actually reach TalkTalk to discuss why this may have been, which suggests that I may have dodged a proverbial bullet with regard to this ISP's customer service!

I only found out by pestering them on their forum to ask why My Account wasn't working - I didn't actually receive any communications from them, so I would have been sitting at home on Monday morning wondering where my engineer was... not great.

Ummmm what would Openreach have to do with this when it's Cityfibre & it's contractors doing the build? Might be worth getting in touch with Cityfibre directly (ie bypass Fibrenation & TalkTalk) to get a clearer answer. I've found CF to be extremely helpful when trying to get further info on their FTTP rollout in my city.

In reply to a post by Highland76:

In reply to a post by abigailk:

A quick update on this - Openreach rejected the order. I can't actually reach TalkTalk to discuss why this may have been, which suggests that I may have dodged a proverbial bullet with regard to this ISP's customer service!

I only found out by pestering them on their forum to ask why My Account wasn't working - I didn't actually receive any communications from them, so I would have been sitting at home on Monday morning wondering where my engineer was... not great.

Ummmm what would Openreach have to do with this when it's Cityfibre & it's contractors doing the build? Might be worth getting in touch with Cityfibre directly (ie bypass Fibrenation & TalkTalk) to get a clearer answer. I've found CF to be extremely helpful when trying to get further info on their FTTP rollout in my city.

Thank you for the pointer towards CityFibre! While TalkTalk allowed me to go through with the order process, a quick check on CityFibre's postcode/address checker tells me that at my address, they are "currently planning the build programme in your area". I also don't know where Openreach come in, other than that it's their pole? There's definitely nothing under the ground outside my house, but there is a FibreNation DP at the top of my pole. I've contacted CityFibre to see what on earth is up.

Something has gone very wrong somewhere - I have been receiving quite a lot of marketing material from FibreNation and TalkTalk through the post (addressed mail, not just random leaflets). In any case, the quality of customer service I have received through the order process makes me want to stay well away from TalkTalk - I will trade some speed for a phone that gets answered and a sentient human on the other end of an email.

Slightly off topic but something I hadn't considered before, if non Openreach providers are going to use poles owned by Openreach who are going to protect those poles from overloading on their ring head (aka ring at top of pole)?

In reply to a post by abigailk:

In any case, the quality of customer service I have received through the order process makes me want to stay well away from TalkTalk - I will trade some speed for a phone that gets answered and a sentient human on the other end of an email.

Unfortunately Talktalk are the only ISP currently available via FibreNation.

So if you don't go with Talktalk then you're stuck with whatever is available on the OpenReach network.

It's OpenReach's pole but FibreNation/CityFibre are simply using PIA (physical infrastructure access) to rent access to OpenReach's ducts and poles.
None of the usual OpenReach ISP's are available despite using their poles.

Vodafone might start selling it in the future.

In reply to a post by j0hn83:

In reply to a post by abigailk:

In any case, the quality of customer service I have received through the order process makes me want to stay well away from TalkTalk - I will trade some speed for a phone that gets answered and a sentient human on the other end of an email.

Unfortunately Talktalk are the only ISP currently available via FibreNation.

So if you don't go with Talktalk then you're stuck with whatever is available on the OpenReach network.

It's OpenReach's pole but FibreNation/CityFibre are simply using PIA (physical infrastructure access) to rent access to OpenReach's ducts and poles.
None of the usual OpenReach ISP's are available despite using their poles.

Vodafone might start selling it in the future.

1Gbps was a "nice to have" rather than an "essential" - if I'm relying on having a connection I'd rather be with a provider who aren't completely incommunicado as TalkTalk are. Their live chat is perpetually out of commission, and I left my phone playing their hold music for over an hour earlier today. No thanks!

Were you using a live chat specific to the UFO product?

They have a separate phone number for UFO.
The normal Talktalk support can't help with anything UFO.

I'd guess the standard live chat on their site goes through to an agent who deals with their normal broadband offerings.

I've always been under the impression Talktalk UFO support was considerably better than the standard offshore call centre support you get with OpenReach based offerings.

I'd bite their hand off for the available upstream at the price they charge.

Edited by j0hn83 (Fri 18-Sep-20 18:02:28)

Openreach network auditors

Yes, it was the specific UFO number given in my welcome email (0800 230 0272), and the UFO live chat on the UFO home page. No answer from either - the live chat just says it's unavailable (within business hours) and the phone number plays hold music forever - I left it playing for an hour.

Perhaps they previously had a small team dealing with York users only, and as their footprint has expanded they haven't expanded the team to match. It would explain the total lack of any way of getting in touch.

Are you able to register on the TT forums? If so, post your query on the dedicated TalkTalk UFO forum, where one of the TT OCEs will get back to you.

https://community.talktalk.co.uk/t5/Ultra-Fibre-Opti...

In reply to a post by Highland76:

Are you able to register on the TT forums? If so, post your query on the dedicated TalkTalk UFO forum, where one of the TT OCEs will get back to you.

https://community.talktalk.co.uk/t5/Ultra-Fibre-Opti...

I posted a thread on there yesterday, asking why I couldn't log in to My Account, which is how I found out the order was rejected.

The customer service rep stopped responding when I asked why. I presume that once they know they aren't getting any money, they stop caring - which is fair enough, but not the kind of outfit I want to deal with.

As others have already said TT have a dedicated UFO Sales Dept totally separate from their regular sales team, strange that you’re not getting any joy from them. Also why would they stop responding to you if you have placed an order with them?

However if you don’t want to deal with TalkTalk then you won’t be getting FibreNation FTTP at present, it’s as simple as that. Your choice.

Edited by Highland76 (Sat 19-Sep-20 11:53:01)

If it was me, I would want to persist and find out why my order had been cancelled before I decided if to walk away. There is still an unanswered question about the guys who turned up earlier in the week at the top of your drive, kicked the ground and left. Something has caused it to be cancelled and I would want to find out.

In reply to a post by dect:

If it was me, I would want to persist and find out why my order had been cancelled before I decided if to walk away. There is still an unanswered question about the guys who turned up earlier in the week at the top of your drive, kicked the ground and left. Something has caused it to be cancelled and I would want to find out.

I don't have the energy to spend a great deal of time calling the UFO helpline and listening to the endless music - tried again today and hung up after 20 minutes. They can't have that many people calling - it's either completely unstaffed or they have got just one operator dealing with all calls.

If I go to the UFO web site and re-check my address, as if I want to order, I get told that there is already an order in progress for this address. It's Schroedinger's order! I am going to be very careful to check they don't start debiting my account.

I tried next door's address (same pole) just for fun and the service is unavailable. ("We can't bring UFO to your area right now, but we're working on it.") It looks like my address was listed in the database as having access when I don't, and this has now been corrected. The whole street is now showing unavailable, which makes me wonder what the FibreNation crew were doing digging up the street, and why I've been receiving marketing materials for UFO.

Edited by abigailk (Sat 19-Sep-20 12:54:43)

Just a follow-up - I've done availability checks for a few addresses all over town, especially in places where I saw FN crews working all spring, and I get the same message that says they "can't bring UFO to the area right now". Something seems to have gone very wrong somewhere!

In reply to a post by abigailk:

It looks like my address was listed in the database as having access when I don't

If thats the case its a shame they don't tell you that, I know you feel they have badly mishandled this situation (I would feel the same) but the benefits will out way the negatives if\when you can reorder (hopefully in the coming months).

But don’t lose hope completely, wait until you hear from Cityfibre. CF will know far more about any potential issues than TT or FibreNation.

Indeed!

As for the OP checking availability sites, I'm not aware of any "generic" ones other than BT Wholesale and Openreach. Those will not be showing CityFibre (who bought FibreNation from TalkTalk in March 2020), presumably until installation at each affected premises takes place, and even then only for such premises. Or at all! As was asked, and answered by witchunt, Openreach are only involved in relation to the poles, and access to any of their ducting.

CityFibre do have their own availability checker, where apparently people can register for updates on build progress.

I wonder if it is possible that the OP's order on TalkTalk has been cancelled because it has been replaced by one on CityFibre. Though actual supply might be via TalkTalk. In the linked article they describe TalkTalk as a customer, in the same way as Openreach would. Though that theory is self-contradictory in a way.

Maybe it has been cancelled because TT no longer have control of the build process. That would make more sense. Again, similar to Openreach-based supply. You can't order an underlying Openreach service until BT Wholesale and other providers have the built and available network open for their own ordering.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Indeed!

As for the OP checking availability sites, I'm not aware of any "generic" ones other than BT Wholesale and Openreach. Those will not be showing CityFibre (who bought FibreNation from TalkTalk in March 2020), presumably until installation at each affected premises takes place, and even then only for such premises. Or at all! As was asked, and answered by witchunt, Openreach are only involved in relation to the poles, and access to any of their ducting.

CityFibre do have their own availability checker, where apparently people can register for updates on build progress.

I wonder if it is possible that the OP's order on TalkTalk has been cancelled because it has been replaced by one on CityFibre. Though actual supply might be via TalkTalk. In the linked article they describe TalkTalk as a customer, in the same way as Openreach would. Though that theory is self-contradictory in a way.

Maybe it has been cancelled because TT no longer have control of the build process. That would make more sense. Again, similar to Openreach-based supply. You can't order an underlying Openreach service until BT Wholesale and other providers have the built and available network open for their own ordering.

Just to clarify, I was using the TalkTalk UFO postcode/address checker available here:

https://www.talktalk.co.uk/shop/ufo/broadband

When I ordered the other week, entering my postcode and selecting my address told me that UFO was available, allowed me to put in an order, select an installation date, I was even allocated a TalkTalk phone number.

Checking again today on that site for my own address gives a message that an order is in progress and to log in to check its status. If I check neighbouring addresses, I get a message that UFO is unavailable and suggests that I try one of TalkTalk's FTTC products instead.

This is getting very confusing.

Am I right in thinking your original order is still alive, and there has been no indication that there is any problem with it? That there was also a cursory inspection of the pavement outside your property recently that was almost certainly to do with this order?

Are you doing all this searching using your March-installed NowTV (Sky) FTTC (Openreach) connection?

The only outstanding known problem being you cannot log into your new TalkTalk account. That may well not be active yet.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

This is getting very confusing.

Am I right in thinking your original order is still alive, and there has been no indication that there is any problem with it? That there was also a cursory inspection of the pavement outside your property recently that was almost certainly to do with this order?

Are you doing all this searching using your March-installed NowTV (Sky) FTTC (Openreach) connection?

The only outstanding known problem being you cannot log into your new TalkTalk account. That may well not be active yet.

It is extremely confusing! When I got the NowTV connection I had an inkling that fibre was on the way (news stories, roadworks in nearby areas etc), which is why I went for NowTV on a no-contract basis rather than, say, 18 months with Sky. I received some postal bumf from TalkTalk ("16x faster full-fibre internet is here, offer ends 23 Sept") last week and successfully ordered - I wanted to get in before the offer expired. This was addressed mail (to "The Internetter" at my address) rather than just mass-leafleting.

The setup in the area (WF16 9xx) is as follows: There were new trenches dug under the footpaths in spring and fibre laid down them. These are now tarmaced over (obviously) and have "FibreNation" branded manhole covers at intervals. The new trenches go to each pole, at which point the fibre emerges from the ground, goes up the side of the pole in a brand-new metal conduit and terminates at a black plastic box at the top of the pole. This setup is replicated around town. Interestingly, the FAQ on the TalkTalk UFO website says this:

This could mean bringing the fibre from the telegraph pole overhead, or it could mean digging a small trench underground but they'll put everything back as they found it. And they won't leave until you're up and running ultrafast on all your devices.

When I was unable to log in to my TalkTalk account, I posted this thread on the TalkTalk UFO forum. There was a bit of back-and-forth, at which point a CSR wrote: "I have checked your order and Im sorry to inform you that the order has been rejected, Do you have a contact number for the UFO team ?, If not please use the live chat facility on our website".

Other than that, I have no contact from TalkTalk and I have been unable to get in touch with them. I'd have expected at least an email saying "your order was rejected". Live chat does not work and the UFO-specific telephone number takes you through a series of voice-activated options before playing a music loop and appears to be unstaffed (or very sparsely staffed). Had I not posted about what I thought was an unrelated issue, I would still be expecting an engineer visit tomorrow.

It is very telling that I received marketing materials and successfully placed an order, but since then the whole town has started to show "UFO is not available" on TalkTalk's checker. It suggests some kind of database foul-up where the area was listed as live but actually isn't.

There seem to be two different live chat options, one on the UFO page and one on the check availability page at this moment in time the first is offline but the second is online and I have checked and there are agents ready to discuss.

Try directly calling TalkTalk's Full Fibre team on 0800 049 6253 on Monday am and explain that you're unable to speak to someone in their UFO Dept. They might be able to help you themselves or at the very least transfer you directly to the UFO team without having to go through any menus. Also keep chasing Cityfibre for feedback, there's a good chance they'll put you in touch with the local planning/build manager who will be able to shed further light on any issues. Good luck!

Ummm. Messy.

As you posted here, that TalkTalk forum didn't get you very far .

At this stage there isn't much you can do but make sure you occupy that parking space overnight and either move your car or put a notice on it in the morning before 7am. Then wait and see.

Edit:
A sudden other thought. The email address mentioned in the TT thread, is that the same address as you used with Fibre Nation when you ordered?

I'm not explaining myself very clearly, but what I'm trying to get at is whether you may in fact have two accounts at TalkTalk. A previous one, and one created by the Fibre Nation order. Them both being for your address, but with different email addresses, and that being how this "mismatch" is occurring.

Edited by RobertoS (Sun 20-Sep-20 16:23:56)

As expected, the engineer this morning was a no-show and TalkTalk weren't reachable.

However, I did get a call earlier from a very helpful individual at CityFibre who told me the full story. Initially, these areas were due to be put live around now by FibreNation - after CityFibre bought FibreNation, they were planning on running two networks in parallel, the original CityFibre areas and the ex-FN areas.

They decided recently not to do this, and to replace equipment in the areas built out by FibreNation to match CityFibre, and integrate the two networks - there was something to do with removing Huawei kit involved too. Most cabinets in this area were then set in the database to "not released", but mine was missed and ended up as active and accepting orders on the TalkTalk checker, which led to the area receiving marketing bumf etc. When they started receiving orders from the area it was an "oh [censored]" moment and they quickly rejected/cancelled any orders that got put in.

The latest ETA for FTTP in this area is now the Christmas/New Year period, probably January. Mildly disappointing, but not the end of the world and I do now know what is going on! Thumbs up to FN/CityFibre for their very informative rep, thumbs down to TalkTalk for their hold music.

I told you Cityfibre would clarify matters

Anyway at least you now know it’s a matter of ‘when’ not ‘if’ so it’s just a matter of waiting. I suspect TT weren’t able to tell you more as the info from CF & FN hadn’t filtered through properly.

Glad you managed to find out what was going on, makes sense for them to integrate the two networks now rather than later. Hope you get connected once they have done the work.

You're famous! 🤩

Cityfibre Working to Replace Existing UK FibreNation FTTP Kit

But i think you're in Dewsbury rather than York?

In reference to www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2020/09/cityfibre-working-to-replace-...:

The change was spotted after one of TalkTalk’s customers on TBB’s Forum, who was living in an area of York that had recently been covered by the UFO service, suddenly found that their order for the related full fibre package had been disrupted.