Fibre Issues - New Home

Hi all,

My wife and I have recently had an offer accepted for a new home, and currently going through the motions re mortgage and solicitors etc. Whilst that has been going through, I have been looking at internet options and have hit a bit of a stumbling block - the new house is in a relatively rural area, a small village a few miles outside of Oxford, and the internet options aren't great.

I had a look on the Openreach website and it shows fibre isn't available yet, but is starting to be rolled out. In a panic, we then contacted the sellers through the estate agent to see what they do internet wise, and they have told us (with a speed test for evidence) that they get fibre through BT at about 70mbps.

I did a search on the BT Wholesale search and it shows the local cabinet is FTTC enabled, though there is a waiting list. I assume therefore that the Openreach site is incorrect, and that the cabinet is full? I have called BT too who have said this property does currently have fibre available, but the houses either side don't, again leading me to believe the cabinet is full.

My question is, if we move into this address and order through BT, as there is already a fibre line, will we be ok? Is there any way someone else could hijack that and we end up with ADSL at 2mbps? The guy at BT described it as a parking space, which makes sense but also does worry me - how many times have you had your indicator on but someone else has jumped in to the spot! I have asked BT this exact question, and they got very cagey.

Is there anything we can do to ensure we get fibre? Is the fact there is an open line there enough, and if we order before the sellers cancel enough to secure the line? Probably all sounds quite petty but what with working from home nowadays (and my many smart home products!) fibre is a must.

All seems very odd what with the Openreach website showing as not available in general - perhaps fibre is new to the area, I don't know - but any helps or tips would be greatly appreciated (to note, I do have an outstanding call open with Openreach to see if the cabinet - which is cabinet 9 in Cumnor - will be upgraded, so time will tell on that).

Thanks!

Not much that you can do - if they are moving the contreact will be ceased and FTTC passed to next on the wait list.

You could get inventive and would depend on where the others are moving to. If they do not want their existing number, then no reason why they cannot continue service at that house even after moving out - but you would need to have an agreement with them to pay the charges &c. And port your old number to VOIP ...

Then when the cabinet upgrade happens - they cancel and you install.

Thanks for your reply MHC - that is what I feared the response would be!

How would someone go about getting on the wait list? I've seen other places that some providers do a wait list and some don't - all sounds very confusing. Annoying to me if this is the case, BT were more than happy to take my money and sign me up when I spoke to them - signing me up to a product they may not be able to supply?

Get your firm/ s who you work for to pay for FTTP/OD or Leased line if they want you to work from home.

Down to the retailer you order, no-one seems to particularly use it, or at least no-one talks about it.

On the Fibre messaging, suspect you may be confusing FTTP (full fibre) with partial fibre (FTTC/VDSL2), since sounds like you are talking about VDSL2

In reply to a post by TJM87:

Thanks for your reply MHC - that is what I feared the response would be!

How would someone go about getting on the wait list? I've seen other places that some providers do a wait list and some don't - all sounds very confusing. Annoying to me if this is the case, BT were more than happy to take my money and sign me up when I spoke to them - signing me up to a product they may not be able to supply?

You place an order.

In reply to a post by MHC:

Not much that you can do - if they are moving the contreact will be ceased and FTTC passed to next on the wait list.

You could get inventive and would depend on where the others are moving to.

If they're moving out of area and/or don't want their number, best option is a working line take over. It'll retain the port and can be re-numbered at the same time.

Matt

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

In reply to a post by TJM87:

Thanks for your reply MHC - that is what I feared the response would be!

How would someone go about getting on the wait list? I've seen other places that some providers do a wait list and some don't - all sounds very confusing. Annoying to me if this is the case, BT were more than happy to take my money and sign me up when I spoke to them - signing me up to a product they may not be able to supply?

You place an order.

The waiting list isn't automated in anyway.

Do you know many people who have multi-thousand pound FTTPoD or leased line installations paid for by their employer? In my experience people are given the opportunity to work from home and if their home environment isn't up to the task then they are given the option of going into the office.

Gigaclear have a presence in the rural areas around Oxford - have you checked whether they are anywhere near your property?