Openreach say yes! But also, no...

Howdy,

I've been in my current property (Attleborough, Norfolk) for just over a year - new build - and although the development is still being built it's around 80% complete. My road and most of those around me are completely finished and fully occupied.

Openreach has enabled FTTP for much of the town over the last year which is lucky for a fairly rural spot, and most of my development is one of the last pockets without decent connection options. Copper at about 5mbps is the best available - I've been making do with ~20mbps on a 4G LTE box. It's not the end of the world, but I'll be ordering the second that a solid line is available.

I signed up for updates with OR a while back, and on Christmas Day they finally emailed to say Ultrafast was available! Result. However, the all the checkers that I know of say nothing is available to my postcode (NR17 1GL), BT gave a standard 'fibre not available' response and a query to OR came back saying they have no plans to build in my area. Some postcodes on my development are FTTP enabled right now (NR17 1GT for instance, which is 60secs walk around the corner, but closer to a main road).

So my question to those who know more about the process than I do - is this likely to just be a waiting game for addresses and databases to sync up with each other? I assume that the email wasn't sent by accident, but I've not been in this position before or found anyone with a similar issue, so I'm a bit confused at the mo!

In reply to a post by distantlights:

So my question to those who know more about the process than I do - is this likely to just be a waiting game for addresses and databases to sync up with each other? I assume that the email wasn't sent by accident, but I've not been in this position before or found anyone with a similar issue, so I'm a bit confused at the mo!

You may have been contacted by error.

The postcode you have provided shows as having no FTTC or FTTP and no plans to install either.

ISP databases line up with the OpenReach database, but that says no.

Edited by j0hn83 (Wed 06-Jan-21 01:08:35)

Definitely possible, but I'd hoped not. The whole situation is confusing - the exchange ( https://availability.samknows.com/broadband/exchange... ) apparently doesn't have FTTP available, yet it definitely is in the Fibre First programme and the majority of the town can order BT900. Granted I'm a newbie at all of this, but it seems like there's something I'm missing.

Short of finding a friendly Openreach engineer in the street who might know more, is there any other avenue I can go down with OR to find out whether it was an error or not?

sam knows has ot been updasted for months its not even worth checking to see what sam knows says its way out of date and cant see it ever being updated -

Samknows is *years* out of date. The fact that other people in your town can order FTTP proves that there's FTTP.

You can try the Openreach twitter account and say you received the letter but don't have FTTP. However it is possible that when sending a mailshot out to the area, they included you by accident.

Appreciate the knowledge and advice guys – I'll give OR a poke on twitter and see where I end up!

The postcode where available, as the road to that point being adopted by the council?

If your road has not, then this is the sticking point, i.e. road is still private so permission needed from developer. Once adopted the standard code powers apply and less paperwork therefore cost to roll-out.

That's something I'd not considered – all roads on the development are being adopted, but I don't know the current status of each (some of the communal courtyards are not being adopted, but I'm not affected by those).

The council's street list hasn't been updated since April 2019. Building began in 2016, and the first roads would be the ones where FTTP is available now. These roads are not listed as being adopted in 2019, despite being 'complete' for presumably a year or two.

I'll give the site manager a shout too – ductwork appears to be OR standard stuff and each house has a CSP ready to go, so perhaps the roads are the missing link!

Thanks for the heads up.

assuming from the postcode, this is Finch Road, the national street gazetteer has this information:
https://portal-gb.one.network/prd-portal-one-network...

private street as at 30oct2020
found via one.network, the updated site of roadworks.org

Ouch. That's the one – exploring the development it seems like none of the roads are adopted, all have a Private Street Manager. This is news to me, we do pay a service / grounds charge but it's only itemised to include green areas and driveway maintenance. Frustrating as I've asked and been told that all roads would be adopted.

If the streets are privately maintained yet some properties can order FTTP, I assume this doesn't prevent rollout – rather just bogs it down in paperwork?

If you have an actual CSP installed suggests FTTP is on the plan - sure its a CSP as usually on new build its a CSP and fibre and NO copper services. CSP can be confused for an external copper junction box sometimes.

Ah, yes that wouldn't explain why copper is available – this is a grab from StreetView of the actual development, and a road which seems to have FTTP available (every property has an identical setup):

https://i.imgur.com/GBd5j30.png

That's not a CSP. It's a BT66 copper block terminal

Hah, another porkie from the developer! I was specifically told everything was 'fibre ready'.

Thanks for the help guys, I feel a lot better informed for when I go and have a friendly chat with the site manager!

Fibre ready can be as daft as there is duct work in the ground and nothing more.

Since "fibre" as a marketing term also means FTTC, the developer could just mean that the property has copper, and the local cabinet is "fibre" enabled.

"Yes of course it's fibre ready. You can order BT Fibre Essentials, Fibre 1 and Fibre 2"

It definitely seems like terminology is thrown around very loosely depending on who you're talking to! I'm a first time buyer and this is the first time I've needed to look into broadband under my own name – so it's a combination of lack of knowledge, and then not asking the right questions to get the right answers.

Luckily my dad works for the Highways, so he's looking into the road adoption situation for me – he suspects that the adoption will take place after the whole development is finished, likely another year from now. The houses which can order FTTP might just be the lucky ones fed from the main road, avoiding these issues.

Might be time to see if an antenna can squeeze a bit more speed out of my 4G box!

The council usually won't adopt a road for 2 years after work is complete.

If your development of still being built then you have a wait for adoption.

Adoption takes time. The contractor normally provides a waranty period of 12 months - and the local authority adopts when this expires.

Yep, after finally getting through to someone who knew the score, the developer has confirmed that 12 months applies to this site, once completed. If rollout is related to adoption of road, it's going to be a while!

Openreach on twitter have been much more helpful than the developers, no more copy/paste answers! There's another housing development underway nearby, different builder, and seemingly all properties have had FTTP available since day 1. OR are looking into what might be holding up parts of my site.

Thanks again for all the help chaps!