FTTC backtracking conundrum

Hi, i'm really quite confused by what's happened with our FTTC upgrade and was hoping someone here might be able to help me understand what's what.

We were told FTTC was available, agreed a new contract with our provider, and the connection was scheduled for late December/early January. Then followed a series of delays, bad communication, missed appointments and excuses, which the provider did a very poor job of chasing on our behalf.

At one stage, an openreach engineer (subbie) fixed a new wire from a different pole on the street to our house (as the pole closest to us was a 'd-pole' that needed replacing), fitted the wire into a box on the outside of the property, and we were told he had done all the external work and the internal work would come later. This internal appointment was then delayed we were told because of covid, then booked in, cancelled, then finally we were told it had 'dropped off' the system.

Having chased repeatedly with the provider to try to get it set up again to be completed, we are now being told that we cannot get FTTC after all! The provider implied that there was a problem with the cabinet we were connected to (that something had gone wrong with that cabinet upgrade). From here it gets odd. From checking extensively here https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/ it appears we sit at a boundary on the street between two cabinets, one with FTTC available (cab 28) and one not (cab 3). Us and our immediate neighbour and house opposite, are connected to cab 3, whilst the houses either side show as connected to cab 28.

I've done a quick street check - I cannot find any FTTC cabinet installed near cab 3, whereas one is clearly installed by cab 28. Additionally, the telecom tariffs CodeLook shows that FTTC is not available at cab 3.

So is there anyone here who can shed any light on this for us?

- I don't understand if there was no FTTC cabinet for cab 3 how we were acccepted for fibre in the first place and set up with an external wire? They wouldn't have done that surely until there was an FTTC cabinet available with space?

- Might they have been expecting to re-wire the houses on the street that signed up to fibre so they connect to cab 28? Could the delay or increased demand have now meant they aren't willing to do that any more? properties served by cab 28 are still showing FTTC availability, rather than the waiting list.

- I understand the most obvious explanation is there could have been a small FTTC cabinet near cab 3 that due to the delays has now run out of space, but wouldn't that show up in the broadband checker/ CodeLook/ physically on the street?

- It was a broadband only deal not a phone+broadband, does this make a difference?

Secondly (and this is my hoped for route out) is there any chance that since the new external wire has been connected, we are actually connected to an FTTC slot (in cab 28 or in cab 3) ready to connect our house, but the system has lost sight of that? I do know that all the other houses connected from the pole our new line comes from are served by cab 28. But i don't understand how the tech works so might this might be a hopeless fantasy, and understand that you aren't officially able to change cabinets.

I don't trust the provider or openreach to give me accurate information about what's gone on or what's possible, i think they are in 'computer says no' territory.

Thanks for any help!

That's all very confusing. Did you have a phone line before this 'upgrade' and if so why was a new line provided, or was that to reroute you to the FTTC enabled cabinet?
What exchange are these cabinets connected to?

Yes, we have a current phone line (though no actual phone). I just assumed naively that fibre used different wires! I don’t know for sure, it crossed my mind (now I’ve read up a bit) that it was to shift us over to the FTTC cabinet but also maybe
- they wanted to do it in two stages
- we were moving to internet-only package so they didn’t need to worry about it being a different line (??)

Both cabinets are on the EASTON exchange in Bristol. The FTTC roll out to the cabinets appears patchy. The one without FTTC is tucked off the high street so I can see how it was a harder proposition to add another unit there.

Most of the area is getting FTTP installed at some point. could it be that the new cable is for FTTP and you are waiting for the 2nd stage (internal connection) to be arranged or that there is network problem that needs to be corrected ?
that would make more sense given what you have stated ,and the cabinet has no relevance in that case.

Edited by witchunt (Wed 28-Apr-21 08:19:57)

Well we went for EE fibre+ which is FTTC speeds (advertised as av. 67Mbps ) but the note on the EE website does say 'also available as FTTP' so they might have opted for that?

The EE person who rang up to tell us we couldn't get it after all did say it was related to the cabinet, but that would be consistent with her accessing the same availability check.

In an extra bit of oddity i didn't raise earlier, she said she had asked about direct to the property and openreach had said that wasn't possible. And, curiously, we are the only property in the street that shows up as not being able to get FTTP either on https://www.openreach.com/fibre-broadband/ which i just don't understand.

If they did half-connect us up via FTTP but have now lost the details of the case, when they try to set us up 'fresh' we'd be showing as unavailable for FTTC, but don't know why we would not show as not available for FTTP.

I very much doubt they would "half-connect" you to FTTP. If you're on FTTP you would know as an ONT would've been installed in your property.

Thanks - I'm not familiar with the tech. They connected a line to a grey service point box on the outside of our property (the other side to our existing line). The 'internal' work appointment is the one they were going to come back and do, delayed, and now say they can't do after all.

In reply to a post by marktcordle:

Thanks - I'm not familiar with the tech. They connected a line to a grey service point box on the outside of our property (the other side to our existing line). The 'internal' work appointment is the one they were going to come back and do, delayed, and now say they can't do after all.

Is there any chance you could take a picture of this Grey Service Point Box & The Telephone Distribution pole you're fed from?

May help clear up what the issue is and if we can utilise some of the helpful 'In the know' people on this forum (one who has already answered included).

Thanks - sorry can't remember enough code to insert images, here are the links:

The grey box

The telephone pole (or do you need identifying information from a close up?).

There was some debate from the engineers during the day of the wiring as to which end of the street to bring the wire from.

In reply to a post by marktcordle:

Thanks - sorry can't remember enough code to insert images, here are the links:

The grey box

The telephone pole (or do you need identifying information from a close up?).

There was some debate from the engineers during the day of the wiring as to which end of the street to bring the wire from.

That's an FTTP CSP box.

It sounds very much like a database error is preventing you getting FTTP, particularly if everyone else in the street can get FTTP.

I was also under the impression the type of pole you are fed from can sometimes be an issue (metal hollow poles) for FTTP.

Can you pop open the grey CSP box and take a pic of the inside?