FTTP Advice (New Build Connected / Old Road Users Not)

Hoping that members of this forum may be able to help - after a FTTPoD quote of >£40k we've been waiting on the completion of a new set of flats on our (unmaintained) road to be completed - The builder had confirmed that FTTP had been arranged for the units - We currently only get circa 15 - 20 mbs / which you can appreciate it painful with two teenage kids / wfh / etc.

Cabling has been installed and connected - in fact the fibre goes via a box at the end of my drive to the new build so i should be able to be connected - Openreach engineer had said as such - Postcode is CR85LH.

Per the DSL checker the flats for THE GRANGE , FIRS ROAD, KENLEY CR8 5LH on Exchange CROYDON - have 1gb connections available to order.

However any other property on the road FIRS ROAD, KENLEY CR8 5LH on Exchange PURLEY is served by Cabinet 11- have <30mb connections available to order.

I assume it just needs an update to a database to allow us to connect to the fibre installed / connected on Exchange CROYDON rather than Exchange PURLEY but we've been waiting and waiting without any update.

I've raised form after form with Openreach to either no answer or a generic install by end-26 reply ... I don't think this should be this difficult but don't know what else to do. Any ideas.

Thanks in advance.

It happens frequently that a fibre cable passes properties without them being able to order a full fibre service. As you said the fibre cables were put in for the benefit of some new flats in your road so they will be the only ones able to order native FTTP.

If you want to try to get connected ASAP then I believe you need to put a new FTTPoD request in and go down that route again or else wait until you become in-scope for FTTP via Openreach's UK wide rollout.

The headend (fibre termination point in the exchange ) for the area is in Croydon. Because the flats only have FTTP and no copper, the checker only displays the headend exchange.
Because you have copper services available the checker displays the actual exchange area as Purley.
Unfortunately the FTTP will only be avaialbe for the new builds until openreach (or an alnet) build out to the wider area.

In reply to a post by AbbasK78:

Cabling has been installed and connected - in fact the fibre goes via a box at the end of my drive to the new build so i should be able to be connected - Openreach engineer had said as such

Openreach engineer was wrong.

Unless a CBT (Connectorised Block Terminal) was installed for your road - which is unlikely as this would have been extra work over and above that required to serve the flats - then you cannot order FTTP.

The CBT would also have to be connected back to a splitter, and if the splitter node for the flats isn't at a suitable location to serve your road, that would require a new splitter going back to a new OLT port in the headend exchange.

As others have said, to get this extra infrastructure installed you can either go the FTTPoD route again, or just wait.

FTTPoD *might* be much cheaper now because of the nearby fibre work. However that's far from guaranteed. It depends where the nearest splitter node and/or fibre aggregation node are now. It's possible that the flats have their own dedicated splitter node, in which case your road would need its own splitter node fed back to a (potentially) distant fibre aggregation node - which could be just as expensive as before.

Still, if you're keen, it could be worth splashing £300 on a new FTTPoD quote - especially if the £40K quote you had before was just an indicative desktop quote, and not a survey. Just bear in mind that it could take a year or more to get installed, and by Dec 2026, 80% of the UK is expected to have Openreach FTTP available anyway.

Even if the FTTPoD is easy, expect to pay a minimum of £8000+VAT.

Openreach engineer was wrong.

Agreed

In reply to a post by AbbasK78:

Cabling has been installed and connected - in fact the fibre goes via a box at the end of my drive to the new build so i should be able to be connected - Openreach engineer had said as such - Postcode is CR85LH.

Can you post a link to a (hosted) photo of this box? Sate my curiosity. Thanks

I had assumed OP meant "footway box", but if it's some sort box on a pole then that might be more interesting.

I'm afraid its a footway box - The current cable comes from there to my home via trunking under my driveway - the new cable goes through the box down (new) ducting towards the flats - I'm a little frustrated to be honest as we dont have any other options - Starlink wont work given the number of trees / virgin have no interesting in the street / community fibre is 'coming' with no eta ... i guess we just wait .. I appreciate the responses even though its not what i wanted to hear.

BTW earlier 40k quote was with a survey hence we didn't proceed - that was with the flats paying half so £2k each for the other homes ... others on the street keep complaining about the speed but are not willing to put their hands in their pockets to improve hence it is too expensive for those who will.

Edited by AbbasK78 (Sat 17-Dec-22 12:19:24)

OK.

There will be a splitter node further away, probably located in another footway chamber, that feeds the connection to the nine flats. That would be where 'your' FTTP connection (theoretically) would have to come from.

However as other have said, its not as simple as saying to Openreach there is a database anomaly - that is for the cases where an an entire street / neighbourhood has been already cabled for FTTP and say your individual property or small cluster cannot for some reason order. A genuine 'error' in that case typically.

Your situation is somewhat the reverse. FTTP has been 'implanted' in your local area by virtue of the new build flats being connected. This is normal now with new builds. I would highly doubt however that Openreach will divert resources to get you connected. It would be considered as a completely separate build unfortunately.

Theres no harm in asking them, but temper your expectations.

In reply to a post by Pheasant:

In reply to a post by AbbasK78:

Cabling has been installed and connected - in fact the fibre goes via a box at the end of my drive to the new build so i should be able to be connected - Openreach engineer had said as such - Postcode is CR85LH.

Can you post a link to a (hosted) photo of this box? Sate my curiosity. Thanks

It’s gonna be a JF4 or similar innit