Partial FTTP install in an MDU?

Hoping for some advice!

I am renting a flat in an apartment block (MDU), all the single homes in the estate have FTTP available but not my block of flats. Looking at Broadband checker's online it is very very slow copper or nothing for my flat (so currently get by on 4G). But this white box is installed in the communal cupboard downstairs (photo link below), would I be right in thinking this is part of an FTTP install?

https://ibb.co/nBrD8Jw
https://ibb.co/vvK1tdZ

I contacted Openreach but they ignored me asking if the white box meant FTTP was already installed in the block but not on the database. They told me the property was part of their Ultrafast Full Fibre build plan (with no confirmed date) and to register my interest at the Openreach fibre checker as their records indicate Openreach dont have legal permission to deliver full fibre broadband to the building. Filling out the fibre checker as they suggest, the auto email that comes back states the building isn't part of its broadband plans...

Openreach never told me about it, but I found this form online, is my best bet just to fill in this (and get my landlord and managing agent to do the same) then hope for the best, or best to try and contact Openreach to clarify do you think? (not that I can find an easy way to speak to a human!!)

https://www.openreach.com/fibre-broadband/fibre-for-...

Thanks in advance! (apologies in advance if any of this is a stupid question!)

When you contacted openreach method did you use?

Given they’ve already got that fibre box in your communal area it seems odd you can’t order it. That suggests your building owner and openreach have already agreed wayleave etc.

There’s an option on the openreach site to raise a question ‘ I cannot get fibre but my neighbours can’ that would be my next option.

https://www.openreach.com/forms/fibre-broadband-avai...

The 12f cable is dated November 2017 and quotes the splitter the cable is terminated at ( or potentially a node rather than a splitter node ) , TMAHFDO , but overall it is pretty incomplete installation, , there are no individual fibre cables ( one to each flat/apartment ) leaving the block , and the block itself has no designation ( no identification numbers ) , it’s entirely possible given that in 2017 the developer had to chose Yes or No for FTTP, and if Yes , had contribute towards the costs of FTTP , they chose not to , but as OR were present providing ( for free ) a copper connection anyway, they thought it prudent ( for future development) to provide the fibre cable as well as the copper pairs .

As you apparently have access to this utility area , presumably is there also a copper DP , with distribution cables to each flat and their conventional copper master sockets.

If that’s the case , all that has happened is a fibre cable was provided, and makes FTTP provision no more or less likely than if the fibre cable didn’t exist at all , it just means that there will potentially be a smaller amount of work for Openreach when their FTTP is eventually provided, unless the cable provided is to the wrong location , in which case it may be redundant anyway.

Edited by Iniltous (Sun 28-Jan-24 19:52:22)

My guess is no permission from the block of flats owners to run fibre into the flats.

could it have been an fttpod install when it only installed to that flat or house.

Stupid Question, have you spoken to your landlord ( i do understand that may be tricky !)?

Thanks everyone for the replies! Thanks for the link to the form Kris, that is the one that I used to contact them, but I can't remember if i put ‘ I cannot get fibre but my neighbours can’ or 'Other' then asked if the box meant the block had fibre.

Thanks for the explanation Iniltous, the fibre label all meant nothing to me! Not sure when the estate was finally finished, It was scheduled for 2016 i think.. (but I vaguely remember hearing somewhere that it might have been delayed, perhaps I should check with my landlord if that 2017 date was before or after the building was completed/people moved in. If it was delayed/over budget i can imagine the developer being too tight to pay for fttp.But would be even more confusing if the fibre install was after the developers had handed over the building!

if that white box was installed during the building of the block, then I guess that would link with what Opereach/Zarjaz suggest that Openreach currently don't have permission to wire up the flats from the box in the communal cupboard.

In reply to Taras, yeah I have spoken to my landlord, he has been really good about it, I think he is no wiser than me as to what is happening! He is more than happy for an FTTP install if it could happen! He has also tried to look into it and said he recently asked one of the broadband companies in a store somewhere if FTTP was available for my flat, but they told him not currently available and not for the next 6 months (in line with the openreach fibre checker, but not what the openreach customer service person said to me after my enquiry).

Shame that the partial install doesn't make it any more likely that Openreach will come back and finish the install! I guess for now all I can do is give Openreach the building management company's details and landlord details and hope they agree a wayleave and come back to finish the job at some point in the future!

https://www.openreach.com/broadband-for-landlords

thats the section for landlords on OR's site, so direct him to that.

At one stage MDUs and other large developments had to pay to install the FTTP equipment but thats now changed and its far easier (others can expend on that - as i can't remember what the current situation is and if it can apply to your landlord)

I doubt that, there’s no feed cable leaving to run to anywhere by the looks of it.

I wonder if that box is just for one floor ?

Could the OP tell us how many flats are in that block please ?

Thanks for the link to the page for landlords, that looks perfect to send on to my landlord, perhaps if me and the landlord also try and give the management company a nudge to do that form, there might be some progress!

Great that FTTP installs in MDU's are now easier than when the building developer appears to have cheaped out on the broadband front in the past!