I really need some help/advice on FTTP.

Hello all,

So I'm at my wits end trying to figure out what to do. Moved into this property about a year ago or so with the promise of decent FTTP, I move in and the company needed to call Openreach to install infrastructure which took about 3 months to sort. They ended up running a cable across the road overhead the road and installing the little Openreach box onto my flat.

Got in contact with the ISP to tell them it's all installed to some palaver about my address being incorrect in the contract and that they can only offer me copper ADSL of up to 24Mbps.

Neighbours around me all have FTTP, I have the grey box installed onto the house but no offerings of FTTP from any ISP as it only says we can get ADSL to my specific address, (it's a converted house with downstairs/upstairs flat).

Contacted Openreach and got told that because it was an MDU further work would be needed with permission from the landlord. I have got a hold of them for the wayleave form and it's all filled in. But the box is already installed right?

When they installed the grey box the Openreach engineer told me the ISP engineer would just need to run a cable straight up into the property and it's done.

I just don't know if there's anything I can do, I feel like it's just an error on their part that it's not been "installed" at my address even though it's on the front of the property, is there anyone I can contact or book to just see if there's an error on their system to enable it? There could be more to it, but eurgh.

Currently using mobile broadband which is unreliable as signal is really dodgy here.

Is there anything else I can do here?

Greybox

Edited by Hullaboo (Sun 14-Apr-24 17:34:31)

In reply to a post by Hullaboo:

Contacted Openreach and got told that because it was an MDU further work would be needed with permission from the landlord. I have got a hold of them for the wayleave form and it's all filled in. But the box is already installed right?

If Openreach think it needs a wayleave then they aren't going to install anything inside the property without it. The fact the outside box is done means little as it might have been done in error.
The fact your landlord filled in your wayleave form suggests to me a wayleave was indeed necessary.

Openreach treat MDU's very different. During rollouts they often do all SDU's and simply leave capacity for the MDU's to be completed at a later date.
The legal complexities of wayleaves and with the amount of subcontractors working on the network mean it just isn't worth the risk of installing hardware on private property that they don't have permission to.
Bob the subcontractor has half a day's training before being let loose in a van and he is paid per completed job and couldn't care less who owns what.

What does the BT Wholesale checker say for your address? Enter just the postcode and select your exact address from the drop down list that appears. If the exact address does not show them that needs corrected 1st.
https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL/...

There's nobody you can book to come look at it and unfortunately Openreach don't take calls from end users. There's a number of specific contact forms on their website regarding lack of fibre, neighbours having fibre and you not, wayleaves etc. You can full these or and wait for a reply.
For database mistakes sometimes staff members on this forum can prod the right dept within Openreach and have these fixed but that's usually availability mistakes and not wayleave related.
Really your current ISP is supposed to contact Openreach on your behalf but most of the big guys are useless at this.
If all else fails you can email head office/the ceo and hope they take up your case.

Thank you for the reply,

Yeah I'm just clueless on the whole thing. The big thing for me was just finding out if it is an error on the system somewhere or if things really do need to be installed. With the greybox being there I kinda just assumed it would be fine as it's just a converted house as opposed to a block of flats.

But that might just be my ignorance haha. Worst case I wait a few years for Openreach to look into it, the wayleave has been signed by landlord which I got sent the link via "my neighbours have FTTP why don't I".

Uploaded my Wholesale checker which just makes me want to cry if I'm honest, who would think internet would be this shocking in the centre of a town? Good ol' Cornwall I guess, removed my postcode/address but left my town St Awful(Austell) and cabinet number.

I guess it's just an ancient cabinet?

BT Wholesale

This partial install doesn’t make much sense , if Openreach ( at network survey ) had identified the address as a small MDU , that didn’t need the complexity of a MDU build , because the building was never a purpose built MDU but a house converted to flats , then the block on the wall would be a CBT , and that would be fitted after a wayleave were applied for and that would be if the copper service had a wall mounted distribution point , but small MDU like this are often served like the rest of the property in that area , via a drop wire from a pole , and if ( for example ) the converted house had 4 flats and each had copper service, multiple drop wires may exist.

….the block isn’t a CBT but a CSP ( customer service point ) and they are normally only fitted when an order is raised to Openreach by an ISP because the ISP has received an order from a consumer , so that suggests the building was already showing FTTP as available , probably via a telegraph pole mounted overhead CBT , however it’s odd that whoever fitted the ISP didn’t complete the installation to an individual address ( flat 1 , flat a or whatever ) for whoever actually ordered service .

The fact that the CSP exists but presumably no cable to an ONT makes no sense, it doesn’t fit with the Openreach process, it’s almost like an order were raised , the installation progressed as far as fitting the CSP then whoever raised the order , before the cable to the individual flat and ONT could be fitted , cancelled their order .

Are their any variations on the address you live at , occasionally with houses converted to flats there are several address entrys for the unit , the address needs to match the Royal Mail entry for the address exactly.

Edited by Iniltous (Mon 15-Apr-24 18:27:15)

I think you explained what actually happened.

Went to move into address got a call from this ISP company about sorting internet there -Home Telecom?, Ordered product from them for Ultrafast FTTP 220/30.

Signed the contract with them and they said they would need Openreach to install some bits.

That took about 3 months when they did the work, they ran a cable across the road and installed that grey box outside the flat/house, where that engineer said that the ISP engineer would just need to run a cable up the wall and it would be all good to go.

Got to contacting Home Telecom about it when they told me the address I was using for verification wasn't actually what was written in my contract. By this point I had signed up with them for 4 months and had been using this same "wrong" address for months ringing up constantly trying to get it sorted.

That's when it got changed to the new address and it wasn't showing as having FTTP anymore.

I live at First Floor Flat, 25A South Street, they had my address as 25A South Street. but that is my building.

Now looking at it, there must be an error on some system somewhere as we ARE 25a south street? But I'm above it, so if I ordered for 25a they should just run from that box up the wall to my flat right?

If I go onto BT I can order full FTTP at 25a but both flats inside it Ground/First cannot get FTTP.

25a

Try filling in the form here. https://www.openreach.com/forms/fibre-broadband-avai...

Thank you.

….the block isn’t a CBT but a CSP ( customer service point )

{cough} customer splice point surely ?

It’s odd that at the Openreach level , No. 25a first floor flat , shows FTTP availability , but chosing a random ISP , the main residence has availability ( 25a ) but the first floor flat doesn’t , so the Openreach formwize may not work as they already show availability but definitely worth filling in the form ,
Depending on who you intend to use , it’s possible that ( using BT as an example) posting on the BT community forum and asking for the BT Mod assistance ( you need to either have an order or be prepared to make an order with BT ) they may raise a check ( ORDI Openreach data integrity) to resolve whatever issue exists between the wholesale checker that shows FTTP and the ISP ordering portal that apparently doesn’t , otherwise simply order against the 25a address .

Edited by Iniltous (Mon 15-Apr-24 20:39:11)

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

….the block isn’t a CBT but a CSP ( customer service point )

{cough} customer splice point surely ?

It’s probably what they will be forever referred to as , but for whatever reason the lid is embossed with customer service point,

Edited by Iniltous (Mon 15-Apr-24 20:38:10)

Its clearly a database error, the existing wholesale records are as follows

25A - FTTP available

25A (ground floor flat) - FTTPoD only
25A (first floor flat) - FTTPoD only

25A is the overall building that comprises of separate ground and first floor flats, this record should not exist and the availability should be transferred to either the ground or first floor flat or both.

Funny when I checked I could have sworn 25a first floor flat had WBC FTTP availability on the DSL checker, but it doesn’t , so as stated obviously an addressing issue that the formwize submitted to OR may address, ( no pun intended )

Edited by Iniltous (Tue 16-Apr-24 10:26:06)

In reply to a post by Iniltous:

Funny when I checked I could have sworn 25a first floor flat had WBC FTTP availability on the DSL checker, but it doesn’t , so as stated obviously an addressing issue that the formwize submitted to OR may address, ( no pun intended )

The addresses in that road are the worse I personally have ever seen, not only do they have the complexity of 25 and 25a they also having 25a ground floor flat and 25a first floor flat its just crazy, courier drivers must absolutely love it down there.

Edited by PCJM40 (Tue 16-Apr-24 10:57:12)

It probably made sense before someone carved houses up into flats.

There's a row of houses around here which go 3, 3A, 5, 7, 7A, 7B which have all been there for as long as the road has existed (60+ years at a guess). I have no idea why they wouldn't just give them a number when it was all laid out.

Okay, so I've bought FTTP from BT for 25a and got an Openreach engineer coming out on the 29th to install the bits, hopefully they just run the cable up and it's all sorted.

Would have gone EE but their website never works always get a technical error, even if it is part of BT, oh well.

I've signed up to the BT Community forum, asked for the Mod assistance and asked about needing helping with the ORDI Openreach data integrity.

Hopefully they get back to me on it all, I'll keep the post updated.

Thank you all for the replies though and pointing me in the right direction/giving me realisation haha. It's very much appreciated.

Man, don't even joke about the courier deliveries it's a nightmare haha. I've had packages delivered to the complete wrong place up the road, take a pic and off they go.

But yeah it definitely seems like an address error.

Really appreciate everyone messaging.

So, internet is all up and running, all installed to the 25a South Street address.

BT Moderator on the other forum has put through the ORDI request and it should all be proceeding fully now.

Many thanks all, problem solved for me!

Very nice, I think you benefited from a database glitch.

I would expect for MDU, the address for the building itself to block an FTTP order, and then the individual flats would either be available (approved wayleave or classified as SDU), or not available (wayleave required).