Fibre not being installed by Openreach?

We had fibre installed under our roads last year (not to our property) but still no signs of when we can connect. We think the fibre was laid by a private company (not Openreach).

When the fibre is finally activated, will we be able to connect and carry on using our current provider or are we going to be tied into whichever company installed the fibre?

I assume there is no way of finding out who laid the fibre and when it will be activated?

In reply to a post by ajd1:

We had fibre installed under our roads last year (not to our property) but still no signs of when we can connect. We think the fibre was laid by a private company (not Openreach).

When the fibre is finally activated, will we be able to connect and carry on using our current provider or are we going to be tied into whichever company installed the fibre?

I assume there is no way of finding out who laid the fibre and when it will be activated?

If the fibre deployment is not being done on behalf of Openreach then its very likely that your options will be limited.

If you gave an indication of the location/town then people may be able to suggest which network it is, and then you could check on their availability checker.

A fibre can go "under your road" for many reasons - it may a leased line to another (distant) property, or part of a third-party provider's backbone network.

It may already be "activated", in the sense that it's carrying traffic. It doesn't necessarily mean you can order service for your property.

If it's a third party network then you may be able to order a business leased line type service from them, and the fact that the cable goes close to you means that you won't have to pay Excess Construction Charges - but you would expect to have to pay £150+ per month for this type of service, on a 1-3 year contract.

There are very few networks apart from Openreach which wholesale to other providers: Cityfibre is the main one, Gigaclear does some too (but only with small and relatively unknown resellers). So you're right to say that if this is a non-OR fibre, chances are you wouldn't be able to continue to take service from your current provider, whoever that is.

Edited by candlerb (Tue 16-Apr-24 10:45:19)

We live on a cul-de-sac on the very edge of Glossop (Kilmory Fold, SK13 7PH). Next stop Peak District so fibre would have been laid for our road.

Looks like Full Fibre Ltd (BeFibre) to me. They're the ones that are all over Glossop

Does this mean we are tied into BeFibre as a provider?

If the case then it does not sound right/fair, do they have an exclusivity period or do they have a permanent monopoly?

In reply to a post by ajd1:

Does this mean we are tied into BeFibre as a provider? If the case then it does not sound right/fair, do they have an exclusivity period or do they have a permanent monopoly?

Some alternate networks have a single ISP, similar to Virgin Media's cable offerings around the UK. Other alternate networks (e.g. CityFibre) are wholesale operations in the same way as Openreach and multiple ISPs can use. Either way, you might be waiting a few years for Openreach FTTP to arrive... there is no "monopoly"; as each company pays to dig the road themselves.

You could argue that why have duplication, but that gives competition. Many of the alternate network offerings will offer symmetric speed services, from 150/150, 300/300, 500/500 and 900/900 whereas Openreach offer asymetric speed services, e.g. 900/150 or 1600 / 115. If you want high upload speeds, try an alternate network operator.

I just checked the Openreach site and it is telling me that "Build planned between now and Dec-2026" Pretty vague...

We're in the process of getting Netomnia fibre put down our street. Likewise, they only retail it through their own ISP (YouFibre), but as they are cheaper than any OR provider (£30 for 1000/1000), I'm quite happy about this. They also offer a static IP address for a fiver a month (BT won't even offer this on a domestic connection), and can offer up to 8000/8000 so it should be significantly more future proof than OR too.

Personally, I'd be happier to see an altnet than I would to see OR fibre in my street!

In reply to a post by ajd1:

Does this mean we are tied into BeFibre as a provider?

If the case then it does not sound right/fair, do they have an exclusivity period or do they have a permanent monopoly?

I really don't know where to start picking apart this comment, so I won't! 🤣