Fibre install options with external tiles

Hi all

Wondering if anyone with technical knowledge or previous experience would be able to tell me if fibre install is possible. Essentially, Virgin Media rocked up for the pre-install and said they couldn't drill through tiles but the engineer would speak to his manager after sending some photos. I phoned up customer service on day of appointment and was told they had rescheduled for a few weeks later (no further notes), which I presume means it's not an actual 100% no; however was a little cheesed so cancelled with VM.

I've since booked with BT as I can see there's two Openreach boxes on the outside already. Unfortunately the appointment is not for another two weeks and I'd rather save some heartbreak if it's going to be impossible!

This is the block - I am on the top floor: https://cdngeneral.rentcafe.co.uk/DocumentManager/3/...

Any advice/help would be much appreciated.

How do the current OpenReach cables get into your premises?

So your flat is entirely in the fully tiled top floor ?

An external feed through that ? I’d decline … add to that the issues that the ladder safety system brings (Tetra)

In reply to a post by ian72:

How do the current OpenReach cables get into your premises?

The junction box is on the ground floor, and the cables trail up (along the black pole) to the gutter just before the tiles.

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

So your flat is entirely in the fully tiled top floor ?

An external feed through that ? I’d decline … add to that the issues that the ladder safety system brings (Tetra)

Suppose going through the back wouldn't be a possibility?

How are the other flats on the top floor serviced? Has your flat never had a phone line before?

In reply to a post by PCJM40:

How are the other flats on the top floor serviced? Has your flat never had a phone line before?

There's only one other flat on my floor - haven't been able to confirm with them what they do for internet yet. I haven't officially moved in yet, so had limited chances to investigate however there seemed to be BT and EE connections on my phone with full signal strength.

There is a phone line port in the front room. Can't say whether it's been used before however.

In reply to a post by ian72:

How do the current OpenReach cables get into your premises?

Looking at the picture again … it appears the flats appear to be pole fed ??

Was there a reason VM couldn't do the same route?

In reply to a post by ian72:

Was there a reason VM couldn't do the same route?

Can't say as I didn't actually see anyone in person and hadn't examined the outside myself until yesterday. I had my appointment booked for Saturday, and an engineer did the pre-install examination at 5pm Friday and verbally explained over the phone he didn't think I would be getting anything installed because of the tiles. The only other thing he asked was which side of the flats I'm on which I don't think is particularly relevant?! I only know they rescheduled, because I called 8am Saturday and the customer service rep said there were no notes on file so pretty much in the dark.

Edited by hopeful87 (Mon 14-Jul-25 14:57:00)

In reply to a post by hopeful87:

There is a phone line port in the front room. Can't say whether it's been used before however.

Does the socket in the front room have a logo on it? have you traced it to see where it goes and where in comes into the flat? Are you saying you have full fibre (not hybrid fibre) showing as available to order? If you enter your address in say the BT website what speeds does it offer you?

In reply to a post by PCJM40:

In reply to a post by hopeful87:

There is a phone line port in the front room. Can't say whether it's been used before however.

Does the socket in the front room have a logo on it? have you traced it to see where it goes and where in comes into the flat? Are you saying you have full fibre (not hybrid fibre) showing as available to order? If you enter your address in say the BT website what speeds does it offer you?

No logo - just two sockets for cables, and next to it so another socket with two round entry points. There's no cable's in either of them. There's no cables in the flat. However, I've just remembered there is a window/lightbox in the stairwell on my floor and there IS a cable but not sure what that's for or if that's helpful.
"
Checked on the BT wholesale website: 1000 Mbps.

"Single Dwelling Unit Residential OH External CBT Complex L2C.

FTTP is available and a new ONT may be ordered."

theres two black tubes/holes in the centre which look like copper is fed to it .. Is that the case and how far away are you from it..

In reply to a post by Taras:

theres two black tubes/holes in the centre which look like copper is fed to it .. Is that the case and how far away are you from it..

OK so now I understand why the VM engineer asked which side I'm on. I can't be 100% sure (not there at the moment, but can check later) but I'm on the immediate right, possibly the right middle too.

In reply to a post by hopeful87:

Checked on the BT wholesale website: 1000 Mbps.

"Single Dwelling Unit Residential OH External CBT Complex L2C.

FTTP is available and a new ONT may be ordered."

The fact it says "Complex L2C" shows they are aware of the cable feed difficulties.

What does it say for the other flat on the top floor? does it say "ONT exists with active service" ?

In reply to a post by PCJM40:

In reply to a post by hopeful87:

Checked on the BT wholesale website: 1000 Mbps.

"Single Dwelling Unit Residential OH External CBT Complex L2C.

FTTP is available and a new ONT may be ordered."

The fact it says "Complex L2C" shows they are aware of the cable feed difficulties.

What does it say for the other flat on the top floor? does it say "ONT exists with active service" ?

Oh dear..

Say's this:

"Single Dwelling Unit Residential OH Feed potential Line of sight problems.

FTTP is available and a new ONT may be ordered. As a fibre priority exchange, FTTP has priority over other products if available at the address"

Looks like they have VDSL which I think is FTTC? Can I still get that?

The BTw checker says
Single Dwelling Unit Residential OH External CBT Complex L2C, this is irrelevant to Virgin , they don’t use Openreach , and who knows if Virgin were offering FTTP via Nexfibre , if Nexfibre, their equivalent to a CBT may not be a wall mounted as the Openreach one apparently is , so they may well have different problems to the ones Openreach have , but as stated , from an Openreach providers perspective, this was flagged at the Openreach network survey as requiring a SD survey before hand , hence the complex lead to cash (L2C) note , but the network survey deemed it not beyond the scope of SD ( Service Delivery) to come up with a solution, using whatever they see fit , scaffolding, hoist etc.
Although a telegraph pole can be seen , presumably there is a cable from it to a wall mounted Openreach CBT for at least some of the units within the MDU .

As OR FTTP is available, the existing copper distribution is also irrelevant

Edited by Iniltous (Mon 14-Jul-25 15:59:19)

In reply to a post by Iniltous:

The BTw checker says
Single Dwelling Unit Residential OH External CBT Complex L2C, this is irrelevant to Virgin , they don’t use Openreach , and who knows if Virgin were offering FTTP via Nexfibre , their equivalent to a CVT may not be wall mounted as the Openreach one apparently is , so they may well have different problems to the ones Openreach have , but as stated this was flagged at Openreach survey hence the complex lead to cash (L2C) , but the network survey deemed it not beyond the scope of SD ( Service Delivery) using whatever they see fit , scaffolding, hoist , whatever.
Although a telegraph pole can be seen , presumably there is a cable from it to a wall mounted CBT for at least some of the units within the MDU .

Thanks. Yes, I checked a few of the other units within the building and some do have existing connections presumably through the poles.

The fact its a priority exchange hopefully Openreach will pull out all the stops to get full fibre in for you.

Edited by PCJM40 (Mon 14-Jul-25 15:58:04)

TBH , just because Virgin had an issue , doesn’t necessarily mean OR will have the same issues, they are totally separate even if Nexfibre are leeching onto some Openreach assets along the way .

In reply to a post by Iniltous:

TBH , just because Virgin had an issue , doesn’t necessarily mean OR will have the same issues, they are totally separate even if Nexfibre are leeching onto some Openreach assets along the way .

I don't disagree with that, hopefully they will find a workable solution for the OP.

In reply to a post by PCJM40:

The fact its a priority exchange hopefully Openreach will pull out all the stops to get full fibre in for you.

I hope so! I have a Vodafone Gigacube (mobile broadband) coming soon that I will trial whilst waiting for my appointment, but I've heard it's absolutely useless for gaming, despite what's advertised.

Thanks for your help.

In reply to a post by Iniltous:

TBH , just because Virgin had an issue , doesn’t necessarily mean OR will have the same issues, they are totally separate even if Nexfibre are leeching onto some Openreach assets along the way .

Thanks, appreciate that.

Do you know if the exchange website would say if it's unserviceable?

In reply to a post by hopeful87:

In reply to a post by PCJM40:

The fact its a priority exchange hopefully Openreach will pull out all the stops to get full fibre in for you.

I hope so! I have a Vodafone Gigacube (mobile broadband) coming soon that I will trial whilst waiting for my appointment, but I've heard it's absolutely useless for gaming, despite what's advertised.

Thanks for your help.

interesting. But back to the OR install there is little we can say untill you have some OR bods on site, as we are just sitting here guessing. Complex installs such as yours is a case by case thing .

In reply to a post by Taras:

In reply to a post by hopeful87:

In reply to a post by PCJM40:

The fact its a priority exchange hopefully Openreach will pull out all the stops to get full fibre in for you.

I hope so! I have a Vodafone Gigacube (mobile broadband) coming soon that I will trial whilst waiting for my appointment, but I've heard it's absolutely useless for gaming, despite what's advertised.

Thanks for your help.

interesting. But back to the OR install there is little we can say untill you have some OR bods on site, as we are just sitting here guessing. Complex installs such as yours is a case by case thing .

Thanks. Will try to stop stressing!