They pulled fibre into ours just over a year ago i think and then nothing. Emailed OR direct asking for a progress update and they replied saying they would not be connecting the street in the near future and wasn't part of the build plans.

I got the “We’re building in this area now.” email on thw 22/7/25 and a CBT appeared on the pole outside yesterday yet to be connected.

In reply to a post by Bobby_Valentino:

Hi all,

I received an email from Openreach this morning with the update: “We’re building in this area now.”

From real‑world experience, does anyone know roughly how long it usually takes from receiving this update to actually being able to place an order with an ISP?

Thanks in advance.

When they were building the pons in my area, on some sample housing did actually notify of work being done and there was actual work being done.

Even with everything connected, RFS can take up to 2 weeks. Especially if theres a problem. A build within a quarter is about as fast as you will ever see OR complete something. Thats from green lighting the project to rfs.

Also even with partially connected CBTS they can sit there for years and not be working.

That all said, OR wants to complete as much as possible. Its just sometimes the pots of money sometimes gets used up in a quarter and your area gets shuffled back. Thats the painful part.

I got the “We’re building in this area now.” emai on 23/July/2025, and the same day I saw engineers pulling cables through the street, lifting the lids on the chambers as they progressed.

I have had no further update since, and the status remains 'working in your area'. I hope it means FTTP comes soon.

I never received any such email like this despite previously registering my interest a few years ago. However, the checker has changed to reflect this from only the last few weeks...

The “We’re building in this area now.” is showing up for my postcode when there was absolutely no plan of that happening previously. Bishopsgate Exchange.

Another postcode of our other property that we are renting out connected to the Stepney Green Exchange is showing "We’ll be building in this area in the next year". Both of these postcodes were showing no plan at all.

Expressing your interest

"We’re happy to confirm that we have a plan to bring Full Fibre to you."

Just because Openreach have a plan to bring FTTP, doesn't mean they'll be granted the wayleave agreement! This is why I find this checker suspicious and view it with a pinch of salt. It cannot be that suddenly all postcodes are showing as planned when previously they had no plan at all!!

Until a wayleave isn't officially agreed, I won't believe that it will come! A wayleave was also agreed last year for Virgin Media Nexfibre, but I have yet to be upgraded! While the same housing estate that has a wayleave for Community Fibre did not cover absolutely 100% of all of their residential buildings!

So, this means that even if a wayleave for Openreach was granted, it still does not guarantee that Openreach will build FTTP for that premise. They will still probably leave out a few buildings behind.

For this reason I'm not taking their checker seriously at all. It has been designed to probably keep the moaners quiet who keep contacting Openreach to ask them for an update. Openreach customer support is probably fed-up of people constantly emailing them asking when they'll build FTTP for their area. So, they made a checker with the promise that they'll build so that they don't receive those emails. This is what I suspect. Not to mention to send a signal to the other Altnets that "we are targeting those areas too"! This is a strategy to break the moral ambition of Altnets from trying to roll out their service in the areas that Openreach will also target. Of-course naturally that is what Openreach want, they don't want to have to build in areas that have cheaper Altnets. While the Altnets still don't want Openreach as that still risk losing some customers even if their offerings are cheaper and symmetrical!

In reply to a post by BLaZiNgSPEED:

It cannot be that suddenly all postcodes are showing as planned when previously they had no plan at all!!

It certainly can. Plans are made in areas. A manager draws a red line around an area, "do this bit next", and suddenly all the properties are in plan.

But that doesn't mean the outcome will actually connect all those properties. Once detailed design work takes place, properties will be identified which are not connectable for one reason or another (wayleave being just one).

The responses are carefully worded. "We'll be building in this area" is not the same as "we'll be building to this specific property".

Just to add,

Different flats in our development received the “We’re building in this area now.” E-mail at different times despite having the same postcode. They were received over the course of a few weeks. Not sure why there was a difference in when they were sent out.

In reply to a post by candlerb:

In reply to a post by BLaZiNgSPEED:

It cannot be that suddenly all postcodes are showing as planned when previously they had no plan at all!!

It certainly can. Plans are made in areas. A manager draws a red line around an area, "do this bit next", and suddenly all the properties are in plan.

Of course subject to funding and whats actually in the ground etc. And its actually a meeting - or our was - well i was told that at least.

True, and I am aware it is not the same as building to a specific property. The problem is that most people will be assuming that Openreach will be building for their specific property or building! And this can be disappointing when they eventually find out that that's not the case or no agreement could be reached.

When I go to https://one.network/ and enter my postcode and click to check "Next twelve months" I do not see any Openreach works anywhere on the map! Not just for my specific postcode, but the entire surrounding area.

The only works I see currently is Virgin Media for August and September assuming these are Nexfibre works for my estate. But even with Virgin Media Nexfibre there's no clue on which buildings they are working on even if the map shows they are working on a particular street. I've seen them last month working in my street duct but again I do not know for which properties they are installing them for. But I do notice several of the buildings nearby have already gone live a few months back! But the works scheduled seem to be happening in areas where service has already gone live. It is difficult to know from just viewing One.Network or BIDB where they are working on unless speaking to the engineers directly can give us clues.

The Virgin Media checker is in fact worse in this regard than the Openreach checker as it will only show "Keep me posted"

Now of-course I haven't yet received an email from Openreach despite registering my interest a few years ago. I'm not sure from the posters in this thread who claim that they've received emails, whether this is a firm confirmation that a wayleave has been agreed in place or whether Openreach genuinely added their specific postcode to the planned red lines!

Until there is an official confirmation such as a letter, email or news confirmation on a housing management website none of us should take the checker seriously. Most of us know that when Openreach claim "We'll be building in this area" or "We're building in this area now" does not mean the entire area will be upgraded to Full Fibre. Again, this is subject to a wayleave agreement or desire from Openreach to really have an interest in covering those properties within the area. Or it may mean that Openreach would like to bring in Full Fibre but obstacles such as a wayleave prevent them from working and completing the build plan. All of us should be aware of this before getting excited or having high hopes. Only a letter with a wayleave agreement will excite me but even then I shouldn't be too hopeful!

Hi @BLaZiNgSPEED - the reason you likely don't see any Openreach works in your area is that clearing ducts and installing new fibre tend to be a fairly quick process (not in every case of course) and as such the notice period required to the Local Authority for Streetworks is often only a couple of days. Therefore the permit application likely won't be put in until a few days or weeks before the works start. Again not true in every case but generally how it works.