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.

I've been checking the Openreach website regularly for full fibre build plans for my area. It's now showing as 'We’ll be building in this area in the next year' after a few weeks of having shown that they'd be building between 'now' and December 2026.

However, for the past few weeks I've seen lots of activity which looks like connecting up with FTTP and the bidb.uk website also shows lots of Openreach activity around my area. I've seen what I think are fibre CBTs appear on telegraph poles on streets in the area. Currently, a pavement around 500 metres away from my property has been dug up and there's an Openreach sign on one of the barriers.

So, looks like there is fibre build work ongoing. And yet ... the message on the Openreach website is suggesting they will start building in the next year.

I'm not sure what to make of that! I'm connected to Community Fibre anyway so I don't have an urgent need around moving away from copper, but would be nice to have an Openreach FTTP option as well.

Their plans change and the dates etc shown online are extremely ‘broad brush’ so I wouldn’t place much faith in them being any more than a vague indication.

In reply to a post by BLaZiNgSPEED:

Zone 5/6

In reply to a post by BLaZiNgSPEED:

Zone 1

Lucky I understand that the London tube/train map uses Zones otherwise your multiple references to TFL Zones would make no sense.

In reply to a post by BLaZiNgSPEED:

In reply to a post by Taras:

BLaZiNgSPEED was sadly conflating MDUs and Sdu rollout. We all know the hellhole MDU occupiers can be in with fttp rollout. Sadly we only hear of the situations where there is an issue.

I do have genuine sympathy for his and many is his situation.

Indeed, I may have unintentionally conflated the MDU and SDU rollout. The problem is that when I look at it from my perspective and the area I live in, it is predominantly served with almost 100% of MDU buildings.

If we look at the Bishopsgate Exchange for example, that will serve part of the City and Tower Hamlets London area. If you now look at the demographics of Aldgate, Aldgate East, Whitechapel and Spitalfields you will see there are very few SDU houses available in the area. You can see if you roam around Google Maps.

I have no doubt that the issue with wayleave doesn't concern SDU residents the way it does for someone like myself who lives in an MDU.

As you said, you wrote it from you perspective, which is completely correct - you aren't trying to connect somebody in liverpool or dover! I, for what ever reason never saw the that you were in an mdu.

In reply to a post by BLaZiNgSPEED:

So, when I look at the Openreach checker showing that they are building in my area right now (Bishopsgate Exchange), I immediately question how they will cover majority of the area unless Openreach are 100% confident that they will not run into the obstacle of wayleave delaying the build plan. Some housing owners will grant it spontaneously, while others might be held back.

Wayleaves be it for, land access or in your case access to the building can be a barrel of worm. As Pheasnt said, in another post

"we are building in your area" its a broad brush

hes completely correct. our exhcange area - most roads have been done and all the DIG areas have not been done yet (or may never been done ) by OR - yet it still has the status of "we are building in your area"

In reply to a post by BLaZiNgSPEED:

While a wayleave may have been granted for Community Fibre and VM Nexfibre, there is still the worry that they might not necessarily grant an agreement for Openreach FTTP as well. Just as I see some places have wayleave for Openreach/Hyperoptic but wouldn't have the same Altnets that were granted for our housing association.

I remember it took us exactly 20 months (1 year and 8 months) following a wayleave agreement for Community Fibre to finally go live for us! The same is probably going to happen for Nexfibre since June 2024 letter that we received.

Sadly the Wayleaves are for each company so if you have six whole sale companies wanting to install equipment in the mdu its six wayleaves. Equally reasonable and equally stupid at the same time.

In reply to a post by BLaZiNgSPEED:

In reply to a post by PCJM40:

In reply to a post by Taras:

BLaZiNgSPEED was sadly conflating MDUs and Sdu rollout.

I don't think he was, he was turning the conversation to himself as he always does.

Not intentionally of-course!
While it may seem I am turning the conversation onto myself I'm also looking it from the same perspective concern of others. The Openreach checker doesn't quite distinguish between areas served with SDU and MDUs. If an area such as a town or Zone 5/6 of London has more houses than MDU buildings then I guess it is more reliable to trust that the build plan is happening right now!

But I know this doesn't apply for me especially living in Zone 1 as a wayleave that was granted for Nexfibre last year is still pending and no works have been done inside my building yet. This suggests that it is very unlikely that Openreach will be building right now for our estate within the area unless it is followed by a very quick wayleave agreement. I'm sure others in similar areas served with majority of MDU buildings will have the same concern.

My prediction is that Openreach FTTP will successfully cover majority of areas that have houses before they manage to cover areas with mostly tower blocks.

You should if the owners are sensible get OR FTP, and or will want to cover as many as possible especially with xgs-pon next year.

OR will want every cbt full in existing areas and olts fully populated too - so long as rollout isn't overly expensive.

Edited by Taras (Wed 20-Aug-25 17:37:56)

The Openreach checker has gone from it being planned by a certain month , to building in your area for a few months now to we will be building in your area next year, What a joke

For a few months my searches on Openreach were showing as build planned between now and December 2026. That changed to something along the lines of we will be building in the area in the next year

The BIDB website showed lots of Openreach activity around the area over the last few weeks.

Anyhow, the status has now changed to something along the lines of available to order now. Searches on various ISP websites matches with that status. I didn't see the building in this area now status, and I had been checking almost daily.

Edited by teshy (Fri 26-Sep-25 09:48:45)

In reply to a post by teshy:

For a few months my searches on Openreach were showing as build planned between now and December 2026. That changed to something along the lines of we will be building in the area in the next year

The BIDB website showed lots of Openreach activity around the area over the last few weeks.

Anyhow, the status has now changed to something along the lines of available to order now. Searches on various ISP websites matches with that status. I didn't see the building in this area now status, and I had been checking almost daily.

The OR website itself can be out of date, even though an area might say x on their website and y is happening on the ground and then once RFS is done the site updates ......

it can be annoying

In reply to a post by teshy:

For a few months my searches on Openreach were showing as build planned between now and December 2026. That changed to something along the lines of we will be building in the area in the next year

The BIDB website showed lots of Openreach activity around the area over the last few weeks.

Anyhow, the status has now changed to something along the lines of available to order now. Searches on various ISP websites matches with that status. I didn't see the building in this area now status, and I had been checking almost daily.

Yep I had similar. For my house it said it'd be built by June, then September then it changed to it'll be done in the next year. It still says that but the work was all done last week and I'm just waiting for it to go live now so that I can put an order in (hopefully in the next couple of weeks 🤞)

In reply to a post by teshy:

For a few months my searches on Openreach were showing as build planned between now and December 2026. That changed to something along the lines of we will be building in the area in the next year

The BIDB website showed lots of Openreach activity around the area over the last few weeks.

Anyhow, the status has now changed to something along the lines of available to order now. Searches on various ISP websites matches with that status. I didn't see the building in this area now status, and I had been checking almost daily.

The benefits of living in an SDU

In reply to a post by squarecrumpets:

The benefits of living in an SDU

its *Easier* ....... but still not perfect in some case. Just remember that "inserting fibre cables to the home" wasn't on the bingo cards of property design in the last century ......

you installed the cabling needed at build time and it was done.