Openreach FTTP installation estimate

Wanted to check something with the experts here.. I have been patiently waiting for FTTP on my street for years but it seems like they're never getting around to it.

Last year I talked to some Openreach engineers who were doing some work on the street and they said the whole street will be done by December 2025. The openreach checker had similar wording along the lines of "before December 2025" then that changed to "2026" and now more recently, the status checker went from "We'll be building in this area in the next year" (one of the buildings just up the street still has this wording) to "We're planning to build in your area".

It is in North London, so quite congested and Virgin Media is the fastest that's possible to get at the moment, FTTC at 80Mbps 'up to' is a complete joke and not fit for purpose, so there is no choice.

Is there any hope of finding out when the installation work will actually happen, if at all? Currently on 600/60Mbit VMB and want to try my luck again with Gigabit as the speeds are too slow.

I've used numerous checkers including the TBB maps. There were some planned works up the street by Openreach last month, but they were never carried out and it seems like my part of the street might be left out of that entirely, there's nothing planned for the next 12 months according to one . network maps.

Thanks in advance.

Rough postcode would help?

Btw, what router do you have for VMB? I suspect you are on their older DOCSIS3.0 network, DOCSIS3.1 is much more reliable in general (more capacity).

In reply to a post by Saltank:

Currently on 600/60Mbit VMB and want to try my luck again with Gigabit as the speeds are too slow.

What do you mean by "speeds are too slow"?

If you're downloading huge files, and already achieving the full 600Mbps (~= 75MB/sec), that's one thing. Upgrading to gigabit could reduce the download times by ~35%, if your target system is capable of receiving and storing that quickly.

However, if downloads are slower than that, or if you're just doing regular web browsing and it "feels slow", upgrading to gigabit on the same network won't make any difference - anything faster than about 150Mbps doesn't give any discernable difference on browsing. If you have noticeable delays then it suggests you have some other problem, like DNS or high packet loss. High packet loss can also reduce TCP throughput below the line speed.

As for fibre availability: all you can know is that it comes when it comes. You can look on bidb.uk to see roadworks which may be related, but there have been many cases of fibre projects which have been started but abandoned before completion. You'll get it eventually: but there's no way to know whether it will be in 3 months or 3 years. Equally, if your road is *not* showing planned works that doesn't mean anything - it could be that all your ducts are in good shape and no digging is required.

If this speed issue is affecting you financially (e.g. running a business from home) then you could consider a full leased line.

I'm a heavy user and the download/upload is insufficient. In addition to needing to move around larger files for work, I also want stuff like Steam to take advantage of my 2.5GigE networking equipment (I'm using UniFi as the gateway/router).

I originally (in 2023) got the 1Gig plan and they supplied a CHITA (DOCSIS 3.1) modem, but after 7 months of multiple engineers I was forced to downgrade to the old HITRON modem and presumably DOCSIS 3.0. The issue: every 6 minutes the connection 'froze' for a few seconds, which was incredibly disruptive for any activity that relied on streaming. This happened throughout multiple modem swaps and even a new line being run, and they couldn't fix it. I had numerous logs documenting the packet loss over many months using PingPlotter and other tools.

My neighbour, in the same building, at some point after this started in 2023, got a Residential 1Gig connection and has supposedly had no issues, though I don't know for sure; maybe they're not tech-savvy enough to notice or care.

I am now paying VMB £57/month for this 600/60 connection, and it's painful constantly seeing FTTP connections being sold elsewhere (feels like everyone has it but me!) that are faster and have lower latency for sometimes half this cost. I know it sounds trivial, but 20ms ping to sub-5ms actually IS something when gaming or on video conference calls.

I am not comfortable with giving away my postcode, so will just leave it at that for now. Sorry, folks.
I know the street cab my BT copper line was connected to and have seen Openreach on nearby streets in the area supposedly working with fibre ducting, and will try to ask them if they know anything.

Thank you.

I'm residential paying £65/m for 500/50, and with a 5 year old Hub 3.0, so DOCSIS 3.0 I believe. I am also waiting patiently for FTTP from OR as I have two altnets in the street but can't convince building owner (block of flats) to permit them to connect, wayleave issues. They also have a faulty cabinet, and despite replacing many cabinets nearby, mine hasn't been changed... and in hot sunny weather I get constant disconnects. I would go back to FTTC / VDSL but the copper wire is in a poor state, and I can't work with what became 1 Mbps upload.

Hope you get some choice soon!

My car can do more than 70 mph. When will I be able to go faster?