Neighbours can get fibre but i cannot

I am stuck in the frustrating situation where I cannot get fibre whereas my immediate neighbours can so looking for advice on how to proceed. I am sure I should be able to get it and I am just stuck in a "computer says no" limbo stage.

The Openreach CBT is in a box in the ground that is directly on the boundary of my property next to my drive. I can see the existing pipes / ducting carrying the existing copper cable to my house. Most houses near my are connected by poles and these are all able to order fibre.

I have done the following so far:

Contacted Openreach via their online form. I received a response that confirmed the following:

I have a "gold" address and a NAD

I know my CBT number which has a technical RFS date but not a commercial RFS date

My house is classified as being in a DIG area and there are no concrete plans as to when fibre may be come available

I originally made an enquiry checking the box "when will fibre be available". I have submitted another query checking the box "my neighbours can get fibre but i cannot" and explained that the CBT is right next to my house and there is an existing duct, no digging required, and asked if they can please send out an engineer to look. I have not had a response to this yet

I have also made an enquiry via Zen Broadband who have made a request to Openreach with same information as above. This was in the hope that as a broadband supplier they might have more luck unblocking this.

I have asked Cerberus for a desktop quote for FTTPoD

HeyBroadband (altnet) is in my area but after trying to place an order through them they are saying they cannot connect my house to one of their poles due to minimum height clearances. There are a couple of poles near my property. They do not have their equipment in the CBT manhole in the road so that is not an option apparently.

It is so frustrating. Is there anything else I can or should do at this stage!?

Many thanks

In reply to a post by pg1981:

I have submitted another query checking the box "my neighbours can get fibre but i cannot" and explained that the CBT is right next to my house and there is an existing duct, no digging required, and asked if they can please send out an engineer to look. I have not had a response to this yet

I have also made an enquiry via Zen Broadband who have made a request to Openreach with same information as above. This was in the hope that as a broadband supplier they might have more luck unblocking this.

Is there anything else I can or should do at this stage!?

Wait for OR/Zen to get back to you.

We were in the same position until last month when Openreach fibre suddenly appeared as orderable despite being at neighbours for some time.
I think they re-evaluate infrastructure to see if they can run overhead fibre and it's also now available at our other neighbour but no further on our side.
I got it installed but they had a bit of a struggle and had to put an elevated platform vehicle on our car ramp.
Goodbye Virgin for now but Virgin does have the far more elegant under-footway duct. The Openreach duct is on the other side of our road and there's a pole about 60 metres away.
I also picked Vodafone and got a £165 voucher which is very generous. Vodafone also credited me with 2 days missing service while OR worked out how to connect. Worth going with VF for service I think.

Post deleted by seb

This is a grotesque regulatory failure in my view, as someone who has been intimately involved with telecoms regulation.

There is just no excuse for not implementing universal passive infrastructure in inner-city areas. especially given the multiple digs to install partial alt nets, legacy Virgin coax, water and other utilities. You can be a few hundred metres from Silicon roundabout and have no fibre broadband in 2026.

In reply to a post by stamford13:

This is a grotesque regulatory failure in my view, as someone who has been intimately involved with telecoms regulation.

There is just no excuse for not implementing universal passive infrastructure in inner-city areas. especially given the multiple digs to install partial alt nets, legacy Virgin coax, water and other utilities ...

Absolutely agree. Imagine having 4 or more different electricity supplies down the street:

• 415/230V 50Hz 3 phase
• +/-200V DC
• 240V 50Hz 3 phase, no neutral, one phase grounded (Aylesbury 3 phase)
• 115/200V 60Hz 3 phase

The forums would be interesting:
What cooker do you get with FF?
Can I use my kettle from Maiden if I move to Rural String?
I am moving to Karma. How do I set up my washing machine to work on Aylesbury 3 phase?
Below the Horizon won't tell me how to connect my fridge so the light goes off when I shut the door.

Grotesque is the right word.

Edited by DFScale (Sun 21-Jun-26 08:39:51)

In reply to a post by DFScale:

In reply to a post by stamford13:

This is a grotesque regulatory failure in my view, as someone who has been intimately involved with telecoms regulation.

There is just no excuse for not implementing universal passive infrastructure in inner-city areas. especially given the multiple digs to install partial alt nets, legacy Virgin coax, water and other utilities ...

Absolutely agree. Imagine having 4 or more different electricity supplies down the street:

• 415/230V 50Hz 3 phase
• +/-200V DC
• 240V 50Hz 3 phase, no neutral, one phase grounded (Aylesbury 3 phase)
• 115/200V 60Hz 3 phase

The forums would be interesting:
What cooker do you get with FF?
Can I use my kettle from Maiden if I move to Rural String?
I am moving to Karma. How do I set up my washing machine to work on Aylesbury 3 phase?
Below the Horizon won't tell me how to connect my fridge so the light goes off when I shut the door.

Grotesque is the right word.

You are correct …

There is just no excuse for not implementing universal passive infrastructure in inner-city areas

And the whole damn country.
Trouble is , government, telco regulators, communications providers, and Joe Public all thought their way would be much better.
A lo ! The Wild West approach to telecoms has arisen.

Unfortunately one person had to wait a few months for a phone line to be installed in the 80s, or went three weeks without a bin collection in the 70s, so now everything has to be open to competition. Just ignore the people who wait over a year for Virgin Media to install a service, never manage to get the civils contractor talking to the parent company, and then have the install cancelled.

In reply to a post by stamford13:

This is a grotesque regulatory failure in my view, as someone who has been intimately involved with telecoms regulation.

If money was no object I would agree with you but cost is a factor and you can regulate as much as you like but if something doesn't make finance sense why should private companies subsidies it. People can sit in their ivory towers saying what should and shouldn't happen but its normally not their money thats being wasted.

In reply to a post by PCJM40:

If money was no object I would agree with you but cost is a factor and you can regulate as much as you like but if something doesn't make finance sense why should private companies subsidies it. People can sit in their ivory towers saying what should and shouldn't happen but its normally not their money thats being wasted.

Plenty of red tape bureaucracy as well, such as having 2 FTTP suppliers in the street outside, and not being able to sign up as the building owner (non profit making social landlord) won't engage in any discussion.

Edited by jchamier (Sun 21-Jun-26 13:07:39)