They probably don't mind, could always pop into IRC if you'd rather just have an informal chat with one of them.

In reply to a post by bowdon:

I don't understand why things are so slow when it comes to digging things up. If its the councils that are slowing things down then it should be time that the council allow certain utility companies on to a fast-tracked decision making panel, or something like that. Same goes for the other ISP's and other utility companies too.

And then you might find your roads and pavements being dug up all year round with little to no notice or consultation. Of course it'd be nice if councils moved more quickly but I can also see the argument for coordinating different companies so that they can all 'share a hole' rather than the road being dug up for gas, repaired, then dug up again for water, repaired then dug up again for...

The internet is important but usable roads and pavements are more important.

In reply to a post by MHC:

In reply to a post by bowdon:

I don't understand why things are so slow when it comes to digging things up. If its the councils that are slowing things down ...

A couple of years back the pole serving us was demolished by a speeding driver. BT were quick enough to remove the damaged pole and make the area safe. They then needed to install a new pole and informed the council. The council responded that they required a minimum of 13 weeks notice as BT would need to implement traffic control - a man with a Stop/Go board for under an hour.

That is the current level of bureaucracy that BT has to contend with every day of the week - and ultimately, we the consumers, are having to pay the cost of BT battling against ridiculous restrictions.

For once I do agree and sympathise with BT a bit - we had a case not so long back where we had a customer without service for 3+ weeks - all because of the council's insistence on notice for the road restrictions - which only took a couple of hours in the end.

...and BT pay no compensation because that's classed as outside its control.

In reply to a post by brightd:

I have native FTTP. I placed my initial order in March 2014 and the service was eventually deployed in February 2015. So it is not only FTTPoD that can take some time to deploy.

Took me just under 7 weeks at a recent install, including Christmas, not bad, but still ridiculous considering the fibre was < 2 metres from the premises installation internal location already...

In reply to a post by MHC:

In reply to a post by bowdon:

I don't understand why things are so slow when it comes to digging things up. If its the councils that are slowing things down ...

A couple of years back the pole serving us was demolished by a speeding driver. BT were quick enough to remove the damaged pole and make the area safe. They then needed to install a new pole and informed the council. The council responded that they required a minimum of 13 weeks notice as BT would need to implement traffic control - a man with a Stop/Go board for under an hour.

That is the current level of bureaucracy that BT has to contend with every day of the week - and ultimately, we the consumers, are having to pay the cost of BT battling against ridiculous restrictions.

This is utter tripe.

Works notices (or permits as most highway authorities are operating) require the following minimum notification periods:
Minor works (1 to 3 days duration) = 3 working days
Standard works (4 to 10 days duration) = 10 working days
Major works (11+ days duration) = 3 months / 12 weeks
Nothing stops a utility asking for early starts on works with the agreement of the highway authority.

Fitting a telegraph pole rarely takes more than a day so the notification period (once Openreach have raised the works internally to there work gangs etc.) shouldn't have taken 13 weeks. The use of Stop/go boards doesn't require any additional time in notification.

TTROs (temporary traffic restriction orders i.e. full road closures) carry a minimum 12 weeks notification irrespective of the works duration above BUT can be done sooner than this pending the circumstances of where the works are being carried out. Closing a very busy A road (HGV, Bus route etc.) would likely require the full minimum notification but a small residential street may be granted much sooner than the minimum.

In reply to a post by therioman:

In reply to a post by MHC:

In reply to a post by bowdon:

I don't understand why things are so slow when it comes to digging things up. If its the councils that are slowing things down ...

A couple of years back the pole serving us was demolished by a speeding driver. BT were quick enough to remove the damaged pole and make the area safe. They then needed to install a new pole and informed the council. The council responded that they required a minimum of 13 weeks notice as BT would need to implement traffic control - a man with a Stop/Go board for under an hour.

That is the current level of bureaucracy that BT has to contend with every day of the week - and ultimately, we the consumers, are having to pay the cost of BT battling against ridiculous restrictions.

For once I do agree and sympathise with BT a bit - we had a case not so long back where we had a customer without service for 3+ weeks - all because of the council's insistence on notice for the road restrictions - which only took a couple of hours in the end.

...and BT pay no compensation because that's classed as outside its control.

See my response to Bowdon's post.

This isn't a trivial matter of 'making them wait for the fun of it'.

Openreach, like all other statuary undertakers (utilities) have the right to work on the highway but they ALL know the notification periods for works and this has not changed in years. Poor planning of works is more often the reason for a delay in works permits being granted. The utility is responsible for assessing there works and informing how they are going to carry the works out (times, traffic management required where applicable, any restrictions required etc.).

The issues with planned works is that Jo Public complain at a whim for any reason if works go ahead. They've had to wait 2 minutes at traffic lights, had to go 100m/1 mile/5 miles out of there way on a diversion, couldn't park outside of there house as repairs were required, damaged there car on the damaged road where they parked there cars (but wouldn't move them to get the repairs done), complain that X utility have dug up a new road for repairs to a leak/fault, complain if X utility can't dig up the road to repair/install there service. It's a lose lose situation.

I've been on the end of the phone many a time when customers (end users not phone companies/ISPs) have called and been chasing why phone line/s haven't been installed/repaired etc. and have been told by Openreach that it's 'highways' fault/delay when Openreach haven't even applied for a works permit to carry out said works. This is far more common than you think and is solely down to utility rather than the highway authority. You can't process a request for works that haven't been applied for!

You missed off the best bit - this is penalty clauses for overrunning street works.
I've heard of situations where when a job is going to over run it is 'cheaper' to abandon the job and close up the hole so they finish on time and then reschedule the whole thing to be dug up all over again on a later date than it is to continue the work, over run and be stuffed with a late finishing penalty.

Depending on where you are looking at this from, S74 overrun charges are a financial penalty for overrunning works but, in an ideal world, they shouldn't be occurring.

The process of applying then re-apply for the same works doesn't always work out either. If the utility has agreed to complete works in a set period and fail to do so, a further permit to return to the site may be refused/postponed if there are other works booked on the network OR other mitigating circumstances (avoidable disruption, local events, schools re-opening after breaks etc.).

Dealing with some issues in Thanet relating to repeat works at a site. The area is due to host an event in a few weeks time and the works site has to be re-visited to complete defects after the site was twice dug up for installation works. Needless to say, the restaurant at the site are rather un-happy about this.

It isn't just FTTPoD and phone lines which get held up - I'm still waiting on an EAD circuit ordered in Feb 2014 which after survey and discussions about ECC was supposed to be completed last August!

One of the major annoyances is the complete lack of progress information fed back through the order chain from Openreach - we have had to resort to friends and business contacts to make enquiries and it appears that the subcontractor cannot be bothered to submit a traffic plan to the highways authority who rightly reject the application.

Openreach appear to be completely uninterested in getting their subcontractor to make a proper submission to progress the works - possibly because there is no penalty for late delivery of this service, unlike their BDUK contracts, and there isn't an alternative provider.

I don't know whether it is because I flashed my router with dd-wrt, there happens to less congestion on the network (but it is 10am on a business day) or because more capacity has been installed but my speeds are now consistent with the 330/30 level advertised by BT.

I am not sure how to embed a speed test but the link is below:

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/results.html...