In reply to a post by Anth:

And how would the desktop survey know my ducts are blocked in advance.....

Exactly!!

�Mumba� from the Cerberus order thread paid just a few £1000s under the old pricing (afaik) so like you he isn�t very far from the agg node. Yet OR found ~20 blocked ducts which cost them hell of a lot more than a few k so in all likelihood they made a loss on his install. I guess under the new pricing they are a lot more cautious and want to greatly reduce the risk of loss making installs. Though it would be nice if they refunded you the extra charges if you had a straight forward install.

Edited by deleted (Fri 01-Jun-18 12:08:12)

In reply to a post by baby_frogmella:

Blocked ducts maybe? They can cost £1000s to put right.....

I've often wondered about that, and IMO if customers are being individually charged for clearing/repairing/replacing blocked/damaged ducts, that seems to me to be grossly unfair.

After all, the ducts are part of the pre-existing infrastructure which should be being maintained out of the overall day to day charging structure. And if the ducts are not being maintained, what was the point in laying them in the first place?

Like the roads which deteriorate and become potholed due to utility companies not properly reinstating them after digging them up, more effort should be made to charge any utility company which damages BTOR ducting for repairs to any damage caused by them.

So the Openreach Surveyor has just gone and to be honest it felt like a complete waste of time.

The Surveyor was about 22/23 years old and did not seem to know much about anything at all and I felt I paid £300 for that....

The strong impression I got from what he was saying was he was thinking I was getting regular install FTTP and not the lesser known FTTP on demand.

I asked if there were any blocked ducts between my property and the aggregation node and he said there were no ducting there whatsoever. But he said he cannot see how I would need to pay for that to be installed as its part of Openreach role to ensure ducting exists..

I said that I think for FTTP on demand I foot the entire build costs myself. He then left to phone his manager to see if this was correct or not and I would need to pay for the ducting to be laid. But he could not get through so he left with this up in the air. But me knowing the answer really.

He said he will write a survey and this goes to his manager who then costs it. He has not costed anything whatsoever as he does not know the prices of anything.

But if its 400m of ducting to be laid underground, I expect that is why its £30,000 build costs for me.How the hell can openreach even just have copper wiring to my house and all the others in my estate with no ducting there. So its just running through the soil or something?

So overall it seems I will not be getting FTTP as I cannot pay for them to install ducting throughout my estate from the node. What a joke.

Edited by Anth (Fri 01-Jun-18 13:27:03)

Have you tried taking a wander along the footpaths (both sides of the road) between you and the ag node to see if there are any BT manhole covers?

In reply to a post by ian72:

Have you tried taking a wander along the footpaths (both sides of the road) between you and the ag node to see if there are any BT manhole covers?

There is a manhole cover at the end of my street looking on Google maps now. As I said its an L direction from my house to the AN. And at the end of my street is another cover. I live in the last house on my street.

Rather than jumping the gun, better to wait for the Survey results to come through. You might be asked to pay less, pay more or pay the quoted costs.

Out of interest is the agg node located next to your FTTC cabinet as you seemed to think earlier?

In reply to a post by baby_frogmella:

Rather than jumping the gun, better to wait for the Survey results to come through. You might be asked to pay less, pay more or pay the quoted costs.

But if there is no ducting there whatsoever. And I was already quoted £30,000. I am not expecting the £2,500 price from January popping up.

I highly doubt Openreach would install the ducting in my street now as a good will gesture.

In reply to a post by baby_frogmella:

Out of interest is the agg node located next to your FTTC cabinet as you seemed to think earlier?

Yes, as I say its about 5meters away from the cabinet on the main road. (the cabinet is on a side street about 3m into that steet just off that main road where the AN is based).

But the annoying thing is. I thought the phone/internet cable went down that main road, and along the other main road. That would be the common sense thing for BT to have done.

But it doesn't it goes from the cabinet and through my estate. Which is side streets and my house is the last house in this estate on the side streets but my BT pole is on that main road I mention above and for some reason that is the route the FTTP on demand will take too for some odd reason,

On reflection I should have asked the surveyor why that has to be. But he is gone now..

Edited by Anth (Fri 01-Jun-18 13:55:03)

What BT pole? Does your phone come in overhead or underground?