FTTPod install time?

How long is it generally taking for FTTPod installs, from placing the order to having a working service?

We placed our order with Cerburs on the 9th of May last year (so over 9 months ago as I type) and the installation is not near complete yet, so I was wondering how long it has taken for others in this forum?

Openreach don't appear to be particularly efficient or motivated to complete the work. We needed a pole replacing (*), some ducts inspecting (and possibly clearing) and an access chamber in the verge before they can actually pull the fibre in. Each of these jobs on the same short stretch of road needs separate teams, each with traffic management. Crews will turn up, look at the road and report that they can't do the job because no traffic management has been booked for the job, they then come back a few weeks later when it has. Roadworks appear on roadworks.org and then never happen, get rearranged a few weeks later. Each task takes several attempts to complete, each with a week or three between. The latest delay is down to a manhole cover that can't be raised, and needs replacement which has been pending for almost a month now

Cerberus keep us informed with a weekly update and I can't really blame them for Openreach. Cerberus must be as frustrated about this as we are, so far this has cost them a lot of time to for no return.

So having got that frustration off my chest, what is your experience of FTTPod installs?

And to rub salt into the wounds, when the company next door ordered a leased line by mistake (they actually meant to do a linked FTTPod order with us) Openreach were out in force within days, stringing up fibre and getting on with it. The mistake was realised and the leased line order cancelled, now we have bits of orphaned fibre on site

Regards,
Mark Leman

* When the pole was replaced on the third attempt, the crew told me "not sure why we were asked to replace it, it was fine and we could just have retensioned the existing cables to achieve the clearance required"

If it helps, they can be just as hopeless when it comes to leased line installations, they can also drag on for a year or more.

Hi

I think it's a question that can't be answered, for some it's relatively quick, for others takes many months. There are so few FTTPoD installs a month you can't really gather any concrete average time anyway.

Do you have a project manager you can contact at Openreach?

Good luck, hope it all gets sorted very soon.

Regards

Phil

In reply to a post by MarkLeman:

How long is it generally taking for FTTPod installs, from placing the order to having a working service?

That's a bit like asking how long's a piece of string?

Seriously though, you can't really put a time frame on it as there's too many variables, many of which Openreach don't have much control over.

Nevertheless, the lead times have improved massively over the last few years, it was normal to get the service installed in 2-3 years when FTTPoD first came out, these days Openreach try to complete most installs within 12 months. Mine was only 4 months but it was a fairly simple & hassle free install - which of course won't be applicable to everyone.

I would just go with the flow and accept that Openreach are working on it. If it goes beyond 12 months then I would chase this up with Openreach at a higher level.

To be fair alot of the problem are with a network, that in some places haven't had whole sale change since they where first put it. The bigger problem is that it sometimes looks as if the left and the right hand isn't communicating.

That second point seems to an ongoing issue with OR.

The engineers though seem to be mostly doing a sterling job and sometimes in pants conditions

In my year long effort to get a FTTC fault fixed I certainly met some good OR engineers. But I�m afraid many of them were completely ineffective, never reading the notes, even when prompted to and just going over the same ground that the previous engineers had already covered.

And the OR system was hopeless. Engineers often turned up without an appointment. Traffic controls that we supposed to be book weren�t, repeatedly. There was a refusal to replace clearly faulty cabling, because it was a lot of work.

The only reason it got fixed in the end was down to a single great engineer ignoring all the systems/rules:

- bypassed all the bookings to phone his mate he knew was driving the cherry picker that day
- called in favours to get another engineer on site to help
- ignored the fact that that pole inspection dates were out of date
- strung extra pairs that other engineers refused to touch
- stayed all day, fending of repeated angry calls from his manager wanting him to move on to other jobs
- making fixes to a line he wasn�t booked to touch

Edited by andynormancx (Wed 13-Feb-19 12:57:42)

In reply to a post by MarkLeman:

We placed our order with Cerburs on the 9th of May last year (so over 9 months ago as I type) and the installation is not near complete yet, so I was wondering how long it has taken for others in this forum?

I am in the same boat as you: survey order placed on March 10th last year, final quote received and balance paid June 26th, and install is still a long way from complete.

There have been several problems but they have been dealt with sequentially. So for example they found some blocked ducts in one section of street between here and the agg node, and it took a few months to fix those; then they did some new ductwork which was in the original plan, with some delays due to permit issues; then they found another section of blocked ducts in another street along the route, which they're currently working on. Recently they decided they'd need to dig another 164m of duct due to blockages and lack of capacity. That sounds like a big job but hasn't appeared on roadworks.org yet.

If the route had been fully tested end-to-end at the start, then a lot of this could have taken place in parallel.

There's no ONT installed yet, and no fibre between DP and house, but they did at least rod-and-rope the existing under-garden duct.

One just has to be patient

I placed my order for full survey in June,

Desktop quote received 10/09/18
Permission to proceed, issuing of invoicing etc.
Order paid/placed 21/09/18

170m of new duct for me to install on my land
240m of duct for Openreach to install in verge of single track country lane
2km of duct to be rodded, roped and fibre installed.
- no blockages as far as I am aware.


Current status:
Fibre installed, ONT installed with flashing green light.
Waiting for audit of fibre installation (a new thing)
ONT to be commission (this would be the normal installation point for ONT but jointer installed it to try and speed it up)
Go live date? No idea.

So 4-months, and just a couple of bits to go. But if any of the ducts had blockages these would have required sorting and added delay.

Desktop quote received 03/09/18
Order paid/placed 23/10/18

- 1 blockage clearance took a day to remove with some ground work

Current status:
- 93 meters of new underground duct (they are just finishing up today/tomorrow), 3 days of work - this is to connect onto the fibre "spine".

I assume the next steps are running the Fibre down to my property and then installing the equipment in my house.

The new duct should be roped already
They will need to rod & rope to your property.

My experience is that they pull fibre to your gate first, then joint it all.
After that they will rod & rope the duct to your house
Then appointment to install ONT.

Mine sped up considerably once all ducts rodded & roped and fibre jointing team took over. I was lucky in that my jointing engineer chased for overtime to get the job completed & even installed the ONT even through it wasn't technically his job.

Tea & Biscuits always help!