You are right to assume it won't work.

Completely different technologies delivered by different methods from different locations.

In reply to a post by Alvintc:

Wow. This really has gone off topic.

I'm pretty certain I've mentioned it multiple times... My issue is not with the timescales or delays.

I understand all of these (note, that's understanding not agreement!). My issue (and my thoughts on beginning to wish I'd never started this) is purely aimed at how Cerberus are not able to:
1. Keep to their update schedule
2. Make contact on key events

To reiterate - the timescales they've imposed are their own, they're update process is their own.
Them missing it is purely as they're not doing their job.

Case in point, my duct clearance has moved 3 times so far. Not once has Cerberus contacted me to confirm it has/ has not happened on the scheduled dates.

I know it hasn't happened when there's no closures near me. I also know it's not happened this week as the roadworks site list it was moved to 10/12. So what'll happen next is:
1. There will be no update from Cerberus (I'm meant to have my weekly update & also an event should have occurred)
2. I'll make contact tomorrow asking where the update is
3. They'll respond with BT have informed us the works were not completed, they're now scheduled to XX (my above dates I already know), they'll say your next update will be on Thursday next week

Then we'll repeat.

MY argument is "how difficult is it to set yourself a reminder to update cases & contact the customer"?

If you can't do it in a week, move it to 2 weeks - I don't care, it's not about the timescales it's about doing what you say you will!

It's not that hard, and I would say I got 95% of my updates weekly from Cerberus, either Thursday or Friday. The target for Cerberus's updates is Thursday, as this is the day Openreach release their updates. Cerberus could of course promise instead to update Friday, or Monday, but they know customers want updates as fast as possible, and also that any who have visited here know Openreach release updates on a Thursday. The options are as I see it:
a) State a target of Thrusday and miss it sometimes
b) State a target of Friday and sometimes deliver early - thereby letting the cat out of the bag
c) State a target of Friday and never deliver early - letting posters on here let the cat out of the bag.

You would be annoyed by all three options.

I've seen some of the updates from Openreach and they are sometimes relatively obtuse in their detail, and not likely to contain updates on road work scheduling.

You seem to want to pull in other data sources that may indicate work on your job has been delayed. But be honest, roadworks.org does not state that the works are for your FTTP. You are making an assumption, that is reasonable for you to make, but not reasonable for Cerberus. They can only release the official Openreach status.

All Cerberus are doing is passing on the Openreach update. They aren't making stuff up.

In reply to a post by PhilipD:

In reply to a post by Alvintc:

My issue is not with the timescales or delays.

Out of interest, how long would it take before it is about delays, i.e. still no FTTP?

MY argument is "how difficult is it to set yourself a reminder to update cases & contact the customer"?

If you can't do it in a week, move it to 2 weeks - I don't care, it's not about the timescales it's about doing what you say you will!

All you can do is just accept it is the way it is with them, like you say, you often know the information they report anyway before they have reported it, so it's not like the updates are worthwhile. Plus, if all they are doing is updating you from a web-page they can log into at Openreach, it isn't doing anything to speed up the process. I would like to think they are calling Openreach at least once a week and pushing and complaining on your behalf, but it doesn't sound like they do that for you, at least at this time.

I agree though, it's not good for a company to promise a weekly update, then they don't do it, or do it late, but now you are tied into a contract with no leverage, so basically you can't do anything about it, all you can do is wait and see who breaks first, either Openreach in finally getting it sorted and so you are connected up and happy, or you break and take legal advice and get out of the contract for non delivery of service. That's the only two outcomes, and it seems the FTTP on Demand crowd are happy to wait around for years so...

Regards

Phil

Phil,

You are of course correct in your lengthy assertions. To sump up:

- All contracts in the UK are subject to contract law.
- The court will decide if the contract is unfair and potentially allow the user to exit the contract, and may award damages if they see fit
- The user will not get what they want (FTTP)

Is that a decent enough summary. The rest of it is just waffle.

Dave

Hi all, well there are some pretty rude and pedantic people on this forum (par for the course) who are acting like kids in the playground so I don't think I will frequent here that often, so will update only if anything interesting happens out of the ordinary with my order that has now been placed. I've been receiving updates from Cerberus usually on Thursday but sometimes Friday, so far so good.

Good luck to all those playing the waiting game and I hope it's not a long one for you.

Edited by E300 (Thu 06-Jun-19 16:58:19)

In reply to a post by E300:

Hi all, well there are some pretty rude and pedantic people on this forum (par for the course) who are acting like kids in the playground so I don't think I will frequent here that often, so will update only if anything interesting happens out of the ordinary with my order that has now been placed. I've been receiving updates from Cerberus usually on Thursday but sometimes Friday, so far so good.

Good luck to all those playing the waiting game and I hope it's not a long one for you.

It's generally a pretty friendly site, and it looks to have been derailed somewhat. There is some good technical help available if you want to understand the progress, and what may be coming next. As I posted above the updates from Openreach can be rather obtuse. And the eyeball update, what is going on in your street, along with photos posted my help you understand where you are and what is next.

At one point my update was 'waiting for customer delivery from stores' or something, when I had had the deliver of ducting and self installed 4-months earlier! A better update was available from here with a photo of the splitter being installed (I needed it confirmed it was a splitter).

Good luck with your install.

Where is the Government talking about Fibre on Demand?

The USO does not mention the fibre on demand product.

In reply to a post by PhilipD:

Hi

You've quoted a post from me which isn't my post

Leased lines can't be turned into anything else, I think the fibre is connected completely differently to the GPON system used in FTTP by Openreach.

Regards

Phil

Oops sorry, phone posting.

I was thinking more like altnet providers like Cityfibre/Entanet (who also provide EPON), I should maybe take this to another thread though

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

Where is the Government talking about Fibre on Demand?

The USO does not mention the fibre on demand product.

We was discussing the fact that a GBVS voucher is only valid for 12 months so the government must have expected that bespoke fibre installations through this scheme would be completed within 12 months.

Nothing to do with USO and fibre on demand product

Ah - sorry USO stuck on the brain today

In reply to a post by dect:

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

Where is the Government talking about Fibre on Demand?

The USO does not mention the fibre on demand product.

We was discussing the fact that a GBVS voucher is only valid for 12 months so the government must have expected that bespoke fibre installations through this scheme would be completed within 12 months.

Nothing to do with USO and fibre on demand product

I would suggest that anyone that has worked at this level with the Government on major projects would know that the 12-month limit would have been put in as an arbitrary limit, based on normal practice for grants and not as a result of any discussion with Openreach as to how long FTTPoD would take to deploy for an average installation. (I did a chunk on smart metering and they were literally clueless as to how the electricity market even worked).

The grant has a renewal mechanism built in, so they can and typically will renew subject to funding still being available and an intention to still deploy. An open ended grant would be silly as it would lock funds where the deployment was abandoned, resulting in less bang for buck.

And note the voucher doesn't have to be used with Openreach it can be used with any provider. It can be used with our local WISP. They can rock up, slap an aerial on and be up and running in <week. Compare that to trenching down the side of the A446 to repair a blocked duct, requiring at least a 28-day request for roadworks.