A foam bung makes sense. I�ll ask the engineer on Monday when he comes to enable the ONT. Although why he can�t do that remotely is a mystery to me.

So a final update. Engineer stuffed some white foam down the duct, looks messy but should stop stuff getting into the duct.

Then today Openreach are back, with a leaflet telling the whole estate that over the next few weeks they're doing non-intrusive tests of the service ducts. Probably because of the 3 neighbours that have ordered FTTP, all of them have had blocked ducts! Looks like putting copper lines in instead of fibre was a false economy by Openreach, given the estate is only 3 years old.

LETTER

Anyway, my 80/20 service is now active and I'm getting around 74 Mbps download. Although BT haven't actually switched my voice line from Sky yet, which is strange. I thought it was impossible to have FTTP from one provider (BT) and voice from another (SKY)?

Edited by deleted (Tue 29-Oct-19 11:49:09)

In reply to a post by cjgpers:

Looks like putting copper lines in instead of fibre was a false economy by Openreach, given the estate is only 3 years old.

The copper was probbaly pulled in by the developer of the estate. Then connected up by Openreach.

Only three years old ?

Then it wasn�t Openreach�s decision, it was what the developer requested ...

It will have been the developers groundworkers who naffed the ducts too.

�����-

Not two separate suppliers via one fibre ... but you have FTTP from BT, and Sky via the copper landline ....

On the estate my new-build is on it was Openreach that pulled all the copper because they had to wait for them to finish before they could build the road surface. Stupid block paving.

In reply to a post by jchamier:

In reply to a post by cjgpers:

Looks like putting copper lines in instead of fibre was a false economy by Openreach, given the estate is only 3 years old.

The copper was probbaly pulled in by the developer of the estate. Then connected up by Openreach.

Must say I've never seen that before. Definitely not how my new build was done.

Usually the developer tells OpenReach what they want (Fibre or copper).
They install the ducting to OpenReach specifications.
OpenReach come and put the fibre/copper in themselves.

Slippery slope having the developer installing the actual cabling.

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

Then it wasn�t Openreach�s decision, it was what the developer requested ..

AFAIK, Openreach couldn�t provide fibre at the time of the original quote for our phase of development, so we got copper Exchange Only lines, so not even a cabinet. Later phases were all given FTTP only. I suspect that the decision to give us EO lines was always predicated on a future fibre upgrade.

Openreach engineer I spoke to said the developer would have laid the ducts, and OR pulled the copper lines. Although why OR then found an 18� gap in the ducting with copper lines in bare earth is a mystery!!

Surely it would be a false economy for Openreach to rely on A developer�s subcontractors to put the cables in.

Edited by deleted (Tue 29-Oct-19 14:18:39)

That's perhaps what the developer told you but OpenReach have offered free FTTP for developers for quite a while now.

Free on developments over 250 homes since early (march?) 2016.
Reduced to 100 homes in May 2016.
Reduced to 30 homes sometime later in 2016.

Prior to these dates the developer could contribute and pay for FTTP instead of copper, and some did just that.
Most didn't.
It wasn't a priority as people were still buying their new homes for hundreds of thousands with access to only ADSL broadband.

AFAIK, Openreach couldn�t provide fibre at the time of the original quote for our phase of development, so we got copper Exchange Only lines,

I've never seen a quote say "couldn't provide fibre".

I suspect that the decision to give us EO lines was always predicated on a future fibre upgrade

Not OpenReach's decision.

Your developer most likely didn't want to pay or didn't engage with OpenReach at all on FTTP and that means copper is installed as standard.

OpenReach deliver what the developer orders.

There's probably a dozen new build estates being built in stages within 5 miles of me.
Every single 1 has copper in the earliest deployments, with most of the later phases being FTTP.

In a couple of these developments the developer has paid OpenReach to retro fit FTTP for the early phases who had copper and now they have both.

Developers have had the option to pay for FTTC cabinets for years also.

In reply to a post by j0hn83:

Not OpenReach's decision.

Yes it was. To quote the Senior strategic relationship manager at Openreach:
"I can confirm that due to the size and timing of the registration of the development, it complied with policy at the time of copper deployment. Our new standard is for Fibre to the Premises to be installed for developments >30 homes for registrations post November 2016 (and >100 homes from February 2016). The network policy at the time allowed for connection in either Exchange Only (EO) configuration or via a street cabinet."

The developer was not happy about this either. To quote their Commercial Director:
"Clearly you have done a lot of research in to this but for the avoidance of doubt, please note at the time this phase was developed we were not presented with an option to provide superfast broadband � you are aware FTTP has been introduced on later phases and it is our policy to install on new developments if it is available."

Note that the 30 house limit is for each phase of development, not the whole development.

Anyway, I'm glad that it's Openreach that are now having to pay out to put this situation right. They tried to get us residents to pay last year, but we resisted. Then they expected the Government to pay. And 3 years later, we're finally getting FTTP, funded by Openreach - once Openreach unblock all the ducts of course!!

Edited by deleted (Tue 29-Oct-19 17:16:29)

You'll never find out for sure if it was the provider or the developer who was to blame for you getting copper rather than fibre (both will blame each other). The main thing is full fibre is on its way