In reply to a post by abigailk:

A quick update on this - Openreach rejected the order. I can't actually reach TalkTalk to discuss why this may have been, which suggests that I may have dodged a proverbial bullet with regard to this ISP's customer service!

I only found out by pestering them on their forum to ask why My Account wasn't working - I didn't actually receive any communications from them, so I would have been sitting at home on Monday morning wondering where my engineer was... not great.

Ummmm what would Openreach have to do with this when it's Cityfibre & it's contractors doing the build? Might be worth getting in touch with Cityfibre directly (ie bypass Fibrenation & TalkTalk) to get a clearer answer. I've found CF to be extremely helpful when trying to get further info on their FTTP rollout in my city.

In reply to a post by Highland76:

In reply to a post by abigailk:

A quick update on this - Openreach rejected the order. I can't actually reach TalkTalk to discuss why this may have been, which suggests that I may have dodged a proverbial bullet with regard to this ISP's customer service!

I only found out by pestering them on their forum to ask why My Account wasn't working - I didn't actually receive any communications from them, so I would have been sitting at home on Monday morning wondering where my engineer was... not great.

Ummmm what would Openreach have to do with this when it's Cityfibre & it's contractors doing the build? Might be worth getting in touch with Cityfibre directly (ie bypass Fibrenation & TalkTalk) to get a clearer answer. I've found CF to be extremely helpful when trying to get further info on their FTTP rollout in my city.

Thank you for the pointer towards CityFibre! While TalkTalk allowed me to go through with the order process, a quick check on CityFibre's postcode/address checker tells me that at my address, they are "currently planning the build programme in your area". I also don't know where Openreach come in, other than that it's their pole? There's definitely nothing under the ground outside my house, but there is a FibreNation DP at the top of my pole. I've contacted CityFibre to see what on earth is up.

Something has gone very wrong somewhere - I have been receiving quite a lot of marketing material from FibreNation and TalkTalk through the post (addressed mail, not just random leaflets). In any case, the quality of customer service I have received through the order process makes me want to stay well away from TalkTalk - I will trade some speed for a phone that gets answered and a sentient human on the other end of an email.

Slightly off topic but something I hadn't considered before, if non Openreach providers are going to use poles owned by Openreach who are going to protect those poles from overloading on their ring head (aka ring at top of pole)?

In reply to a post by abigailk:

In any case, the quality of customer service I have received through the order process makes me want to stay well away from TalkTalk - I will trade some speed for a phone that gets answered and a sentient human on the other end of an email.

Unfortunately Talktalk are the only ISP currently available via FibreNation.

So if you don't go with Talktalk then you're stuck with whatever is available on the OpenReach network.

It's OpenReach's pole but FibreNation/CityFibre are simply using PIA (physical infrastructure access) to rent access to OpenReach's ducts and poles.
None of the usual OpenReach ISP's are available despite using their poles.

Vodafone might start selling it in the future.

In reply to a post by j0hn83:

In reply to a post by abigailk:

In any case, the quality of customer service I have received through the order process makes me want to stay well away from TalkTalk - I will trade some speed for a phone that gets answered and a sentient human on the other end of an email.

Unfortunately Talktalk are the only ISP currently available via FibreNation.

So if you don't go with Talktalk then you're stuck with whatever is available on the OpenReach network.

It's OpenReach's pole but FibreNation/CityFibre are simply using PIA (physical infrastructure access) to rent access to OpenReach's ducts and poles.
None of the usual OpenReach ISP's are available despite using their poles.

Vodafone might start selling it in the future.

1Gbps was a "nice to have" rather than an "essential" - if I'm relying on having a connection I'd rather be with a provider who aren't completely incommunicado as TalkTalk are. Their live chat is perpetually out of commission, and I left my phone playing their hold music for over an hour earlier today. No thanks!

Were you using a live chat specific to the UFO product?

They have a separate phone number for UFO.
The normal Talktalk support can't help with anything UFO.

I'd guess the standard live chat on their site goes through to an agent who deals with their normal broadband offerings.

I've always been under the impression Talktalk UFO support was considerably better than the standard offshore call centre support you get with OpenReach based offerings.

I'd bite their hand off for the available upstream at the price they charge.

Edited by j0hn83 (Fri 18-Sep-20 18:02:28)

Openreach network auditors

Yes, it was the specific UFO number given in my welcome email (0800 230 0272), and the UFO live chat on the UFO home page. No answer from either - the live chat just says it's unavailable (within business hours) and the phone number plays hold music forever - I left it playing for an hour.

Perhaps they previously had a small team dealing with York users only, and as their footprint has expanded they haven't expanded the team to match. It would explain the total lack of any way of getting in touch.

Are you able to register on the TT forums? If so, post your query on the dedicated TalkTalk UFO forum, where one of the TT OCEs will get back to you.

https://community.talktalk.co.uk/t5/Ultra-Fibre-Opti...

In reply to a post by Highland76:

Are you able to register on the TT forums? If so, post your query on the dedicated TalkTalk UFO forum, where one of the TT OCEs will get back to you.

https://community.talktalk.co.uk/t5/Ultra-Fibre-Opti...

I posted a thread on there yesterday, asking why I couldn't log in to My Account, which is how I found out the order was rejected.

The customer service rep stopped responding when I asked why. I presume that once they know they aren't getting any money, they stop caring - which is fair enough, but not the kind of outfit I want to deal with.