There has been a plot twist.

The reply to my latest enquiry came from Openreach's 'MDU Desk', stating that I need to fill out a fibre interest form and to speak to the freeholder of the building.

This is a surprise since I live in a single-dwelling, detached house. I am also the owner and I know it has never been a MDU.

I replied by email explaining as much but I don't know if actually went to a mailbox. I'll try going the Twitter route if I don't hear anything back.

Openreach followed up with me after I messaged them on Twitter to explain I don't live in a MDU.

Firstly, the estimated start date for the FTTP build for my address has been pushed back again (due to begin between July and September with an estimated duration of 'several months'). I'm actually pleased with this news because I now know it's worth upgrading my mobile broadband setup in the meantime.

Secondly, Openreach said the MDU thing wasn't wholly a mistake on their part. Although they acknowledged I don't live in a MDU and I shouldn't have been sent the fibre EoI forms, they said 'part of their network is internal' and therefore the build to my house will be done by their own MDU team. All the other FTTP rollout work I've seen going on in town has been done by local contractors. If OR need a first-party team to do my bit for some reason then it makes sense it's not running on the same timescale.

I'd be interested - purely out of curiosity - if anyone has thoughts on the meaning of 'internal' in this context. My house does have a DP in the utility cupboard, courtesy of its previous life as a small office. It all seems pretty simple if that's the reason, though; the cable comes in through a wide duct and I'm under the assumption fibre will take the same route if possible.

In reply to a post by sjmonday:

My house does have a DP in the utility cupboard, courtesy of its previous life as a small office.

Doesn’t sound like you’re a “vanilla” resi install - at least in the minds of OR

In reply to a post by sjmonday:

they said 'part of their network is internal' and therefore the build to my house will be done by their own MDU team.
...
I'd be interested - purely out of curiosity - if anyone has thoughts on the meaning of 'internal' in this context. My house does have a DP in the utility cupboard, courtesy of its previous life as a small office.

A DP is part of Openreach's network, and isn't normally inside the customer premises. That's what I imagine they mean by "Internal".

It'll be interesting to see what the MDU team do. If they follow the old topology then they might put a splitter node in your house, and you'll have a dedicated PON that you can provision up to 32 separate fibre services on

Hopefully they'll have more sense, and reconfigure your property as residential served by one port on a CBT outside somewhere.

Either way, this is a "non-standard" piece of design work.

Thank you, both.

Having my own PON would be a great curio but probably overkill for a household that just needs to make video calls and watch Netflix, haha. There's also barely space in the utility cupboard for even an ONT.

I'll let you know how OR end up building it, assuming I stay in scope.

Whole PON..? Easy there tiger. That would be very generous for a single connection. You may get 4/30 ths of one

I hope there will be a rethink once the guys turn up from Openreach MDU team (probably after some head scratching and a few phone calls), its not uncommon in some parts of the UK to have an internal copper DP in commercial properties but as its no longer a commercial property its now overkill. The fact that there is a separate team to do the work implies to me they are planning on doing something different than what they would for a typical residential property.

In reply to a post by candlerb:

It'll be interesting to see what the MDU team do. If they follow the old topology then they might put a splitter node in your house, and you'll have a dedicated PON that you can provision up to 32 separate fibre services on

Following the old topology the OP would end up with a CBT in their property (that's the DP bit), not a Splitter Node.

There's very little chance they are installing a Splitter in someone's property, and not a hope in hell's chance that a single address will get an entire OLT port to themselves.

I've seen a fair few comms cupboards in MDU's. Some with multiple CBT's installed inside them. They have all had their a Splitter Nodes installed externally, underground, in a nearby jointbox.
I've never actually seen a Splitter Node installed internally, though I don't doubt it does happen.

In reply to a post by j0hn83:

Following the old topology the OP would end up with a CBT in their property (that's the DP bit), not a Splitter Node.

This is true. Still, a CBT inside the house would be an interesting addition

I have an internal CSP in our utility cupboard .
Remember you need twin power sockets in your utility cupboard, (I have 8 )