In reply to a post by burble:

In reply to a post by zyborg47:

In reply to a post by burble:

When our FTTP was installed it was in one visit by 'Kowboy Communication', the positioning of our old master socket was a PITA, the ONT was positioned where I wanted it, just a pity they couldn't drill the holes correctly.

Is that Kelly? I have heard a few things about them.

Yes they where the installers, unfortunately I was in hospital at time of install so came back to the bodged job. My ISP was TalkTalk Business, but they just used OR for install, who then subbed it out to Kowboy Communications. This was 2021, two years later so things might be different.

Kelly came in June 2020 to 'reconnect' the phone line and 'install' FTTC at our present home. (It had been empty and dilapidated for several years and we rebuilt it, more or less from the ground up in 2019/20)
I'd taken down the (inactive) phone line when the roof came off (fortunately the feed pole is in our front garden, so no big deal)
I put the line back up, and reinstalled the master socket in my newly built comms cupboard well inside the property a few weeks before requesting reconnection.

The bloke from Kelly turned up, didn't bat an eyelid at what I'd done (why would he !) and flounced off to the cabinet to re-jumper the line. Took 10 mins, he then sat for an hour in his van having lunch (etc) Nice easy job there, and no chance of causing collateral damage !

Did similar at a friends place, unclipped the drop wire from the front wall of the house, jointed it to a new length of cable at the eaves with a new closure, diverted it through the roof space and down into a comms cupboard in the centre of the property with an NTE fitted. The Openreach engineer didn't care that it was obviously not something that they had been responsible for, all the cable spec was correct and the line performed as it should.

In reply to a post by jpm:

Did similar at a friends place, unclipped the drop wire from the front wall of the house, jointed it to a new length of cable at the eaves with a new closure, diverted it through the roof space and down into a comms cupboard in the centre of the property with an NTE fitted. The Openreach engineer didn't care that it was obviously not something that they had been responsible for, all the cable spec was correct and the line performed as it should.

Good stuff. Yes, it's easy to obtain Openreach ins mats etc on ebay. I even ended up with a brand new junction box, with BT's 1980s 'T' logo stamped into it, which added to the authenticity (well, after 3 years of UV and weathering up there now) !

I did get some stainless steel screws to attach the triangular galvanised drop cable anchor though

Edited by broadbandjockey (Fri 31-Mar-23 15:17:21)

I concur, the Openreach part of my installation was completed on a Sunday, 3 days before the Sky engineer arrived to complete the job. The bloke installing mine had been brought down from Scotland for 3 weeks to cover the workload.

Mark

I have a hunch that Sky are selling a bucket load of FTTP at the moment and this is leading to a lot of Openreach activity keeping on top of the 'step one' tasks and moving engineers to service the hot areas.


At this time it's all about takeup for all the players.

In reply to a post by burble:

Yes they where the installers, unfortunately I was in hospital at time of install so came back to the bodged job. My ISP was TalkTalk Business, but they just used OR for install, who then subbed it out to Kowboy Communications. This was 2021, two years later so things might be different.

It does make me worry that I would get them if I went for openreach FTTP, I don't think things are any different from what I have heard

In reply to a post by zyborg47:

It does make me worry that I would get them if I went for openreach FTTP

Its not something you should ever be worried about, if you're present on the day and you follow the Kowboy around like a shadow during the install they will either push the job back because they know you're not going to be happy with their workmanship or they take the hint and do a decent job. Either way its your property and don't let them do anything you wont be happy with.

PS - I always use to hate the customer following me around but it did keep me on my toes so who am I to complain.

In reply to a post by dect:

Its not something you should ever be worried about, if you're present on the day and you follow the Kowboy around like a shadow during the install they will either push the job back because they know you're not going to be happy with their workmanship or they take the hint and do a decent job. Either way its your property and don't let them do anything you wont be happy with.

PS - I always use to hate the customer following me around but it did keep me on my toes so who am I to complain.

I hate following workmen around, I will chat to them, but the following nope.

In reply to a post by zyborg47:

I hate following workmen around, I will chat to them, but the following nope.

With the greatest respect its your choice but don't complain if you get a bad install by Kowboys if you ever order some form of full fibre.

In reply to a post by dect:

With the greatest respect its your choice but don't complain if you get a bad install by Kowboys if you ever order some form of full fibre.

At the end of the day, they are supposed to know what they are doing, it is like when someone comes to service my gas boiler, I just let them get on with it as they are supposed to know what they are doing.