In reply to a post by Thaumaturge:

In reply to a post by Taras:

It makes sense, one is saying if your house is in OR's plans(by 2026/12) and the other is when Openreach are likely to start building in your exchange area ..

Sorry, still confused. How are you suggesting that OR will connect up my postcode (and several neighbouring ones that I've tried) by 12/2026 without building in my exchange area in the same timeframe?

It is the difference between the strategy of having you connected by 12/2026 and tactics of how to get there. They have a strategy of connecting you to FTTP by 12/2026 but they have not yet firmed up the timeline of the various projects they have to undertake between now and 12/2026. They will have their own internal planned timeline but there are so many variables and things that can throw timelines into chaos that they are unwilling yet to put any firm date on your area in case they have to shift tasks about in the overall plan while still meeting the 12/2026 strategic target.

In reply to a post by Thaumaturge:

What's the difference between this Openreach page (1) and this one (2)?

If I put my postcode into a box on (1) that says it checking for "Full Fibre", it tells me that "Ultrafast Full Fibre" is "build planned between now and Dec-2026" (and that Superfast Full Fibre, aka FTTC, is available now).

Whereas if I do the same the same thing in the "Check your postcode" box in the top LH corner of the map on (2), it tells me that "we[OR] don't have any major plans to build in this exchange". My exchange area appears on the map as a forlorn area of white completely surrounded by green, blue, orange, and black areas (it's by no means unique in that regard).

Going to point you to the word I've emboldened in the quote. No weasel wording. Your exchange is not on the major build plans, so they have no announced plans to build to the bulk of the premises it covers, but that doesn't mean they aren't building to anything there. There's also that they update the plans to build to individual postcodes very frequently, the major build plans far less frequently.

My previous address was covered under their Retro New Sites programme before the rest of the exchange joined the major build plans, my current exchange over 10% of it had been covered by FTTP before it joined the major build plans through a combination of new build and RNS.

In reply to a post by Thaumaturge:

In reply to a post by Taras:

It makes sense, one is saying if your house is in OR's plans(by 2026/12) and the other is when Openreach are likely to start building in your exchange area ..

Sorry, still confused. How are you suggesting that OR will connect up my postcode (and several neighbouring ones that I've tried) by 12/2026 without building in my exchange area in the same timeframe?

OR are saying for their plans up to 12/2026, your premise is a viable development.
You are thinking in the wrong way. What the map is saying is that is four statuses

a) we are building now
b) we are building within next 12 months
c) we will build after 12 months

And
d) we have currently no major plans to build in this area.

The last one is a fudge, its a combination of two things - we are gonna build we don't know when, and we aren't gonna build in this area.


I would go to https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/project-...

and download the csv file and see what your post code says ... some of the data is incorrect so in that in itself is unhelpful.

Thanks all. Light begins to dawn, albeit dimly, and it all still seems mighty confusing. I did wonder in my OP about what the significance of "major" might be, OR don't define it and don't use the term consistently, but noone seemed to pick up on that at the time.

@Taras: Thanks for the link, which I hadn't found. My postcode status (and neighbours) shows as "Gigabit Under Review", with 36 grey premises and 4 under review premises, whatever that might mean.

There's no significant new build going on around here, and we already have 2 altnets live, so RNS, BDUK are unlikely to be complicating factors.

Small builds don't show up on OR maps. Have you tried contacting OR to find out if they can give you a better time frame. If your area build is in 2025 it won't show up until 2024!

Because timeframes can slip back quarters, (and thats a little slippage) you can see why OR don't want to be explicit beyond 12 to 18 months Our village build is taking a best part of 6 to 12 months and my little area which had been in and out of build since 2017-18, is sposed be going ahead this month, but i'm not holding my breath.

So i do understand your confusion and frustration, as do many more on here

Edited by Taras (Mon 16-Oct-23 09:08:37)

I registered for updates on the OR website, must be a couple of years ago now. Not heard a dicky bird since.

It's not for myself I'm primarily interested - I have FTTP with an altnet. But as an old man myself I have a number of elderly friends in our village who ask me for advice. Most of them are with BT, have been for ever, and are unlikely to change now. I like to keep a check on BT's progress so that I can best help them.

Ahh fair enough, I hope you friends get a swift resolve over this.. Good luck!

In reply to a post by Thaumaturge:

My postcode status (and neighbours) shows as "Gigabit Under Review", with 36 grey premises and 4 under review premises, whatever that might mean.

For anyone else who might be interested, definitions of white, grey, under review etc are given in the RFI page linked under documents, right at the end of @Taras's link. But I expect you all knew that except me.

Now I know what it should mean, I have to say that, certainly as regards my postcode, the info doesn't look very accurate.