BT trying to get people to fibre by not fixing problems.

Someone I know have been having problems with their ADSL for a couple of months, according to what BTOR told their supplier there is a problem with a main cable and this is why his broadband is so slow and they do not seem to be in a rush to fix it as it would mean digging up the road. So they told him he should change to fibre.l

I think this is a disgrace, we pay line rental that is suppose to go towards the maintenance of the network and yet when it needs doing BT seems to not want to do it.
Fibre would work yes because it by passes the cable. He is not impressed and this is why BTOR needs to be separated.

Fibre would work yes because it by passes the cable. He is not impressed and this is why BTOR needs to be separated.

Still not convinced separating OR would make them any more likely to want to spend their profits. Replacing a long section of cable to fix a single users broadband is not very profitable - and likely to cost more than the line rental that they got over a large number of years.

I am not saying they shouldn't fix issues but that whether they are part of BT or not they will still be driven by profits. And if they became non-profit then they would be driven by balancing the books.

Sounds like a e side cable fault . By fault do they mean the cable is just to long ?

How would separation help? Exactly the same cost drivers would remain.

What speeds do they get on ADSL (i..e what does 'slow' actually mean)?

How do you know that OR don't want to fix it? I imagine OR would want to fix any fault especially if its affecting lots of customers (i.e. in a 'main cable')

But it may simply be the case that OR may not be able to dig up a road - for instance the council would need to give permission - which could take months..

Separation would make no difference to this at all..

In reply to a post by ian72:

Fibre would work yes because it by passes the cable. He is not impressed and this is why BTOR needs to be separated.

Still not convinced separating OR would make them any more likely to want to spend their profits. Replacing a long section of cable to fix a single users broadband is not very profitable - and likely to cost more than the line rental that they got over a large number of years.

I am not saying they shouldn't fix issues but that whether they are part of BT or not they will still be driven by profits. And if they became non-profit then they would be driven by balancing the books.

That is the problem, all down to paying share holders, they to be honest give a monkeys about the customer.

In reply to a post by MC31:

Sounds like a e side cable fault . By fault do they mean the cable is just to long ?

No the cable is old and falling apart, the last time there was a problem they swap to another pair, but they can't do that again for some reason. The problem is that the whole network is old and have been bodged up for years, BT got it for a song and done nothing to it until the last few years.

But that is the case whether Openreach is separate or not.

The other thing for me is if Openreach was spun off then Ofcom may force reductions in charges and that could remove any profit margin.

Personally I think companies making excessive profits should have to answer as to why they aren't using those profits to either reduce charges or to invest. Especially some of the big energy companies who love making massive profits and then put up prices to maintain those profits when costs go up (oh, and don't reduce prices when the costs come down).

But, regulating profit goes against this countries ethos. Perhaps we should charge 100% tax on any profits over a reasonable percentage?

In reply to a post by gt94sss2:

What speeds do they get on ADSL (i..e what does 'slow' actually mean)?

How do you know that OR don't want to fix it? I imagine OR would want to fix any fault especially if its affecting lots of customers (i.e. in a 'main cable')

But it may simply be the case that OR may not be able to dig up a road - for instance the council would need to give permission - which could take months..

Separation would make no difference to this at all..

Slow is 2Mb/s, sometimes it does get up to 4 now and again. but they used to get 8 until they had the problem.
They was told by their supplier that BTOR is dragging their feet as it is a pretty large job. There are a couple of other people in the street having the same problem by all accounts, i presume most of them have gone for fibre.
But this person says he do not see why he should pay more to get faster speed he do not require when the service he had was working fine until recently.

He would go for fibre if the price was the same as what he is paying now, strange thing is phone is ok, apart from a bit of cracking.

And Openreach could easily show that the revenue from fibre networks is still running at below investment levels, i.e. take-up still needs to increase.

Or put another way the build it and they will come model has some issues. Oddly you can get vastly different take-up levels in the same town for cabs that had similar broadband speeds before, so it is not as simple as saying its those who can only get 1 to 2 Mbps buying it in large volume, since in some areas even that is not happening.