Trying hard for fiber broadband

I read reports about people in rural areas and the problems they have in getting fiber internet. There have been examples of villages taking control themselves and digging
a trench to lay the fiber cable. I did not think this was legal - perhaps they have an arrangement with Openreach.

As for myself I live in an urban area. All the other houses in my street can get fiber broadband. I live in a block of flats and cannot get fiber. So I find it difficult to understand why my neighbour living 10 yards away has fiber and I can only get A.D.S.L broadband.

I contacted Openreach and tried to find out what the problem was. They said that it
was not viable to or with their budget to provide fiber. They are saying that there is no infrastructure in place.

I understand that but this is my question to Openreach. Lets say the cost of providing the infrastructure costs £4000. And lets say that getting fiber is so important to me that I am willing to pay that £4000 or the amount that they are over budget. Do Openreach have a legal obligation to provide a service to me?

I tried to ask these questions of Openreach but they just will not answer my questions. I don't see any chance of getting fiber in the next 5 years or even the next 10 years.

There must me examples of other people in my situation who are willing to pay for the infrastructure. I wish it was easier to contact Openreach. It would be best it Openreach was split as was in the news recently.

Have you looked on here to see if Fibre is actually available to you or if there are plans to deploy ?

https://www.homeandwork.openreach.co.uk/OurNetwork/S...

I live in a rural area and even we are getting fibre (at some point this year) so I find it hard to believe you cant if you are in an urban area.

its not hard to ask around what coverage might take place
superfast- openreach.co.uk - see the FAq's
see the FAQ's

https://www.homeandwork.openreach.co.uk/help-and-sup...

What does the BT checker say for both your flat and your neighbours?

Use the phone number if possible rather than the address option. http://dslchecker.bt.com/

No legal obligation currently, that may change but come with conditions (just like other utilities), the obligation may not totally fall on Openreach either.

As others have said a key thing is to find out more about the area and which cabinet and exchange both you and those that can order are on.

Openreach does a Community Fibre microsite https://www.homeandwork.openreach.co.uk/OurNetwork/C... which is where you can lease and get quotes for the costs to upgrade your flats if its not already in one of the various projects underway.

Is this neighbour in the same block of flats, or a house next to the block? If in a house next door, is there anyone in the flats with fibre?

Do you know whether the neighbour gets "Fibre to the cabinet" (FTTC), or "Fibre to the premises" (FTTP)?

I feel for you as I went through exactly this situation. The key is that you live in block of flats and I'm guessing, from my experience, that those with fibre around you have fttp.

If that's not the case, them I'm at a loss as to why you 'can't' get fibre. If it is the case, then you probably face a long haul to get your landlord to agree the installation of fibre, which involves signing wayleaves, etc. I live in Cornwall and our flat (we're no longer there) was a block of four dwellings, with each owner a director of the management company. This latter factor made the signing of the wayleave a straightforward formality, but can be a total showstopper if your landlord won't play ball.

I had to get Superfast Cornwall involved, but once I had got their attention, they were very helpful, and we got fibre run into the building in due course. You will need to contact your BDUK authority to get the equivalent service.

I suggest that as a start, you use the Openreach Broadband Availability Checker, address already provided, click on the 'Address Checker' link and enter ONLY your post code. This will give you a pulldown list of the addresses from which you can assess the fibre availability in your locality. This is very useful evidence when when making your case to your BDUK authority.

Hope this helps