Who to complain to at BT/Openreach?

Hi all

Does anyone know who I need to complain to regarding the non availability of fibre optic broadband where I live? It's a total nightmare we can only get adsl2+ and speeds of up to 8mbps.
Openreach engineers visit the Close where I live on a weekly basis to carry out repair after repair after repair after repair.
It would be more cost effective to just replace the tin wire with new cable and bring us into the 21st century.

In reply to a post by chud51161:

Hi all

Does anyone know who I need to complain to regarding the non availability of fibre optic broadband where I live? It's a total nightmare we can only get adsl2+ and speeds of up to 8mbps.
Openreach engineers visit the Close where I live on a weekly basis to carry out repair after repair after repair after repair.
It would be more cost effective to just replace the tin wire with new cable and bring us into the 21st century.

One thing you need to remember, there are many others who have the same thing happening in their street everyday, Openreach are not going to suddenly rollout full fibre just because of this issue otherwise everyone would be complaining.

I reckon a complaint to the openreach CEO would probably get the quickest response.

And what will he say? Probably, "thanks for the email, we are rolling out FTTP as fast as we are able." Unlikely to ask his installation planners to change things round because of one email

Yes I appreciate that there will be many others in a similar situation as me.
I am in the local authority's 0.04% of households who get under 10mbps speed.
It just frustrates me as fibre optic cable is 100 metres away but BT/Openreach won't join us to it.

Edited by deleted (Mon 15-Mar-21 18:35:58)

In reply to a post by MHC:

And what will he say? Probably, "thanks for the email, we are rolling out FTTP as fast as we are able." Unlikely to ask his installation planners to change things round because of one email

Yes I agree with you, was thinking I could get other residents to complain as well.
Also just wanted to let the powers that be know we are unhappy otherwise they will have no idea.
At least we would have told them.
The worst part is when I read of areas with fibre being upgraded further! that is a real sickener.

Over two years ago I moved into my current property and noticed FTTC wasn't available, yet next road over was connected to a cabinet where it was. I sent a polite email to CEO of Openreach, they had a look into it and through whatever magic they did enabled my street for FTTC by connecting us to the cabinet serving that other road. It took a number of months, though now we have FTTP in the street.

Send this gentleman a nice email and they maybe able to have a look and see whats what.

[removed by tbb]

At the very least he or his team will be able to establish the reasons why you can only get get the speeds you have.

Edited by seb (Mon 02-Feb-26 21:44:09)

100m! If you think that is close the situation here has been worse for years.

Virgin Media and their predecessor laid fibre along my road and the immediate neighbour has/had service from them. The small access port on the footpath is right on the boundary and they were cheeky enough to run cable along MY wall. I am millimetres away from their access point, but they refused to install service to me as "your front garden is too long".

In reply to a post by chud51161:

Hi all

Does anyone know who I need to complain to regarding the non availability of fibre optic broadband where I live? It's a total nightmare we can only get adsl2+ and speeds of up to 8mbps.
Openreach engineers visit the Close where I live on a weekly basis to carry out repair after repair after repair after repair.
It would be more cost effective to just replace the tin wire with new cable and bring us into the 21st century.

A complaint is the wrong way to go about it. Like a lot of people in your position you seem to have fallen into the trap of thinking that openreach are ignoring you or even spiting you.

They aren't. They would love to provide you with a better connection - not just because they want to provide you with the best service possible but also because, as you point out, your current line is costing them money to repair.

The reason openreach haven't upgraded you is because of the difficulty and/or the expense. For instance they would rather spend their money where it will do more good which probably means where it will benefit more people. If you were in charge and had £100k to spend would you spend it upgrading half a dozen houses or would you spend it upgrading a hundred? Or maybe there's a local landowner refusing to cooperate but perhaps a friendly chat with their neighbours would soften their heart.

It's unfortunate for you but complaining to openreach is the wrong way to start a discussion. You need to approach it in the spirit of cooperation and under the assumption that openreach are almost as annoyed about your situation as you are.

Edited by Andrue (Mon 15-Mar-21 18:52:28)

Well said Andrue