Refurbished houses with flats - wary of internet connection?

Hi there,

So I have suffered from some seriously bad internet, and therefore I really want to do my research when it comes to the next place that I will live.

I see a lot of old houses that have been refurbished into having sometimes up to 10 flats in them. I cannot help and think that in some cases, in order to save money, they have not installed 10 separate internet connection/copper lines, but rather bunched them up somehow. As these 10 lines were not there to start with, and it is probably expensive to install one for every flat.

So is this a possibility or is this crazy talk (I mean I hope so)? And is there a way to check that it has been done correctly, like check the address on BT.com?

Best,
Emil

Simply check the capability of the connection using the BTW address checker for the property. It will give you a very good assessment of the likely broadband speeds achievable. There may even be Openreach (or another alternative network) FTTP service installed or indeed Virgin Media cable (check using their website). It’s best to check rather than guess. Good luck.

I recently worked in an old wharf-style warehouse conversion that had been completed in *1999* and behind some panelling were a collection of 20mm conduits that were empty and labelled with which apartment they ran up to. Each one was marked as "future comms use", so it seems like some developers can think far enough ahead to enable internet services to be installed in the buildings they design with ease in future.

2-3 storey buildings that have been converted to flats are some of the easier ones to install new services in, as there are only a few people involved in the decision and normally the cables just get strung up the outside walls.

Ok so the results from the BTW address checker can be taken at face value? It should be accurate?

The checker is generally pretty accurate, but as with any database system there may be some errors where it has not been updated correctly.

In reply to a post by lo22:

Ok so the results from the BTW address checker can be taken at face value? It should be accurate?

If each of the flats has their own address on the Wholesale checker then they will each have their own dedicated line/pair. If it wasn't present then it would be installed upon service being ordered.

There's no possibility of the old single address's wiring somehow being shared/split between all (or any) of the flats. Unused pairs could be used, but that's how the whole network works and isn't detrimental to the end users service.

That could only be done by the property owner ordering a single service and then selling it directly to the tenants which would show as a single entry on the Wholesale checker.

Edited by j0hn83 (Tue 27-Sep-22 13:03:07)

Cool!! Thanks a lot for the information