In reply to a post by Taras:

In reply to a post by PCJM40:

It said congested so I read that their may be no spare capacity in the duct meaning they need to dig to increase capacity.

i read it as physically congested, either debris or cables.. If it was no sapre capacity at the cbt it would say no spare ports .

Who said anything about CBT capacity??? see blue bold from me

PS - they have requested a PTD for a reason and suggesting to the OP that they can resolve without digging like you have is extremely optimistic.

Edited by PCJM40 (Wed 19-Jun-24 12:15:42)

In reply to a post by gothamjamie76:

It's boiled down to this, Openreach say that we have Fibre to the premises, which is not true

If the wholesale checker says WBC FTTP is available, which means Sky are also happy to take your order, then you should simply order it.

In my experience, if the Openreach database says it's available to order, they will jump through hoops to complete the installation: i.e. it's rare that they will cancel the order because it's undeliverable, although that does sometimes happen.

Example in point: I had FTTPoD installed in 2019. As part of that installation, they marked three other properties in my road as having FTTP available. But two of them were not my immediate neighbours, and one didn't even have any ducting from the footway box outside my house.

Both have placed orders - one via Vodafone and one via Plusnet, who said at contract renewal time that they should upgrade to FTTP, because database says it was available.

In the end, Openreach completed the installations, actually digging up the footway to install new ducting to one of the properties. It took several months, but they *did* get their FTTP service in the end, for free (which I don't mind at all: very happy for others to get some benefit from my FTTPoD).

The rest of the street still don't have FTTP, and our exchange area was only added into the FTTP rollout plans in the last batch announced a few weeks ago.

Anyway: just order FTTP and be done with it. Given that it could take several months, your options for service in the mean time would be:

1. Take FTTC from a provider who offers short contracts, like Aquiss. (You can take a 1-month contract, although because of the setup fee if you end up taking it for more than 6 months it would be cheaper to take 12). Make this a completely separate order from your FTTP.

Aquiss are also clueful and will be able to order FTTC even at a property where FTTP is available (as long as you're not in a stop sell area). Other clueful providers are available.

2. Use a 4G/5G router if you have decent enough coverage

3. Starlink.

The OP said when Sky raised a FTTC installation request its was cancelled by Openreach, this is why I asked for the exchange area so one of us could confirm if they are in a Stop Sell area.

Congested duct is something of a guess at the time the area survey was done by the surveyor , individual ducts are not checked and proved to be congested or clear , the note only refers to the duct from the joint box to the house wall , this jointbox is likely to be located in the footpath fairly close by outside the property.

In an area that is ducted ( housing built from the start of the 1990’s and onwards ) if the duct entry at the dwelling can be seen , it’s assumed that it will be serviceable and the survey note is along the lines of ‘served by 2.5inch duct 56’ it can be something as simple as the duct entry cannot be easily seen from the footpath ( perhaps a fence has been built and the duct entry can no longer be seen ) that is enough for the survey to be recorded as ‘congested duct ‘ as well as more obvious issues like the duct is now covered by an imprinted concrete driveway surface.

This survey note isn’t stating that there is definitely a problem, the duct is really no more or less likely to be serviceable than surveys stating 2.5 inch D56 , , but congested duct surveys notes should result in two stage installation, the viability of the duct confirmed before the installation date on the first stage visit , obviously if it’s worst case scenario and it is not serviceable steps are taken to resolve that , or if necessary because the consumer objects to any excavation, the order can be cancelled.

If the OP ordered with Sky ( FTTP) and was asked to sign a PTD , that can only be for what’s considered to be within the customers own curtilage, so either the duct was blocked and the blockage assessed to be under the front garden , or the PTD ( permission to dig ) is just in case excavation is needed , the excavation can only be within the customer’s curtilage as they can’t provide consent for anywhere else but this, the CBT is likely to be in the same jointbox that has the duct that ‘goes’ to the customers house wall .

The OP in effect is trying to change the correct Openreach record that FTTP is available to order and get it changed ( and make it incorrect ) to aid ordering FTTC , that won’t happen, it appears there is no error with the existing OR designation, although the order journey to get FTTP may be longer and a little more convoluted than it would be with FTTC , that isn’t reason to state that FTTP isn’t available, all the evidence suggests it is

Edited by Iniltous (Thu 20-Jun-24 15:21:03)

Wouldn't disagree with anything you said.

The openreach system shows the correct information there is a CBT close to your house that can be used to supply you with FTTP I would order and when they request a PTD enquire what that entails they will do a survey. then you can either accept the PTD or say you want SOGEA as you dont want your newly concreted drive decimating

The no spare ports on the checker is nothing to do with the CBT
its an indication of what ONT is active in the premises
most will be 1 port and will say no ports available.
In MDUs where the ONT is multiport it will say ports available.

In reply to a post by Taras:

i read it as physically congested, either debris or cables.. If it was no sapre capacity at the cbt it would say no spare ports .

No, it'd say this, and as far as I know even this is only shown where there's an existing ONT.

Network is at capacity so a new ONT cannot be ordered.

In reply to a post by pyarwood:

In MDUs where the ONT is multiport it will say ports available.

MDU's have nothing to do with multi port ONT's. They also get single port ONT's like everyone else.

Every home/flat/apartment gets their own ONT on the Openreach network. They never ever share a multi port ONT between multiple dwellings in an MDU.

I agree most MDUs would get a seperate ONT but openreach can supply a multiport ONT which is what they line refers to and NOT CBT capacity.