As others have said, you are making this more complicated than it needs to be.

From a legal perspective, the new resident has no standing in the contract between the previous residents and Swish/Cuckoo. In any event, that contract has already been terminated, and there is nothing "to transfer" from a legal perspective. Standard practice is for service transfers to be on a new contract, not to novate an existing contract. Novations can be rather awkward and costly to do correctly, even if something was left to novate, which is not the case here.

The question that needs addressing is whether Swish/Cuckoo/OneStream/Brillband (I am not sure about the structure of this altnet) can be persuaded that there is an existing fibre and ONT in place, and to offer service over it. Altnets have no universal service obligation, and they are within their rights to refuse to do anything.

The USO option is Openreach; if the only thing available is FTTC, and there is no hope of taking out a new contract for the altnet FTTP, then the new resident should order an Openreach-provided service, satellite broadband or mobile broadband.

This sort of thing is annoying, especially if the only ultrafast option is an altnet that has gone through takeovers or financial distress and is unwilling to do business with new customers. Sadly, the best option might be to take Openreach-provided service for now and hope that either the altnet has a change of heart or that Openreach FTTP becomes available.

Edited by David_W2 (Mon 13-Jul-26 14:35:48)

In reply to a post by steelej02:

I was perhaps not explaining the situation clearly enough.

She bought the property which had a working fibre connection. All the infrastructure was in place and was working when she bought the property. The fibre cable and the router are, I believe, still connected but she is unable to use the service as the account has been closed..

this bit doesn't matter

In reply to a post by steelej02:

She not unreasonably expected to be able to set up a new user account with Swish/Cuckoo to use the same physical infrastructure but with a new account for billing. This is where the problem arises.

except that its the wrong way to think of things.

its a new account. forget about existing accounts. just do no go there.

In reply to a post by steelej02:

They will NOT accept her as a new customer so she has no broadband service.

what does the link i gave says.

In reply to a post by steelej02:

no landline telephone, and apparently no obvious way of getting broadband services without getting a new BT telephone line installed and using a FTTC service. She is very a long way away from the nearest BT cabinet so the speed will be degraded..

there is no such thing as a bt cabinet. That said and confusingly this says "bt wholesale"

https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL/...

put her postcode and select her property.... and what does it give under "WBC SOGEA Availability"

The thing i'm confused about is that onestream also uses OR fttp. I can order from onestream. Google is sugesting cityfibre provided some of the infrastructure.

We know that the swiss/cuckoo changes was messy and not in the consumer's interest. If it was cityfibre whom cuckoo used in her area - would city fibre provide a connection now?

In reply to a post by jpm:

What happens if your contact puts their address into the Onestream website? It sounds like things are being over complicated massively by talks of taking over an existing service.

yep that part need to be forgotten.... I know what the OP's friend is suggesting but it is actually just a new account.

In reply to a post by Taras:

The thing i'm confused about is that onestream also uses OR fttp. I can order from onestream. Google is sugesting cityfibre provided some of the infrastructure.

We know that the swiss/cuckoo changes was messy and not in the consumer's interest. If it was cityfibre whom cuckoo used in her area - would city fibre provide a connection now?

I believe its Swish Fibre infrastructure not Cityfibre, I also believe the previous home owner ultimately became a Onestream customer but the physical infrastructure remains the property of Fern Trading via the AllPoints Fibre Networks brand (surely the OP must know this if they are also a former Swish fibre customer). I do not believe Onestream are authorised to sell broadband to new customers over the Swish Fibre network thats why Onestream are saying no. They simply bought the customer base as that is the most valuable asset to sell but they are not in a position to add new customers to that network, it must be something that was agreed when they bought only the existing customer base. From everything I have read Brillband are the authorised sellers as they are owned by APFN who are owned by Fern Trading who own the Swish Fibre network.


PS - I could be entirely wrong 🤣

Edited by PCJM40 (Mon 13-Jul-26 17:21:16)

In reply to a post by PCJM40:

PS - I could be entirely wrong 🤣

same with what i said........ I can understand the op's friend being totally confused.

Thanks for all the feedback. The decision has been made, the only viable one.

She has gone for a FTTC solution. BT are attending on Thursday to install a copper cable to her property. There used to be one so hopefully it will just be the route overhead from the nearest pole to her property.

I visited her today am planning to be available when BT attend to ensure that she is not being pressured to something that is not necessary, This will give her FTTC so that she can go to any one of the several providers.

I now need to decide myself whether to remain with Swish/Cuckoo or switch now to a different provider. I am not planning to move and am not actually dissatisfied with their service but if it remains impossible to transfer my fibre connection to a new owner then I would not want to impose such a farcical situation on any new buyer of my property.

There are multiple FTTC services available.

In reply to a post by Taras:

I can understand the op's friend being totally confused.

Yes, if I was a friend of the OP I would be confused by their advice as well. I wonder if the friend was ever given information suggested by contributors of this thread.

Your post is a bit confusing. Who has been contacted to install the line? That is normally the chosen ISP.

The property was bought with a working fibre connection and that was demonstrated prior to purchase. At the time it was installed and supported by Swish, now trading as Cuckoo. Cuckoo or their new owners are refusing to change the name and billing details on he account so the fibre service is now totally unusable.

I have now discovered that as my own broadband and telephone service is EXACTLY the same and delivered by the same Swish installed router under a manhole in the road, it will impossible for a new owner, should I need to sell my property, to ever have a full fibre service.

I went with Swish expecting this to enhance my properties future value. It has turned out to be quite the reverse! A new owner would have no broadband or telephone service (as my landline phone is also routed via my broadband) if the current supplier persists in refusing to allow a change of owner on the service..

Is there any appeal that can be raised when the owner of the only full fibre connection available refuses to change ownership to a new owner?

My neighbour has arranged for BT to reinstall a copper connection to her property (it was removed prior to her moving in when the property was rebuilt) so an FTTC solution becomes feasible.

I am now seriously wondering if I should I reinstate my NTE5 socket (the BT cable is still there in my case) and switch my own connection to an FTTC contract as it is otherwise impossible to get FTTP from any other supplier in our road. Trooli provide overhead fibre to the rest of our village.

Note that in our road (applies to both properties) the BT cables run through a (blocked) duct to a junction box just outside my boundary, up a pole inside my boundary that is actually owned by the power company. Historically this was legal although I understand it is no longer permitted for new installations, I get paid an annual wayleave from both the power company and BT. The BT copper connection is then connected overhead to my property and via more shared poles to other properties along the road. The other user is having theirs restored later this week