In reply to a post by kam67:

That’s really helpful to know ajseeds - I suspect Zen will also have to resort to a “cease and reprovide” in the end. Would going another isp have the same effect?

It might.
Going to another ISP would take a minimum of 10 working days though as technically you have an active service/contract with Zen.
That's 14 days from the day you place the order.
A cease and reprovide will be considerably quicker than that.

You need to forget that same day activation was mentioned above. It's only relevant if you have an ONT with a free port and only if Openreach actually have your fibres routing handled correctly. They clearly don't.

Same day activations are really for people who have used FTTP previously, where the ONT has already worked, or for pre-commissioned new builds where the ONT is active and ready when you move in. Though in the new build scenario issues like yours often pop up as service has never been supplied to that ONT before.
They aren't really suitable for abandoning a failed installation halfway through.

You are going to have to go through motions with Zen to correct this. Openreach so far are unable to identify your circuit and hand it off to Zen.
Others providers don't have some magic that can fix this and will almost certainly have the same problem.

Unless you and Zen come to an agreement to break your contract and walk away I can't see any way that you could order a service from another provider without a minimum 14 day lead time (migration) or potentially longer if an appointment needed booked for a new service (e.g a 4 port ONT install).

If my reading of the OFCOM compensation scheme is correct then your are entitled to £5.25 per day that your activation is delayed, including the installation day.
You will only be entitled to that if you allow Zen to fix it or both parties agree to terminate and they agree to compensate at the same time.

Buy a 4G SIM, use a hotspot or sign up to a temporary mobile broadband contract until it gets resolved.
99% of the time this will be fixed before you could get another service activated.

I'm pleased to read that you got definitive advice from Martin Pitt. Now you know for certain how to proceed with your broadband issues - good luck!

The latest from Zen’s fault managers is that they will be seeking an expedited cease and reprovide from Openreach’s managers. According to Zen, if the request is granted, we might be online by the end of the week or the beginning of next. Here’s hoping!

Also good to have some sort of broadband backup if it's financially viable...

I would agree that it's best as an interim measure to go for mobile data. I lost my FTTC service a few weeks ago (turned out to be a corroded NTE5C backplate). I found the best solution was to link my Android phone to my Draytek router: phone USB C -> USB-C to USB-A adapter. -> Ethernet adapter -> Draytek LAN port 4 (not WAN port). On the phone tap Hotspot & tethering and enable USB tethering. On the Draytek configure WAN2 as a fall back service.

I was using my normal GiffGaff SIM, I see they now give 20GB data and unlimited calls/texts for £10 per month. They don't do a data only SIM. Bigger data plans are available but 20GB should be fine if you avoid streaming. They use the O2 network.

The only downside to this solution for me was that I had to leave the phone next to my router in the garage where I have all my network equipment. Had the outage been more than a few days I would have bought a cheap phone. The alternative was a USB Wifi dongle in my main PC linked to my phone but that only provided access for the main PC whereas linking to the modem/router gave network access to the whole house and all my home automation systems.

I hope you have a resolution soon. Today internet access is almost as important as electricity, gas and water.

Today internet access is almost as important as electricity, gas and water.

Agreed Alan. It’s the fourth utility in many ways now.

I've stuck a little Zyxel 4G router in the attic, which I have configured as a fallback WAN on my Ubiquiti router. The fallback works great, taking over usually within fractions of a second (often people watching streaming in the house don't even notice it when I've tested). Get a little email / phone notification too to let me know the failover has happened. The Zyxel I have isn't very fast, I might look to upgrade it to something that supports the faster classes of comms later.
It's well worth having for the piece of mind if it doesn't stretch the finances too much.

Agreed. That’s a very neat solution. 👍

I think moving to another ISP would cause more opportunities for error, to say nothing of contractual complexity.
Simplest thing to do is to tell Zen to order an immediate cease and reprovide or cancel your contract and refund any monies paid. Then either problem is solved or you start with a new provider.

Yes you are right - still waiting to hear if Openreach have agreed to Zen’s request for an expedited cease and reprovide.