This topic

ONT Removal after Cancellation

Christine — Sat, 08 Apr 2023 16:57:23 GMT

After a very stressful attempt to try and return to BT, I decided to cancel within the 14 day cooling off period as I was not prepared to enter into a 24 month contract with a service not working correctly, and have returned to a rock solid fully functioning Virgin service, as BT would not extend the cooling off period to get my system working properly.

I now have a redundant ONT in a very visible position, and want to remove it.

Am I free to remove the ONT and associated cable back to the grey outside BT box?

If I ever try BT again in the future I would want a new exterior cable fitted anyway, as from what I've read on these forums that might be one reason why my service was not running properly?

Re: ONT Removal after Cancellation

-Richie- — Sat, 08 Apr 2023 19:25:34 GMT

@Christinewrote:
Am I free to remove the ONT and associated cable back to the grey outside BT box?

The ONT is the property of Openreach, I very much doubt they'd remove it and could well charge for disposal of their property.

You might return to BT or any of the other 600+ ISPs that use the Openreach network, in which case it would be needed again or cause issues returning as the records would show the ONT registered at your property, it would certainly cause delays getting service again.

Re: ONT Removal after Cancellation

Christine — Sat, 08 Apr 2023 22:36:21 GMT

If BT are not asking for the ONT to be returned, they obviously don’t want it?

As mine is now not required, the mains adapter will be the first item to get lost, then there is no reason for me to leave the redundant item on the wall, same as old master phone sockets.

I don’t see any reason to leave it and the associated wiring to the outside grey box in place if I don’t intend to use BT in the future?

Re: ONT Removal after Cancellation

jac_95 — Sun, 09 Apr 2023 07:19:11 GMT

The ONT and fibre is property of Openreach.

It's not BT Consumer equipment. Just because you may not use BT again doesn't mean this equipment will not be reused. Openreach's equipment and infrastructure is used by over 600 other providers and so they will reuse the Openreach fibre infrastructure and ONT.

Openreach usually note in their records that a ONT has been installed and where it is.

E.g, Sky, TalkTalk, Zen, Vodafone to name a few of the big ones

Re: ONT Removal after Cancellation

Christine — Sun, 09 Apr 2023 09:10:40 GMT

But I have no intention of using any other services, Virgin for me anyway has been a far better service, so how do I get the ONT removed?

The house is my property, and I don’t really want a redundant box left on my wall.

There seems to be no way to contact Openreach to ask for removal.

This is a new issue for BT as it’s a relatively new problem but one faced by Virgin for years.

Many people want the Virgin cable and associated connection boxes removed if they are not required, and the general solution seems to be remove if and dispose of yourself

Re: ONT Removal after Cancellation

Anonymous — Sun, 09 Apr 2023 09:14:54 GMT

@Christinewrote:
The house is my property, and I don’t really want a redundant box left on my wall.

Then remove it.

For us, Virgin Media were terrible, whilst other ISP’s can’t use the kit in the same way as Openreach’s, I wasn’t leaving their kit on the wall inside or outside the house.

If someone wants to use their services in future after I have left, they can have a fresh install.

Re: ONT Removal after Cancellation

Christine — Sun, 09 Apr 2023 09:31:00 GMT

I would want a fresh install if I ever considered trying BT again as the cabling and ONT might be the reason my service never worked correctly, which is the reason for dropping back to Virgin who have supplied a perfect service in the past. However, I agree their customer service is very poor compared to BT. I had high hopes for returning, but I refuse to lock myself into a 24 month contract without a 100% working system, and BT were not prepared to extend the cooling off period while they got my service running properly, so rather than face possibly weeks or months sorting the issue, it was easier to just cancel.

Re: ONT Removal after Cancellation

garybs29 — Sun, 09 Apr 2023 09:36:13 GMT

On your other thread -

"BT is showing 935 down and 110 up"

Ergo there was nothing wrong with your cable/connection & your cable was fine & had no impact on your connection whatsoever

As I also pointed out it was a wifi issue, BT weren't going to "spend months fixing" something they had no control over

Re: ONT Removal after Cancellation

Christine — Sun, 09 Apr 2023 09:42:32 GMT

Indeed, but the service was dropping at random every day at random causing my entire smart home to go offline, so it wasn’t working correctly was it .

Neither was it a Wi-Fi problem as you incorrectly suggested, as I’m pretty sure Wi-Fi issues don’t actually cause my entire house to go offline when most is hard wired with Ethernet cables, and the LAN led to stop flickering suggesting no data flow through the ONT

Ergo you are totally wrong

Re: ONT Removal after Cancellation

jac_95 — Sun, 09 Apr 2023 16:00:42 GMT

@Christine

Sounds more like a session issue. VM used DHCP whereas BT Consumer uses PPPoE.

So if your TP Link router was dropping the PPPoE session suggests an issue with the router and firmware of the router.

Not an actual Fibre PON issue.

Re: ONT Removal after Cancellation

Christine — Sun, 09 Apr 2023 16:49:06 GMT

It still dropped the connection with the BT hub2 connected

The ONT would seize up and slowly reboot itself if left over 15 or so minutes with both the BT Hub and my TPLink router.

The difference being with the TP Link router everything would reconnect, with the BT hub many smart items would keep connecting and dropping while I was watch their status, some items would not reconnect at all.

My router is the TPLink Archer c2300 which is even sold in the BT shop, fully updated to latest software https://shop.bt.com/products/tp-link-archer-ac2300-dual-band-wi-fi-router-archer-c2300-FT7D.html

Re: ONT Removal after Cancellation

jac_95 — Sun, 09 Apr 2023 16:35:58 GMT

I would of checked the router logs and if ONT was having issues then ask for a replacement ONT. But at end of day you've cancelled your service so not much can be done to look at resolving the disconnection issue.

Re: ONT Removal after Cancellation

Christine — Sun, 09 Apr 2023 16:48:18 GMT

Indeed, I was hoping for a smooth move back to BT, but decided not to get into sorting this out as BT would not entertain extending the 14 day limit to opt out of the 24 month contract.

Easier to go back to a known solid service which is back up and running 100%

if BT had offered a bit more flexibility with investigating the issue I would have stuck with trying to resolve, but they wanted to send out a tech specialist and add £40 to my first bill which I think is unacceptable for a brand new installation