This topic

Connected to the wrong Openreach exchange

Callum98 — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 20:47:37 GMT

Hi,

A few weeks ago I got Full Fibre installed in my flat, the activation date for my broadband has long since passed and I am still completely without connection.

Every time I contact BT they just say it's a fault and send an engineer from Openreach. The engineers all say the same thing: there is no physical fault, its just that I've inexplicably been connected to the wrong exchange. The exchange I'm being connected to is in a town over 10 miles away and there are several exchanges between here and there, so it's not even like I'm close to being in range. The engineers then arrange for me to be switched over on the phone, saying it shouldn't take more than a day or two, then leave.

This has happened 3 times in 3 weeks and I'm still connected to the wrong exchange. I don't know why they aren't switching me to the correct one when presumably 3 different engineers have advised it. We can't really tell why this is happening either, even if I type my postcode into the Openreach fibre checker it says I'm powered by the local exchange, not the one I'm actually being connected to.

I'm quite lost at this point. If I phone BT they just send another engineer and there doesn't seem to be anyone else I can talk to. I haven't had broadband for a single minute this whole time and it's seriously affecting my job (work from home)

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Re: Connected to the wrong Openreach exchange

imjolly — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 21:15:10 GMT

If you are actually getting full fibre to your home then that does not come from the exchange. If however you are getting fibre to the cabinet and then copper to your home then that does come the cabinet. So are you getting FTTP or FTTC?

Enter your address and post results including all the notes

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

Re: Connected to the wrong Openreach exchange

Callum98 — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 21:17:14 GMT

I'm not entirely sure, it just says "fibre 2"

But since the engineers are saying that the issue is being connected to the wrong exchange I assume it's supposed to be coming from a cabinet.

Re: Connected to the wrong Openreach exchange

Callum98 — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 21:23:30 GMT

I put my address in and this is what I got

Re: Connected to the wrong Openreach exchange

jac_95 — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 21:48:25 GMT

@Callum98

It states a ONT is active. What lights are shown on the ONT? What colour are they?

If the ONT PON light is solid green and the LOS light is off then your full fibre connection is connected to Openreach's headend equipment ok.

If the above is ok then it maybe the authentication with BT Wholesale's and BT Consumer's equipment. What colour lights are showing on the BT/EE Smart hub?

Re: Connected to the wrong Openreach exchange

Callum98 — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 21:48:31 GMT

Yes it's exactly that, PON is flashing, LOS is off and the other 2 are solid green. The hub it's plugged into is also displaying a solid orange light. They've been like this for weeks, since the initial installation.

Re: Connected to the wrong Openreach exchange

jac_95 — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 21:54:25 GMT

Ok so PON flashing but LOS light off on ONT means your ONT if trying to perform the verification step with Openreach's headend equipment. If that's been going on for a while then means the verification may be failing. This could be down to a few things, including a potential mismatch of serial number of the ONT.

Re: Connected to the wrong Openreach exchange

Callum98 — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 21:56:47 GMT

I asked a guide about this when on the phone to BT and they said the serial number was a match.

Re: Connected to the wrong Openreach exchange

licquorice — Thu, 21 Aug 2025 07:14:42 GMT

First of all the head end that you are connected to can be miles away, fibre distance limitation is far greater than copper. The local exchange is probably not a fibre head end. Secondly, you can't connect a single customer to 'the wrong exchange', the fibre backhaul is all built before any of the 30 customers that share the backhaul are connected.

The ONT and hub indications show that your connection is physically in place but BT haven't activated it correctly.

You need to be insistent with BT that your connection isn't activated.

Re: Connected to the wrong Openreach exchange

iniltous — Thu, 21 Aug 2025 08:07:24 GMT

As already stated , the concerns about how far away the headend exchange is , is unfounded, 40kms to a headend isn’t unreasonable , OR have around 6000 exchanges , once FTTP is everywhere there will be around 1000 exchanges, so very few addresses will actually be served from their ‘local’ exchange , but one relatively close by , it’s very unlikely that the network that serves you and your neighbours has been connected to the wrong headend exchange.

There are a couple of ‘incorrectly connected’ possibilities though , the optimum way Openreach designs their passive local optical networks is with around 120 addresses in each PON , this makes the most efficient use of resources , this requires 4 ‘SASA’s (splitters) in the same enclosure (splitter node ) …when the area is designed each address is pre-allocated to a splitter , so (for example) your address allocated to splitter 1 via a CBT (the fibre distribution point near you address ) , if the CBT you are connected to was incorrectly wired to splitter 2 instead of splitter 1 , you would get the symptoms you have , the PON light flashing , that’s because ‘light’ is being received at the ONT , but it’s from splitter 2 not splitter 1 ( that’s why the LOS loss of signal ) isn’t lit ) but authentication fails because the OLT data has you recorded on splitter 1 not splitter 2 ….this is usually an easy and quick fix to reconfigure the data, basically to move your ‘data’ and the other addresses on the CBT , to splitter 2

The other less likely possibility is the OLT exchange is correct , but each headend exchange houses many OLT racks (headends) …. In simple terms , if the aggregation node that feeds the splitters should be on OLT rack 1 but was connected to rack 2 ( so not the wrong exchange but the wrong headend within the correct exchange) then again authentication would fail .

Unfortunately although this may explain the issues the solution hasn’t changed , Openreach need to sort out the problem either physically ( move the connections to the correct location ) or re do the data entry’s to take into account the network error, as stated all you can do is keep on at your ISP to chase OR for a resolution

Re: Connected to the wrong Openreach exchange

Callum98 — Thu, 21 Aug 2025 08:00:39 GMT

Apologies I was just repeating what the engineer told me last Monday.

I should also mention that there is a strange problem with my postcode sending people to a totally different address in a different town. Not just with BT but with packages getting delivered/directions on Google maps etc. The engineer said this could have some relevance as the exchange I'm connected to is in the same place as all my packages are getting sent to.

I have another engineer coming tomorrow morning I'll see what happens then.

Re: Connected to the wrong Openreach exchange

iniltous — Thu, 21 Aug 2025 08:31:26 GMT

This new information makes a massive difference, it’s a bit of a bugbear of mine , in that the main issue is rarely offered up to start with making the first diagnosis miles off …

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

Put your address in here and check the same address on the Royal Mail website, do they match exactly, not similar , but an exact match ?, do the same for the other flats in your ‘development’ , and pick a regular house that is very close by and likely to be on the same local PON , any glaring errors , like completely different postcodes ?
As you have an ONT you obviously have optical network nearby , but if your address data is in effect wrong , the ‘data’ for your address can be entered on a different headend to the headend you are physically connected to , and in my example of a simple error , using splitter2 instead of splitter 1 is an easy to correct data issue , if your address is so wrong it’s not even the same OLT headend , then it’s pretty much unsolvable as it is …you would likely need you account removing , the incorrect address issues correcting (this may need your address correctly recording ) and then reordering, hoping that the new address info allocates the appropriate CBT/SASA /OLT etc.

The addressing for flats is notoriously bad as there is no common format for addresses , what sort of flat is it you have , a converted house or a part of purpose built MDU ? , some ‘dodgy’ flat conversions of houses can cause these sorts of issues as the addresses are not allocated and recorded by the correct authorities, and it’s that official data that forms the basis of OR allocation

Re: Connected to the wrong Openreach exchange

Callum98 — Thu, 21 Aug 2025 08:28:23 GMT

The name of the address is slightly different yeah, apartment 8 instead of flat 8 and the building name is a little different too.

Yes it's a church that was converted into flats so could be 'dodgy'

So if I need to change the address and re order, how do I make sure the address is correct?

Re: Connected to the wrong Openreach exchange

iniltous — Thu, 21 Aug 2025 08:44:13 GMT

How long have theses flats been around, a recent conversion or years old and the developer has long since disappeared…obviously if it’s a new conversion it’s the developer that needs to sort this out .
If it was an old conversion, if you are the owner this sort of thing should’ve been pointed out by your solicitor, getting a mortgage on something like this would scream ‘dodgy’ ….if renting , your landlord should be sorting it out , not you , but ultimately what you need is the official address ( the official one the council use for council tax etc ) being recorded exactly on the Royal Mail website, once the RM matches , OR periodically matches their own address data against the RM dataset ….if this OR match doesn’t happen , once the council and RM information matches , you need an ORDI (Openreach data integrity) check to update Openreach records.

Do you know the actual official address of your flat ( it may not be what you think or what you were led to believe) , that’s the starting point

Re: Connected to the wrong Openreach exchange

Callum98 — Thu, 21 Aug 2025 08:45:58 GMT

I don't know a lot about the building to be honest. I'm renting so I could ask the landlord about this.

I have a letter from the local council, would this be the official address? this is again slightly different to what I gave BT/openreach as my address, but is also different to the royal mail address.

Re: Connected to the wrong Openreach exchange

iniltous — Thu, 21 Aug 2025 09:04:14 GMT

What the local council ‘knows’ or refers to the address as is likely to be the ‘correct’ version of the flats address …there should be a council department that disseminates that information to various ‘bodies’ like the RM , and then RM ‘sell’ their address services to companies like Openreach , and parcel delivery firms (this will be why you have issues with that type of thing as well as your broadband problem )
Unfortunately I can’t give you much more help than that , you would probably start by contacting you local council , presumably they have the responsibility for providing the official address for that property , or flat within it , and making sure that official version of the address is used by ‘public’ bodies, but as stated flats , especially those converted by ‘one man band’ type developers probably don’t know the rules let alone follow them …., part of the problem is people can use a bit of common sense , so if a letter used the wrong version of the address , the postman or woman would probably be savvy enough to put the letter through the correct letterbox , and the recipient wouldn’t wonder why some stuff says flat , some says apartment etc , but computer systems don’t work that way , GIGO , garbage in garbage out

Re: Connected to the wrong Openreach exchange

Callum98 — Thu, 21 Aug 2025 09:01:09 GMT

Okay thank you.

I just noticed that when using the royal mail postcode checker and finding my address, its not only written differently to the council's address but when I click "see this postcode on a map" it shows the other town where many of my deliveries are ending up and not where I actually live.

So I basically need to try to get the official address to match the Royal Mail one? And then if openreach did a data integrity check it should fix itself?

Re: Connected to the wrong Openreach exchange

iniltous — Thu, 21 Aug 2025 09:06:41 GMT

Kind of , you need the RM to match the council official one , once all the data is ‘matched’ , I suspect you would need a brand new order , rather than trying to ‘fix’ the one you have

Re: Connected to the wrong Openreach exchange

Callum98 — Thu, 21 Aug 2025 09:07:27 GMT

Okay, I'll talk to the council and my landlord and see what we can do. Thanks for your help, I think I finally know what the root of all these problems is.

Re: Connected to the wrong Openreach exchange

iniltous — Thu, 21 Aug 2025 09:12:31 GMT

Best of luck with it