This topic

Disconnected Copper

Noodle17 — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 14:13:57 GMT

Hello, I was due to be upgraded to fibre yesterday but the switch couldn’t take place as I have an incorrect hub. A new hub has been ordered - in error BT have disconnected my copper service and have advised even though their error they cannot reconnect. I have a provision date of 22nd January so have no service in the meantime. I have raised a complaint but can’t speak to complaints just communicate by email. It’s such a frustrating poor service, has anyone else experienced this? Thanks

Re: Disconnected Copper

imjolly — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 14:29:38 GMT

this has been highlighted on forum many times yet openreach still persist in disconnecting the copper before ensuring the fibre connection actually works. do you have 3 green lights on the ONT the small fibre modem? if so ready to go once get new hub

Re: Disconnected Copper

Noodle17 — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 14:34:03 GMT

my fibre installation did not take place

Re: Disconnected Copper

imjolly — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 14:37:35 GMT

sorry from your post I thought fibre was installed but could not use it as incorrect hub. how is your broadband connected from a pole or underground?

Re: Disconnected Copper

Noodle17 — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 14:42:04 GMT

Thanks, it’s connected via the pole

Re: Disconnected Copper

licquorice — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 15:14:23 GMT

So why wasn't the fibre installed?

Re: Disconnected Copper

Noodle17 — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 15:15:59 GMT

Because I do not have the correct Hub, we agreed to leave any work until after my new hub is delivered. It was after that the copper service was disconnected

Re: Disconnected Copper

licquorice — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 15:18:59 GMT

That's madness, you didn't need to have the hub in order to install the fibre and you could have at least have been able to use a laptop connected directly to the ONT.

Any router with WAN port could have been used.

Re: Disconnected Copper

Noodle17 — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 15:46:06 GMT

Totally agree it’s crazy and getting a complaint department to engage with is equally frustrating.

Re: Disconnected Copper

chrisjp — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 16:00:34 GMT

I'm afraid this appears to be all too common, and the fault seems to lie with BT. They get a date from Openreach to install fibre and then they just assume that the fibre installation has been successful without checking with Openreach that this is true. And then, even when the copper cable is still in place, the say that the copper service cannot be restored.

Re: Disconnected Copper

iniltous — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 17:36:46 GMT

It’s nonsense to suggest that there is some sort of manual checking between Openreach and the ISP regarding job completion , there is no person calling another person and asking the installer’ how did that go , can I close this off ‘ ..it’s an automated system, and contrary to the post here , the error is more likely the OR tech incorrectly booking of a job as completed, as this would would progress the automated cessation of the copper based service , as opposed to BT , completely unprompted , entering systems (why would they do this , no one has brought anything to their attention) and override the automation and manually progress the cessation.

Ofcom requires mist if these systems to be completely hands off , that way , every provider has the same automation/systems so ‘BT’ have no advantage in using historical pathways to put BT customers ahead of any other providers customers…..even in cases like this where it’s BT and no other provider , the Openreach functions and BT functions are linked by IT systems not personnel.

Re: Disconnected Copper

Noodle17 — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 19:41:46 GMT

In the absence of factual evidence it’s not nonsense to expect digital communication between systems. Either way I am left in an undesirable position of having no service - that is fact.

Re: Disconnected Copper

imjolly — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 19:58:26 GMT

Like @licquorice I can't understand why you did not get the fibre installed and just needed to wait couple of days for BT to send you the SH2 and then all you had to do was connect the hub to get internet

Re: Disconnected Copper

tonysmini018 — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 20:11:53 GMT

Were you changing providers as well as upgrading? If so then that will be why the old service stopped as it would have had a termination date. No provider will just let it run if you are leaving.

Re: Disconnected Copper

chrisjp — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 22:45:22 GMT

"It’s nonsense to suggest that there is some sort of manual checking between Openreach and the ISP regarding job completion , there is no person calling another person and asking the installer’ how did that go , can I close this off ‘ ..it’s an automated system, and contrary to the post here , the error is more likely the OR tech incorrectly booking of a job as completed..."

That's all very well but, whatever the root cause, there have been a number of postings on this forum of people whose copper broadband service has been cut off on the day a fibre service was supposed to be installed, even though this installation wasn't successfull, leaving the customer with no broadband and BT telling them that the copper service cannot be re-activated.
That means the system, automated or manual - it doesn't matter, is not fit for purpose.

Re: Disconnected Copper

36ULW — Sat, 17 Jan 2026 09:50:22 GMT

‘the error is more likely the OR tech incorrectly booking of a job as completed,’

No, doubt an Openreach Engineer would accidentally close it.

Openreach Engineers get their work via an App called MyJobs. The process of closing down a job is a lot more than a simple ‘Completed’ or Incompleted’ button.

They have to navigate several closure based questions on the App so have plenty of time to realise they’re closing/in-completing the job incorrectly.

Openreach Engineers are heavily bound by Productivity Targets. ELF’s Early Life Failures being a big one. That’s if one of their Installations go faulty within 28 days.

Also Openreach Engineers are paid a Salary, they get the same pay regardless of doing 1 job a week or 100 jobs a week unlike Contractors who’re on Price Work so there’s zero incentive for an Openreach Engineer to close an in-completed job.

And also, an Engineer, be it Openreach, Kelly’s, Quinn’s, etc closing a job or not has zero bearing on a ADSL/FTTC Service being switched off.

Re: Disconnected Copper

iniltous — Sat, 17 Jan 2026 13:28:26 GMT

The point being made is that there isn’t a BT or Openreach employee with a list of cessations of copper on a particular day , dependent on the successful completion of migrations to other companies or from copper to FTTP , and someone didn’t check correctly and progressed a cease , or didn’t care if the dependant job was successful or not and progressed a cease anyway ….the point it’s an automated system , that has an inbuilt ‘check’ that is if the provision is delayed correctly, then the linked automatic cessation is in a PAA state ‘pending’ state and never progresses to ACT (active ) and COM (complete) …..clearly things go wrong , my point is just because something went wrong it’s simply a knee jerk reaction, void of any knowledge to ‘blame’ any particular party .

I said it was more like to be an incorrectly closed automated task that creates this chain of events .

or

Re: Disconnected Copper

chrisjp — Sat, 17 Jan 2026 20:30:00 GMT

At the risk of labouring the issue, the point is that if the system, automated or manual or a mix of both, sometimes results in people being cut off from their copper based broadband after a fibre installation has failed, then the system isn't working properly and either BT or Openreach need to fix it.
OK, one or two failures of this kind can be written off as unfortunate, but this forum has had reports of far more such failures than that.
It's really not good enough to just shrug and say "it's an automated system so it's not anyone's fault".

Re: Disconnected Copper

licquorice — Sat, 17 Jan 2026 21:08:03 GMT

But the failures reported on the forum are in the order of tens compared with the order of tens of thousand successful installations.