This topic

FTTP Installation delays

GJMAC — Sat, 04 Mar 2023 10:56:55 GMT

After years of waiting for fibre in our rural area the network was installed and ducting was run to the edge of our property but stopped 28 metres away from the existing BT duct leading into our property. On the 3rd December 2022 I placed an order for fibre and was give an installation date of 30th December. No-one appeared and no contact was made. I chased this up and was given a new date of the 16th Jan for an AM visit. Eventually an engineer appeared at 16:30 and said he couldn't do anything as he needed a hoist, on questioning his he said he need to run the fibre from a pole across the road. I pointed out this was an 11Kv electricity pole and he then said he had no information about the job!

I chased BT again and was told there will have to be a review. An engineer visited out of the blue on the 26th Jan and said they would need to extend the duct to meet with the existing duct into the house. This would need traffic lights and a civil team.

Every week since then I have been told by BT there is nothing they can do as they are waiting for Openreach. Each week the response from Openreach is that there will be a review the following week, next review is 8th March.

I contacted BT twice last week and on each occasion I was told they would escalate it with Openreach and I would be contacted in 48Hrs. Guess what? No contact!!

What can I do, BT say they can't help as it is an Openreach problem and they will pay compensation which is now 63 days worth. This is not the point, I require the service as we have 2Mbs copper broadband or 4G which is limited.

Customer service is appalling I can get no installation date. I am going to take it up with the Communication Ombudsman on Monday but I assume this will take ages. What course of action do I have?

Re: FTTP Installation delays

Keith_Beddoe — Sat, 04 Mar 2023 11:03:06 GMT

@GJMAC

Welcome to this user forum for BT Retail phone and broadband customers.

There is nothing BT Retail can do about the progress of your broadband order if its an Openreach problem.

I assume this is a residential order and not a business one?

Re: FTTP Installation delays

GJMAC — Sat, 04 Mar 2023 11:10:00 GMT

So I just have to sit and wait whilst BT plays Groundhog Day and each week gives a review date for the following week!!!

Surely Openreach is wholly owned subsidiary of BT?

Yes I am a residential customer.

Re: FTTP Installation delays

JohnC2 — Sat, 04 Mar 2023 11:20:26 GMT

Hi @GJMAC, welcome to the forum and sorry your installation has been delayed.

When traffic management is needed delays can result in no meaningful updates until it's in place. I've sent you a Private Message so you can get in touch with the Mod team. We'll check for the latest update and ensure that the Full Fibre team are dealing with your order and updates.

Cheers

John

Re: FTTP Installation delays

Keith_Beddoe — Sat, 04 Mar 2023 11:22:15 GMT

BT Retail have no control over Openreach, who are a separate company that provides the infrastructure for lots of providers. BT Retail is not allowed to be given any priority.

https://www.openreach.com/about

Re: FTTP Installation delays

GJMAC — Sat, 04 Mar 2023 16:25:15 GMT

So it is totally pointless when BT say they will escalate it with Openreach. Hence the reason I fail to get the promised call back from Openreach within 48 hours!

Re: FTTP Installation delays

Keith_Beddoe — Sat, 04 Mar 2023 16:36:54 GMT

You will never get a call back from Openreach, as they do not deal with end users only Service Providers.

Re: FTTP Installation delays

GJMAC — Sat, 04 Mar 2023 16:59:10 GMT

Thanks. Perhaps BT should tell their staff this so when you speak to them they don't make false promises!

Re: FTTP Installation delays

GJMAC — Sun, 05 Mar 2023 10:22:25 GMT

Sent a PM, thanks

Re: FTTP Installation delays

marco806 — Sun, 05 Mar 2023 11:46:27 GMT

i had a delay in install...i got compensation for every day from the agreed installation date to the date it was actually installed....something like £5 per day...got over £200...complained directly to BT online.

Re: FTTP Installation delays

GJMAC — Sun, 05 Mar 2023 18:54:01 GMT

Thanks. BT have said that I will be paid £5.25 per day of delay, so far 65 days! Also they have already paid £52 for missed appointments. BT says that Openreach pay them the compensation so they are not worried.

I wonder how much compensation Openreach pay on a National level for delay and missed appointments? We need traffic lights and some additional ducting in the verge and one of the excuses is delay in setting up traffic lights. Strangely our neighbour who is about 100 metres away needed a blocked duct cleared for his fibre installation and Openreach set up lights 2 weeks ago. Common sense would suggest they would combine his work and mine in one operation to save the cost of multiple traffic lights but that is obviously too difficult to organise!!

The costs of all these delays and inefficiencies must be enormous and we, the consumer, are ultimately paying.

Re: FTTP Installation delays

marco806 — Sun, 05 Mar 2023 21:19:55 GMT

Openreach didn't pay my compensation... incredibly inept...BT paid me, and informed openreach to ensure I wasn't paid twice..

I was diligent in complaining..BT twice closed my complaint as resolved..I re-opened the complaint until the full compensation was paid

Re: FTTP Installation delays

GJMAC — Mon, 13 Mar 2023 11:46:14 GMT

My complaint has been handed to the so called Executive complaints team and I was given the name of a contact. He was supposed to call me last week to update me but guess what, no contact. I subsequently emailed him and yet again no response.

I looked on MyBt website today and all I can see is that Digital Voice will now be activated on April 3rd, another 3 weeks. Normally they extend the activation date by 1 week but now they have increased it to 3 weeks!

This will make it 95 days late if it ever happens.

I have now emailed the BT CEO but judging by my past experiences I am not holding my breath about receiving any help.

Re: FTTP Installation delays

Poppy40 — Tue, 01 Aug 2023 16:57:40 GMT

Hi, did this ever get sorted?

Re: FTTP Installation delays

GJMAC — Wed, 02 Aug 2023 10:43:33 GMT

Hi,

We were eventually connected in June! Compensation has been received however if the whole operation had been more efficient all parties would have been happy and Openreach would have saved having to pay out. The initial planning was wrong when fibre was installed in the road, it terminated 20 Metres from the duct going into our house. This resulted in having to add an additional duct in the road. It was decided a road closure was required to install the duct. This took 3 months to decide a road closure was required then an additional 2 months to get permission.

After raising a complaint with the CEO I was given a contact person who was very helpful and always kept me updated.

The issue now is to get wifi working correctly. I have a 920 Mbs connection via ethernet to my PC but wifi is not brilliant. When the engineer came to check the Halo connection he pointed out that the BT Smart Hub 2 can only handle around 500 Mbs at the best so any wifi is going to be significantly degraded from that speed. The best wifi speed I am seeing is around 200 Mbs but generally it is sub 100 Mbs. Having a fast connection is fine using ethernet but if you want fast wifi speeds then the Smart Hub does not seem to be the answer.

If anyone has any suggestions on this I would be very interested in them.

Re: FTTP Installation delays

licquorice — Wed, 02 Aug 2023 10:56:11 GMT

@GJMAC wrote:

When the engineer came to check the Halo connection he pointed out that the BT Smart Hub 2 can only handle around 500 Mbs at the best so any wifi is going to be significantly degraded from that speed.

Really?

So how is it I can get 866M from an SH2.

Re: FTTP Installation delays

GJMAC — Wed, 02 Aug 2023 11:27:15 GMT

I’m only repeating the comments of the engineer sent by BT to set up the Halo wifi! I have never seen much over 500Mbs wifi measured adjacent to the hub.

Re: FTTP Installation delays

infinitywaiter — Wed, 02 Aug 2023 13:39:01 GMT

So how is it I can get 866M from an SH2.

And this is coming from somebody who posted this...

I have absolutely no idea what anybody would do with 2.5Gb on a residential service!!!

So, we have absolutely no idea why you would want a service that gives you that WiFi speed, let alone using a modern device with WiFi 6 🤔

@GJMAC

If delays were taking that long, instead of waiting for BT, you should have gone and put in a complaint to the ombudsman services here:

https://www.ombudsman-services.org/

Through communication section:

https://www.commsombudsman.org/

Re: FTTP Installation delays

licquorice — Wed, 02 Aug 2023 15:41:36 GMT

@infinitywaiter Do you not understand the difference between demonstrating what a device is capable of and what one needs?

My broadband speed is only 44M, I was merely pointing out that the Smart Hub2 WiFi Phy speed is capable of 866M despite claims to the contrary.

Re: FTTP Installation delays

GJMAC — Wed, 02 Aug 2023 16:05:45 GMT

I was on the point of complaining to the Ombudsman but you have to wait 8 weeks to raise a complaint. By that time it was becoming clear that Openreach would not carry out the work without a road closure which takes 3 months to obtain through the Council so there wasn't much to be gained.