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Delayed Installation FTTP

maseb — Sat, 22 Jul 2023 08:08:53 GMT

Hello

I ordered broadband on 16th May 23, still no connection yet. The engineer came to install the inside work needed on the house a week or so later.. great.

After 10+ phone calls to BT , and being told every time that the case will be reviewed in 7 days, I think I've given up now. BT did send us a 4g mini hub in the meantime which is ok, but cannot handle more than a few devices, the signal is not great where we live so very patchy.

I've made a complaint, it's been escalated but how far I don't know. Very frustrating!! Just wondering if there is anything that can be done to speed up the process? Or has anyone had similar experience in my position where they feel like the order is going anywhere?! Like banging your head against a wall !

The last phone call made to BT, the lady said in all honesty she doesn't know whether our installation will take place next week or next year. What a joke. Gives no reason from OR as to why the installation can't be done.

Just for some background, the pole opposite the house has fibre on it. Next door has FTTP. The green box is at the end of the road. So it is possible to get FTTP.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

Re: Delayed Installation FTTP

Keith_Beddoe — Sat, 22 Jul 2023 08:33:15 GMT

@maseb

This is just a customer to customer help forum, everyone here, including myself, are just customers.

The only BT Employees are the forum moderators.

FTTP comes from the exchange and not from the cabinet.

Has an ONT been fitted yet, if so, what lights are showing on it?

Re: Delayed Installation FTTP

maseb — Sat, 22 Jul 2023 08:38:43 GMT

Hello @Keith_Beddoe

The ONT has been fitted and just the power light is on.

The fibre cable has not been run from the pole to the house yet.

Re: Delayed Installation FTTP

iniltous — Sat, 22 Jul 2023 08:49:58 GMT

Presumably your address shows FTTP availability otherwise you shouldn’t be able to order FTTP with BT or anyone else ( assuming it’s on the Openreach network ) , post your address details from the checker

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

Use the address option , the info required should look something like this

Our records show the following FTTP network service information for these premises:-Single Dwelling Unit Residential UG Feed with no anticipated issues. ( this is for an house with a ducted feed )

The checker should also indicate a single or KCI2 ( two stage ) install what does your address state ?

If your address is served overhead from the same pole that neighbours that have already had FTTP installed, it’s difficult to imagine what the reason for the delay is unless it’s a line of sight issue , in other words something in the way between the pole and your address, it’s unlikely to be a capacity issue ( no spare ports for example ) as the network should be dimensioned so every address gets a port on a CBT ( the fibre block on the pole )

Re: Delayed Installation FTTP

JohnC2 — Sat, 22 Jul 2023 10:40:52 GMT

Hi @maseb, sorry you've not had a date for your connection to be completed yet and I can understand your frustration.
With the case handler unable to confirm a connection date it sounds like there is still external work to be completed before you can be connected. Have you been told what is causing the hold up with your order?

Cheers

John

Re: Delayed Installation FTTP

maseb — Sun, 23 Jul 2023 06:57:48 GMT

Hi @JohnC2

There is still some external work to be completed, Its frustrating as we get no response as to why the hold up is. Every time we phone up its the same answer- ''We will get an update in 7 days''. I think thats the 4th time now 😞 i will post the results from the broadband checker now.

Re: Delayed Installation FTTP

maseb — Sun, 23 Jul 2023 07:03:19 GMT

@iniltous

"Our records show the following FTTP network service information for these premises:-Single Dwelling Unit Residential OH Feed potential Line of sight problems"

KCI2 Install.

The confusing thing like i said is the pole opposite serves the neighbours house, and what will be ours. The copper cable previously connected came off the same pole. 😥

Re: Delayed Installation FTTP

iniltous — Sun, 23 Jul 2023 08:05:21 GMT

As can be seen from the survey note , line of sight issues , simply put , if you stood at the location of the pole and looked towards your property, there must be an obstruction, often it’s trees , occasionally someone would have built an extension on a neighbouring property that means there is no longer the necessary separation between the dropwire from the pole for your ‘service’ , and the wall/roof of that neighbouring property.

I would imagine that because this issue was spotted at survey , it’s why it’s a two stage install,the first visit isn’t the contractual date visit , the service delivery team should be organising the solution, tree problems can be relatively easy to solve , other issues could be more complicated, if your property is semidetached and that neighbour has clear sight if the pole , you could enquire if they would accept your wire attaching to their property first , then running along the wall to your property but they are not obliged to

Re: Delayed Installation FTTP

maseb — Sun, 23 Jul 2023 08:08:45 GMT

@iniltous

Hmmm its very confusing as there is nothing in between the pole and the house. No trees or houses just simply going across a road! Annoying 😞

Re: Delayed Installation FTTP

Cliff — Sun, 23 Jul 2023 10:11:11 GMT

Re. Keith_Beddoe

" FTTP comes from the exchange and not from the cabinet."

The more i read about FTTP the more confused i get.

I've done the home check & the exchange check.the home check says UG duct,congested.

The exchange check indicates my local exchange,about 1/2 mile from home.

I've read on this post that the fibre comes from the exchange to the pole & the poster indicates that his installation will probably be above ground.

The nearest pole that i can see regarding my home is about 150 mtrs as the crow flies.across a road, a row of houses,access overhead is then blocked by very tall multiple trees.

I apologise if i am hijacking this post,but if you are saying that the fibre cable will not come from the cabinet (i'm on fibre from the cabinet) what duct are openreach talking about when they say "UG duct congested.the 'phone cables to the property come from the small green cabinet on the wall by the entrance road, duct must have been laid when the properties were built,23 years ago.I was first in ,i just plugged the phone into an existing socket.

But you are saying that fibre will not use the UG duct from the cabinet.

Re: Delayed Installation FTTP

iniltous — Sun, 23 Jul 2023 10:27:30 GMT

If there is no obstruction between the pole and house then it’s odd that the survey indicated a problem , it’s also odd that the engineer who installed the CSP on the exterior wall and ONT internally, and ran an optical cable between the two , didn’t install the dropwire, even if that required an extra body for safety reasons that’s easily arranged on the day , if the engineer who attended wasn’t overhead trained , because the survey indicated that it wouldn’t be possible on the first visit , so they sent an engineer that couldn’t climb poles , ay explain that , but TBH that seems very unlikely in the circumstances.

Does a copper dropwire , even if it isn’t in use , often OR use an existing wire as a ‘draw rope’ to help get the new optical wire in place, so the road crossings shouldn’t be a problem, even if no wire exists, a road crossing on a busy road is a common issue and the engineer should have the option to get assistance if it’s needed, out of curiosity was this a contractor or direct employee of Openreach ?

Unfortunately , if there is no obvious issue and it simply needs Openreach to return , all you can do is continue to chase BT , as the Moderator has seen this , they may be able to get OR to finish what they have started quicker than you could do yourself…. best of luck .

Re: Delayed Installation FTTP

NeilO — Sun, 23 Jul 2023 11:13:37 GMT

Hi, @maseb it could be a clearance issue for the line to cross the road, how far away is the pole from your property? I've seen that warning before when the distance is too great between the pole and the property, especially if it needs to clear a road at a suitable height.

Have you been told what work needs to be done?

Thanks

Neil

Re: Delayed Installation FTTP

iniltous — Sun, 23 Jul 2023 12:09:30 GMT

@Cliff

It’s really not very complicated, FTTP is delivered by overhead and underground means , if you live in an area where there is already a ducted feed into your home , and a house 23 years old will be ducted, you won’t be served overhead from a pole , when FTTP becomes available, the same duct is used to deliver the optical cable to your home , it’s placed alongside the copper cable in that duct , and although the network copper cables are ducted from the copper ‘cabinet’ , it isn’t a single continuous duct , the duct network is interspersed with joint boxes of various sizes , no doubt one will be close by , outside your home.

The duct to your home will come from the footway ( pavement) jointbox , that will have an incoming duct or ducts from the direction of the cabinet and several outgoing ducts to the individual properties that joint box services, chances this jointbox are this will be the location of the fibre CBT , the optical cable feeding the CBT comes from a splitter node , probably also in underground structure ( another joint-box ) it’s not from the copper cabinet or FTTC cabinet but could be close to it (or not ) it’s actual location is unimportant from your point of view.

Because your address survey note states congested duct is because it cannot be verified as serviceable duct , all this means in practice is that should you order FTTP , Openreach will proceed on a two stage basis ( KCI2) , the first stage to get a cable through the duct to your home from the joint box outside your address , the chances are this duct is OK , but incase it isn’t and needs ‘unblocking’ that delay is built into the process.

A CBT is placed in the jointbox outside your address , it is cabled from the splitter node and tested and made ‘live’ before you can even order FTTP , so the only delay could be if your individual duct was blocked or in some way inaccessible .

Re: Delayed Installation FTTP

maseb — Mon, 24 Jul 2023 07:23:44 GMT

Hi @NeilO

Thanks for your message, the pole across the road is roughly 20 metres away from the house. A copper wire has previously been run from the same pole to the house a few years ago but house been empty for years and cable since been removed for some reason.

As someone else has previously suggested , would you be able to look into this further for us? We're desperately trying everything now, really struggling without a connection 😞

Thank you 🙂

Re: Delayed Installation FTTP

DavidM — Mon, 24 Jul 2023 07:54:41 GMT

Hi @maseb and thanks for the reply.

I can totally understand how frustrating this is for you. I'm sure the case is in hand and to be honest there might not be a lot we can do to get it moving any faster but I'll be happy to take a look for you. Please check your inbox for my message and drop me over a reply with the details.

Cheers

David

Re: Delayed Installation FTTP

Cliff — Mon, 24 Jul 2023 09:39:25 GMT

Thanks for your reply,makes it more understandable to me.When you say " so the only delay could be if your individual duct was blocked or in some way inaccessible" .I'm assuming that the 'phone lines to the properties are fed through the duct from the cabinet & at some point branched off from a cbt junction box,so are you saying that the duct might be blocked in the sense of to many copper phone cables,that being the case how would they unblock the ducts if they do not remove the copper cables.I've read somewhere else that they will not do that at this time.

Re: Delayed Installation FTTP

iniltous — Mon, 24 Jul 2023 11:38:20 GMT

@Cliff

For your address to have FTTP availability shown on checker sites , then OR must have already placed a fibre network CBT in the footway box close to your home , from this box there will already be a duct either directly or via a duct tee to your house wall , it currently contains your copper pair lead in cable , and is probably absolutely fine and serviceable , but given your address survey has indicated ‘congested duct’ there is the chance that it’s not serviceable , especially if the area on your property the duct is under ( front garden normally) has had any landscaping etc done ( like a new driveway for example ) that may have damaged it , but obviously that damage would be unseen.

If there is any concern at all , ‘Congested Duct’ is simply a term used to highlight a potential problem,not a guarantee that there is a problem, it’s normally visible where OR ducts appear on a house wall , there will be a grey plastic cover and capping on the wall , if this cannot be seen ( for example the house has had a porch and built and now this cover and capping cannot be seem from the road anymore, ) then congested duct is still the term used to indicate it’s going to be prudent to check the duct out before attempting the installation .

I don’t know why the fascination with any ‘cabinet’ , they have nothing to do with FTTP , especially regarding a consumer contemplating ordering FTTP , the existing copper /FTTC cabinet and associated copper cables are irrelevant to FTTP and they will effectively being made redundant when FTTP is installed.

The only thing a FTTP installer will concern themselves with is getting an optical cable from the jointbox in the footpath outside your house where the CBT is , to your house wall using the duct that already exists from this box to your home, the chances are there is only one copper cable in it , so plenty of room to get a second cable alongside it .

If the survey note suggests potential issues , a two stage install is provided, so that any issues with this duct can be addressed before the proper ( contractual date ) for the installation.

This only applies to property that is fully ducted , if the property was built after the early 1990’s a fully ducted feed was the standard BT/Openreach employed on residential housing

Re: Delayed Installation FTTP

Cliff — Mon, 24 Jul 2023 17:49:31 GMT

Thank you for all the details you have given,appreciate it.I previously had no idea as to how it all worked