This topic

Moving the Openreach box is a pain

londoncitygirl — Sun, 01 Jan 2023 17:31:46 GMT

Hi all.

Hopefully someone will have an idea as what do I need to do as I have been exchanging emails with Openzone for last 3 months and despite sending numerous photos, specifying what I need to do etc, I'm not getting anywhere!

Essentially we are going to build a front porch/hallway extension thing, but, both Virgin and Openzone boxes are in the way. We use BT for our internet.

Virgin confirmed that we can take box out no problem.

I have asked Openreach to move box ideally to the side of the house as that's where the actual internet box is anyway.

So..

Q1- is that possible? If not what are the options? This box is hanging off the wall and I didn't agree for it to be there. It's also unsightly.

Q2- I can take Virgin box out but why are the cables going from Openreach box to Virgin to the side of the house?

Thanks!

Re: Moving the Openzone box is a pain

iniltous — Sun, 01 Jan 2023 17:25:22 GMT

https://www.openreach.com/building-developers-and-projects/altering-our-network/altering-our-network-enquiry

You enquire directly with Openreach ( not Openzone ) if you require the ‘network’ relocated because of building changes, it doesn’t really matter if you didn’t agree to its current location , the building owner before you ( or before them ) agreed to it , possibly it was the company that built the property , when you bought the property that agreement continues your ownership, it’s pretty standard .
Requesting an Openreach network shift isn’t ‘free’ , and as far as I know , it’s a two part thing , you arrange a paid for survey , the ‘planner’ visits , agrees what’s needed , and who will do what ( if your builder will do any required excavation in your ‘land’ for example that reduces costs to only the work Openreach do ) , once the scheme is agreed and you accept costs , the survey fee is deducted if you proceed , if you don’t proceed you have still paid for the survey, then the network is moved.

Any proximity between the VM network and Openreach is coincidental, there is no ‘connection’ , they are totally separate

Re: Moving the Openzone box is a pain

londoncitygirl — Sun, 01 Jan 2023 17:30:58 GMT

Thanks,

I meant Openreach rather than Openzone 🙈.

I gathered there will be cost.

What is the actual brown box for? As I said 3 months of back and forth and I'm not getting anywhere!

Thanks

Re: Moving the Openzone box is a pain

iniltous — Sun, 01 Jan 2023 17:41:15 GMT

Openreach ‘underground’ or wall mounted residential ‘kit’ generally is grey in colour , VM or the cable company’s that became VM tend to have green underground ducts and can have brown wall blocks, if the wall mounted equipment is brown it’s not likely to be Openreach, perhaps you can take a photo and post it here to aid identification

Re: Moving the Openzone box is a pain

londoncitygirl — Sun, 01 Jan 2023 17:43:49 GMT

Re: Moving the Openzone box is a pain

londoncitygirl — Sun, 01 Jan 2023 17:45:44 GMT

Re: Moving the Openreach box is a pain

countrypaul — Sun, 01 Jan 2023 17:47:36 GMT

What service, if any, do you get from Virgin? If you don't get any service from Virgin, what did you or someone else get from them in the past? I am wondering if the Virgin box is used at all, or if someone has gone from the BT/Openreach/Openzone box to the Virgin box then round to the side of the house. When you say that is where the Internet box is anyway, is that the BT Hub / Router inside you are referring to or some other box such as a master socket?

Re: Moving the Openreach box is a pain

londoncitygirl — Sun, 01 Jan 2023 17:51:24 GMT

We used to get service from virgin but no longer do.

I 'think' I just worked out a different solution. IF the grey openzone box is the thing that brings the internet/phone to as far as outside the house, instead of side of the house, I will get it relocated to wall adjacent. And then get BT to put router/phone line next to it. Then can get rid of all cables from outside the house. Thanks

Re: Moving the Openreach box is a pain

countrypaul — Sun, 01 Jan 2023 17:51:35 GMT

Your photo suggests the line from the BT box may just go under the Virgin box and not into it, have you had a close look to see exactly where it goes?

Re: Moving the Openreach box is a pain

londoncitygirl — Sun, 01 Jan 2023 17:54:54 GMT

One cable goes past it but the ither one definitively goes in. We had Virgin broadband and phone line, so perhaps phone line?

Either way I'm happy to get rid of phone altogether, we just use internet

Re: Moving the Openreach box is a pain

iniltous — Sun, 01 Jan 2023 18:33:14 GMT

Although VM ‘engineers’ , shouldn’t do it , often to utilise the existing phone internal sockets , they would run a cable from the brown VM box to the grey BT/OR ‘box’ , and disconnect the BT/OR external cable from the internal cable , and then connect the internal cable to the cable that was run from the VM box, that way the VM service could ‘use’ the existing sockets , saving the VM engineer the time to run their own internal cables etc.
If the external concrete ‘step’ is being demolished by the builder doing the ‘porch’ if that is done carefully, it may be possible to simply reroute the OR cable and BT66 , the grey box, to where you want it , ( depending on if the new location is overall a shorter cable run ) but the internal cables would also need to be rerouted to the new location of the grey OR ‘BT66’ block terminal….the ‘official’ way to do it would be to run a new cable from the footpath jointbox to the house wall , a position of your chosing, and then move the internal cables moved to the new location of the BT 66, then the old cable can simply be removed by the builder ,

Re: Moving the Openreach box is a pain

Anonymous — Sun, 01 Jan 2023 18:48:10 GMT

Do you have access to FTTP now or in the near future? Having that installed would make the other problem go away & save the expense of a move.

Re: Moving the Openreach box is a pain

londoncitygirl — Sun, 01 Jan 2023 19:14:47 GMT

Not available yet, but says soon. Do they then make new connection somewhere, bit like Virgin?

Re: Moving the Openreach box is a pain

Anonymous — Sun, 01 Jan 2023 19:25:29 GMT

Yes it would be a new fibre connection but might make use of the same duct the current copper is in. So bear that in mind when moving anything as you wouldn't want to obstruct/block the duct.

Re: Moving the Openreach box is a pain

Devon_Dave — Sun, 01 Jan 2023 21:18:52 GMT

That grey openreach BT66 connection box is fed from the street by an armoured cable. This type of cable is normally direct in ground so it is not fed by any Duct work. It could be located back along the outside wall. A new cable would then need to be run from it to your phone socket.