Bt FTTP

[soundmagus]

Hi There,

I am about to move house and have provisionaly purchased BT FTTP.  I have a few concerns regarding this and wondered if anyone could put my mind at ease (The sales girl on the phone certainly couldnt).

I am moving to a new property and i require Internet for both me and my partner to work from home.  This is a rented property and the people living there at the moment (been there 2 years) dont recall any cables being ran to the house for FTTP although an engineer did bang on the door a while ago to inform FTTP would be in the area soon.

I have used the BT website to see if it is at the postcode and property we are moving to, the website says it is as does the open reach website.  However im a bit bamboozled as to how the people who currently live at the address dont recall any cables being laid for the FTTP connection.

So the issues i have are the following:  Im pretty sure the landlord wont allow gardens to be dug up to lay the cables and to get to our property you need to walk through a car park and 2 other properties front gardens, im pretty sure they wont be happy either.

If we move there and BT CANT supply the fTTP (for whatever reason) we will both loose our jobs, we will have to default on the rental property and will be homeless as we are renting out our current property.

So i need to know, 100% if the FTTP to the property has already been done and there is NO requirement to dig up gardens and lay cables, how can i find this out?

Regards,

Mark

[iniltous]

Couple of possibilities, FTTP has been around more than a couple of years , so it’s possible the fibre was installed before they moved in , or it’s an ‘Overlay’ FTTP area, where the fibre network was installed after copper, if the occupant never asks for the FTTP to be used then the service remains on copper ( if they have any Openreach derived service at all )

When it comes to order service over FTTP , there is no absolute guarantee that the service will be installed on the quoted date ( that applies to all providers ) but there is no reason to suspect that it cannot be delivered either...when an overlay area is installed, the fibre ‘distribution point’ is provided nearby , at the top of a pole in an overhead area, in a joint box in an underground area, when service is ordered, that’s when the final link is installed and the ONT installed, if the address has an underground ducted feed for the copper cable , then the fibre cable is installed in that duct , obviously the ‘unknown’ is if the duct is still serviceable, if it’s blocked and runs through a third party’s property then obviously permission would be needed to excavate to repair the blocked duct.

If the current occupants have  service, it’s possible that they already have good speeds from that ( FTTC can deliver 80Mb ), but if you want ‘guarantees’, you won’t get that from anyone.

[soundmagus]

Hi iniltous,

Thanks for your reply.

The current residents have no internet from BT, they use EE and say its terrible.

The area is remote at best (post code EX31 3JS) and as i said the current residents do recall a BT engineer banging on the door saying FTTP would be there soon, but NO overground works have been completed since then, the current resident confirmed this.

The girl on the phone said they normally get an indication as to what needs to be done at the property and she said only that the engineer needs to come out to add a white box to the outside of the property and then do some stuff inside, but she is a sales girl after all, working on commision - i have no confidence in to wether or not she would say anything esle.

Surely there is a way to know wether excavation work will be required or not, this doesnt make sesne, surely BT/openreach know their systems and can tell before going to a property what is required.  There must be a way to know fi they need to dig up the ground or not?

Regards,

Mark

[garybs29]

When any orders are placed for a brand new FTTP connection they are always subject to a survey. Openreach engineers will attend to see how to connect the fibre to the house & this is usually the point where the connection to the house is sorted

[soundmagus]

Hi Garybs29, thanks for your reply.

Yeah i understand that but what im confused about is - does it need a survey and excavation work or not?  If it does they should know that right? The girl on the end of the phone should be able to say "Mr Gray, we can supply FTTP to this propert however it will mean digging up X to get the cable from Y to your house" - they should be able to tell that surely.

So basically now i have the option of cancelling my tennancy agreement because BT/OR cant tell me what needs doing at the property or take my chance, loose my job and my house because they need to do excavation work....its totally unbeleiavble. 

Mark

[iniltous]

If you use this checker site using the address , can you post the results

https://www.dslchecker.bt.com/
If it says FTTP available ( not FTTPod that’s a different product ) it may say 1 or 2 stage install.
You are being a bit tough on BT, they sell OR products , other providers can supply OR products but they all use the same common tools to indicate the availability etc.
If it’s so critical that you have ultrafast speeds ( that’s 100Mb or more ) and you want it guaranteed , then you may have to seek a property that already has it in and working, but even with that , there is always the chance of a delay , if the property already had service and you simply want to take it over , often if the dates are not aligned, ( for example the current occupant states a different date to you ) the service may go off , before it comes back on in your name , that doesn’t just apply to OR network but all,

[iniltous]

Looking at the postcode you gave, it’s likely that the property is overhead service ( telegraph poles ) is that the case ?

if overhead and FTTP is available , then if you ‘trace’ the overhead wires back from the property’s ( including the one you are interested in ) then at the ‘main’ pole , if FTTP available, you should see a CBT  , (image search OR overhead CBT ) if one present , then it’s available , the current occupant presumably just never bothered taking it.

[soundmagus]

Hi iniltous,

We dont have any of the details regarding the phone line, only that there is one there and it was checked (the line that is) by the sales person i spoke to when ordering FTTP.
I dont have and dont know how to get any other information to help.

Ragards,

Mark

[soundmagus]

Hi iniltous,
Its not really the time scale that bothers me, i have an engineer going to the property on the 28th its wether or not they will have to do any excavation work, and i cant get an answer to that, no matter who i speak to, its that i dont understand, they must be able to tell.
Regards,

Mark

[iniltous]

If it’s overhead service , there won’t be any excavation, the checker site url works with phone numbers or addresses, use the address one and post the results, it’s not clear, if you have an engineer booked then you already have ordered service...if ( and it’s a big if ) excavations required, the engineer that turns up to install cannot do that, they would send the job to the appropriate department, can you screen grab a street is image and post that ?