New FTTP

[thash1zn1t]

Hi,

I signed up for FTTP as part of a group in my road and surrounding roads quite a while ago.  They (Openreach) have run the fibre to the telegraph pole outside my house and have fitted a 12 port fibre connection block at the top of the pole about a month ago. 

My question is what is the next stage and how long before I can actually order the FTTP install?.  Will BT/Openreach contact me or do I just keep trying the BT broadband website to see if I can order it?  Is there anyone I can ask at BT who isn't a bot or automated response? Does anybody know what the lead times are on this kind of install?  I have tried to contact Openreach but it is impossible to get anything but an automated response to fixed questions.

Thanks for reading this far.  Having waited years for a decent Internet connection I am now so close I can see it out my bedroom window lol.

[Starwire]

Putting CBT’s on the Poles/UG Joint Boxes and Cabling them to the Splitter Node is the easy part.

It’s connecting the Splitter to the Aggregation Node and back to the Head End that can be difficult and time consuming.

They might need to build a completely new Spine Network that could be miles long. I know of one that was 68km. Took them over a year to do.

Also there could be duct blockages and Civils work. We’re building a PON at the minute, we’ve got all the CBT’s, Track Joints and Splitter built and Jointed but we are waiting on permission of a road closure to clear a blockage to get a 36 Fibre from the Agg Node to the Splitter. We’ve been waiting almost a month now for the Highways to make a decision as to when we can do the work and even when they give us a date we know we must give motorists 12 weeks prior notice about the roadworks so it’ll be early next year now before we can do it.

Or it could literally just be a case of waiting for the CBT’s to be Jointed at the Splitter, in which case it won’t take very long at all.

So basically what I’m saying is, ‘How Longs a Piece of String’.

[thash1zn1t]

Thankyou for the detailed response.  It's the answer I thought I would get given how Openreach operates.  It sounds like there are a number of very complicated and messy stages to completing this work which I wasn't aware of but would love to be kept up to date with however long the delays might be.  I would rather know.  Its the only business model I know where their default is radio silence.  Not only radio silence but impossible to even pin down who is responsible for the work or get any kind of update at all.  

I think I would prefer to be kept in the loop at every stage even if the news wasn't good so I can at least put it out of my mind and/or plan accordingly.  I don't know any other business where you are so ill informed about the whole process start to finish.

I appreciate that I am venting on a BT retail forum and for that I apologise.  If Openreach had this kind of forum I would have used it.

[pippincp]

Why would Openreach have this type of forum? You are not their customer.

There are many companies who do not go into detail about plans as they are sometimes commercially sensetivie.

[thash1zn1t]

I appreciate that we don't need to be made aware of the detailed plans and whats involved but providing any kind of update would be better than radio silence.  I am not complaining about delays or how long it's taking just a quick email saying it's on it's way would be great.  Right now I have no idea if I am in the system or if I am even going to get offered a connection as there is no mechanism to check this.  

The assumption I am making is that Openreach do not provide ANY updates to BT until the work is done so BT are just as in the dark as I am (and many others it seems).  If that's the case then that would explain why there is no information available or forum to ask the question.

[pippincp · Accepted solution]

That's correct, Openreach only inform ISP's when a product is available for sale in each area. They are as much in the dark as you are.

The BTWholesale checker is your only means of knowing when available as it always appears there before ISP's websites are updated.