Blocked duct

[Tjr1977]

I’ve recently moved and tried to get broadband set up with another company (better speed and cheaper), however when the engineers came they said that there is a blockage and that BT (previous supplier to the house) have to clear it as it’s their equipment. I’ve called BT several times to no avail, I just get passed around with no real answer. 

To be completely honest I have no idea what it means but I’m reluctant to go with BT as apparently the service isn’t great around here and it would cost me £300 more for the length of my contract, then I would be in the same situation in 2 years time. 

Is there anything that can be done? My teenagers are going mad without internet 😂

[iniltous]

As you are not and don’t want to be a BT customer, this BT customer forum isn’t  an appropriate place for you and any call you make to BT would be treated as also inappropriate, basically your problem has nothing to do with BT , take it up with your chosen ( it has to be said comically uninformed ) provider , what they have told you is utter nonsense and it certainly shouldn’t be you doing the ringing around.

As far as your chosen providers inability to provide you with service because the duct they want to use is blocked ( it’s not even a BT duct , so yet more reason for BT  not to engage with you , and its no  wonder they are confused as to why you are even calling ) then your chosen provider is perfectly at liberty to provide their own duct to put their cables in , if they feel that your business isn’t worth the expense of doing that , that is between you and them . 

You ask is there anything that can be done , hopefully you don’t think this too harsh , but that’s a you problem not a BT problem. 

[WSH · Accepted solution]

Couple of points:

Firstly, the blocked duct will be down to Openreach to clear.  While BT and Openreach are both “BT Group”, they are separate companies.  This forum, which is for BT residential, has no contact with Openreach and so won’t be able to help.

Secondly, it is the ISP you are signing up with that needs to pass this to Openreach, as Openreach do not deal with the public directly.  If the cable being installed is not Openreach, but by another company under a duct sharing agreement, I would suspect that Openreach are under no obligation to clear it.

Edit: Typing at the same time as iniltous.

[iniltous]

It’s not down to Openreach to clear ducts that Alt Nets want to use , that is not how PIA works ….

[Tjr1977]

Fairly rude. As I said I have no idea and am only going off what I’ve been told. No need to be patronising. 

[Tjr1977]

Thank you for your polite reply

[WSH]

@iniltous   Yes, I suspected as much.  Useful point for the future though.

[iniltous]

As I said , hope you don’t think my comments too harsh , you shouldn’t necessarily believe what you were told ….if you gave the situation a moments critical thought why would you think BT would be interested in your problems with a competitor, if you took it upon yourself to start ringing around then  that was misguided, if it was your chosen provider that told you that it was up-to you to sort this out that is quite staggeringly incorrect , it’s the equivalent of going into a Vauxhall dealership to complain that your new Ford  car won’t start , just because the Ford salesperson said so .

[Anonymous]

Too slow...

[36ULW]

As said already it’s up to the Alt Net to clear any blockages.

I’ve come across this multiple times, smaller Alt Net Nets are notorious for it. Basically they don’t have the Resources or Finances to do it so it’s cheaper to just brush off the potential EU.