How long do BT hold exclusivity on fibre lines?

[cloudboy]

Hi. I moved to a new area feb 2020 and at the time there was no fibre in the area so the max speeds I could get were 68mbps. I went with vodafone on a 2 year contract as they were one of the cheapest and fastest I could get.

In November 2020 BT installed fibre to the property in my area and when I go on the BT website it says the fastest speeds i can get now are 1000mbps. The issue is that im 1 year into a 2 year contract with vodafone, but vodafone are saying BT have a timed exclusivity on the lines so they cant upgrade me yet. When I asked for a rough estimate on the exclusivity the guy on the phone wouldnt give me one, he said just keep checking. I've been checking for 2 months now and still no updates.

I'd love to switch to BT but I'll probably have to pay the rest of my contract off with vodafone which im not prepared to do.

[imjolly]

the openreach FTTP is not exclusive to BT Retail  vodafone already offer FTTP on openreach connections but may be not in your area.  If use use search engine you will find many posts about vodafone offering openreach FTTP

suggest you ask vodafone again as connection certainly not exclusive

[cloudboy]

Thanks for the quick reply. Ah I see, the guy on the phone lead me to believe that Vodafone use the same lines as BT, but only BT have access to the ones in my area for a limited time. I can see on the website BT can offer me FTTP but Vodafone still says they can't. Will give them another call.

[iniltous]

Vodafone are BS-ing  you, there isn’t , and has never been any ‘BT’ exclusivity on Openreach FTTP ( fibre to the premises) but providers that chose not to offer this Openreach product to their customers , tend to deliberately mislead their customers or potential customers , or the staff are just poorly informed.
In your case , if you still are within a minimum term with VF FTTC ( with is another OR product ) they are likely to raise early termination charges if you leave them, not offering FTTP is not a valid reason for ETC to be waived.....occasionally a new provider will contribute towards ETC , in a bid to get your business but not always , and could be dependent on the product or products you agree to take.