Last Pole in the neighbourhood!

[Colin_London]

I am well and truly frustrated. Most of my neighbourhood has had FTTP from pole mounted fibre since last summer. I was told by OR fibre enquiry team that my property should be served by the Autumn 2022. However there were three poles not fitted due to a duct blockage, including ours (which serves 14 houses), but this was fixed before Christmas. The two other poles have been fitted with new fibre DPs, but ours, the last one in our half of town, hasn't.

Now for the ridiculous bit.

You can see from the photos the fibre was installed by the contractors into the street in a new cable pit - glad I took the photo when I did as the next day the contractors were back to dig a new cable pit. When I saw that the contractors were just dumping the fibre DP into the pit and leaving it (almost to hide it) I went out and asked them when the pole would get done.

They said that no-one had told them the pole was a few inches someones garden fence so they couldn't get to it - they had no clue what would happen next! Plus the pole is in a poor state.

I have tried to contact Openreach via their social media. Nobody is getting back to their social media team to provide any sort of update. It is 6 weeks since the contractors left.

I even asked some OR engineers who were fitting one of my lucky neighbours with fibre - they didn't have a clue either and apart from sympathising about 'typical contractors' their only suggestion was for me to 'make a fuss about it'.

So, the question is, how do I make a fuss? BT only seem to be interested when a property appears in Openreaches database, but that won't happen until OR fit the pole. Is there anyone 'out of process' at BT who can 'make a fuss' with OR as I am desperate to get rid of this rotting copper cable which constantly disconnects internet and is end of life.

Alternatively do I just go straight to OFCOM?

There seems to be no way to get information about plans to fix situations like this. It could be years if it is 'just too difficult'. Just knowing that there is a plan in place, that it was in hand and would be fixed within a few months, would be enough for me. The fibre is there, in the pavement, but we cannot place an order to get it to our door 😡

[-Richie-]

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@Colin_Londonwrote:

So, the question is, how do I make a fuss? BT only seem to be interested when a property appears in Openreaches database, but that won't happen until OR fit the pole. Is there anyone 'out of process' at BT who can 'make a fuss' with OR as I am desperate to get rid of this rotting copper cable which constantly disconnects internet and is end of life.

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You don't, BT can only supply you what the network owner can offer you, Openreach own and maintain the network, it's their decision what part of their network they upgrade, Openreach are not a public facing company, so they deal with ISP's, no ISP can pressure Openreach to upgrade a customers address.

The engineers have fobbed you off or have no idea how the process works.

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@Colin_Londonwrote:

Alternatively do I just go straight to OFCOM?

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To do what ? your contract is with BT who have done nothing to wrong you, you have no relationship with Openreach,who again have done nothing to wrong you, it's essentially complaining to the bus company that the road they use doesn't go as far as you want but saying well there's already some tarmac there, I just want a bit more laid.

I get your frustration but ultimately you just have to wait and hope Openreach continue to expand the network to cover your address or alternatively see if FTTPoD (Fibre on Demand) which is expensive and also a business product, it will however allow you to pay for the final leg of FTTP

[Colin_London]

You say that Openreach have 'done nothing wrong' to me. I disagree. 10 years of a rotten, constantly disconnecting copper cable connection that they have been unable / unwilling to fix (despite multiple call outs)  because 1) they have not maintained the pole (it cannot be climbed and it is always too difficult to get a hoist) and 2) the copper cable asset is end of life.

Fibre is the solution. Yet an evident lack of planning means we are the only houses left on this side of town without access to it. Imagine sending contractors out not knowing where they had to install?

And why OFCOM? Precisely because of this ridiculous split between ISPs and maintainer which results in a black hole of information. I frequently walk past BTs new HQ which  has the Openreach and BT logos displayed next to each other in the foyer. Openreach DO actively offer a service to advise members of the public when they will get full fibre - it is on the front page of their website. However whenever something is vaguely difficult the shutters come down. So tell me again that they are 'not public facing' when their website offers this?

This is why OFCOM are interested - one of their remits is to engage the public with the fibre rollout across the UK, and a lack of joined up information to consumers in circumstances like this is an issue for them.

So I don't get your defeatist attitude that 'you can't do anything because that is the way it is'. It wasn't always like this, and it doesn't have to be like this in future.

[-Richie-]

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@Colin_Londonwrote:

And why OFCOM? Precisely because of this ridiculous split between ISPs and maintainer which results in a black hole of information.

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You see this is why you can't please everyone, in 2017 afyer years of people and ISP's complaining the end result was a totally legally separate company, see the Ofcom website report at BT agrees to legal separation of Openreach 

Which states:

This means Openreach will become a distinct company with its own staff and management, together with its own strategy and a legal purpose to serve all of its customers equally.

Assets will be controlled by Openreach alone. Openreach will have control of those assets – such as the physical access network – required to deliver on its purpose. The Openreach Board will make decisions on building and maintaining these assets

The new Openreach will be built to serve all its customers equally, working truly independently and taking investment decisions on behalf of the whole industry

 So although you're unhappy with the setup, this is how the regulator want things ran, BT and the 600+ communication providers that are served by Openreach have no influence on what Openreach do with their network.

Just like you I would love to have FTTP, I have a very data hungry household, the number of devices in my house grows each year, the bandwidth I need grows each year but I don't have it, as a BT customer I have what BT can offer me, so it's not a 'defeatist attitude' I have, I just understand that I have to wait and be patient for my local network to be upgraded, when it does I'll ask BT to upgrade my services.

[Colin_London]

I am fully aware of the corporate structure of BT Group. Fixing some problems in performance has just created new problems like this.

I am railing against the process, and gap in ownership that this example highlights.

If the OR contractors had simply  signed off on the DP that they have dumped in the cable pit then I would now be able to order full fibre from BT, and Openreach would then be compelled to find an access solution (be that fixing the pole or installing a short underground route). NB: The DP is there. It is spliced into the network. You can see it in the bottom of the photo.

So my local network HAS been upgraded. The engineers have been and have now left town long ago. But a handful of people risk being forgotten about because of specific problems that was just too difficult (but shouldn't have ever occurred if basic planning had been done).

Somebody should be responsible for informing and managing the expectations and question of those who have been left behind, especially when they are seeing every few days their neighbours getting full fibre fitted into their houses. Because without any information what are they supposed to think? That they will never get served just because of the Pole they have the misfortune to be connected to? Sitting around and praying on Openreaches benevolence won't get anyone put on a 'to do' list.