Moving to house which already has BT Broadband

[scgf]

I am making an offer on a house which currently has BT FTTC Broadband. Checking the BT site it only shows an ADSL option, and the EE site for that post code says 'Fibre broadband not currently available due to current capacity constraints'.

What can I do to make sure I get what the house already has? I don't want to be in a position where the broadband is terminated when the current occupants leave and when I take over I'm not able to get the FTTC product. I am currently with Plusnet. Would it help if I moved provider at my current property to BT ? Would that make it possible for me to simply 'take over' the current provison in the new house?

The Openreach site says 'Waiting list' for FTTC products. See screenshot below.

Advice most appreciated. Thank you.

[gg30340 · Accepted solution]

All the capacity at the cabinet is in use hence the waiting list. 

When the present occupier of the house you are purchasing gives up their line it will be allocated to the next ISP in the queue who has a customer waiting.

There is nothing you can do regarding "jumping the queue" . It is a case of first come first served and no ISP including BT has priority.

[scgf]

Thank you. It seemed logical to me that where a house has working FTTC broadband a new purchaser could simply take over the existing broadband connection.

I know it's a bit like 'how long is a piece of string', but where there's a waiting list for these things how long does Openreach take to remedy the situation? I wouldn't have bought the house had I know I wouldn't be able to get a decent broadband speed.

[Keith_Beddoe]

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@scgf wrote:

Thank you. It seemed logical to me that where a house has working FTTC broadband a new purchaser could simply take over the existing broadband connection.

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That would be unfair to another customer from any provider, who has been waiting a long time for a connection.

The existing connection would be in the name of the current owner, and will be ceased once they move out. Your order will then be awaiting availability of a spare port, either when another customer moves, or Openreach upgrade the cabinet, if that is possible.

You may be able to get an ADSL connection, or BT may offer a 4G hub meanwhile, if that gives a better connection.

[iniltous]

There is another forum , where niche ISP representatives comment on issues such as this, and it seems that the ‘waiting list’ process is something most ISP’s don’t subscribe to, so there is no list ( longest waiting gets the slot when the cabinet moves from ‘waiting list’ to ‘available’ ) , it’s whatever ISP gets their order in first when a slot shows up as ‘spare’ , it’s also probably seen as anti competitive ( by the regulator) if an ISP could effectively ‘keep’ a slot after their original customer moves out, it’s hard to justify a situation where a company could effectively say , ‘you can only have FTTC from us’ in situations where the cab is short on availability, the new occupant may not necessarily want to use that company , but would feel compelled to , otherwise FTTC wouldn’t be immediately available to them

 …it’s pretty certain that the people moving out will be giving up their slot soon after they leave  , so it’s just a case of keeping an eye on the availability , and getting your order in quick , (when it shows ‘available’ )  and hoping if there is more that you waiting, you get in before they do.

[scgf]

Thank you. I've been looking at 4G broadband as an option should there be no availability when I move in. These guys look good!

**Edited**