Neighbour 5 metres away has Full Fibre, we don't.

[HarrySa]

Currently have a Fibre Halo 1 package and get roughly 60 down / 15 up.

A while ago somebody came and found the tubing for our copper cable going into our house. Since then the neighbour (<5m away) has received full fibre along with the large majority of our 100 house community. They've got the new OpenReach box on the outside of their house and OpenReach modem (ONT) indoors.

I've contacted Openreach multiple times using their online form and sometimes it's a multi-week wait to get hold of a "specialist" response but it's always the same boilerplate message about "we don't have any plans to upgrade your area right now" when our area has been upgraded already and we and a handful of others were just missed out.

At this point it feels like we've been missed for whatever reason and now we won't ever get it because our area has been done so of course no plans exist to upgrade an already upgraded area.

What steps are left to try and get FTTP extended the extra 5 metres? Thanks for any help.

[iniltous]

There are a couple of possibilities, one is that you are genuinely outside of the PON area , even if it’s only by a few metres and basically would have to wait until the PON area that your address falls into is ‘upgraded’ , there will be neighbours where one can get FTTP and the other cannot or there is a database error and your address is entered incorrectly or been omitted in error
Presumably your area is served by underground means , so unlike overhead service , where you can ‘see’ the overhead wire from a telegraph pole , and if your address were currently served from the same pole as someone who can get FTTP,  but you cannot order it , then it would almost certainly be a database error , with underground service  there aren’t these visual clues.
If you were ( for example ) No.4 in a street where your next door neighbours were No2 and Number 6 and they were able to order FTTP but you were not, again, probably a database error , but if you were on the other side of the road ( for example ) then it’s entirely possible your address just isn’t included yet.
Post your address return and your immediate neighbours ( on the same side of the street ) from this wholesale checker
https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL
Post the entire page as there should as well as the basic ‘WBC FTTP available’ there should also be ‘survey’ info , something like ‘like UG feed, 2.5 inch duct’

[HarrySa]

My Broadband

Neighbour's Broadband

Here at both of the availability checker pages. We are indeed an underground serviced area.

[iniltous]

As can be seen the DSL return shows that the neighbours already have WBC FTTP and that the  address in question has no FTTP availability….., what’s the orientation of the neighbour, next door ( same pair of semi detached) next door but detached, next door but on a tee junction etc ?, as already stated it’s not impossible for next door neighbours to be allocated to different FTTP networks , only one of which is now built and ready for service , usually there would be some sort of ‘natural’ boundary , so ( for example ) a terrace of 6 houses , looking from the road coukd be served from the right , ‘ next door ‘ is an identical neighbouring terrace of 6 property’s but they are served from the left , so although there  are two end  of terrace properties that are ‘next door’ to each other,  the existing networks are different and don’t converge , so one block of 6 have FTTP , the neighbouring block of 6 doesn’t ( there has to be a boundary somewhere )

TBH, that’s why it’s required to check neighbouring property’s both sides , if either side of someone can get FTTP and the one in the middle cannot , that suggests a database error , otherwise it could simply be you are the wrong side of the FTTP boundary, even if it’s only by 5 metres.

[DarrenDev]

In the line immediately above the table it shows which exchange and cabinet number the property is served by. Are you both the same?

[HarrySa]

Yes, we're both served by the same cabinet. The entire neighbourhood is as we're quite separate from other houses and ~75% of the 100 houses have FTTP.

[HarrySa]

Here is most of our neighbourhood mapped out. Green numbers have FTTP, Red numbers do not. (number 9 is blue because they have the FTTP equipment on their house but Broadband checker says no FTTP). Grey paint is added roads where Google Earth is missing them.

[iniltous]

In areas serviced underground, but not ducted ( so an area currently served with DIG , direct in ground copper cables , generally these are property’s built in the 1960’s through to the late 1980’s )  , you can have a situation where some property’s have council maintained footpath in front of them , so OR have access rights to install new equipment in that footpath and can place an FTTP access point and associated joint boxes etc.  opposite these houses ( still in the footpath ) ready for the householder to order FTTP, obviously this requires the installer to trench across the garden , but as the householder has asked for the service this is unlikely to be refused….but within these areas , especially in ‘cul-de-sacs’ , the developer, for an ‘improved’ street scene doesn’t incorporate footpaths outside every home , and on first glance the front gardens extend to the roadside (not a footpath) the property deeds likely will show  the last metre of ‘garden’ isn’t actually the householders  garden or even their property , its a service strip and effectively the same as a footpath  , but over time theses areas are adopted by the householder , they maintain the grass,  landscape it , provide ‘paving’ over it , etc, and it then becomes a grey area who then owns this strip of land.

It can become an issue should a utility provider need to excavate these areas in preparation for the FTTP network, the householder may tell them to go away , especially as the householder hasn’t actually asked for service , they would simply see this as someone digging up their garden for no reason.

If your area is like this, it’s possible that those with a footpath outside have been ‘upgraded’ , there would be evidence of this work being done ( new scars in the footpaths etc ) a householder cannot stop a utility company digging up the footpath outside their property, but those with no footpath may have to wait while the utility company ask permission and obtain wayleaves first from the individual householders , or the utility company may only do those property’s that have no access rights issues, and simply omit the ‘problem’ property’s.

TBH, it’s not that likely, chances are they wouldn’t start an area until all permissions were granted , as doing some work , then returning later to pick up those property waiting on wayleaves is not an efficient way to proceed.

[HarrySa]

Our are was built in 2000. There is a brick path road instead of pavement connecting the 3 houses in our (not quite) cul-de-sac which was my best guess at why they've ommited our houses. The brick paving does continue as drive-ways but the access brick paving doesn't belong to any individual and nobody. They've also connected other similar cul-de-sac houses with greater distance of brick pathing with FTTP and left houses directly on the main road without FTTP, so it all seems a bit random.

A couple of years ago somebody came to our house and found our tubing for our copper cable (picture), a little while after our neighbour and other households got FTTP while we didn't. So it at least seems like they intended to connect our house and never did.

The houses which have received FTTP now have the original copper cable and a new (presumably fibre optic) cable coming from their tube which feeds into the new Open Reach box on their homesTubing and copper cable - £ for scale. Rope was tied by person who came to find it.

.

[iniltous]

The image shows the duct mouth , that’s good in so far that you have a ducted feed , so no excavation should be required in your garden or footpaths to get you to the ‘jointbox’ where a CBT could be sited that would serve you and probably some  neighbours, so whatever the issues are , it’s not DIG cable related .

Why was the duct roped ?, if an area were surveyed for FTTP  today , it’s noted that the property is ‘ducted’ and would probably be a single stage install ( once the network were built and taking orders ) , they don’t pre-rope ducts to houses in preparation for FTTP , it’s only when an order is raised and the installer on site that the duct is confirmed to be serviceable, but perhaps things were different a year or two ago and they did pre rope ,  your issue is that you cannot order so the existing rope doesn’t indicate your individual property was ever surveyed for FTTP, but doesn’t exclude it either.

The fundamental issue still is , was your small area with an area  surveyed, but never built out with FTTP because of issues such as cost , wayleaves or problems obtaining permissions , or not surveyed because it wasn’t within the scope of the plans that saw your near neighbours get FTTP , obviously is not going to be built out if it was never surveyed, I suspect it were surveyed ( simply because of the close  proximity of addresses that can order FTTP ) but excluded from the build out plan for reasons unknown.

I don’t know if it’s possible for you to reach out to OR again , using the ‘neighbours can get FTTP but I cannot’ angle ,  and hope to get a more comprehensive reply than the standard ‘not in our plans ‘ ….try contacting the CEO of OR , it may not change the fact that you cannot get FTTP but may help explain why you cannot get it.