No broadband available, no projected date of making it available, nobody assisting

[Anonymous]

Could the issue here be that the OP's block of flats are currently still only served by copper, but over the years, all of the "spare" pairs in the cable between the DP in the flats and the cabinet have gone faulty and there are none left now to provide new service?

ie, a 20 pair cable was initially provided in the build in 1986 to service 12 flats, but for whatever reason, there has been a significant number of faults in the intervening 38 years .

Alternatively, could the cabinet have no spare FTTC ports available? An Openreach engineer once said to me that they don't fully load a cabinet with customers, but always ensure that they keep a certain percentage of unallocated ports back as spares in case of future faults?

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[iniltous · Accepted solution]

When you use the DSL checker for your address using the postcode , and then the dropdown list to select your individual property, is there an entry that exactly matches the Royal Mail entry , or are there a couple of addresses that ‘could’ be your flat ? .

what you probably have , as the line line of text suggests , is your address cannot be matched , in a new build that could simply be the official address notification hasn’t worked its way through to being ‘visible’ but as your address was created in the 1980’s obviously it’s not going to be that m but it is an error no the less.

https://www.openreach.com/forms/fibre-broadband-availability---customer-form

Use thus formwize, there is a section , that effectively asks why can my neighbour get FTTP and I can’t , that should get Openreach to check for any addressing errors and correct them , after that you may find you can order FTTP in the same way some of your neighbours can.

FWIW , flats/apartments that don’t have a structured address format can be a nightmare for matching addresses , flats known as ‘top floor flat’ , ‘basement flat ‘ or where they are known by several variations on the same theme , for example , No.1 Nelson Mandela House , South Africa  Drive AB1 2YZ  , and No.1 South Africa Drive AB1 2YZ  two entry’s for the same address but only one will match the Royal Mail entry 

[cnkcnk]

The significant faults point you make, pings with my gut instinct for some reason.

There is one strange thing, the flat below me, doesn't show up on the BT checker. Could that be the issue I wonder? The two flats below it - there are 4 flats, vertically - also have the same 'red line of text' entry in the BT checker.

[cnkcnk]

Thank you very much for your reply. Yes, the address is properly entered. Although as I have posted above, I've now noticed the flat immediately below me isn't; although the two below it are - so three out of the four that form the vertical line are listed. All have the red line of text error.

I shall fill in the form! Thank you!

[cnkcnk]

A general thank you to all of you that have replied. What I was finding the worst about this situation was the difficulty in getting anyone at a provider to give me an explanation. I felt absolutely ignored. I'd give every provider 0 in a customer rating.

Not a single one replied to my follow up emails asking for a wee bit more information. On the few that I gave it a go phoning, once I got through to the right department, I got no answer beyond wishy washy 'we don't have a connection a and don't plan to have one'.  None of the providers made any of the suggestions that have been made here.

I now feel I have had some really constructive help and I am following all the suggested routes.

[cnkcnk]

There's been a development. I think you have solved my problem! I think I may actually be able to get broadband but for some reason, all the providers are not using the address on the BT thing.

On the BT checker my address is listed in two different ways. The first one gets the red text, the second one gets this...

There is no difference between how the addresses are listed in the BT list, but after the addresses there is different information...

What I don't know how, is how to get through to someone who will listen to me that there is something amiss with all the providers' drop downs. This is something from a Kafka novel...

[cnkcnk]

I've managed to get a deal to show on BT 🙂 They are the only provider that I can find that list my address twice. But that'll do. It shows it can be done. I've also filled in the form and pointed out the mistake. On Open Reach itself, both listings for my address are right next to each other.

If I could give you a hug, I would. I have tears of joy just now. Thank you so much!!!!

[iniltous]

There are various ways property in the UK can be identified, some are more common than others , most consumers would simply use their postcode to identify themselves for package delivery , getting utilities connected etc, hence the Royal Mail entry is considered the one to use , ISP’s etc may use more than just the postcode , and a network operator like Openreach ,(  even though the address checker is BTw product ) has various ways to enter data , if sufficiently interested you could look up your UPRN ( unique property reference number )  , a 12 digit numeric identifier, plenty of resources that can provide you with your UPRN , you can then use that instead of the postcode to see if that entry returns a result, that appears to be one of the differences between your address entry that worked and the address entry that didn’t return a match , but as you have now got a positive outcome , it’s obviously not necessary.