Openreach won’t supply landlord with info no ISP

[Sjllewis]

I moved a month ago and transferred my ISP to my new address.

BT engineer attended and said fibre would need to be installed and as the entry to the building is glass so can’t be drilled through they’d need to wait her dig up into the building or run it up the outside of the building and would send me a form for my landlords consent.

They took 1.5 weeks to send the form which had almost 0 information about the works. Just a picture of the building and works ‘other’. 

My landlord is a housing association so have direct communication with Openreach and they’ve been asking for a new form with details of the works so they can approve - I am assured my landlord has been chasing this and they’ve given me regular updates - but Openreach have not been replying.

As a result of it taking so long my ISP have cancelled my contract. And Openreach seem to have put some block on my address which means all other enquiries with other ISP’s has come back with ‘sorry we don’t provide internet to your area’ - I live in fairly central London.

I can’t contact Openreach directly, I have no ISP now and so I’m fully at a loss how to escalate this.

Any ideas?

[imjolly]

which ISP were you with and tried to transfer

I would add there is no connection to openreach from this customer help customer community forum for BT Retail customer

[iniltous]

It’s often the case  , especially when Openreach are the target of a consumers displeasure, they post on this BT customer forum , if the ‘poster’ isn’t using BT but another ISP , they really have no reason to post here , BT and Openreach are not interchangeable terms and BT ( if they are not your provider ) have no involvement in your inability to get service from a competitor ISP .

I suspect the way the question is phrased,  you are not a BT customer , so can you confirm if it’s BT you have ordered  with , if it isn’t , then the appropriate place to ask your questions is with your own ISP ( if the have a customer forum such as this ) …..BT have not more or less ‘access’ into Openreach than any other ISP , and ( obviously ) are not interested in other ISP customers problems with Openreach , they are not the industry police intervening in all problems with Openreach.

[Sjllewis]

Yep I understand this is a BT forum, I’ve posted in other ISP forums as well because I’m just hoping that someone has a solution as there’s no way to contact Openreach.

I was with Sky, but I’ve also made enquiries with BT, Virgin, Talk Talk etc. and I’m just at a loss as to what to do next and looking for any suggestions 

[iniltous]

If Sky took an order that failed , and now there is no availability showing , that suggests that either OR had the building incorrectly showing as having FTTP available and after the order from Sky took the opportunity to correct that mistake , or Sky took an order that they shouldn’t have done .

Purpose built MDU’s  ( so apartment complexes multi story ‘blocks of flats’ , rather than a converted house ) are generally pre fitted with FTTP internally , ( if Openreach FTTP has been made available retrospectively ) and a fibre access point provided internally for each unit within before availablity is shown , this pre fitting done after permission granted from freeholder , building management  etc , and a team moves in to cable the entire MDU with fibre access , what you describe doesn’t fit in with that scenario , feeding apartments from an external point like a telegraph pole or jointbox is not very common apart from MDU that are basically houses with multiple occupancy.
If FTTP is no longer showing as available, order what is available ( presumably FTTC or ADSL ) as SoGEA or SoTAP , because there probably is a copper pair infrastructure already installed.

FWIW , in many situations those with the necessary authority to grant permission either get greedy and ask for payment ( in which case it’s not likely to ever get service ) or they have already done a sweetheart deal with an alternative network, it’s possible that locally they are not aware of these arrangements.

[Sjllewis]

@iniltous  Thanks so much for your reply.

The block was built pre-1995 so I suspect it wasn’t fitted with fibre. However there is the BT grate right outside the property on the pavement. And my understanding is this needs to be connected to the block.

Sky did tell me when I moved that it was an old line that needed to be upgraded and may take a week or two, which was fine. 

The MDU is a purpose built block but only has two apartments in it so it’s not a massive block of flats.

The Openreach engineer told me that because the lobby is glass so they can’t drill through it would be easier to run it up the side of the building, alternatively they could dig under and run the cables up the internal stairway. 

Unfortunately I can’t find any providers offering FTTC contracts, presumably because OpenReach is phasing it out in 2025. This is just based on my googling so I may have misunderstood.

I have seen the communication’s between my landlord and Openreach and they haven’t asked for payment or similar, they’ve just asked for details of the proposed works so they can approve. As I said I’ve seen the details Openreach sent and agree with my landlord that they’re not informative and understand that my landlord would like it in writing rather than relying on my recollection of a verbal conversation.

So my understanding is I need to get Openreach to simply put in writing the proposed works. But without an ISP I can’t communicate with Openreach.

[imjolly]

even with an ISP you can't communicate with openreach and would need to be the ISP

[iniltous]

https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL/AddressHome

If FTTP is available then it should show here , enter you flat address and post the results, the pertinent part will be similar but probably not identical ( it should differ look  if it’s MDU ) 

WBC FTTP

Up to 1000

Up to 220

--

Available

KCI2 Assure

Our records show the following FTTP network service information for these premises:-Single Dwelling Unit Residential UG Feed with no anticipated issues.

TBH , I wouldn’t necessarily take the installers word as gospel, a very small MDU may be served in a similar fashion to a SDU ( single dwelling unit ) but if any third party involved ( like a cable would  have to pass over the ground floor wall to get to the customer on the first floor ) the ‘potential wayleave’ requirement would be noted on the survey and mean a KCI2 ( two stage install ) and obviously the order depends on that wayleave being granted , otherwise the order is not going to proceed , KCI2 shouldn’t be appointed, any initial date is advisory only , while  any mitigation or permissions are arranged.

[Sjllewis]

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 Photo  attached - I hope you can see it. 

It says: 

Our records show the following FTTP network service information for these premises:-Single Dwelling Unit Residential UG premises served by 2.5 Inch plastic duct 56.

FTTP is available and a new ONT may be ordered.

The exchange is not in a current fibre priority programme

As a WLR withdrawal exchange, product restrictions apply

SOADSL is not restricted at the exchange

Featured Products Downstream Line Rate(Mbps) Upstream Line Rate (Mbps) Downstream Range (Mbps) Availability Date FTTP Install ProcessWBC FTTP

Up to 1000

Up to 220

--

[iniltous]

OK , strangely your ‘flat’ is recorded as a SDU rather than a MDU , that’s either an error , or the flats within the MDU can be regarded as individual units , it also UG duct , so it’s something of an oddity as that should mean a duct that is visible on an external wall , or if two addresses, a duct each on the external wall .

If the MDU only has 2 ‘units’ how are they arranged, one ground floor , one 1st floor , or both have ground floor rooms ( so more akin to semi detached houses ) , as you mentioned stairwell presumably it’s an upper flat and ground floor flat .
If one upper and one lower flat then there cannot be a duct to the upper flat , it must either be internal cabling from a ground floor location ( so the duct goes inside to a distribution point inside ) or duct to an external wall block and distribution from there to the ground and first floor property, if it’s an internal distribution for the copper service it’s definitely the wrong SNN ( survey network note ) .

You don’t say if the installation process is single stage or KCI2 assure , but I suspect the survey information is wrong , however there doesn’t seem to be any barrier to ordering service, unless the service you ordered with Sky isn’t actually cancelled.