Engineer hasn't arrived

[Benjib]

I’ve been waiting since 21/7/24 for an open reach engineer, they just keep changing the date to the next day. At last one arrived on the 2/9/24 to connect my property to fibre. He walked around for about 15 minutes then vanished without lifting a screwdriver. Message on My BT saying engineer will be back next day. No one showed up. Surprise!!!

[naylor2006]

Sadly there isnt any additional insight that we can offer on here given your specific situation, there will be an update somewhere as to the reasons why the installation hasnt completed, or begun....

It is somewhat of a frustration that if Openreach or a sub turns up to do the install and decide that they cant, they do not relay the information as to why onto the resident. My sub effectively lied to me so they could leave without me asking too many questions, there was a fault somewhere which took another 2-3 months to resolve.

None the less any updates I could ever gain were only through the ISP, you'll need to call through to BT support on this one, have you done this?

[Benjib]

Yes I’ve phoned EE or Bt whichever they are now very nearly every day since July 20th. They tell me they will get in touch with Openreach to find out what is going on. The first excuse Openreach told EE was firstly they could not find my house and when they rang the bell no one answered! Clever trick if you can do it. Many messages on the EE app saying engineer will visit but no one ever turns up. I have to say the person I contact at EE is always pleasant and helpful and if he says he will ring me with updates he never fails. Now today 5/9/24 an engineer has actually called. He is still here at the moment with much headscratching as how on earth he is going to get the fibre cable to my property. I now wait and see. Thank you for your interest.

[naylor2006]

Good luck, hope it works out, is there some obvious challenge to getting fibre to you?

[gg30340]

Is this a new order or are you "upgrading" ?

Who have you placed your order with, is it BT or EE?

If it is with EE you will need to post on their forum for assistance as there will be nothing that can be done from this forum.

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[Benjib]

I was trying to re-contract with BT as my current contract expired on 4/8/24!

[gg30340]

If you are re-contracting with BT why are EE dealing with Openreach and you?

It sounds as though you are being moved from BT to EE. If that is the case then it is EE that you should be dealing with not BT.

If you did not want to move to EE and are being moved without having been informed that you are being moved then assuming you want to stay with BT you need to contact BT Customer Services and complain to them and cancel the order. 

[Benjib]

BT are merging with EE. They are coming together into one unit, also they are making all the copper wire network redundant and are slowly transferring customers to so called digital voice which only works through fibre broadband,as my contract has expired they won’t recontract a copper wire service. When speaking to the Open Reach engineer, he told me they have over 25 million properties to convert so I won’t be holding my breath.
,

[WSH]

Sorry, there are a number of things wrong with what you have said.  The main one is that digital voice only works over fibre.  No, the upgrade to digital voice is a separate issue to the upgrade to fibre.  Although there is a keenness to do both at the same time, where possible.  Owing to this the two have become confused.  I’ve been on digital voice for 12 months now and I’m still on copper based FTTC.  (And at the rate Openreach are going, will be until at least the end of 2026).

EE is already part of BT group and has been for a long time.  There is no “merging”.  It’s just that BT want to move everyone to the EE brand, as that is to become their residential offering in the marketplace, while BT concentrates on business.  Again, it has nothing to do with the move to fibre optic or digital voice.  It’s just marketing.

[iniltous]

It sounds as though FTTP is available in your area , and a consequence of recontracting is to move to FTTP ( it’s irrelevant if it’s with BT or EE , apart from if it’s EE , their forum is the more appropriate one ) .
If you had copper pair service with BT ( FTTC or ADSL ) there  is no reason why this should stop working just because the FTTP installation has been delayed , but it seems occasionally the copper service is lost when the FTTP service is delayed leaving no ‘landline’ service at all ( but a EE 4G mobile solution is usually offered to get some service in the interim )

If OR know there is an issue that is stopping FTTP being installed, unfortunately it’s often the case rather than rather knocking on the door and explaining the issue , they don’t turn up  or don’t knock on the door ( it’s a fool’s errand for them ) but that can leave the consumer wondering what is happening…obviously if there is a delay that needs considerable ‘work’ to overcome, there is no point BT simply reappointing the job until a firm date is known.