Full Fibre Promise on Halo 3+

[JohnC2]

Hi @Burmey, sorry you weren't able to get this resolved when you called in.

I've sent you a Private Message so you can get in touch with the Mod team and we'll be happy to help you with this. We are busy at the moment so it'll take a few days for us to get to you.

Cheers

John

[iniltous]

The DSL checker return ( presumably for your individual address) shows an ONT exists, but with no active service ( which is odd ) is there an ONT fitted at your address or any evidence of FTTP like a CSP ? , is it possible a previous occupant ordered FTTP  but removed the ONT ?

The assumption is  that you are on FTTC with Halo3+ , and the FTTP upgrade  when FTTP becomes available is appropriate , but the DSL checker seems to  suggest your address has  already been  ‘upgraded’ to FTTP even if there is no longer a service on it ,  if the address has not been provided with FTTP previously but the wholesale records somehow show it has , that may be why your ‘upgrade’ is being denied…it’s a bit strange 

[Burmey]

Open reach fitted it a month ago. They've advised BT and say I should be able to order it. When pressed, the value team say I can order it but will have to re-contract. And so I go on, around in circles.

[iniltous]

That just begs further questions, how is it that the ONT fitted but it’s not in use , if it were only a month ago what happened back then ?, Openreach don’t just turn up and fit FTTP without an order from an ISP , why wasn’t the installation completed back , then and how did the FTTC service remain active once FTTP was fitted, if ordered from BT , unless ordered  as a second service, the FTTP should have closed the FTTC service.

 TBH , the initial assumption seemed pretty straightforward, a FTTC customer with Halo3+ denied the ‘free’ FTTP upgrade that’s clearly stipulated in the T&C’s , ( one that didn’t re-contract the customer ) , but it’s obvious not as simple as that , there is undoubtedly more to this story.

[Burmey]

They can sometimes just turn up and fit the fibre if there has been an error in the original fibre networking of the area. Basically the fibre was installed in every other house along our road apart from mine and a couple of other houses in our road (18 months ago). Part of the set up was completed but they didn’t finish the job and so it looked like we were never ever going to get fibre because there were no plans to put it in in our area in addition because they thought they done it. So I contacted Open Reach direct and  they came and had a look and they did as much of the job as they could do because they could see it was going to be complicated.

 They said they sorted out all of the communications to BT telling them that I could have if I wanted it. 

they most definitely are not going to just turn off my cable supply until I have an active fibre supply running or confirmed. We can’t be without broadband as I have three home workers living in the property hence I needed fibre in the first place.

[Burmey]

apologies - the fibre infrastructure rather than the fibre itself being installed in the rest of our road.

Mine was complicated, but very easy in terms of the physical work that had to be done to get it from the road to inside my house - we have a conduit running under our drive, so no digging required whatsoever 

[iniltous]

Seems strange, in a ( brand new ) newsites environment, the FTTP infrastructure is installed without a customer order , no  copper network exists , it’s FTTP from the outset, every other situation is retro fitted , even on relatively new buildings , where phase one may have been copper and a neighbour on phase 2 has FTTP , the retro fitting of FTTP on addresses that have copper , is driven by an order from an ISP .

I suspect here that some well intentioned, but ultimately misguided intervention has left you in this position, where the address is seemingly has FTTP , so any inducement to move to FTTP causes a systemic failure….TBH , I would think ( and as the mod has taken an interest ) that the obvious way forward would be to upgrade without wanted  element ( not extending the minimum term) but have a ‘file note’ saying you shouldn’t be held to this new date  , your current  otherwise, as you are considering a different ISP and it’s ( apparently not to far away from your  current minimum term end ) hold off until then and consider your options 

[Burmey]

I tried to get fibre from my ISP (BT) but they said it wasn't in the plan until at least back end 2026 for me and even then they couldn't promise. This wasn't acceptable to me as all my neighbours were getting it (one less than 6  metres away and we share the BT service thingamy). As I said, they'd made an error when they upgraded all the conduits etc and so that meant we weren't scheduled for years. BT advised that I get in touch with Open Reach, which I did.

I get what you mean regarding the position I'm in. There has to be a way around this though. Computer can't always say no, surely. And I'm only considering a new ISP because the offers on Sky (and everywhere else for fibre) are so much cheaper than BT and I only stayed with them because I had Halo 3 plus, which they now tell me they are discontinuing going forward. The Open Reach engineers said that in my property (it's 18 months old) they should really have fitted a hybrid line and not copper

[iniltous]

At 18 months old , the default offer from Openreach was FTTP , unless a small development, AFAIR 1-19 plots still require a ( relatively small ) contribution from the developer, but ultimately the network provided is the developer choice to make , at 18 months it’s not likely that FTTP wasn’t offered but did the developer accept, it’s irrelevant anyway.
As stated , the stumbling block seems to only be the requirement for FTTP to come with no extra contractual obligation, the Mod may offer a way around that.

FWIW , I had reason to visit a new site around 2 years ago , a development of new builds ( made to look old to fit in with the existing housing stock in a village setting )  , the odd thing was there were around 6 or 7 sets of semi detached cottages ( so around 14 dwelling ) the first set of semis had BT66’s on the house wall ( indicating a copper pair service  ) the next set of semi’s had CSPs on the wall ( so FTTP ) the third set of semi’s back to BT66 etc , it turned out the criteria for ‘free’ FTTP had changed during the construction, and the half *rsed way the developer built  released the plots meant this peculiar way neighbours had different methods of service , depending on when the plot was released, perhaps your build was something similar 

[Puma937]

Halo 3+ is just a scam and the FF promise is totally misleading. I'm in exactly the same boat as you. Unfortunately due to a family issue, I haven't been able to rectify the problem, but I am going to get back on the case next week.

@Burmey - BT imply that they will upgrade you as soon as FF is available in your area, BUT they don't inform you when it is. You need to keep checking yourself and then instigate the upgrade, which in turn begins a new 2 year contract.

You should try removing Halo completely - it's impossible as BT state that you cannot do that. The only way is for a MOD to intervene and then you get a flat offer - take it or leave it and any queries you may have take days to be answered. 

I've just looked at my account and I have an outstanding order, which I have not instigated. This is in relation to Broadband & Digital Voice - meaning that I cannot see any offers or make any amendments to my account online.

I originally took out Halo 3+ as it offered the best connections at the time and future proof assurance. In actual fact it has turned out to be a complete waste of money, with the FF promise a total lie.