Having a nightmare with BT and Openreach

[Lydiajade94]

Hi all

I've posted a few times here now, mostly venting but I'm here for genuine advice now as I can't seem to get any from the tech experts at BT and openreach just send me copy and paste "sorry" replies. I'm going to give you my full story so sit tight, thanks so much in advance for any time or help I really really appreciate it.

I moved into a housing associations property after a six year wait on the council list. I had no choice but to accept the property as refusing sets you back down the list, my girls needed this space. Now I work 6 days a week with two under ten year olds and I just about manage, but cannot afford luxuries like starlink or commission a change in infrastructure. 

I'm a call handler for emergency pull cords, for older people or those that need supported living or even lone workers, your gran fall over and pulled the red cord?  I'm the one who answers and helps. It's a very important job. However, Covid hit hard and our office has been sold, my last day in office was today! So we work from home! Well not on my absolute max speed of 3mbps for £30 a month. My immediate neighbours enjoy FTTP, yet I cannot. I've tried EE 4g home router and it's abysmal, drops and disconnected me from teams every two minutes so its gone back (thank god for the 14 day cooling off).

What have I done so far?

Called FTTP team ✔️ Spoke to Openreach ✔️ Signed up for "fibre availability" updates (actually recieved two emails stating its all good to order, it was a mistake, both times) ✔️ Asked for engineer, refused ✔️ asked for the property to be surveyed, refused ✔️ Complained to BT and offered EE 4gee home broadband which was literally broken awful ✔️

What options do I have left guys? Do I really have to put myself and my girls back on a housing list and pray that the next property I get in years to come is fibre ready? Do I get the communications ombudsman involved? Do I email Clive our buddy ceo at openreach (Obviously not) Do I ask for a payrise so I can commission new infrastructure? Obviously that's impossible for me I'm broke-ish

Here's my bt whole sale check. 

https://ibb.co/rwBB3gc

Again guys thanks for sticking with me, please any advice would be greatly appreciated it. 

[ctrlz]

Have you tried contacting USO team? The obligation is to get you a decent connection (above 10mbps) and if this can’t be met by your existing line or by 4g they would go to Openreach to get a quote to provide fibre infrastructure to your property.
The scheme includes an allowance of around £3500 (may be slightly off) which may be enough to cover the work if it’s with your neighbours already.
BT have a dedicated page on their site and a team you can speak to about it.

[Lydiajade94]

I have read about the USO and people's experiences. One customer stated an check was carried out on a wireless device. 4G speed test with a hub that consistently had low speeds in different spots around his property, it tested once over 10mbps and the whole thing was dropped. So whilst it definitely is an option, if they find a nook in my house where 4G does actually hit 10mbps and i hear "there we go, that'll do it" I won't be held responsible for my actions. On a serious note I'll look into it and if they do go forward with tests I'll be RIGHT next to them for the entire thing. I'll make sure it's reliable and doesn't drop that's definite. It's my work on the line at the end of it all. It's 2022, it baffles me that 3mbps is my top speed when I lived on this street four doors down 10 years ago and had higher speeds. It's nuts. 

[ctrlz]

My understanding is that it should be a consistent 10mbps connection, so if you had the rare moment where you get over 10 but the majority of the time it’s much lower I can’t imagine they wouldn’t pursue it with Openreach still. 

[jac_95]

@Lydiajade94 looking at your BT wholesale availability results Full Fibre (FTTP) infrastructure is available to you. However at present capacity is currently full. Most likely at the aggregation node. 

This will eventually be increased by Openreach and especially as you are on a full fibre (FTTP) priority exchange meaning you will also eventually only have full fibre available to you and potentially why at present capacity is full as customers start to migrate to full fibre.

Keep an eye on https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/ as it should eventually change from showing as waiting list to available for WBC FTTP

[Starman]

If your working from home now doesn’t your employer provide you with a paid for connection or contribute perhaps?

Seems odd that a critical service such as care line is being offered via a consumer grade connection. A 2nd business line specifically for your work would maybe mitigate some issues.

Does bidb.uk suggest any other providers at your address? - https://bidb.uk/

[Lydiajade94]

They provide the means to connect securely to the server but that's about it.

I emailed Clive Selley in a "desperate cry for help" not long ago, woke up this morning and he's actually emailed me back with his IT team on hand to see if it's a data issue. Actually surprised the CEO of openreach replied, he's very pleasant too. Hopefully it gets the ball rolling. 

[licquorice]

I find it bizarre that an employer that forces you to work from home (office has been sold) rather than you electing to work from home doesn't provide the means for you to do so.

[Lydiajade94]

Our new hubs will be ready in 3-4 weeks. It's not permanent. Yeah it was a six story building with several organisations, the majority closed up shop during lockdown and the dated spaces were hard to fill, the higher ups sold it and within a year they'll be amazing apartments but yes it's out of our control. Like I said they're supplying everything but if I can't get signal in here or access to fibre, who's at fault?certainly isnt my manager or myself. 3mbps speed in 2022 for anyone is just wrong; I'd understand if I was out in the sticks but I don't, I'd also suck it up if it was the whole street putting up with it but my next door neighbours enjoying their imax enhanced movies and uninterrupted teams calls whilst I'm back in 2004

[rbz5416]

Use the link @Starman provided to see if there's an alternative 4G provider with better coverage than EE.