Openreach FTTP installation timescale - detailed information?

[fillip15]

Does anybody have access, please, to insider knowledge of Openreach's detailed plans for FTTP implementation? Their Build Programme dated January 2022 (link on the Openreach website) gives '21/22 - 23/24' as the date for FTTP at our exchange. This could be anything from next month to two years and ten months away. Any suggestions as to how get a more specific forecast would be greatly appreciated.

[Gerry557]

We had our road dug up over a year ago but still can't get connected to it.

[Julian]

Does anybody have access, please, to insider knowledge of Openreach's detailed plans for FTTP implementation? Their Build Programme dated January 2022 (link on the Openreach website) gives '21/22 - 23/24' as the date for FTTP at our exchange. This could be anything from next month to two years and ten months away. Any suggestions as to how get a more specific forecast would be greatly appreciated.

Despite OpenReach in theory not being an organisation that deals directly with retail customers I was able to file a support ticket with them last year regarding unavailability of FTTP at my address and had quite good service from the representative assigned to my support ticket. Frustratingly I have gone through the emails and can't find any record of the URL where the form is to file a support ticket. I've also just spent a bit of time on the OpenReach site and can't for the life of me find my way back to the page where you can file a support request.

I think that the way I got to the right place was to go to this page (https://www.openreach.com/), go to Broadband/Ultra-Fast-Fibre and the click the green "Check your address for Ultrafast Full Fibre Broadband". Prior to opening my support ticket the result from the address checker for my address was a "sorry, not available yet" type of answer but I think that somehow from there I got to the required support page. I think there might have been some sort of link along the lines of "Do you think fibre is already available" or something like that. I'm sorry this is so horribly vague but I was doing all of this 9 or 10 months ago so this is from memory. I did try to recreate my steps just now by picking postcodes from friends I knew who lived in the remotest locations I could think of but surprisingly to me I couldn't find a single one that didn't come up with "congratulations, ultra-fast is available" response so that was no help but you do presumably have a post code that will give the "sorry, not available yet" response and might be able to get somewhere from there.

I filed my support ticket because the fact that my address showed as not having FTTP was so clearly an administrative error in OpenReaches system. I live in a block of flats and could clearly see the FTTP boxes at 3 places on the front of the building with adequate ports for all flats yet using the address checker only about 15 of the 25 flats showed "congratulations, it's available" and the others showed the "sorry, not yet" response. It seemed pretty clear to me that the issue was a data entry error where after running the fibre to our building OpenReach had set the flag on the database indicating "this address has access to FTTP" for some of the flats but not others. That did indeed turn out to be the case and as I said the support team took good ownership, informed when there was a delay due to them escalating the problem to another team, chased up the other team on my behalf and ultimately fixed the database. Since your request would be a simple "when will you implement FTTP in my area?" rather than a pretty obvious error in their systems you might not get as good a response as I did but you've nothing to lose so if you can find the same support request form as I did then personally I would file a ticket that way and they might be helpful and get more up to date info for you.

Sorry I couldn't point you to the exact support page, I did try, but maybe you can stumble upon it in the same way that I did.

- Julian

[Julian]

We had our road dug up over a year ago but still can't get connected to it.

See my previous reply Gerry. It's just possible you have the same issue that I did. I had been running availability checks about every 6 months for a couple of years. It was only mid last year when for some reason, after getting yet another "sorry, not available yet" response I though (goodness knows why) to run the address check again mut this time selecting not my flat number but the one next door to me and to my amazement that showed availability. You might want to run a check using a few other house numbers on your street, or even different flat numbers if you are in a block of flats. If that is the issue then you might want to try following my entirely inadequate "instructions" above.

- Julian

[Infrasonic]

Something that is often a spanner in the works is wayleave agreements...
https://www.openreach.com/help-and-supp ... -wayleaves

This has been the issue with my flat development with Hyperoptic FTTP - the fibre has been in the pavement outside my flat for two years now and I've been told it will be sometime early this year that access contracts will finalised with the managing agents/freeholders allowing flats to be connected.

[fillip15]

Many thanks Julian and all for your kind interest, information and suggestions. I obviously hit a sore point for many, though as Julian says my request of Openreach is a very simple 'Can you be more precise about when you'll be digging up my street?' - the other potential delays are some way off in the future. I hadn't heard about wayleaves - presumably the need doesn't arise in a terraced street, unless Openreach have to contact the ground landlords of leasehold houses (which would be absurd here, as we have well over 600 years of our lease remaining and the ground landlord has stopped collecting the £6 annual ground rent).
I have registered with Openreach and had an email saying 'Thank you for registering. Great news. Your area is in our plans for Ultrafast Full Fibre broadband.' I'll explore the website and see if I can find a way of getting into dialogue with them. Meanwhile, I hope that all of you get connected sooner rather than later.

[Infrasonic]

... I hadn't heard about wayleaves - presumably the need doesn't arise in a terraced street, unless Openreach have to contact the ground landlords of leasehold houses (which would be absurd here, as we have well over 600 years of our lease remaining and the ground landlord has stopped collecting the £6 annual ground rent)...

I'd imagine it depends on the arrangements particular to your street (unadopted/adopted by local council) and any peculiarities of the lease agreement for your houses.
My mum used to live in a leasehold house and I don't remember any holdups when she got cable provision (which later morphed into Virgin).
When I sold the house it turned out the lease agreement wasn't quite as vanilla as my conveyancing solicitor had first assumed though - I had to plough ahead with the sale without the immediate cooperation of the freeholders agent (ironically a solicitor who was extremely slow to communicate) - so it may be worth checking, if you can read legalese written in quill pen .

[Gerry557]

An update

checking there online availability checker

Full Fibre is here…
Our network is now live outside your home. Register below and be the first to know when you can get connected with one of our broadband partners.

Id already done this but used a different email address to see if there is anything further since last year


Still not connected though!