New build house - tied in to BT?

martm10

Hi all,

My partner and I are moving into a new build house soon and we have been told that the house comes with fibre optic bband with bt. This is great but when I asked whether we Are free to change provider, they said that we have to stay with bt (on what I'm guessing would be their most basic and most expensive option) as they have a contract with them?
I've never heard of a scenario like this before...surely once the house is yours you are free to change provider? Obviously if bt are the only people who will provide fibre optic to our address then we will have to stick with them, but just wondering if anyone has heard of this scenario before or whether it's a load of nonsense and I can look elsewhere?

Thanks!!:beer:

Owain_Moneysaver

It's usually BT Openreach who install the fibre, and so you can use any supplier that supply over the Openreach infrastructure. This page says

In order to speed up getting your fibre up and running, you need to tell your chosen service provider (such as, SKY, BT, TalkTalk etc) that you have fibre coming directly into your home. They will know it as FTTP (Fibre to the Premises).

lee111s

Sky and talk talk don't offer services on Openreach's FTTP network.

There are only a handful, with BT often being the cheapest by some margin.

Browntoa

If it's not fibre to the premises you are free to chose your own supplier , you have no contract with BT

lee111s

As it's a new build, I suspect it will be FTTP.

martm10

Thanks guys. How do I find out if it's FTTP or not? Would it be a question for BT themselves or the sales office?

lee111s

Use the address checker at https://www.dslchecker.bt.com or speak to the sales agent for the home builder.

Most new builds seem to come with FTTP these days.

iniltous

Any delevoper whilst they own the site, can, if they wanted, do an exclusive deal with a provider, in the past certain developers would do a deal with say a cable company, and lock out 'BT' , and only when the local council adopt the roads and footpaths, were 'BT' legally able to install service
When it comes to Openreach, they have to wholesale their products to anyone who may want to use them, so if it's 'BT' kit you could have a choice of providers, of course, if the product available , say FTTH/FTTP , isn't available via the likes of Sky or Talk Talk, it's because they don't want to offer it, and that's hardly BT or Openreach's fault , so if you cannot use a particular provider, lobby them, not BT or OR.
If the delevopement is fibre to the premises, then other providers do offer FTTP, using Openreach's infrastructure, but they tend to charge more that the sack em high and sell em cheap providers, so BT could be the value brand anyway.
If you were told you have to use BT as an ISP, you have been mis-informed , its probable that the developer has meant it's Openreach's network , so you have to use a provider that uses OR, that's not the same as using BT consumer products...lots of people seem to confuse Openreach and BT Consumer.
As far as telling if it's FTTP, the developer should know, but if you check the address on broadband availability sites and it offers speeds over 300Mb, then it's FTTP, if it's lower it may be FTTC, assuming when the developer said fibre is available it was true

Tanarif

If you haven't gotten into a contract yourself with BT, I don't understand how you can be forced to use them.
I would definitely get clarification on this, as some people have said, they may have meant BT Openreach as opposed to BT Consumer.

lee111s

They 100% will have meant Openreach.

VisionMan

If your going to go for fibre (hey who wouldn't) you'll find BT offer the cheapest packages. Theres a broadband war going on at the moment and there are discounts to be had! But you're going to need to look into that.