Openreach Errors - Connected to Exchange not Cabinet

Alan_T_2

Short version - Openreach have incorrectly listed the details of what services my property can get. Listed as connected to cabinet not exchange. Had attempted to go Superfast and ordered failed so now no connection at all. 

Longer version - approx 18-24 months ago I attempted to changed from ADSL to faster broadband. Providers all said it was possible. Placed order and awaited being able to do more than 1 thing across house. Activation date came... No broadband connection (although landline worked). Contacted provider who advised they'd take up with Openreach. Days of back and forward before engineer finally visits property and says doesn't know why offered that service as connected directly to exchange. At that point Vodafone cut off phone line as they don't offer ADSL only. Had to get new provide and join the back of their queue. All-in I was almost 6 weeks without connection.

Through this process I had complained to Openreach and was advised that records would be updated to correct information.

Move forward to late last year. Fibre being installed in street and engineers in garden in December fitting some fibre device to telegraph pole. Then a nice email on Xmas day from Openreach saying that fibre now enabled. 

Late December I arranged to cease my Plusnet ADSL service as it was end of contract and transfer to Vodafone (who were listed on the email from Openreach). I chose them as have a mobile there and the Apple TV offer was tempting. They didn't offer full fibre to the property, didn't give it any second thought, but would let me have Superfast.

15th January was supposed to be the activation date. All the router etc arrived a few days ahead. I'd it all ready to be switched on in the 15th, but nothing happened. On 16th I phoned and was advised that installation moved to 18th. I did question whether this was related to previous failed attempt and whether I could get service or not, but was told that Openreach engineers had delayed work and that was what the problem was and to expect to be connected on 18th. 18th came and went...then told 21st, then 25th and then told engineer out to property on 27th. Engineer visited and confirmed what I feared and suspected, that the property direct to the exchange and not eligible for Superfast and that the record needed updated. Cue a phonecall to Vodafone who basically said tough and they were ceasing trying to provision me and wouldn't other full fibre as not selling that to my location.

So this morning I'm now without broadband and telephone (they took this over from Plusnet) and when cancelling order had to withdraw that as well.

Openreach chat bot this morning gave some generic information then stopped speaking to me when I asked for more details.

So to the point of this....anyone have a productive way to contact Openreach to ensure that details are amended and correct?

st3v31963

There’s not that much point in trying to get the error corrected because that’s not going to get you FTTC capability.  Openreach are not really doing any more EO to cabinet migrations any longer, they are going straight to “full fibre” (Fibre to the Premises) connectivity, which it seems that you now have in your area.

So you can either

1) Return to an exchange only ADSL connection with an included analogue phone service.(you may have lost the phone number though). 

2)  Go with a provider that will supply, via Openreach, an FTTC connection.   This will probably incur a setup cost, and some physical installation to get the fibre to and inside the property. This could take some time in the present Covid situation, and you may need permission from the landlord/freeholder if this is relevant.   Most of the “budget” ISP’s don’t seem to fully support Openreach FTTP yet because the wholesale cost is a bit higher than FTTC. Have a look at either the ispreview or thinkbroadband websites for possible suppliers. 

Personally, unless your budget is very constrained, I’d go the FTTP route, as this will get you a much faster, more reliable connection that is future proof (ADSL has a very limited life now, and I’d expect it to be gone by 2025, when the migration away from analogue phone lines is due to complete) 

Do you actually need/want a “landline” number? 

Zellah

OP, it sounds like your property is enabled for Openreach FTTP, but not FTTC - which is perfectly normal for Exchange Only (EO) lines. Can you post a screenshot from the results on this site (use address checker option if your line number isn’t recognised)
https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com

If the above checker shows ‘WBC FTTP’ for your address then it was a huge mistake signing up with Vodafone as they don’t offer Openreach based FTTP services nationwide just yet. Your best bet is to sign up with BT, who will almost certainly be able to supply you with FTTP, their prices start from around £25/m for the 40/10 Mbps tier, exactly the same price as their FTTC tiers. 

JJ_Egan

As above mine is the same a connection to the  exchange  FTTP rollout is not from the local cabinet .

Alan_T_2

st3v31963 said:

There’s not that much point in trying to get the error corrected because that’s not going to get you FTTC capability.  Openreach are not really doing any more EO to cabinet migrations any longer, they are going straight to “full fibre” (Fibre to the Premises) connectivity, which it seems that you now have in your area.

So you can either

1) Return to an exchange only ADSL connection with an included analogue phone service.(you may have lost the phone number though). 

2)  Go with a provider that will supply, via Openreach, an FTTC connection.   This will probably incur a setup cost, and some physical installation to get the fibre to and inside the property. This could take some time in the present Covid situation, and you may need permission from the landlord/freeholder if this is relevant.   Most of the “budget” ISP’s don’t seem to fully support Openreach FTTP yet because the wholesale cost is a bit higher than FTTC. Have a look at either the ispreview or thinkbroadband websites for possible suppliers. 

Personally, unless your budget is very constrained, I’d go the FTTP route, as this will get you a much faster, more reliable connection that is future proof (ADSL has a very limited life now, and I’d expect it to be gone by 2025, when the migration away from analogue phone lines is due to complete) 

Do you actually need/want a “landline” number? 

Thanks for the response. It feels kind of like a point of principle now to get it corrected if nothing else to make sure it doesn't happen to someone else if I move, but yes accept never going to fix FTTC. 

Re option 1 the landline was only ever bundled there as part of the offering, but never used, so if number changed not end of the world.

On option 2 I assume first part should be FTTP not FTTC. 

My preference is FTTP but my concern, given lack of current connection, is the delay in someone coming to property to do the connection from pole to house and then any subsequent install of box in property. I'm fortunate in that all lines come into the cellar where I have all my network stuff so no need to actually have someone inside property, but that's not likely to speed up any order. Owner in Scotland so no landlord/freehold issues to contend with.

Alan_T_2

Zellah said:

OP, it sounds like your property is enabled for Openreach FTTP, but not FTTC - which is perfectly normal for Exchange Only (EO) lines. Can you post a screenshot from the results on this site (use address checker option if your line number isn’t recognised)
https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com

If the above checker shows ‘WBC FTTP’ for your address then it was a huge mistake signing up with Vodafone as they don’t offer Openreach based FTTP services nationwide just yet. Your best bet is to sign up with BT, who will almost certainly be able to supply you with FTTP, their prices start from around £25/m for the 40/10 Mbps tier, exactly the same price as their FTTC tiers. 

In hindsight I agree it was a mistake, however as a consumer I relied on the information from Openreach in the Xmas day email regarding the available providers being able to provide FTTP of which Vodafone is listed. I shouldn't have been pointed to Vodafone if product not available via Openreach, and also with regards to FTTC, which was ultimately what Vodafone offered me, this offer was only made because of information held by Openreach otherwise Vodafone would have sent me packing. Screengrab attached. 
With regards to FTTP I'm trawling through looking for options at the moment, but will bear BT in mind

Alan_T_2

JJ_Egan said:

As above mine is the same a connection to the  exchange  FTTP rollout is not from the local cabinet .

Who did you go with?

matelodave

If they are pretty well set up to install FTTP it only takes a couple of hours (most of which seemed to be the bloke getting togged up and organised to climb the pole).

However that said, when we went from a pathetically slow ADSL (1.5-1.8mbit/s) to FTTP, virtually the whole road tried to transfer within a couple of weeks - we had squadrons of OR vans up & down the road to the point where they brought in a cherry picker to speed it up rather than have lots of blokes shinning up & down the poles so you might need to find an ISP who is offering it and getting yourself into the queue.

It does seem as though it takes a long time for some suppliers other than BT to get on board

Although we've had FTTP with BT for nearly three years, Vodafone still don't yet offer it around here and SKY only started offering it last September. Not sure if TalkTalk do yet, Zen do, and I was tempted to go with them last January but it meant closing my BT service and then applying to Zen to get it re-instated which seems pretty fraught with problems so I didn't bother. I did also check with EE last year but they'd only offer it if you already had an FTTP connection, it might have changed since then.

Edit - just checked, TalkTalk are now offering it where I live but its a fairly recent addition. I've still got another year with BT before I can move

Zellah

Alan_T_2 said:

Zellah said:

OP, it sounds like your property is enabled for Openreach FTTP, but not FTTC - which is perfectly normal for Exchange Only (EO) lines. Can you post a screenshot from the results on this site (use address checker option if your line number isn’t recognised)
https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com

If the above checker shows ‘WBC FTTP’ for your address then it was a huge mistake signing up with Vodafone as they don’t offer Openreach based FTTP services nationwide just yet. Your best bet is to sign up with BT, who will almost certainly be able to supply you with FTTP, their prices start from around £25/m for the 40/10 Mbps tier, exactly the same price as their FTTC tiers. 

In hindsight I agree it was a mistake, however as a consumer I relied on the information from Openreach in the Xmas day email regarding the available providers being able to provide FTTP of which Vodafone is listed. I shouldn't have been pointed to Vodafone if product not available via Openreach, and also with regards to FTTC, which was ultimately what Vodafone offered me, this offer was only made because of information held by Openreach otherwise Vodafone would have sent me packing. Screengrab attached. 
With regards to FTTP I'm trawling through looking for options at the moment, but will bear BT in mind

Thanks. According to the screenshot you posted, your copper line is NOT 'Exchange Only', you are connected to Cabinet 8 at Paisley exchange. But FTTC availability shows up as 'waiting list' so previously you *MAY* have been advised incorrectly that your line is EO when in fact you should have been told that your FTTC cabinet is full or out of capacity ('waiting list') hence why you cannot order a FTTC service. But irrespective of whether you're on an EO line or not, I would forget about FTTC. FTTP is a far far more reliable technology than FTTC (copper) and that's what you should be trying to order. You aren't forced to order the greatest and fastest speeds on FTTP, as I said earlier the entry package from BT for their 40/10 tier on FTTP is around £25/m. TalkTalk are also offering Openreach based FTTP services, but again like Vodafone, its in selected areas only. 

JJ_Egan

Alan_T_2 said:

JJ_Egan said:

As above mine is the same a connection to the  exchange  FTTP rollout is not from the local cabinet .

Who did you go with?

No choice only BT at the time of install  , just renewed with them as well .

Alan_T_2

Zellah said:

Alan_T_2 said:

Zellah said:

OP, it sounds like your property is enabled for Openreach FTTP, but not FTTC - which is perfectly normal for Exchange Only (EO) lines. Can you post a screenshot from the results on this site (use address checker option if your line number isn’t recognised)
https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com

If the above checker shows ‘WBC FTTP’ for your address then it was a huge mistake signing up with Vodafone as they don’t offer Openreach based FTTP services nationwide just yet. Your best bet is to sign up with BT, who will almost certainly be able to supply you with FTTP, their prices start from around £25/m for the 40/10 Mbps tier, exactly the same price as their FTTC tiers. 

In hindsight I agree it was a mistake, however as a consumer I relied on the information from Openreach in the Xmas day email regarding the available providers being able to provide FTTP of which Vodafone is listed. I shouldn't have been pointed to Vodafone if product not available via Openreach, and also with regards to FTTC, which was ultimately what Vodafone offered me, this offer was only made because of information held by Openreach otherwise Vodafone would have sent me packing. Screengrab attached. 
With regards to FTTP I'm trawling through looking for options at the moment, but will bear BT in mind

Thanks. According to the screenshot you posted, your copper line is NOT 'Exchange Only', you are connected to Cabinet 8 at Paisley exchange. But FTTC availability shows up as 'waiting list' so previously you *MAY* have been advised incorrectly that your line is EO when in fact you should have been told that your FTTC cabinet is full or out of capacity ('waiting list') hence why you cannot order a FTTC service. But irrespective of whether you're on an EO line or not, I would forget about FTTC. FTTP is a far far more reliable technology than FTTC (copper) and that's what you should be trying to order. You aren't forced to order the greatest and fastest speeds on FTTP, as I said earlier the entry package from BT for their 40/10 tier on FTTP is around £25/m. TalkTalk are also offering Openreach based FTTP services, but again like Vodafone, its in selected areas only. 

Was going by what engineer who visited property had advised after checking cabinet etc as it was him that called it out as incorrect. Anyway FTTP definitely seems to be the best option. On the BT option I've not seen that one. Spotted this, but wasn't sure it was FTTP as offering same speeds as FTTC offerings

Talk Talk not available