No one will tell me if I can get Fibre

RoysGotProblems

Hi,

I've just taken on the tenancy of a house. Whenver I go on ISP websites my address does not appear for a broadband order. After numerous calls with different ISPs, and online chats with OpenReach, the story I am getting is that I must first start a contract with an ISP for copper broadband (1-3mps!).  An OpenReach engineer will 'fix' the current line, and only at that point can OpenReach tell me if and when I can get fibre.  It is not a new build and all neighbours have fibre. I've a BT master socket in the house.  I wouldn't use the 1-3mps broadband so I would be entering into a year's contract for the sole purpose of finding out if I can get broadband. If the cabinet is full surely someone shoud be able to tell me that now without me paying £250 for the privilege. ISPs can't help, OpenReach are unreachable and not very open.  I'm hoping to spot an OR engineer doing their rounds so I can ask someone will local knowledge about the state of the cabinet, but so far no luck.  Anyone have any other ideas?

Thanks

Neil_Jones

RoysGotProblems said:

Hi,

I've just taken on the tenancy of a house. Whenver I go on ISP websites my address does not appear for a broadband order. After numerous calls with different ISPs, and online chats with OpenReach, the story I am getting is that I must first start a contract with an ISP for copper broadband (1-3mps!).  An OpenReach engineer will 'fix' the current line, and only at that point can OpenReach tell me if and when I can get fibre.  It is not a new build and all neighbours have fibre. I've a BT master socket in the house.  I wouldn't use the 1-3mps broadband so I would be entering into a year's contract for the sole purpose of finding out if I can get broadband. If the cabinet is full surely someone shoud be able to tell me that now without me paying £250 for the privilege. ISPs can't help, OpenReach are unreachable and not very open.  I'm hoping to spot an OR engineer doing their rounds so I can ask someone will local knowledge about the state of the cabinet, but so far no luck.  Anyone have any other ideas?

Thanks

Do you have a working phone line?  Can you connect a phone to it and get a dial tone?  If so, what happens if you call 17070 from it?  It should tell you something like "this circuit is defined as 01xxx xxxxx" (or whatever) which would be your number.  If you ring that from your mobile does your landline ring?

If so, you should be able to order on the basis of the number, and add the address later.

Re: Openreach, they only communicate with ISPs, not the general public.  Even if you were to collar somebody in the street they wouldn't be able to help as they'd be fixing something for some ISP somewhere.

RoysGotProblems

I'll be back at the house later. I'll try that - fingers crossed it works.  Thanks for the suggestion.

ann_droid

Hi
https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL

Gives any information?  EG:

PRAISETHESUN

https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com

This should tell you what services are available at your address. You might find that there's no fibre available at all, or that there is a waiting list for connections. Not much you can really to do be honest in either case short of moving home, or regularly checking ISP's sales pages and jumping on a new connection when it opens up, as installing new lines is a notoriously slow process. Once you know what should be available, you can start shopping around to see which ISP can offer the best deal.

EDIT: beaten to the punch by @ann_droid

J_B

Neil_Jones said:

Re: Openreach, they only communicate with ISPs, not the general public.  Even if you were to collar somebody in the street they wouldn't be able to help as they'd be fixing something for some ISP somewhere.

We asked an OR engineer about Fibre one day when they were working along the road.

He said that we would be able to tap into the fibre line that went past our house.

He was wrong as it's a dedicated 'leased line' to a nearby business.

RoysGotProblems

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions so far:

1) My line is dead when I plug in the phone so can't try @Neil_Jones suggestion

2) The broadband checker doesn't find my line - it finds my address. It says I need to enter a phone number, which I don't have

Back to square 1 as I need to get my copper phone line sorted before I can use any of the available tools.

Any other suggestions, anyone?

J_B

Is this any use https://www.bt.com/broadband/

There's even an option for 'without a landline'

neilmcl

RoysGotProblems said:

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions so far:

1) My line is dead when I plug in the phone so can't try @Neil_Jones suggestion

2) The broadband checker doesn't find my line - it finds my address. It says I need to enter a phone number, which I don't have

Back to square 1 as I need to get my copper phone line sorted before I can use any of the available tools.

Any other suggestions, anyone?

Did you use the address checker via that link? You don't have to enter a telephone number if you use the address checker.

https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL/AddressHome

You could also try the following exchange lookup:

https://availability.samknows.com/broadband/exchange_search

Neil49

neilmcl said:

RoysGotProblems said:

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions so far:

1) My line is dead when I plug in the phone so can't try @Neil_Jones suggestion

2) The broadband checker doesn't find my line - it finds my address. It says I need to enter a phone number, which I don't have

Back to square 1 as I need to get my copper phone line sorted before I can use any of the available tools.

Any other suggestions, anyone?

Did you use the address checker via that link? You don't have to enter a telephone number if you use the address checker.

https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL/AddressHome

You could also try the following exchange lookup:

https://availability.samknows.com/broadband/exchange_search

I've just had a look at the Samknows site and it tells me that the best I can get is adsl and that FTTC and FTTP are not available in my location.

I find this very strange given that I have been here nearly 3 years and have had an FTTP connection from day one.

I've used Samknows many times in the past but have recently found that the information provided is not as reliable as it used to be.

RoysGotProblems

neilmcl said:

RoysGotProblems said:

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions so far:

1) My line is dead when I plug in the phone so can't try @Neil_Jones suggestion

2) The broadband checker doesn't find my line - it finds my address. It says I need to enter a phone number, which I don't have

Back to square 1 as I need to get my copper phone line sorted before I can use any of the available tools.

Any other suggestions, anyone?

Did you use the address checker via that link? You don't have to enter a telephone number if you use the address checker.

Yeah it's the address checker that comes back with:

"Your address has been successfully matched; however we cannot determine ADSL availability at this address. Please try the Telephone Number or Postcode Checker."