Can't seem to switch

MrChips

Hello!

I have an 18 month contract with Virgin Media which comes to an end in late May 2022 at which point the monthly price will more than double.  I'm therefore looking to switch away in the near future to avoid this big price increase.

Prior to Virgin Media, I was with Shell Energy Broadband on a "superfast fibre" connection - I've found my initial email from them from back in 2019 where they indicated I would get speeds of 30-38 Mbps.

I was aware of the need to switch for a little while and was investigating options around a week ago or so and I did some dummy (but not completed) applications where I'm pretty sure  everything was working fine and various alternative providers were offering me fibre options to my property (Shell, Vodafone, Onestream etc).  However today I've tried to organise a switch and all the providers are now saying fibre isn't available in my area and they can only offer copper line with 2-4 Mbps instead.

I've also called Shell and Onestream who have confirmed what the online applications were saying - no fibre available where I live (which is a highly populated London suburb).  This doesn't make any sense to me given I know I was on a fibre connection just 1.5 years ago (at the point I moved from Shell to Virgin).

Does anyone have any idea what might be causing this?  Hopefully just a temporary system blip which will fix itself shortly.  But I need to organise a switch asap or else I'll soon be paying over £50 a month to Virgin!

shiraz99

Put your details in the following and post the result. If you can't anything via the phone number do an address search instead.

BT Broadband (btwholesale.com)

MrChips

Featured Products	Downstream Line Rate(Mbps)		Upstream Line Rate (Mbps)		Downstream Handback Threshold(Mbps)	WBC FTTC Availability Date	WBC SOGEA Availability Date
	High	Low	High	Low
VDSL Range A (Clean)	51.3	35	9.9	6.9	32.4	Waiting list	Waiting list
VDSL Range B (Impacted)	49.8	33.2	9.7	6.5	27.7	Waiting list	Waiting list

Featured Products	Downstream Line Rate(Mbps)	Upstream Line Rate (Mbps)	Downstream Range (Mbps)	Availability Date	FTTP Install Process
FTTP on Demand	330	50	--	Available	--

ADSL Products	Downstream Line Rate (Mbps)	Upstream Line Rate (Mbps)	Downstream Range(Mbps)	Availability Date
WBC ADSL 2+	Up to 4	--	2.5 to 6.5	Available
ADSL Max	Up to 3	--	2 to 6	Available
WBC Fixed Rate	1	--	--	Available
Fixed Rate	1	--	--	Available

Other Offerings	Availability Date
VDSL Multicast	Available
ADSL Multicast	Available

Exchange Product Restrictions	Status
FTTP Priority Exchange	N
WLR Withdrawal	N
SOADSL Restriction	Y

The exchange is not in a current fibre priority programme

WLR is currently available at the exchange

SOADSL is restricted at the exchange

FTTP is not available.

For all ADSL and WBC Fibre to the Cabinet (VDSL or G.fast) services, the stable line rate will be determined during the first 10 days of service usage.

Actual speeds experienced by end users and quoted by CPs will be lower due to a number of factors within and external to BT's network, Communication Providers' networks and within customer premises.

The Stop Sale date for IPstream is from 31 Oct 2012. The Formal Retirement date for IPstream is from 30 Jun 2014.

In order to be eligible for handback, downstream speed should be less than Downstream Handback Threshold values.

If you decide to place an order for a WBC fibre product, an appointment may be required for an engineer to visit the end user's premises to supply the service

Mildenhall exchange:Only single order products are available and ADSL and ADSL2+ products are not shown as available.However for premises that can only be served by SOADSL, BT will continue to accept ADSL and ADSL2+ orders until SOADSL is available.

Thank you for your interest

MrChips

That's based on my address (ashamed to say I don't know my landline number as VM changed it when I switched and never used it since!)

mark_cycling00

I remember that it is quite common for a fibre cabinet in London to become "full" and so no new customers are allowed onto it. That's the little green box out on the street somewhere. 

A company wired up our block with its own fibre internet that had it's own "cabinet" and so could accommodate us

MrChips

Thanks for the suggestion shiraz99 - now pasted the info but it's all Greek to me so I've no idea what it might be suggesting the problem is.

If it is a "full" cabinet, do I need to just sit on my hands for a few days or could this be a long term issue?  Do I need to force the cabinet open and pull out a few wires to free up some capacity

shiraz99

MrChips said:

That's based on my address (ashamed to say I don't know my landline number as VM changed it when I switched and never used it since!)

Thanks for posting the results. So VDSL/FTTC (fibre to the cabinet) is there and to the speeds you were originally quoted but there is a waiting list to get an available slot. You could try a few more other providers to see if they have any allocation left, eg, NowTV BB, TalkTalk, Plusnet.

Full fibre FTTP isn't available, at least not supplied by Openreach but there may be other fibre providers in your area that can supply it. Alternatively have you considered mobile BB, 5g if you can get it. 

MrChips

Thank you shiraz99 - that is useful info.

I've tried about half a dozen providers today with no luck.  If there is no current capacity, what happens next?  How does capacity become available again and how long does it take?  Should I check daily until I get lucky, or could this be an issue for weeks to come?

shiraz99

I think the only way you can get on the waiting list is by taking the ADSL offering which will allow the ISP to move you to FTTC if or when a slot becomes available. Did you try Now BB?

MrChips

Now BB not available, nor Sky (other than 3Mbps).

I've already given my notice to Virgin, so maybe my only option if nothing frees up in the next few days is to cancel, manage on my phone hotspot for a few days, and then try and sign up again as a new customer.

On that point, I did try to give my notice to cancel VM over the phone but after 1.5 hours on hold the call was dropped so I gave notice by text message instead (which they haven't responded to yet).  After 30 days does my service get cut off, or do they continue to supply (and charge) until the line gets taken over by someone else?

iniltous

shiraz99 said:

MrChips said:

That's based on my address (ashamed to say I don't know my landline number as VM changed it when I switched and never used it since!)

Thanks for posting the results. So VDSL/FTTC (fibre to the cabinet) is there and to the speeds you were originally quoted but there is a waiting list to get an available slot. You could try a few more other providers to see if they have any allocation left, eg, NowTV BB, TalkTalk, Plusnet.

Full fibre FTTP isn't available, at least not supplied by Openreach but there may be other fibre providers in your area that can supply it. Alternatively have you considered mobile BB, 5g if you can get it. 

It doesn’t work like that , ISP’s don’t have an allocation of ports , all ports are available to all ISP’s , so if the cabinet is ‘waiting list’ , then there are no available ports for anyone, things can change , someone may move to Virgin from FTTC and their port becomes available , someone could simply give up landline service ( that has FTTC on it ) or much less likely is that Openreach add more capacity to the cabinet…..the waiting list process isn’t something many ISP’s sign up to , so it’s not the case that you join a waiting list , it’s first come first served , so you need to keep checking and if you see the checker move to ‘available’ where it currently says ‘waiting list’ , get your order in quick , in case someone else is also waiting and they get in before you