Talk Talk Cut us off to force Fibre Contract - GDPR Breach

400ixl

On the GDPR front, OpenReach will be the ones providing the copper connection to your house, so will already have a purpose for having your information. They will have also been instructed by TalkTalk to take an action, which again gives them appropriate coverage. Don't think you have any complaint there on a GDPR front with OpenReach.

OpenReach will be looking to remove copper connections from exchanges which have been upgraded and they may well put stop selling markers on lines. So if your connection has been terminated, they may not allow it to be re-connected.

In all of this, you have not said why you do not want Fibre (other than you are happy with what you have). If the price is the same for the same or greater speed, then shifting to Fibre FTTP will be future proofing yourself and be more reliable than ageing copper.

MilesT6060842

Talktalk could have moved you to FTTP (if that suited them/OpenReach) but then capped the fibre at ADSL or FTTC speeds and kept the contract price the same, but no.

I suspect BT Openreach is wanting to restructure your exchange (ASDL) or street cabinet (sometimes ADSL/FTTC) and asked TalkTalk (and other providers) if they would move existing customers to new FTTP connection.  (Bear in mind, on the GDPR front, that for ADSL/FTTC Openreach would HAVE to know your details as they own part of the equipment*, subcontracted by your ISP, and under GDPR TT is responsible for Openreach handling your data appropriately, same as for any other subcontractor that helps TT deliver the service). 

* Rarely not, and, of course, the exception that is Hull where KCOM owns the lines, not Openreach)

SuzeQStan

@400ixt said:

‘In all of this, you have not said why you do not want Fibre (other than you are happy with what you have).’

Well seeing as you have disqualified my No1 reason 😉 I suppose it’s mainly obstinacy on our part.  TT never told us we needed to go with fibre - just that it was an option that we could take advantage of cost free.

Also all our cables are underground and previous owner of our property created an island of paving with our house plonked on top - no diggable lawn. The shortest distance from the connection point in our street means they will have to dig a trench through the paving. The point at which it will enter our home will be the furthest it could be from our home offices. And we prefer hardwired connection.

We are also concerned that cost will become a future factor despite current promises of lower costs.

but mainly so let down by TT - that they took the action they did with no warning whatsoever. We now feel bullied into getting fibre - had we been advised of why they wanted us to change to it this might be a different situation altogether.

400ixl

Completely understand the frustration with them. They aren't the worst rated ISP for no reason, and have let you down by not following your request.

How does the current copper cable come into the house, is it underground or via a telephone pole? If underground they should be able to use the same ducting and not need to dig anything up.

Where do the current hardwired connections go to, this should be the current router, is there any reason the new router could not be in the same location?

Cost wise as a future factor would be that copper ASDL services will become more expensive than fibre to encourage people to get rid of them so that OpenReach can simplify their network. 

SuzeQStan

@400ixl - thanks for your useful reply - it has made us think of how we can now make fibre work for us.  the current connection comes in underground and was in place prior to previous owner adding 3 x extensions to the property and paving everything in sight around the house 😒. Cable & router are under the stairs in the hall (middle of our home). Fibre was installed in our street during the pandemic - and from the location of this it appears they would be looking to connect us via a trench right through the paving. The 1st email they sent us mentions they would have to dig a trench and this would be on opposite side of house from both our offices.  But as you say it’s not impossible - just hope we wouldn’t have to pay any expensive repairs to the block paving. 

400ixl

Yep, understand the reluctance. You would hope that if it is under block paving then this is probably the easiest for them to re-instate without being obvious it had been taken up and put down, but difficult if you can't quiz them like you would your own builder.

I guess the first step is to see if they will re-instate the FTTC connection first.

The benefits to fibre are there if they are doing a deal which makes it cost effective and will future proof you going forwards. So worth investigating and getting your questions answered about how they will do the install and ensure all is put back to how it is today.

SuzeQStan

Status update: Computer say no at TalkTalk - one rep says they are not supporting copper in our area, another says cancellation of the fibre contract we never took out is in process & yet another says that it’s our phone line/connection despite speaking to us on our landline 😒. OH has drafted formal complaint which we will be sending fao big boss at TT & also to CISAS if you all think that is the correct way forward?  Steep learning curve for us - we have found out that we know NO ONE who doesn’t have fibre. Wish we’d had the conversation prior to all this happening - thanks to you all on here for your help & advice. 

400ixl

Many people think they have Fibre due to the way it was marketed. Fibre broadband can be what they call fibre to cabinet (FTTC) or Fibre to Property (FTTP).

FTTC is fibre as far as the cabinet and then copper to the home, this is what most of the UK is still on but many will call this fibre without knowing the full meaning and you will likely know many people who have this setup (as you had I would have thought).

Full fibre (FTTP) which is what they want to switch you to is still only available to around 37% of UK households.

Sorry to hear TT have left you in a bit of a mess. What are they proposing is the solution to get broadband back up and running for you?

SuzeQStan

@400ixl - that is interesting and am sure you’re correct about our infrastructure. I just don’t think that people focus all that much on their bb as long as it does the job they want it to - much as we were blissfully ignorant prior to all of this! 🙁 My OH colleague has suggested we may have fallen foul of what they termed a ‘slam contract’ whereby preordained steps are taken with an assumption of compliance. Following this logic we appear to have been swept up into an outcome that was never in doubt and one which we were powerless to have any influence over. Before I start sounding too dramatic (too late 🤣) we have been promised a resolution tomorrow by 6pm. I just 🙏🏻 that the bb tap is back on by tomorrow morning as mobile hotspot proved subpar today for work. Keeping all crossable things crossed!  😊

400ixl

Hope they get you sorted. Let us know what happens. Good luck.