Upheaval from leaving Virgin Media and going back to BT Openreach-based services?

Miser1964

When I bought my house, the sellers were already on Virgin Media for cable broadband/phone which comes into the house in one corner of the lounge via some conduit under the flower-bed. They decorated and laid carpet/laminate after installation of a phone socket in the hall and 'F-type' connector box in the lounge for the SuperHub to connect to.

I'm fed up with Virgin Media prices so am looking at Now etc. I know these providers all utilise BT Openreach infrastructure and the Now coverage tool shows my house is ready. However, there's no sign of any BT-era wiring coming into the house via conduit etc. or unused BT Master socket.

I'm wondering how disruptive it would be to go back to BT Openreach infrastructure and whether if I went with Now, TalkTalk etc. they'd be drilling holes in the wall and wanting to pull up laminate to install services. There's no obvious way of getting a survey before signing up!

daveyjp

Openreach will use either an existing telegraph pole or underground ducting to service your property.  From a pole the fibre will be the same as an old phone cable and be clipped to the outside of the property then routed to the entry point, if ducting they will bury the cable under your garden, driveway etc.

The approach after that is to drill through an external wall or around a door frame above floor level and fit the new connection box ready for a modem.

Neil49

Make sure you read this post. 

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6475477/do-i-need-to-give-30-days-notice-if-the-contract-is-expiring-and-i-do-not-want-to-renew#latest

iniltous

If your property is in an area served by Openreach by underground means  ( the obvious clue would be the absence of telegraph poles ) then it’s possible  that when the previous occupants signed up with Virgin ( or whoever had the cable franchise at the time ) they may have permanently removed the Openreach socket and wiring , this was shortsighted but reasonably common.

If this is the case , obviously it will complicate any return to an Openreach based provider ….if the property was built in the 1960’s  through to the very late 1980’s then it’s likely the existing Openreach cable is buried directly in the ground ( DIG ) and may not have any appearance on an external wall , getting service restored would require OR to track  the cable to where it ‘hits’ the house wall  , dig down onto it , and divert the cable onto the external wall, fit a block terminal etc, don’t be surprised if all this is done after you have had a failed appointment, as ( if for example ) you ordered via Now , even though you knew there would be an issue , Now would still assume the service should be deliverable on the day and give a normal lead time for the appointment
….if overhead service, reinstalling usually not a problem, and if a ducted underground feed , although more work for the installer, again probably doable on the day , but DIG , and no evidence of the OR service inside the property, means  delays and probably several visits 

35har1old

Miser1964 said:

When I bought my house, the sellers were already on Virgin Media for cable broadband/phone which comes into the house in one corner of the lounge via some conduit under the flower-bed. They decorated and laid carpet/laminate after installation of a phone socket in the hall and 'F-type' connector box in the lounge for the SuperHub to connect to.

I'm fed up with Virgin Media prices so am looking at Now etc. I know these providers all utilise BT Openreach infrastructure and the Now coverage tool shows my house is ready. However, there's no sign of any BT-era wiring coming into the house via conduit etc. or unused BT Master socket.

I'm wondering how disruptive it would be to go back to BT Openreach infrastructure and whether if I went with Now, TalkTalk etc. they'd be drilling holes in the wall and wanting to pull up laminate to install services. There's no obvious way of getting a survey before signing up!

You can request where you want the router to be located as long as you have a double socket available at entry point to supply fibre  and router.It will have a exterior box and then enter through wall to terminate in room.You may only receive data only if digital voice is not available.
It is similar to  the way Virgin Media install.It is nearly impossible to speak directly with Openreach.In my case they did manage to install on first visit and that involved finding existing duct and rerouting to new position.In you case with not having a master socket visible it may not be possible to trace existing duct if one is available. Don't be surprised if they install cable at 100mm depth.They tend to want to drill from inside out which it's a great idea as the brick our plaster could flake away causing a crater which is not easy to repair if it occurs inside the terminating box will usually cover the area 

iniltous

There isn’t any suggestion that the OP has access to Openreach FTTP , if they do it’s obviously a brand new service and installation would be on that basis , my take on the OP question is it’s about restoration of the copper pair service as they mention the lack of any existing internal Openreach sockets etc, which would require the existing copper line to be intercepted ( if it’s an existing underground service) 

Miser1964

Thanks for the comments. I'll start with the old 'threatening to leave' routine with Virgin Media for now. As BT OpenReach are renewing everyone's connection to digital, I may let it lie until they turn up to remove the copper wires and run fibre from the cabinet.

iniltous

FYI , FTTP doesn’t come from the FTTC cabinet , and they probably won’t remove the ‘small’ copper cables once FTTP is available as it’s not worth the expense ( large multicore cables from exchange to cabinets and exchange to exchange cables are worth the effort )  , but not a couple of metres of 2 or 5 pair into houses, although it’s possible they would simply sell the rights to do it to someone else , once it’s all redundant ,
if you can get a ‘deal’ on price out of Virgin thats the path  of least resistance, although they seem to be less generous with discounts than they once were.