Landlord Refusing Fibre installation

Question123567

Hi All,

Looking for some advice. I brought a new build flat in February 2023. I latter found that the best internet speeds for the flat are a download speed of 5-13mbps and an upload of 1 Mbps.

Since finding this out I have tried many different providers to see if there are other options for me like Virgin that use there own lines but unfortunately they aren’t available.

it would seem the only for me to improve this is with Openreach updating the connectivity to the block of flats.

The landlord has refused. Do I have any options or do I have to continue suffering whilst working from home? 

Thanks in advance!

subjecttocontract

Depends what it says in your lease about new installations......have you read /checked the lease ?
I suspect fibre installation to a flat could look & be rather messy.......underground cable ? cable up the outside walls?  holes drilled everywhere ? etc. So I can see their reason for refusal.

Question123567

subjecttocontract said:

Depends what it says in your lease about new installations......have you read /checked the lease ?
I suspect fibre installation to a flat could look & be rather messy.......underground cable ? cable up the outside walls?  holes drilled everywhere ? etc. So I can see their reason for refusal.

I have just had a look and what I have found is more around the landlords right around updating cabling, sewers etc. so not much help unfortunately. I understand the point around drilling holes etc but I would have thought it’s as simple as bringing it in underground to the central place in the bin store that it currently comes in and from there to the individual flats through the same place the current wires do?? But maybe this just my overly simplified view of it. 

To be honest I am not looking for FTTP I would be quite happy with FTTC but as this is seen as old tech know I can’t find anyway to get openreach to do this.

Thanks! 

gm0

When you see an openreach van nearby fault fixing a cab or in the building.  Charm them and try to find out about the cabinets, infinity, available capacity, which cab serves your building, or can serve it. Some of the engineers are super friendly. And of course some not.  You need good info before trying to push a retailer to push for the right install from openreach via ordering an Infinity (or better) type of service instead of ropey VDSL.  It the system is saying "Nothing better available here".  you may be a cabinet upgrade or a capacity upgrade hostage while BT sort out what they can put where and get permission. When they can be bothered. Which isn't much.  The Openreach engineer can probably tip you off as to the constraint on your cabs and where your cables go.  They shouldn't talk to you. But they sometimes do. Cigarettes and tea. They also know how hard it is to get any useful information beyond the "no" on the checker.

Perhaps DIY 4G/5G broadband if you have strong cells with backhaul.  Can test with your and mates phones on different networks tethering and speedtesting indoor signal.  Or do a dongle and then do a proper one if it looks broadly feasible.  

Our "backup" unbreakable from BT on their mobile network is at least double the VDSL fixed line which is more like 11 down when it is wet.  I was going to do this - partly from the joy of telling BT to do one after 25 years of only getting technology upgrades when they are switching off that technology.  ISDN.  ADSL.  VDSL. Though sadly one of our two good cells is.....theirs.   But now a new entrant has started rolling out FTTP in our particular wilds so the game is afoot.  I can get that without the expense and hassle of a 4G/5G DIY.  Or infinity will suddenly and surprisingly get rolled out to me after all - now that there is competitive threat.

Starlink app on your phone can tell you (if you have a balcony) if you can see relevant satellites from their little dish.  Expensive

35har1old

gm0 said:

When you see an openreach van nearby fault fixing a cab or in the building.  Charm them and try to find out about the cabinets, infinity, available capacity, which cab serves your building, or can serve it. Some of the engineers are super friendly. And of course some not.  You need good info before trying to push a retailer to push for the right install from openreach via ordering an Infinity (or better) type of service instead of ropey VDSL.  It the system is saying "Nothing better available here".  you may be a cabinet upgrade or a capacity upgrade hostage while BT sort out what they can put where and get permission. When they can be bothered. Which isn't much.  The Openreach engineer can probably tip you off as to the constraint on your cabs and where your cables go.  They shouldn't talk to you. But they sometimes do. Cigarettes and tea. They also know how hard it is to get any useful information beyond the "no" on the checker.

Perhaps DIY 4G/5G broadband if you have strong cells with backhaul.  Can test with your and mates phones on different networks tethering and speedtesting indoor signal.  Or do a dongle and then do a proper one if it looks broadly feasible.  

Our "backup" unbreakable from BT on their mobile network is at least double the VDSL fixed line which is more like 11 down when it is wet.  I was going to do this - partly from the joy of telling BT to do one after 25 years of only getting technology upgrades when they are switching off that technology.  ISDN.  ADSL.  VDSL. Though sadly one of our two good cells is.....theirs.   But now a new entrant has started rolling out FTTP in our particular wilds so the game is afoot.  I can get that without the expense and hassle of a 4G/5G DIY.  Or infinity will suddenly and surprisingly get rolled out to me after all - now that there is competitive threat.

Starlink app on your phone can tell you (if you have a balcony) if you can see relevant satellites from their little dish.  Expensive

Not all fibre connections are made in a cabinet they can be made in underground boxes which have what is called a tree the box may not be the nearest box to the property.
There is no way of making direct contact with Openreach you have to go through your current provider and you may not see a Openreach engineer in you location for months to approach 

iniltous

You may have bought the flat in 2023 but when was it constructed ? , as you call it a ‘new build’ presumably it’s a relatively new building, FTTP has been available to developers ( at little or no cost ) from Openreach for quite a few years , if it doesn’t have FTTP access presumably the developer didn’t want it .
post the return from this checker for your  address , 

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

This will show what products are available, TBH even if FTTP isn’t available FTTC normally is , but it’s possible that the ‘cabinet’ has no spare slots , it will  show as ‘waiting list’  if that’s the case , check the correct part of the checker , it now shows WBC FTTC as unavailable because it’s the product to order is known  as SOGEA , so that’s the part of the checker to look at ( as far as availability) , TBH , post the entire return ( obscure your address first ) .

You can register an interest in FTTP with Openreach , but MDU ( multiple dwelling units ) are not straightforward, with letting agents , management companies, freeholders ,  etc needing to be involved in granting permission, so they are generally not a priority .

noitsnotme

tghe-retford said:

Landlords should give warning that the Internet is not welcome in the houses they rent.

The OP says they purchased the flat, not rented it.  So it’s a leasehold flat and they probably mean freeholder or management company.

No reason why they couldn’t go for a 4G/5G/Starlink option if they own the flat, unless of course it requires attaching an antenna to the outside of the building (which might be allowed anyway).

daveyjp

If the Openreach network in the area has been upgraded to FTTP they will at some point upgrade the service to the building.

The Electronic Communications Code gives Openreach etc rights to enter properties to install and upgrade services so why the building owner is standing in the way is a mystery.

Question123567

iniltous said:

You may have bought the flat in 2023 but when was it constructed ? , as you call it a ‘new build’ presumably it’s a relatively new building, FTTP has been available to developers ( at little or no cost ) from Openreach for quite a few years , if it doesn’t have FTTP access presumably the developer didn’t want it .
post the return from this checker for your  address , 

This will show what products are available, TBH even if FTTP isn’t available FTTC normally is , but it’s possible that the ‘cabinet’ has no spare slots , it will  show as ‘waiting list’  if that’s the case , check the correct part of the checker , it now shows WBC FTTC as unavailable because it’s the product to order is known  as SOGEA , so that’s the part of the checker to look at ( as far as availability) , TBH , post the entire return ( obscure your address first ) .

You can register an interest in FTTP with Openreach , but MDU ( multiple dwelling units ) are not straightforward, with letting agents , management companies, freeholders ,  etc needing to be involved in granting permission, so they are generally not a priority .

Hello,

The property was built between 2022 and 2023 when I took ownership and tbh you assume that they would build in the obvious to protect there investment but I guess corners where cut.

i have run the check you provided and results below. The results are kind of lost on me but if you see anything that might help please let me know.

Question123567

noitsnotme said:

tghe-retford said:

Landlords should give warning that the Internet is not welcome in the houses they rent.

The OP says they purchased the flat, not rented it.  So it’s a leasehold flat and they probably mean freeholder or management company.

No reason why they couldn’t go for a 4G/5G/Starlink option if they own the flat, unless of course it requires attaching an antenna to the outside of the building (which might be allowed anyway).

Correct I own the space the Freeholder owns the land.

I did use a 4g router with a EE phone Sim for a couple of months whilst trying to get up and running. But this was starting to cause issues as the internet signal would drop in and out for some reason but when it worked it was much better than what I currently got.

But I was hopeful that by signing upto a contract with BT this would resolve this issue and it would be a matter of time until the speeds I got improved. However I still get dropouts which I have complained to BT about and get the usual we can’t find any issues and your routed correctly…. Blah blah 

sorry for a bit of a ramble! 

DullGreyGuy

Have you checked with the freeholder/management company/concierge if you have them if the building is prewired for anything else?

In our last place we would have loved to get 5-13mbps but was more like 2-3 mbps but thats because we were copper all the way to the exchange and not connected via a cabinet so nothing OpenReach based was going to be anything better in the near future. 

Was only after ranting at our concierge service that they mentioned the building was pre-wired for Hyperoptic and just needed to pull down the ethernet cable that was in the ceiling above the front door and could be up and running on that in hours. Went from 3 mbps to 1 tbps over night... thankfully got out of the PlusNet contract as they admitted their sales person had been mistake when he said we could upgrade to FTTC when there was space in the cabinet.