FTTP Fibre to the Premises, BT & Openreach

Jimthelob

We currently are with BT for our Broadband and Phone(landline).
We have been recently getting letters from BT/EE about the move to Digital voice.
I had been in contact with them previously and discussed this with them.
They want me to commit to switch to full fibre before an Openreach surveyor can come out and check what we need done.
The current phone comes into our home through underground ducting and I would like the new fibre to come through the same route if possible. I have seen some of the installations to homes around me which entails digging up gardens and/or driveways.
Surely the Surveyor should be coming out first and tell me what route is possible before I am made to commit and then have to cancel after.

mebu60

You don't need full fibre for digital voice. VOIP will work over your existing broadband, you will just plug the phone into your router instead of the wall socket. 

If you want full fibre for other reasons that's a different issue.

35har1old

Jimthelob said:

We currently are with BT for our Broadband and Phone(landline).
We have been recently getting letters from BT/EE about the move to Digital voice.
I had been in contact with them previously and discussed this with them.
They want me to commit to switch to full fibre before an Openreach surveyor can come out and check what we need done.
The current phone comes into our home through underground ducting and I would like the new fibre to come through the same route if possible. I have seen some of the installations to homes around me which entails digging up gardens and/or driveways.
Surely the Surveyor should be coming out first and tell me what route is possible before I am made to commit and then have to cancel after.

Even if they use the same duct there is no guarantee that there would be no excavation. 
No site visit prior to day of installation likely only a single person on day of installation may have to call additional people in if he encounters a problem. 
Do you have a socket available at the current location ?

Jimthelob

I have the original telephone socket that the copper phone line and broadband come in on. It’s in approximately the centre of my house in the hallway at the bottom of the stairs. I have no box on the outside walls of my home. 

Anyway, I had a further development, I started to get text messages to my mobile and e-mails from both BT and Openreach with a date confirming when the Full fibre and digital voice would be installed, 17th January 2025, something I had not requested. I promptly cancelled through links in the emails and text messages. I did get into an online chat with a fellow human being at BT who assisted me cancelling at the BT end. They informed me that I could always have cancelled which I assumed they meant on the day of installation 🤷🏻‍♂️. They even offered to re-instate the 17th Jan date. It appears to be a which comes first thing. 🐓 or 🥚 . They want me to commit to full fibre installation before they can tell me which way the cable will come into my house. I want to know before committing. 

It’s a bit of a pain, but I believe I will have to give in at some point, as there is a date sometime in the next couple of years when fibre broadband is being rolled out to everyone.