Open Reach

Sheffwedboy

 I am reaching out in desperation regarding a longstanding issue we've been facing since moving into our new build house in August. Despite being just 50 metres off the main high street, we have been unable to secure a broadband connection due to Open Reach's stringent requirements. To connect our house to the network, Open Reach is demanding a payment of over £15,000, which is simply beyond our financial means. All the neighbouring houses are connected, yet they seem unwilling to explore any alternative solutions that might help us. We have already escalated the matter to several authorities, including OFCOM, the CEO of Open Reach, the Secretary of State for Media, Culture and Sport, and the Citizens Advice Centre. Unfortunately, after numerous discussions with customer relations representatives, we have received nothing but generic responses, often repeating the same template answers. Our local MP has also attempted to engage with Open Reach on our behalf, but he receives the same response. I feel overwhelmed and frustrated by the lack of progress and the absence of sensible solutions. If anyone has insights or suggestions on what steps we might take next, I would greatly appreciate your help. Thank you for your time, and I look forward to any guidance you can provide.

iniltous

if your property is part of a development rather than a single one off building on a vacant plot , why didn’t the developer liaise with Openreach to arrange connections for the other property and not yours ?, I would  imagine there is more to this story so perhaps you can provide more details…..as far as can any more be done , given the involvement of those you have already tried , then no their is no further authority, in a way , why haven’t you ‘complained’ about not having access to Virgin , or City Fibre , or Netomnia  etc , OR are not a charity that picks up for free things that other networks are not interested in …..FWIW , there is a USO , universal service obligation, that every property should have access to a minimum 10Mb download , but this includes mobile , so if you can get that speed from a mobile 4/5 G connection the USO is satisfied, so if you want a landline type service as well then footing the bill is required, if you don’t have 10Mb mobile , then BT , not Openreach are the USO provider, but the rules are complicated, the total construction costs are payable by the customer minus a contribution from BT , so if the costs are £15000 with the £3400 contribution you still would be required to pay £11600 , but it could be the calculation is actually £18400 so after the £3400 contribution your costs are £15000

littleboo

I think you'll need to provide some more detail. How big is the development? Are the neighbors with service part of the same development? Did the developer engage with Openreach to get service provisioned ?

Sheffwedboy

The development is small, 8 houses when completed. We are the only residents on the site at the moment Planning was prior to Dec 2022 so the developer followed the rules that applied then, albeit foolish not to build the infrastructure alongside other services. The neighbouring older houses are connected from a pole next door to my house. The proposed connection by open reach is by their own admission not a single line for me, but a whole system that will feed the whole development with lines to spare. I have a very long list of emails to Open Reach executives, they want to dig up the neighbours block paved drive to bury the cable, which is not an option! The £15k did include the £3.4k allowance. It seems that Open Reach have an issue with the developer which has affected me. Yes, there is more detail but with Open Reach not being answerable to anyone, they do not have to be reasonable or seemingly interested in their duty to the public.

Keep_pedalling

Afraid you are stuffed. If the developers failed to work with OR to install the infrastructure, then OR will have to spend a large amount of money to serve your property.

We in a similar situation, our bungalow was built in the garden of a house that has access to both OR and Virgin media, but they only put VM in and there is no line of sight from OR, so our drive would need to be dug up for any provider who uses OR. This left us with the option of Virgin or 5G wireless only. 

iniltous

TBH , I think your complaint about Openreach is unfair, as stated , why not complain about Virgin , or  City Fibre ?, Openreach have at least entering into a dialogue, if you contact City Fibre or Virgin or any of the other Alternative Networks they would if they bothered to reply to you ,simply say  ‘not available’  , end of story ….obviously it’s not a great position to be in , and although a developer cannot sell a house that has no mains water , and electricity supply , they can sell one without any communication connections….your solicitor should have pointed this out to you before the sale.
Just to be clear , is your complaint that you want fibre nothing else will do , and that a connection from the close by pole is available but you don’t want that , or is it that the pole that supply’s near neighbours has no spare connections even if that is copper connections ?

400ixl

So, the developer did not put in the infrastructure (ducting) to allow for your house to be connected to the Broadband infrastructure. Therefore to put that infrastructure in OpenReach want to charge to do so.

Not sure what the regulations are, but i don't recall OpenReach being required to connect any residential property that requests it without charge (or only a limited charge).

If you are the 1st of 8 to move in, then the other 7 will have the same issue I assume. Sounds to me like the issue for you is the developer. They need to put the ducting into the development that OpenReach can then use.

Alternatively, what is the 4G/5G signal like. can you use Mobile broadband instead?

Rob5342

It sounds like the problem is with the developer not providing broadband infrastructure, which is ridiculous in 2025. If the other houses haven't got broadband connections either and haven't yet been sold then could you put signs in your windows warning prospective purchasers of the other houses that there is no broadband provision?

littleboo

As others have already mentioned, it sounds as if the developer did not approach OR to get the infrastructure installed. Have you asked the developer? What did the property details say about utilities?

35har1old

littleboo said:

As others have already mentioned, it sounds as if the developer did not approach OR to get the infrastructure installed. Have you asked the developer? What did the property details say about utilities?

The developer usally install all chambers and ducting that Openreach would supply

matelodave

As others have said, OpenReach are quite happy to help developers big or small to install infrastructure at the design and build stage. - https://www.openreach.com/building-developers-and-projects/providing-new-network

So perhaps your beef should be with the developer who could have. but didn't get OR involved, possibly through cost or just lake of foresight.

Interestingly the above weblink suggests that OR will install the infrastructure for 20 houses or more for free, which sort of implies that a smaller development like yours may have to pay, in which case it's possible that your developer decided not to pay for it to be done. 

Have a shufti here - which gives some idea of the process https://www.openreach.com/building-developers-and-projects/fibre-for-developers/registering-your-site#accordion-4d9690a380-item-595c486177

This shows the costs - https://www.openreach.com/content/dam/openreach/openreach-dam-files/new-dam-(not-in-use-yet)/documents/whitepapers/New-Sites-Rate-Card-Dec-24-online.pdf, potentially £2k per house or £9.6k for eight houses, so not a lot in the whole great scheme of things if its done properly.