Am I really not able to change provider?

iniltous

If what you mean is that you are on FTTC ( fibre to the cabinet ) with Onestream , and because the FTTC ‘cabinet’ is full ( no spare ports available ) you can’t switch to FTTC from someone else , that’s unfortunate but it can happen, you can check if the cabinet is full yourself here 

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

The column for SoGEA ( FTTC without PSTN telephone ) will show available or waiting list , if waiting list then the cabinet is full .

FWIW , you do have  the option to take slower ADSL from whoever you want  , that way once your Onestream   service is  ceased , that Openreach FTTC port is now spare in the cabinet , and your new provider simply ‘watches’ for this to happen and then migrates you from ADSL to FTTC , so potentially only a few days on the slower service, but obviously someone else may snap up that now spare port and your choice if ISP may dictate if they are willing to do thus for you .
Virgin have nothing to do with Openreach FTTC cabinets , they don’t use them .

35har1old

400ixl said:

I assume you are on an exchange which is provided by OpenReach?

If your exchange or street box are full then you can face the issue you have as it will show as such to the ISPs, even though what you want to do is just switch an existing connection.

Typically you can only keep checking daily as there may be capacity come free (people move or cancel) or find an ISP who can work with the waitlist to proactively inform you when availability becomes free.

I was thinking of changing supplier went into a Vodafone shop  was told the changeover would be just a paper excerise would require no physical change

iniltous

Not sure what this comment ‘proves’ , if the cabinet is full and the OP already has FTTC from Onestream , it’s curious that more than one alternative ISP has already said to the OP they can’t provide FTTC service , surely if what that VF shop worker said  is correct that no physical change are made , doesn’t that suggest the status of the FTTC cabinet is irrelevant for existing FTTC customer and a migration can’t never be denied to an existing FTTC customer, if that’s the case why has the OP been told ‘sorry’  a couple of times ? If the VF sales assistant and Openreach process expert has said migration is just a paper exercise , then if follows that an existing customer just takes their existing FTTC port with them to the new provider , so in this case they would simply reallocate it from Onestream to someone else , but that’s not has happened , and although  we don’t know if the cabinet is waiting list or not , but as stated that’s irrelevant according to the VF sales assistant, they why was the OP told the can’t have FTTC the evidence doesn’t support what the VF sales assistant said.

35har1old

iniltous said:

Not sure what this comment ‘proves’ , if the cabinet is full and the OP already has FTTC from Onestream , and a VF shop worker says is a expert in Openreach processes ,   it’s curious that more than one alternative ISP has said to the OP they can’t provide FTTC service , surely if that VF shop worker  said that no physical change are made , doesn’t that suggest the status of the FTTC cabinet is irrelevant for existing FTTC customers ?.
Why has the OP been told ‘sorry’  ? if it’s a paper exercise to take their existing FTTC port and simply reallocate it from Onestream to someone else …weird that the  the evidence doesn’t support what the sales assistant said , could it be slightly more complex than what  the VF shop worker implied ?

Perphaps different rules apply in NI

400ixl

35har1old said:

400ixl said:

I assume you are on an exchange which is provided by OpenReach?

If your exchange or street box are full then you can face the issue you have as it will show as such to the ISPs, even though what you want to do is just switch an existing connection.

Typically you can only keep checking daily as there may be capacity come free (people move or cancel) or find an ISP who can work with the waitlist to proactively inform you when availability becomes free.

I was thinking of changing supplier went into a Vodafone shop  was told the changeover would be just a paper excerise would require no physical change

Where did I say it was a hardware change?

Not sure how changing something on a piece of paper will change anything, or a shop assistant predominantly selling mobile phones would know how the OpenReach IT systems work either. There are multiple systems to be changed, one of which requires a port status of not full. Its the way the current systems work unfortunately.

M25

Is there a good 4G or 5G signal? You could consider a router which can work incredibly well.

That's about all you can do except keep checking weekly to see if there's someone who can supply service.

35har1old

400ixl said:

35har1old said:

400ixl said:

I assume you are on an exchange which is provided by OpenReach?

If your exchange or street box are full then you can face the issue you have as it will show as such to the ISPs, even though what you want to do is just switch an existing connection.

Typically you can only keep checking daily as there may be capacity come free (people move or cancel) or find an ISP who can work with the waitlist to proactively inform you when availability becomes free.

I was thinking of changing supplier went into a Vodafone shop  was told the changeover would be just a paper excerise would require no physical change

Where did I say it was a hardware change?

Not sure how changing something on a piece of paper will change anything, or a shop assistant predominantly selling mobile phones would know how the OpenReach IT systems work either. There are multiple systems to be changed, one of which requires a port status of not full. Its the way the current systems work unfortunately.

So where do you check for a provider offering a supply to your premises 

35har1old

JenniWren10 said:

We are getting to the end of our broadband contract and contacted a new provider. We’re told there’s no capacity in our area so they can’t allow us to switch to them! We’ve tried a couple of others who seem to back this up. 

Does that mean we’ve no choice but to negotiate a new contract with current supplier or otherwise pay whatever rate it reverts to at the end? Surely that’s not fair

Go to OFCOM site Find Mobile/Broadband availability may bring up Openreach Virgin
Click Openreach it will state that our broadband network is 'open' so you are never tied to one  service provider
Open Stream may be connected via  Openreach network