BT

CrowingCockerel

Moved into our property 3 years ago BT issued us with a full fibre contract they failed to install for 5months leaving us with no phone or broadband after several complaints they advised us it had to be full fibre as they are no longer supplying copper cable connection to our village, after two site visits by Openreach when asked if any costs were involved they all said no, then BT hit us with a suckerpunch saying they want 3k to install the fibre cable our home is a short distance from the main road and we have a fibre cabinet at the bottom of our drive, BT insisted that unless we paid we would have no service provided as always they blamed Openreach, I appealed to Openreach CEO who sent out engineers who reactivated our copperline which I asked to be done months before,
The service has been terrible numerious complaints and visits from Openreach engineers, never been able to solve the issue in Oct 2025, I received a letter address to us saying they were going to install I quote free full fibre service and Openreach would make an appointment to install, we heard nothing, more internet failures meant another complaint to BT I asked when are they going to carry out the full fibre installation they replied that they have no record of this being sent, I scanned a copy to them, they have come back today to say its only a promotional letter and that unless I pay the 3k my service will be cut off in Jan 2027 to me its not a promotional letter it hasnt been sent to any of my neighbours because they have full fibre, and its clearly addressed to me, their attitude is terrible we are elderly I suffer from cancer but through no fault of ours we are going to be cut off from the world because of Government policy 

flaneurs_lobster

How's your mobile signal? Anyone suggested 4G/5G mobile broadband?

visidigi

It doesn't help you with BT, but have you explored the possibility of using Mobile Broadband for your access? If they insist on the £3k for any install you could, subject to signal, be able to get a usable mobile broadband service.

e.g:

https://www.vodafone.co.uk/mobile-broadband-deals
https://www.three.co.uk/broadband/mobile-broadband
https://ee.co.uk/broadband/mobile-broadband

flaneurs_lobster

For less than £3k you could help Elon make it to trillionaire with a Starlink setup.

https://starlink.com/gb/residential

MeteredOut

Can you confirm the letter was addressed to your personally, and not just to your address?

Keep_pedalling

I have the same issue open reach have no line of sight between the nearest pole and our bungalow which has been built on the garden of one of the older houses, although we can’t have copper either. OR quoted £4k to dig up our drive to serve us, so we had to go with Virgin who already had service to the house.

We were already on a BT contract when we moved so they gave us 4G mobile service to keep us going until it became obvious we could not be served by OR.

eskbanker

CrowingCockerel said:

...we are elderly I suffer from cancer but through no fault of ours we are going to be cut off from the world...

Have you investigated whether you can invoke BT's vulnerability policy?

https://www.bt.com/about/digital-impact-and-sustainability/our-approach/our-policies-and-report/bt-vulnerability-policy

CrowingCockerel

MeteredOut said:

Can you confirm the letter was addressed to your personally, and not just to your address?

I can confirm its addressed to me via name and address, Headed free service upgrade, also states  in letter we are giving your broadband free upgrade to Full Fibre then adds 1 Openreach will arrange to install full fibre to your property, 2 Will confirm a date which the work will be carried out 3. Sit back and relax, they cant be serious, misleading us for months

littleboo

Could there be some confusion here? You mention being "cut off" in Jan 2027 - that is the date the withdrawal of legacy PSTN, ie traditional land lines.Digital Voice is the product which supersedes that and FTTP is not required for it. The same date feels like more than a coincidence?

MeteredOut

CrowingCockerel said:

MeteredOut said:

Can you confirm the letter was addressed to your personally, and not just to your address?

I can confirm its addressed to me via name and address, Headed free service upgrade, also states  in letter we are giving your broadband free upgrade to Full Fibre then adds 1 Openreach will arrange to install full fibre to your property, 2 Will confirm a date which the work will be carried out 3. Sit back and relax, they cant be serious, misleading us for months

Cleary it was not a general letter then.

You mention complaints to BT, but have you opened a formal complaint with them? Have you looked into raising a complaint with OfCom?

littleboo

I would guess that any upgrade involving new infrastructure is going to be "subject to survey"