Why is so difficult get Full Fibre living in a flat in London (Putney)?

notitle

Hi there.

I've been trying for 4 months to get full fibre into my building. I've contacted the managed building company so they can reach Openreach and start the process. It is taking forever. Openreach seems to be the only solution we have in my area. We have heard nothing since 30th July, when they said they would be in touch when they were ready to go ahead.

It's stupid to pay more for less and frustrating.

flaneurs_lobster

We can only speculate, especially as we don't know if you live in a 2 flat conversion or a 22 storey tower block.

It's far more complicated getting a shared building cabled up than it is running a fibre from a pole into a single dwelling, and therefore far more expensive.

Openreach handle the infrastructure but the contracts (and therefore any money to be made) is with the ISPs.

You might be better getting a group of residents to collectively express interest to one of the ISPs, maybe they might be able to redirect the Openreach effort.

notitle

I live in a 12-flat building. The building next door has Openreach installed. Same as the majority of the street.

It's unbelievable that in London in 2026 there is no full fibre all over. Currently, we are paying far more for far less.

iniltous

MDU ( multiple dwelling units, AKA , flats or apartments) are a different build process compared to SDU (single dwelling units ) for pretty obvious reasons , permissions…..own a house , it will generally have a direct access to the public road/footpath where Openreach (and other network providers) have automatic rights and obligations to place their equipment without seeking extra permission, and obviously the person ordering service, by doing that , grants permission for the network equipment to be placed in or on their property, with MDU , the occupant of a unit within the MDU cannot grant permission for access to the grounds or common areas within the MDU , plus the network operator would prefer to ‘block wire’ the entire MDU then offer service , rather than run single services from the footpath each time an individual unit orders service, which is clearly more expensive and inefficient, plus some MDU freeholders , managing agents etc , are in cahoots with a particular network provider so shun any attempt from anyone else regarding installation of network, even if by having a preferred provider (large amounts of cash offered as incentives) means the individuals within the MDU have to wait longer than necessary for FTTP .

MyRealNameToo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82107719#Comment_82107719

Where we are, in SE london, many blocks of flats built before the 1990s arent connected to a green cabinet but are copper all the way to the exchange so not only is there no option for full fibre there is no option for fibre to the cabinet (as your line doesnt go to a cabinet) and ADSL was about 2-3Mbps speeds

Thankfully the building we were in that was like was pre-wired for Hyperoptic so it was just a case of plugging in an ethernet cable and it worked.

Hyperoptic do cover Putney but unlike openreach the building owners have to have the whole building wired up first and a single unit cannot ask for it to be installed

iniltous

Hyperoptic do cover Putney but unlike openreach the building owners have to have the whole building wired up first and a single unit cannot ask for it to be installed

Not sure what this means, Openreach , do prewire some MDU like this ( all units prefitted with access points outside each unit within the MDU and only then declare the entire MDU ready for service, ) so when the building is ready for service, only a small installation from the point outside the front door of the unit to inside the unit is required, not every MDU is the same though, there are a few ways MDU can be treated , primarily based on the size of the MDU , but there are less MDU ‘staff’ compared to those that build out the SDU network so just because the building owner is happy to proceed doesn’t mean that OR can turn up and start immediately, the building has to be inserted into the schedule, the OP says nothing has been heard since July 30th , it can take more than 3 weeks to arrange the build, it’s a little unrealistic to expect service in such a short space of time .

Neil49

Given that you are in London I would look at the possibility of using a 5g router. You can get up to 150Mb with a decent signal.

notitle

I know I probably have to wait for much longer. I just think it's unbelievable that in 2026 there is no full fibre in the whole of London. Also, it's extremely unfair that I have to pay the same money than 900mb my neighbour has for 50mb

notitle

Hyperoptic doesn't do my building yet. The other option was Community Fibre, but they don't do new installations at the moment

notitle

I've written an email to my local MP (Putney) telling her the problem, not only for my building, but for half of the street, in fact. She emailed me back yesterday, and theoretically she has written to Openreach.

JSmithy45AD

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82108823#Comment_82108823

82% to 89% of Greater London has access to Full Fibre (FTTP) broadband. Inner London coverage sits at roughly 66.7% so I don't know where you get that idea.