I have a very frustrating installation problem I’d like advice on – 5 months ago I ordered FTTH. Finally last week the internal install was completed, but for some reason Openreach cancelled the order the same day (no one can explain why). The service was up and almost running, just the ONT needed registering but that couldn’t be done due to cancellation.

Now BT are trying to book me an external install and start the pricess again, which is a month out for that and they’ll want another month to pointlessly send round another internal installer after that. Which will mean a total of 7 months install, and I move in this week 🙁 so I don’t want to wait 2 more months.

Is there anyway to sidestep these? It’s all ready to go just need the onl live again and the ont registered.

Thanks!

My ISP – andrews and arnolds – pride themselves on being able to shout at bt/openreach enough to get them to do the work they should be doing. If you’re not tied to any particular ISP it might be worth asking if they can take over the install and beat openreach with a stick?

Welcome to the world of Openreach. By far the most frustrating and infuriating company I’ve dealt with.

“Openreach, where incompetence is a way of life.”

Who have you spoken to at BT? They have a dedicated FTTP (aka FTTH) team that have always been excellent for me.

I can’t find the number right now but a quick google suggests its 0800 587 4787

Welcome to the world of Openreach. By far the most frustrating and infuriating company I’ve dealt with.

“Openreach, where incompetence is a way of life.”

Just wait till you have to use them as a final mile provider with Verizon.

I have no words.

I find PlusNet are pretty good at hitting Openreach with a stick also. Best when done through their forums, not by going through support. The support guys in there are really helpful and are on the case.

I remember trying to get internet through BT a couple of years back, day of the install the Engineer knocked on the door to tell me some infrastructure changes were needed (the telegraph pole over the road was overloaded).

Spoke with BT who said the Openreach guy would be along that afternoon to sort it.

He turned up that afternoon, parked up, got out his van and sparked up a cigarette. Two kicks of the telegraph pole later and he was on his way…

Being fibre to the home though its a very limited number of ISPs. To be fair to BT, although its taken 5 months thats not actually so bad, they’ve cut down trees, installed alot of new kit between the box and my house, even had traffic lights on the main road to do work on the poles… all in the name of getting me better internet, at their cost. The independents (ok plusnet isnt independent) generally pass on those costs, so I would have had a bill of probably £5-10k based on my research!

Its just annoying Im so close yet back to square 1.

Openreach are not very helpful at times, at Work we are trying to get a Fibre line taken into a meeting room.

The Fibre line terminates in a ceiling outside the room and the route is up to them indoors its not a pretty area it doesn’t matter if its wiggly surface wiring.

They want £1883 !!! wtf

Materials are £150 they want the rest for clipping a cable to a wall.

There is no place in hell hot enough for BT/Openreach

Well took them over a month to find my CAB when doing the FTTC migration. The CAB is outside the main post office and has its number wtitten on it in large yellow numbers. I even sent them a picture and offered to take the engineer to it. Not that it helped it took over 5 visits before they found it.

Two kicks of the telegraph pole later

But did that fix it?

^^ the pole maybe decayed(have a red “D”) tag on it, unable to climb such poles, or add any new wires to them.

One of my “favourites” was when they turned up to install a new circuit and the council told them to stop, get the right permit and come back in 12 weeks….

Whilst we are on the subject, anyone know of a way to force them to put FTTC in our street, when it’s in all the surrounding streets and basicaly the rest of the city?

Can’t you “register interest” on the website?

Yes, and that achieves precisely nothing.

Dunno, if there’s an amount of interest in the area it’d encourage them to provision I’d have thought?

We had someone come round encouraging us to register interest. I already have of course, I do it every 6 months or so.

Seems to be that the developers didn’t arrange for it to be done, and because every other street is enabled and there’s only a few hundred people, they don’t consider it worth their while.

I find PlusNet are pretty good at hitting Openreach with a stick also. Best when done through their forums, not by going through support. The support guys in there are really helpful and are on the case.

my experience of plusnet has not been so good – and if you do use them be aware all their support staff can see your password in clear text. Nobody has ever explained why. It’s bad practice for anyone but an ISP should know better…

I’ve worked closely with openreach guys,poor sods.
Sent to the wrong cabs time after time,sent to poles with axe cuts in them when everyone knows no one climb it so it needs a picker.
Months just to get a cab swapped from one Number to another after what looked like a slip of a finger on a keyboard.
But the best was cutting off a business because the guy cancelled his home Bb (both with bt)his only mistake was to call from his business number.

^^ the pole maybe decayed(have a red “D”) tag on it, unable to climb such poles, or add any new wires to them

Fair point, from memory he mentioned something about 7 junctions.

There followed about a months worth of promises and unkept appointments before I went back to VM.

It still isn’t changed but guess that could mean no-one else has bothered ordering it…