BT / Open reach

[KTB]

What is it with self building that exposes all the loopholes in every organisation, usually to our cost??

 

So, we have an Openreach pole in the corner of our plot, which used to be a farmers field. It is connected via unsightly overhead lines to at least 6 of the direct neighbours, providing their phone and internet services. The village has only fibre to cabinet, copper to houses provision, max connection is about 60-70Mb. My 82 yr old mother has a 1.2 Gb full fibre connection in a local town (that's like handing a 2 yr old the keys to an F35 lightning), so 70Mb isn't what I call a particularly desirable service.

 

We applied to BT to connect our new build and have been told they are unable to do so but "EE may be able to connect you to a basic 10Mb service" WTAF?

 

So, we registered a new plot with Openreach (Ridiculously convoluted process designed only for developers undertaking housing estates) and put in all our details. They came back saying we can have a fibre to premises connection (we can't) via an overhead line from the pole (which we don't want - We want it ducted) for - wait for it - £5500 !!! What a joke.

 

So, a couple of things. 1. Who do I contact to charge them for their pole in my garden and how do I use that as leverage to get a reasonable priced, ducted connection? 

Edited May 11, 2023 by KTB

[JohnMo]

11 minutes ago, KTB said:

1. Who do I contact to charge them for their pole in my garden

If it's already there, you will not get anything, so don't hold your breath on that one. Any money I believe would go to the original land owner and never to you.

 

I contacted BT, they contacted openreach and they provided free of charge the cable to put along the road from the pole to house circa 100m for own trench.  However due to the super slow rates, and no fibre anytime soon, I just do it all via a 4G modem. Works fine, no connection fee, sim card on unlimited data, sorted.

[MikeSharp01]

26 minutes ago, KTB said:

So, a couple of things. 1. Who do I contact to charge them for their pole in my garden and how do I use that as leverage to get a reasonable priced, ducted connection? 

You should have a wayleave for that pole, if not then a local law firm should be able to sort that if it is now on your land. You will then have the contact details. If you were then to revoke the way leave then they have to move the pole this may be some leverage. I suspect that the £5500 includes running the fibre from the local cabinet, which they are obliged to do for a new development as I believe HMG insists. If you crack that one then your neighbour's will piggy back off it, as they will run a multifibre to the pole, and they may feel like helping you pay. Long shots all of it.

[JohnMo]

From openreach website

 

Usually a wayleave is an ongoing agreement without an end date. So it’ll continue to apply to the apparatus it covers, even if the owner of the land or property changes.

[IanR]

29 minutes ago, KTB said:

We applied to BT to connect our new build and have been told they are unable to do so but "EE may be able to connect you to a basic 10Mb service" WTAF?

 

Unfortunately 10Mb/s for less than £45/month is the statutory minimum service that has to be offered.

 

31 minutes ago, KTB said:

so 70Mb isn't what I call a particularly desirable service.

 

That's your best hope for a "standard connection fee" connection, until OR upgrade the area to FTTP.

 

32 minutes ago, KTB said:

via an overhead line from the pole (which we don't want - We want it ducted 

 

You can have the FTTC connection ducted if you dig the trench, put in the free supply ducting and free supply cable, for OR to connect up.

 

Once that's in place, when OR put FTTP along the poles, you'll then get FTTP connected through the same ducts for a standard connection charge. Just remember to leave a pull chord in eth duct for them to pull the fibre through when it arrives.

[The Reverend]

Check for any covenants on your deeds, it should say.

Then contact open reach wayleave department.

https://www.openreach.com/help-and-support/obtaining-wayleaves/wayleave-address-change-request

They wanted 10K to move a pole but agreed to do it for free if I had it moved to another spot on our plot. Once house is built I will see how obtrusive it is and then review if it needs relocating.

 

 

[Bramco]

27 minutes ago, JohnMo said:

I contacted BT, they contacted openreach and they provided free of charge the cable to put along the road from the pole to house circa 100m for own trench.  However due to the super slow rates, and no fibre anytime soon, I just do it all via a 4G modem. Works fine, no connection fee, sim card on unlimited data, sorted.

 

Same here - we left a duct over a culvert but didn't bother digging the trenches - eventually dumped the cable and manholes on a neighbour who is just starting building.

 

4G modems are less than £150 we use a GL-X750 Spitz (excellent) - look it up on Amazon. EE seem to have better download speeds than 3.  Why not try this to see if it is enough before starting your trenches.    If you want to test the signal from 3 and ee, then buy a £10 payg data sim and check the signal with an app - try Mastdata or Cellmapper.  And you need to walk round the site to see where the best spots are.

 

Simon

[JohnMo]

28 minutes ago, Bramco said:

EE seem to have better download speeds than 3.

I dumped 3 and wife dumping EE, our best signal download is Vodafone, so depends on site

[KTB]

32 minutes ago, Bramco said:

4G modems are less than £150 we use a GL-X750 Spitz (excellent) - look it up on Amazon. EE seem to have better download speeds than 3.  Why not try this to see if it is enough before starting your trenches.    If you want to test the signal from 3 and ee, then buy a £10 payg data sim and check the signal with an app - try Mastdata or Cellmapper.  And you need to walk round the site to see where the best spots are.

 

Simon

The problem we have is that we are in the middle of the countryside in a small village. We've been living in a static on site, using a 4G dongle but it frequently drops to 3G or even completely. The signal just isn't reliable enough to run a modern house or get any kind of bandwidth from.

[IanR]

2 hours ago, KTB said:

The problem we have is that we are in the middle of the countryside in a small village. 

 

I'm rural also, but got lucky that I have line of sight to a Three mast 1km away, so get a 70Mb/s - 90Mb/s Download, although it does need rebooting every so often as it will attach to a mast further away with lower speeds. At £14/month, unlimited DL I can't complain too much.

 

I found the mast and who owned it on CellMapper. It's worth a look just in case there's one you don't know about. You do have to iterate through each provider to find what masts are local.

 

www.cellmapper.net

Edited May 11, 2023 by IanR

[Temp]

6 hours ago, KTB said:

They came back saying we can have a fibre to premises connection (we can't) via an overhead line from the pole (which we don't want - We want it ducted) for - wait for it - £5500 !!! What a joke.

 

How far is it from your house to the pole? Do they want to put another pole in?  I think what I would do is similar to what we did....

 

Ask them to quote for just a phone line (overhead).  Before they send engineers out to install it, run your own cable in a duct to the bottom of the pole with enough coiled up to reach the top and a few yards spare. When the engineers arrive show them your coil of wire and ask them if they can use that.  

 

In our case they had to make changes to the wires from the top of the pole to the nearest cabinet. Once they did that they forgot to send someone to actually install our line. When the Engineers finally did come to do that they were more than happy to just run our wire up the pole rather than overhead to the house.

 

I would put both BT cable and a 3/8" poly draw rope in the duct. 

 

https://www.powerandcables.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Cable-Laying-A-Cable-Duct-Laying-Guide-From-BT-Openreach.pdf

 

There are various numbers for the BT cable. I think CW1128 (4 twisted pair) is the basic outdoor cable for use in ducts or CW1128/1198 is armoured.

 

 

[Bramco]

19 hours ago, IanR said:

I'm rural also, but got lucky that I have line of sight to a Three mast 1km away, so get a 70Mb/s - 90Mb/s Download, although it does need rebooting every so often as it will attach to a mast further away with lower speeds. At £14/month, unlimited DL I can't complain too much.

 

I found the mast and who owned it on CellMapper. It's worth a look just in case there's one you don't know about. You do have to iterate through each provider to find what masts are local.

 

www.cellmapper.net

 

+1       I could have written that reply myself.

[Kelvin]

If you can justify the cost ditch BT and go Starlink. Fast and reliable. I’ve put some ducting in case they ever get to us but unlikely. 

[PaulD]

Another vote for Starlink, have you looked into it ?

Edited May 12, 2023 by PaulD