New broadband connection deemed non-uso

[Thorfun]

greetings. long story short, we've had a survey by Openreach for a new connection and the CP (communications provider) have told me that there are excess charges to pay. I phoned Openreach New Sites team to query the costs and I was told that my survey was marked non-USO and therefore doesn't qualify for the £3400 of costs covered by OR.

 

I am looking to phone OR again next week to get some clarification as I'm wondering if it's because they assume that this is a second line as the old bungalow used to have a line. but I've done quite a bit of reading and it also seems that our new build probably doesn't qualify for USO as we can get 4G here and so can hit the 10Mbps/1Mbps download/upload targets that have been set as a qualification target. so I probably don't have much of a leg to stand on

 

Anyone had any success arguing with OR about the charges? just trying to get some ammunition together before I make the call and then capitulate and pay the excess charges as I don't want to be beholden to Starlink or a rubbish 30Mbps 4G connection for the rest of my life in this house.

[JohnMo]

  On 02/02/2025 at 18:04, Thorfun said:

rubbish 30Mbps 4G

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Not exactly rubbish - by any stretch. Can't get anything like that here. You may need a little perspective or dip your hand in your pockets.

[Thorfun]

  On 02/02/2025 at 18:55, JohnMo said:

Not exactly rubbish - by any stretch. Can't get anything like that here. You may need a little perspective or dip your hand in your pockets.

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I can’t have reliable video calls when wfh. As far as I’m concerned it’s not fast enough. But obviously everyone has different needs. 

[elite]

30Mbps should be good enough for video calls, but of course depends on how you're connecting and building construction etc. I know I would prefer a wired connection.

 

RE openreach, make sure they understand that it isn't a new site and there is presumably a pair on the pole that served the bungalow (unless someone else is now using them of course). 

 

Have you checked altnets? Giganet and CityFibre might be in your neck of the woods

[Thorfun]

  On 02/02/2025 at 19:36, elite said:

30Mbps should be good enough for video calls, but of course depends on how you're connecting and building construction etc. I know I would prefer a wired connection.

 

RE openreach, make sure they understand that it isn't a new site and there is presumably a pair on the pole that served the bungalow (unless someone else is now using them of course). 

 

Have you checked altnets? Giganet and CityFibre might be in your neck of the woods

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No Giganet or CityFibre or Virgin

 

we need a new pole as I don’t want the cable attached to the house.
 

(Also don’t want an aerial attached to the house to boost 4G)
 

I was told back in 2020 when NewSites first came and surveyed that we could get a new pole for free. I guess USO has changed things. 

[Chanmenie]

  On 02/02/2025 at 18:04, Thorfun said:

 

Anyone had any success arguing with OR about the charges? just trying to get some ammunition together before I make the call and then capitulate and pay the excess charges as I don't want to be beholden to Starlink or a rubbish 30Mbps 4G connection for the rest of my life in this house.

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Have you tested the 4G speed ?

I have recently completed a 4G set up and consistently get more than 120 Mbps 

I got an unlimited data sim on EE for £30 a month 

[Thorfun]

  On 02/02/2025 at 20:29, Chanmenie said:

Have you tested the 4G speed ?

I have recently completed a 4G set up and consistently get more than 120 Mbps 

I got an unlimited data sim on EE for £30 a month 

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Yep. Only relatively decent signal here is Vodafone and last speed test was 30Mbps download and 2Mbps upload

[Thorfun]

 

just ran this over WiFi. Think I might send it to OR as evidence we barely scrape USO!!

[joth]

  On 02/02/2025 at 18:04, Thorfun said:

I've done quite a bit of reading and it also seems that our new build probably doesn't qualify for USO as we can get 4G here and so can hit the 10Mbps/1Mbps download/upload targets that have been set as a qualification target. so I probably don't have much of a leg to stand on

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This just BS policy though isn't it. All it takes is a Nova of teenagers to park underneath the mast and your 10Mbit will drop to 10Kbps. And mobile standards and operators change so fast that having some coverage this year means nothing about what you'll have next year. 

Honestly you can install Starlink anywhere in the country (or out at sea) and get over 10x these speeds anyway. So wired USO is obsolete concept if wireless can satisfy it. 

 

(I'm just grumpy at OR as they won't install FTTP for our house for less than £8k despite being in the middle of a town and every other street having it. Our street has underground GPO copper so apparently not worth their effort)

Edited February 2 by joth

[ProDave]

  On 02/02/2025 at 21:45, joth said:

(I'm just grumpy at OR as they won't install FTTP for our house for less than £8k despite being in the middle of a town and every other street having it. Our street has underground GPO copper so apparently not worth their effort)

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I share your disdain with anything OR or BT related.  Speaking as someone where BT would not even install FTTC where we are.  We know Fibre passed the top of our road, and a cabinet there with a short run of copper to the houses would have given a pretty good speed.  But they just would not and had no plan to do so.

 

4G / 5G is too weak and slow to offer a solution here either.

 

Our saviour was a private wireless network installed by a private company now delivering us 100MB up and down, and if something goes wrong, a local office to phone where you nearly always speak to the same person.

 

FTTP would be all well, but we built a new house 5 years ago and I really don't want to dig up the garden again and find a non intrusive way to get another cable into the house, even if it was ever offered to us.

 

Their stubbornness means there are only a handful of people using OR supplied wired connections in the village now, almost overnight their entire network has been obsoleted.  I really can't see them offering us any decent new wired fibre connection any time soon. 

 

 

[Thorfun]

  On 02/02/2025 at 21:45, joth said:

This just BS policy though isn't it. All it takes is a Nova of teenagers to park underneath the mast and your 10Mbit will drop to 10Kbps. And mobile standards and operators change so fast that having some coverage this year means nothing about what you'll have next year. 

Honestly you can install Starlink anywhere in the country (or out at sea) and get over 10x these speeds anyway. So wired USO is obsolete concept if wireless can satisfy it. 

 

(I'm just grumpy at OR as they won't install FTTP for our house for less than £8k despite being in the middle of a town and every other street having it. Our street has underground GPO copper so apparently not worth their effort)

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I’ve thought about Starlink but at £75/month it is expensive and after 2.5 years of Starlink we’d have paid off the OR bill. So it doesn’t make financial sense. 
 

if we could rely on 4G then that would/could be an option but we can’t so it isn’t!

 

 just going to have to foot the bill I guess but I’ll try and negotiate with OR first. 

[Onoff]

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-12640683/How-BT-set-pocket-1bn-copper-wire-landlines-switch-digital-phones.html