Openreach new fibre connection

[Kelvin]

On 08/08/2025 at 08:17, Roger440 said:

 

I ruled out starlink as its not supported. If you have any issues (which i would as im dumb with this kind of stuff) theres no one you can contact.

 

But i could get 4G so didnt have to overcome that hurdle.

 

 

That’s not true. Their support is ticket based via the app. It’s not the quickest process but it works. I had a problem when we moved the Starlink dish from the rental to the house (it was randomly disconnecting) they sent me a new cable FOC (which I knew wasn’t the problem but they have a process) and then sent a completely knew system (router, dish, mount, and cables) This ended up being also FOC. While waiting on that to arrive it started working reliably again but they still sent the replacement and told me to keep it just in case. It really is very straightforward to set up and use and quite used friendly. 
 

We’ve had it for almost three years and that is the only problem we’ve had with it. The issue it can have is it can lose connection in very heavy rain (like torrential) and I expect it will struggle in heavy snowfall. Neither happens often though. 
 

Regards OR. Interestingly out of nowhere their subcontractor has been all over our area laying ducting and pulling fibre cable. We now have it relatively nearby and the OR status has changed from no plans to we are building in your area a will update you soon. Not expecting anything to happen anytime soon but it’s gone from never to possibly. I extended a duct to the roadside of the house just in case and can take that out to the boundary do they care what type of duct it is though? It’s smooth wall flexible electric cable ducting. I could also possibly get it to the garage via a pole. 

 

Edited August 31 by Kelvin

[Kelvin]

If the external junction box for the ONT has to go on an outside wall that rules it out going on the house as I’m not having them drill through my wall. Therefore bringing it into the garage will be my best option. However OR are an awful company to deal with so I shan’t be holding my breath that any of this will happen anytime soon. 

Edited August 31 by Kelvin

[Roger440]

6 minutes ago, Kelvin said:

That’s not true. Their support is ticket based via the app. It’s not the quickest process but it works. I had a problem when we moved the Starlink dish from the rental to the house (it was randomly disconnecting) they sent me a new cable FOC (which I knew wasn’t the problem but they have a process) and then sent a completely knew system (router, dish, mount, and cables) This ended up being also FOC. While waiting on that to arrive it started working reliably again but they still sent the replacement and told me to keep it just in case. It really is very straightforward to set up and use and quite used friendly. 
 

We’ve had it for almost three years and that is the only problem we’ve had with it. The issue it can have is it can lose connection in very heavy rain (like torrential) and I expect it will struggle in heavy snowfall. Neither happens often though. 
 

Regards OR. Interestingly out of nowhere their subcontractor has been all over our area laying ducting and pulling fibre cable. We now have it relatively nearby and the OR status has changed from no plans to we are building in your area a will update you soon. Not expecting anything to happen anytime soon but it’s gone from never to possibly. I extended a duct to the roadside of the house just in case and can take that out to the boundary do they care what type of duct it is though? It’s smooth wall flexible electric cable ducting. I could also possibly get it to the garage via a pole. 

 

 

I maybe should have clarified, theres no real person you can contact in the event of an issue.

 

If support is via an app, im not interested. That not support.

 

Given me and technology, having support is important for when the inevitable problems happen. Other peoples idea of straight forward and easy to use often isnt mine.

 

Interestingly, OR have just been installing fibre here after saying they wouldnt!. However, id rather poke a sharp stick in my eyes that have to deal with them. Unless my 4G falls over permanently for some reason, ill stick with that. Its significantly cheaper too.

[Kelvin]

Loads of people round us have Starlink. None of them have any technical knowledge and a few asked me if I could install it for them. I explained that it’s so easy that they’d be more than capable of doing it themselves and all bar one managed it. The one that didn’t had a slightly more complex network setup and requirement so I did all that for him. It is very easy to install, the support is pretty good just a little slow and it’s also surprisingly reliable. It’s also fast and has gotten faster for us over the last three years particularly latency. 

[Bornagain]

6 minutes ago, Kelvin said:

If the external junction box for the ONT has to go on an outside wall that rules it out going on the house as I’m not having them drill through my wall. Therefore bringing it into the garage will be my best option. However OR are an awful company to deal with so I shan’t be holding my breath that any of this will happen anytime soon. 

Without wishing to bore anybody, there were a number of issues with our fibre install that meant that OR staff were not allowed to preform a lot of the work due to their company H&S procedures, they were more than happy for me to do everything under their direct supervision, the only thing that they did was make up the fibre joint and fix the internal box of tricks to the wall.

 

I found the OR staff to be friendly and flexible and keen to get on with the task.

 

They were extremely cautious when they turned up to do our install so I rather suspect that they were expecting some kind of audit - anybody who has worked for a big business has been in their position.

 

[Kelvin]

The technicians that do the work are generally always fine. It’s the bureaucracy within the organisation that is painful to deal with. 

[Alan Ambrose]

Yeah, agree with that.

 

This was my last email conversation with 'the CEO's email' (presumably he actually uses a different address):

 

Hi Clive,

 

Thanks for responding. I’ve taken a couple of days to mull over how to best describe the problem. Firstly, Mxxx Cxxxxx is doing a sterling job advocating for Openreach. Unfortunately, he ignores all my arguments.

 

I think there are two problems, one policy related and one cultural:

 

The policy problem is that Openreach has no specific policies for self-builders – it forces them through the developer mangle. One developer policy says: “we install only into dwellings and also only when they’re completed”. I’m sure that suits both the big developers and Openreach fine. But it means that Openreach concludes, for policy reasons, that it’ll make me wait for 18 months to get FTTP installed when I can usefully use it now.

 

The cultural problem is that Openreach is a modern aggressive monopoly. So, unlike Essex & Suffolk Water and UK Power Networks which are comfortable connecting into my permanent kiosks and providing a service while I’m building, Openreach is happy to refuse for policy reasons even when I can get great benefit from the service now. What advantage does that refusal bring Openreach? The part of UK Power Networks that I’m dealing with dates from 1948 and Essex & Suffolk Water from 1973, so although they are monopolies too, they have a less aggressive, more amenable stance. I wonder whether Openreach might consider being more agreeable to its prospective new customers.

 

So, I would like to see a little consideration both in policy and tone for the needs of self-builders. In particular, to enable connections into permanent kiosks early in the build like we do with power and water. I would be more than happy to be a volunteer. BTW the address details are yyyyyy yyyyyyy.

 

Kind Regards, Alan Ambrose

 

This was the reply from the 'Complaints':

 

Hello Alan, 

 

My name is Mxxx Lxxx, I work within our Openreach's Executive Escalations And Complaints Team, I work within Myyy's team. I'm just picking this up as Myyy is out of the office this week, I appreciate you taking time to email Clive.

 

I've taken a look over your email below and the case and I really appreciate your feedback. Managing newsite escalations as part of what our team does within Openreach and we work closely with the newsite reception team. I understand there is currently some changes taking place within the newsite reception team to hopefully improve the overall journey.

 

Your feedback has been noted, and we will take this on board. The challenge with our full fibre network compared to other utility providers is that there is less of a presence of full fibre across the UK compared to water mains, gas mains and other utilities, most livable homes in the UK have access to running water, however, not all homes in the UK have access to full fibre broadband. In short, in a lot of instances we're having to install new fibre network for a lot of newsites across the UK.

 

Nonetheless, I appreciate that there is a growing need from developers to have access to full fibre into sites that are being built so I will ensure this feedback is sent to our newsite repletion teams and I want to again ensure you this is greatly appreciated.

 

Best regards 
Mxxxx Lxxxx

 

 

So, the question is whether they will eventually install FTTP into the kiosk I have build and along duct route I agreed with them ... or not? I guess we'll find out in a year's time. In the meantime I need to pursue other options...

Edited September 7 by Alan Ambrose

[Kelvin]

Yes they may have well said ‘noted’ 

 

I will have a similar challenge I expect. There are two potential routes to getting the fibre connection into our house. One is down the road boundary some 60m and across the drive to a duct I already have (or I extend the duct to the road boundary. The alternative much shorter route brings it in within a few metres of where they will likely terminate it on the road. The contractor said they were looking to put a kiosk on the verge by our boundary. It’s also conveniently near a 12ft gate into that part of our plot. I could dig a trench from there to behind the retaining wall and they fit their external junction box to that wall (no different to fitting it to a house wall) We then take the cable from there into another duct I happen to have behind the wall  that goes into the garage and they fit the ONT inside the garage. I can’t see that being acceptable though.