Broadband installation engineer can't enter

[scotsllb]

I'm moving house next week and sky have told me that if my broadband is not able to be connected from outside my property, then they will rearrange the appointment for after the restrictions have lifted.

The engineers are unable to enter properties as of last Tuesday apparently.

I have a teen homeschooling, one at college online and myself uni online.

AIBU to think that broadband is an essential service in these times?
I'm terrified at the prospect of being without internet during this

It'll be OpenReach that do the connection work and whilst we would all like it to be, residential broadband isn't considered 'essential' unless you're clinically vulnerable and need it for medical monitoring. I found this out when upgrading from ADSL to fibre last October and had no broadband for 5 weeks!
If the property had working broadband in the past (and it's the same type e.g. ADSL2+, Fibre NOT Virgin) there shouldn't be any need to come into your house. ADSL is done at the exchange and Fibre is usually a cabinet in the street.
If it doesn't go to plan, you could get a 4G router from Amazon or Argos, stick a 4G data SIM and use that. The router is about £80 and then there's the data package.
Hope it activates OK next week.

@Whatelsecouldibecalled

Worst case scenario can you all get dongles?

How much will that be to run a month for all of us 😩😩

Bt will go in and install if no broadband.
I had an intermittent fault which took several visits to outside my house but was told if they couldn't fix from outside they couldn't enter as its intermittent but could if it totally failed.
I'd be inclined to find out different company policies and take my business to where they can do it in a safe and timely fashion.

Chances are youll be able to do a self install. Theyll post your the router, make the line live on the go live date, you plug in,set up and away you go.

@scotsllb Make it very clear that you will have no alternative provision. Sky is not the ISP I work for, but it may be that their customer service people have not seen the announcement from Openreach.
Check this page and also Openreach.com for latest www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2021/01/openreach-delays-new-broadband-installs-due-to-covid19.html

Tell them you wish to cancel due to no service

Data packs are relatively cheap

If it makes you feel better I moved house to a rural location in December, the house had never had WiFi before as an elderly gentleman had lived here for years. It did have a phone line though. There was some umming and ahhing and a cherry picker arrived at the exchange to do something but they managed it without entering the house and I imagine we were quite a hard job!

[quote cynicbuthappy]@scotsllb Make it very clear that you will have no alternative provision. Sky is not the ISP I work for, but it may be that their customer service people have not seen the announcement from Openreach.
Check this page and also Openreach.com for latest www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2021/01/openreach-delays-new-broadband-installs-due-to-covid19.html[/quote]
Brilliant thanks so much

GiffGaff (uses O2 network) do 80GB data for £20pm, unlimited for £35pm

DS2 wfh and is IT staff for large college. Up until we got Fibre, he bought a month by month unlimited 4G package from EE who his phone is with.. he used it for his work laptop, not being technically minded i'm not sure how it works, but it did (no router)

It's short sighted not to ask the current resident which company they are with. If it's Sky, you'll know it will work. If it's Virgin, you might have problems. You still have time to break the contract with Sky and get Virgin if that's already installed.
Dongles will be expensive for all of you to use, but I found 3 was the most competitive. If you have a PAYG phone, you could get a free SIM from Giffgaff and buy a large amount of data to use as back for the days you might not have broadband.

Don't waste time with dongles, they're archaic, usually you have to have a contract, and it'll take ages to get one, you're much better off using your phone as a hotspot these days and connecting your laptops to your phones using mobile data.
The engineer came today and put ours in after we had no house internet since before Christmas (moved house and been using phones as hotspots). He was in our hall drilling into the wall to get the fibre optic brought inside the house (it was already installed as far as the pavement outside). So maybe say to Sky if they can't do it, you'll find another company who can under the consumer rights act 2015 (as they can't provide the service you need). A good broadband deal is effectively useless if they can't actually give you broadband.

@DianaT1969

It's short sighted not to ask the current resident which company they are with. If it's Sky, you'll know it will work. If it's Virgin, you might have problems. You still have time to break the contract with Sky and get Virgin if that's already installed. Dongles will be expensive for all of you to use, but I found 3 was the most competitive. If you have a PAYG phone, you could get a free SIM from Giffgaff and buy a large amount of data to use as back for the days you might not have broadband.

The property has been empty for several months now

The irony is that Sky are happy to show football where there has been little social distancing, plenty of rule breaking (trips to Dubai anyone and have 16 players self-isolate?) and a high incidence of the virus (in the last week, equivalent of two match day squads in the 20 team Premier League.

Consider the 4G router option.