Full Fibre Broadband (BT / Openreach)

[RJ2023]

Hi everyone,

In May I have Openreach on behalf of BT coming to install Full Fibre Broadband at my house. (Very assertive emails / text messages essentially saying they are coming to install it regardless of my opinion - but one day I will need to get it done so I am happy to let that go).

For anyone that has had it done - is the internal wiring okay (or a mess!) and do you have much flexibility where the modem socket gets installed?

I live in a mid-terrace so there are not that many options for where the cable can be drilled through the wall. I am hoping they will install it in the upstairs front bedroom where my office / gaming PC sits.

Thanks for your help.

I've had the same calls, texts, emails etc and ignored them. They even delivered a telephone yesterday but I haven't bothered to open the box. I HATE BT and have been holding off until another supplier comes down my lane.

I'm out of contract and when we had a fault last year, all calls went via their dreadful, pressurising sales team before I could get to the faults people. The fault wasn't fixed, yet their system said it had. I spent hours on calls and got no where after formal complaint.

Sorry I can't help with your actual problem, but I'm hoping someone else can because I don't want holes drilled through my new walls (recently renovated).

BT installed fibre to cabinet in road. More wires plus back up battery. BT then increased our charge from £36 to £66! No explanation. We are now out of contract and Vodaphone are installing Full Fibre on Wednesday and we will be paying £36 included is unlimited UK calls.

All depends on where the line of sight to the telegraph pole is to where they put it
if there’s an existing fibre connection to the property it’s switched on exactly where it is

openreach get paid by all the providers a minimal amount for a very basic installation literally the wire hit the house at the most convenient point and used to be a metre of internal wiring
Also they need to get a suitable fixing in the house for the bracket to fix the wire
wire has to be a minimum hight over the road

most terrace houses have the telegraph pole in the back alleys the house is fed from the back they won’t put it in the front

im not sure why your pissed off at the letter telling you there coming on the day you want them to

the wire comes straight through the wall and socket on it very little internal vwiring

We just had this done. Post-renovation and I was worried about the new walls and the new lawn/drive but it was completely painless. They ran a new cable from the road to the house through an existing BT duct, installed a new external box there and then ran a cable to where we wanted them to drill through the wall and added a new internal box. They drilled from inside out so minimal mess. We are still waiting for the broadband speed to go up though as they have to switch something over in their system.

Thanks everyone.

BT have been pretty good to me over the years with fault fixing etc. so I don't have any complaints against them. It's more about whether I am going to end up with internal cables nailed to the walls / skirting boards etc and whether I have flexibility on where they install the socket.

I don't really need the speed increase - my current BT broadband is a rock solid 72 mbps that does everything I need - but one day in the next few years it will need upgrading which is why I haven't pushed back so far.

"im not sure why your pissed off at the letter telling you there coming on the day you want them to"

I am not pissed off about anything.

They (unilaterally) contacted me saying they are upgrading my broadband and sent the appointment time when they are coming to do it, without any discussion with me. That is pretty assertive in my opinion.

We had Openreach full fibre BB installed at our previous house and it was fine.
They laid the new fibre cable under our front garden (no poles in our street) and TBH, within a few days the grass had recovered you could not tell it had been done.
We had already told them where we wanted the cable to come into the building so they aimed for that point, a different engineer did the drilling and the fibre connection & hub were located exactly where we wanted at the front of the house.

A near neighbour wanted their connection to be at the rear of the house so Openreach ran the underground cable to the front of the house and it was run around the outside (at high level under the eaves where it was not visible) before dropping down again and into their kitchen.

When we moved we had no hesitation having Openreach again (although there was already a Virgin connection on the house).
They gave us a great bundle where we get 990Mb BB, BT TV and a digital landline for less than other operators can offer basic BB.

Thank you - that is very reassuring :)

Have they been OP?
If so, how did it go?

The installation was fine (fibre only to nearest box), but the stuff inside was incredible: Two boxes, double cables but only one connection, backup battery box with cable. Bit of a bodge job really.

We went for Vodaphone: One box, one cable plugged in, plus electric connection, full fibre to house. Great professional job.

We had fibre installed in our village and it’s amazing! We had problems using 2 devices before that. Now it’s so much better: it’s surpassed expectations. No fuss, helpful people and it just comes into the hall.

I had in installed in January, I think the only restrictions as to where it went were it had to be on the side of the house where the telephone pole was (In my case the back) and it had to be close to a plug socket.

It's quite discrete, a little white box at the bottom of the wall. I have mine near the radiator just because that area is kept clear of furniture etc so it's never in the way of anything.

Coincidentally they came today - it was a contractor working on behalf of Openreach. I was a bit sceptical based on their Google reviews but the guy did an incredible job.

He has brought the cable in through the front bedroom wall and put the box exactly where I wanted it behind my desk. Okay, it means there is a small black cable running up the front of my house but that is far preferrable than having loads of visible cables running along skirting boards inside.

The negative - sadly - is they haven't been able to connect me yet. The ducting under the road is blocked / collapsed between my house (and several other houses) where they need to run the cable and plug in. Openreach should be coming tomorrow to see what they can do.

Looking online it could be a quick fix or a major job (e.g. if they have to start digging up the road) - fingers crossed it is the former.

Sadly Openreach still couldn't get the cable through the damaged underground ducting today so it will involve digging the road up to repair it.

Not expecting that to be a quick job!

Oh well - a bit disappointing but I don't really need the speed upgrade. Hopefully it will get done eventually