Cancelling full fibre upgrade

[#1]

I upgraded my Plusnet account from fibre over copper to full fibre. The Installation date was agreed as the 8th September 2022 and I arranged my day to suit this agreement.

The Engineer from Openreach called and I showed him where the router was situated. (Same place as the old routers have always been) Holes from an installation years ago were in place so there was no drilling involved.

The engineer said he would put a new optical cable from the pole in the street to our house then fix it around the property to the already drilled holes and into the place the new router was situated and already set for switch on.

However, he said that because he was alone and needed help, he would have to rearrange the installation date and went away, promising to contact later in the day. This contact never happened. The question is... What was he doing in the time he was supposed to be installing full fibre at my property. Plusnet claims it's so busy it can't rearrange these visits and they're absolutely pulled out.

Plusnet texted and emailed me saying that the engineer said, "Customer wasn't ready to go ahead with work today wasn't sure were he wanted it to go." This was a complete lie.

I returned Plusnet emails several times with images of the holes and new router ready to go but as yet, have heard nothing back from Openreach so requested a telephone call from customer service.

After many emails to Plusnet because my phone calls were constantly being dropped, they arranged a new date for installation as 4th October 22 but after reading the Openreach and Plusnet cust service nightmares about this full fibre rollout I've requested to remain on my copper line package and cancel the full fibre one.

My major concern is one of my copper line being ripped out then having no internet access as is currently happening to many customers. When you rely on internet access for work and the area you live in has virtually zero speed from EE 4G then it's a no brainer and I can't afford to gamble.

I haven't heard back yet from Plusnet so no idea how this cancellation is dealt with or how I return the unused hub 2 router.
To add a note: My experience with Plusnet to date has been a good one generally as it's been a reliable service but the current problems I'm seeing with this FF rollout is not good and could be costly in loss of wages.

[#2]

Moderators Note

This topic has been moved from Full Fibre to My Order

[#3]

Hi there,

I'm really sorry for the issues you've had upgrading to full fibre and you've decided to cancel the order.

If you fancy giving it another go, I'll be happy to take personal ownership of this for you to put things right. 

Let me know if so! 

[#4]

Thanks mate, but even the big boys and girls at Plusnet have no control over Openreach who are a monopoly and law unto themselves at present. I'm sure you've seen the Openreach engineers forums and the chaos that's currently happening. Plusnet were very helpful in reinstating my copper to fibre contract and have said they will investigate. My contract is up in December so I'll make up my mind which way to go nearer the date. VM is a big no no. Once was enough for me and they've actually gotten worse. Shame because they don't rely on Openreach. I'm sure there are many decent engineers in that company who do a good job but until I see hard evidence in general that they've either improved the full fibre rollout or Openreach has been cleaned out or taken over I won't be risking being without a connection. My EE 4g account is useless as I live opposite a woodland and getting half a meg at best so no internet means no job. It's a no brainer. Thanks again for the offer. 👍

[#5]

If something goes wrong with an order, then we have escalation paths into Openreach which we should be utilising. In this case, we could've arranged another engineer and made our suppliers aware of the bad experience you've had previously.

Personally I'd say that in the vast majority of cases, the full fibre service is still installed without issues or if there is a delay then the existing copper service carried on working until the day which the full fibre is activated. 

[#6]

If the copper cable is removed and replaced by fibre optic cable and there's an issue like those you can see in reviews or on this board then how can there be use of something that's not there? Are you saying that the fibre optic cable is installed alongside the copper cable, the latter being left connected until the job is complete and if that's the case then what happens as in many cases when the copper cable is finally removed and there's a problem?

[#7]

The copper service shouldn't cease until the full fibre order's completed and neither should an engineer remove the cabling until that's happened. I don't think engineers will always remove the copper cabling though I might be wrong on that. 

If there's a problem after the order completing, regardless whether an engineer's removed the copper cabling, we wouldn't be able to get you back onto your previous service without placing a new order as that would be ceased. We'd just report a fault in a similar way we'd report a fault if there was a problem with a copper service. 

Maybe this https://community.plus.net/t5/Everything-else/Can-I-port-my-phone-number-to-a-VOIP-provider-when-upg... might help as it'll mean you could have your full fibre and copper services running alongside each other then when you're sure the full fibre is working well, you could cancel the copper.

[#8]

I'm currently conversing with a company I was with years ago called IDNET. They didn't do BB at the time but we're a fantastic isp and are up to speed with BB now with some great deals on.

Unfortunately, they also use Openreach so I'll have to see.

[#9]

Ah okay no problem, I'll be here if you want me to keep an eye on things for you. 

[#10]

Cheers. 👍

[#11]

---

@CoolerKing wrote:
I'm currently conversing with a company I was with years ago called IDNET. They didn't do BB at the time but we're a fantastic isp and are up to speed with BB now with some great deals on.

Unfortunately, they also use Openreach so I'll have to see.

---

You can choose who you pay your money to, but they all use the same BT Openreach infrastructure, unless you have "wires" from VM or one of the other independent "cabling" companies.

In answer to your question about what the engineer was doing when they were supposed to be installing your service ... probably went off to an easier job, so that they can achieve their installation targets.  Did toy notice if they were "real" BT Openreach engineers or one of their sub-contractors.  (Kellys or Quinn)

[#12]

Didn't see a van. Must have been parked around the corner. Guy was scruffy. Filthy hi Viz and looked like he'd been digging holes.

IDNET were honest and said they'd had mixed reviews about Openreach. Their contractsxare monthly. They were an excellent company when I was with them. Even had free webhosting back then. I'm aware of the monopoly Openreach has. It's just a matter of price now until I see some major improvement in the full fibre rollout... I can live with 20megs until then.

[#13]

I've organised a full fibre installation for 5th December 22 after being assured that my copper line and current service will be left in place until the new full fibre using optic cable is up and running. As wirkmis conducted from my home it's vitally important I have a connection. If your offer to oversee this still stands then yes... Thanks. If you or anyone is interested, I have images of the optic cable run, which is extremely simple and straightforward with no drilling required.

Moderator's note by Mike (Mav): Duplicate post removed.

[#14]

---

@CoolerKing wrote:

If your offer to oversee this still stands then yes...

---

@Gandalf no longer works this space ... @willcutforth might be able to fill in ... but I know he is up to his eyes with alligators!

[#15]

I edited this post with a typo mistake but it was removed. *wirkmis* should read work is.