Full fibre install

[#1]

I had a full fibre install booked for the 14th of December. It couldn't go ahead on that day for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, the overhead pole holding our allocated CBT socket is marked as "dangerous" (requiring hoist). Bizarrely, OR don't seem to check their central record of dangerous poles (if they keep one at all) prior to sending out engineers.

Secondly, we don't actually have an overhead line (This is because we have a thatched roof and no masonry above first floor level, so there's really nowhere sensible to attach a tensioned overhead cable). What we have is an underground line running from the base of the nearby pole to the neighbour's side of our (semi-detached) property, and then clipped around the outside of the building to our side. The good news is that the underground portion was entirely replaced about 18 months ago so it's now ducted. The engineer in December said it should be possible to run the new fibre down the OH pole and then follow the route of the existing copper line, through the shiny new duct and then around the building. While the neighbours are happy to have another cable clipped to the building, they objected (for very legitimate reasons) to any drilling/hammering noise happening that day.

The next appointment offered was this afternoon. It was a bit of a long delay, but at least gave me enough notice to make arrangements with the neighbours.

Unfortunately, OR did not show up today. At around 5PM I received an email saying:

 I have been looking over your orders today and I have seen they are delayed, so I have been in touch with our suppliers for an update,

They have told us that there is an exception on your order which is stopping it from completing so they have raised an email to the relevant team to have this looked into.

We have booked an engineer to visit and complete this task and it is scheduled for 12.01.2023 AM

I also then received another email which started with "Please ignore the previous email and", followed by exactly the same text as above, which is hardly confidence inspiring.

Obviously, I'm annoyed that OR missed the appointment and would like to know what their explanation for today actually is. However, I'm also annoyed by Plusnet's response. What's this new engineer visit for? Is that to rectify the mysterious "exception" and then get back to me or is it to retry the installation? I can't be at home that day as it happens.

The only way this can work is if Plusnet provide a range of slots (like they did in December) so that I can negotiate with the neighbours again (and if I have some reason to believe that it will actually go ahead this time).

[#2]

@ryansuchocki 

In one respect at least you got an email from PlusNet.

They can only tell you what OR tell them (and when OR tell them). A missed appointment can be for a number of reasons, including over running previous jobs.

A staffie will pick this thread up in due course but they tend to be very busy - like the support lines.

Brian

[#3]

Hi @ruansuchoki

I'm really sorry to hear about the delay to your full fibre upgrade

Looking at your account I can see we've booked a appointment for the 18th between 1pm-6pm

If this isn't convenient let us know and we can get that changed for you 

[#4]

As of this latest appointment, OR have started sending me texts.

Ahead of this week's appointment they sent a reminder including the very promising:

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As we were unable to complete your installation during our last visit, we're treating this as a high priority. We'll do everything we can to make sure your installation is successful.

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Well it turns out "doing everything they can" means sending a contractor who said he wasn't permitted to do what needed doing at the pole/chamber end and a proper OR employee would have to come back and do it.

Needless to say, it's going to be hugely inconvenient to arrange yet another date with the neighbours, however I haven't even been given a new date this time, only "we will get the next update on 26/01/2023".

[#5]

Hi there, I've just checked on your account and can see that the order completed yesterday so the connection should be live now. Is everything working OK for you? - Adam

[#6]

Hi.

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@adamwalker wrote:

Hi there, I've just checked on your account and can see that the order completed yesterday so the connection should be live now. Is everything working OK for you? - Adam

---

Nothing happened yesterday. The fibre is not installed. Everything is not working OK.

[#7]

I am sorry about that, we're chasing the issue up with Openreach now and we'll get back to you with an update shortly. 

[#8]

Any update yet?

[#9]

Hi @ryansuchocki

I'm sorry to see this is still ongoing.

Unfortunately, we're still awaiting the external work to be done and the next update is due on the 31st.

As soon as we know more we'll let you know 

[#10]

It has now been 3 months since the original installation date (so about 4 months since I ordered full fibre).

The constant cycle of "your order has been delayed, next update in <several days from now>" messages is getting very tedious.

We have had 1 engineer visit since my last message. (No prior warning, he just turned up on a Saturday, 2 weeks ago).

After explaining the saga of the previous visits to him, he suggested that it would be a lot better to install a new conduit that goes straight to us rather than via the neighbours. Of course, I agreed, and I even offered to dig the trench on our driveway myself, so they would "only" need to do about a 10m stretch along the pavement. Unfortunately, after at least an hour on the phone to 'higher ups', he said that someone had decided that's too expensive and they were insisting on using the neighbour route. There was no conversation about 'excess construction charges', just a flat "no".

I convinced the engineer to at least rod the fibre cable through the existing conduit before he left, which he did. So we now have a fibre cable loosely along the side of the building, through the conduit, and stopping (coiled up) in the chamber further along the road. He said that he had raised a job for someone else to come and put a conduit between the chamber and the pole (a distance of about 1 foot in soft earth/grass), and then we could finally be connected.

The latest excuse relayed to me through the "Help assistant" ticket says "We are waiting for an A55 from the engineer which will detail where the issues are. Once the A55 has been received, estimate can be raised for civil.". This makes me very suspicious that OR have got things mixed up internally as the engineer was positive that he had done what was needed to initiate the rest of the work, and using an A55 form (which Google informs me is a council permission form for things like road and footpath closures) seems like the sort of thing that would be necessary for the "separate conduit" plan.

Please could one of the excellent forum staffers chase this up with OR, but ask for actual details rather than just a summary. i.e., exactly what external work are they now planning to do and, importantly, when will they next need access to my and my neighbour's property.

[#11]

Hi @ryansuchocki I'm sorry about the disconnect between the engineer notes and what you were advised when they visited. 

I've been in touch with Openreach who confirmed that the A55 would be for new ducting, I've made them aware the engineer advised this wouldn't be done so they're going to get the order notes updated meaning we should be able to arrange an installation appointment soon. 

Just to make sure you're aware there are significant delays for full fibre orders across all providers at present.

[#12]

As of about 2PM yesterday, our FTTC has now stopped working. I've started the fault process.

This could be entirely unrelated to the FTTP install of course, but it could be that OR or PN have got mixed up again and disconnected our previous service too soon. My VDSL modem reports 'no signal' and although we have a dial tone, trying to make an incoming call from my mobile results in "the number has not been recognised".

[#13]

Interesting, I'm also going through a similar issue, where I lost my broadband yesterday at 2pm before fibre had been provisioned. Let me know how you get on.

Existing service ceased before new fibre install h... - Plusnet Community

[#14]

I'm really disappointed that I haven't received any updates from PN today, despite being told yesterday that someone would call today.

My partner and I both rely on the connection for work so tomorrow, when our mobile data runs out, things are going to become very desperate.

[#15]

Hi Ryan, I'm sorry that you haven't been updated yet. I've picked this up now and I'm contacting Openreach , it's getting close to the end of my shift so if I'm not able to update you before 8pm I'll respond at 11.30am when I'm back on shift tomorrow.