Why can't anyone (so far) provide a broadband service to my sister's house

[myotis]

My sister is trying to get a broadband service.

According to the OpenReach website (based on postcode and address), she has FTTC available, and there is a link to a long list of suitable broadband providers.

However, after contacting several of the listed providers via their websites, including BT, Vodaphone, and Zen, the response after filling in her details (postcode and address) is that a broadband service isn't available for her address.

She is going to have a go at phoning some of them on Monday, but does anyone have any insight into what the issue might be.

 

[srichards]

Could be anything.

I'd try Andrew's and Arnold. They aren't the cheapest but they're switched on and if it's possible they will be able to. I had a hardware line fault. Zen were useless and never fixed it. Moved to A and A and it was fixed immediately and I've got better speeds than I ever had with zen.

 

[myotis]

Could be anything.

I'd try Andrew's and Arnold. They aren't the cheapest but they're switched on and if it's possible they will be able to. I had a hardware line fault. Zen were useless and never fixed it. Moved to A and A and it was fixed immediately and I've got better speeds than I ever had with zen.

Thanks, I thought it might be some obvious issue.

I've never heard of A&A, but always worth knowing of someone new.

 

[srichards]

Their website.

A&A - Home

www.aa.net.uk

 

[myotis]

Their website.

A&A - Home

www.aa.net.uk

Thanks, I actually had a look before I replied

 

[Matthew Grey]

Could be the cabinet is at capacity. Phone one of the providers and they'll be able to confirm.

 

[StephenM]

No idea what the problem might be, but years ago I contacted BT to get broadband, and, having tested my line, they said it wasn't possible. I tried Zen, and I've had broadband ever since. So it's no surprise if different suppliers have different stories.

 

[myotis]

Could be the cabinet is at capacity. Phone one of the providers and they'll be able to confirm.

I hadn't thought of that as a possibility, as I said, she is going to chase it up next week, but useful to know that this might be a possibility.

 

[myotis]

No idea what the problem might be, but years ago I contacted BT to get broadband, and, having tested my line, they said it wasn't possible. I tried Zen, and I've had broadband ever since. So it's no surprise if different suppliers have different stories.

Except so far, all the suppliers have had the same story :-(

But, as suggested, the cabinet being at capacity might explain the consensus.

 

[Mr Bump]

mobile WIFI prices are so cheap it like 200gb/month for £15

 

[myotis]

mobile WIFI prices are so cheap it like 200gb/month for £15

Thanks, I have suggested this, but wasn't sure of the prices. That seems a suitable solution for what she wants.

 

[cuthbert]

Does she live in a particularly rural area? Are there neighbours close by she can ask who they are with? Is it an area where there is no Openreach network - eg like an old NTL area (most ducts will be serviced by Virgin now) or KCOM in Hull?

I have quite a few dealings with BT and Openreach and I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a situation where they won’t put in a new circuit, even if it means there is an excess construction charge to do so. Might be worth trying to sign up to a BT Business broadband product, you often will get a few more options. Very strange indeed.

 

[myotis]

Does she live in a particularly rural area? Are there neighbours close by she can ask who they are with? Is it an area where there is no Openreach network - eg like an old NTL area (most ducts will be serviced by Virgin now) or KCOM in Hull?

I have quite a few dealings with BT and Openreach and I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a situation where they won’t put in a new circuit, even if it means there is an excess construction charge to do so. Might be worth trying to sign up to a BT Business broadband product, you often will get a few more options. Very strange indeed.

Thanks, but as I said in the OP, the Openreach web site says she has FTTC and provides a long list of internet providers who can provide a broadband service.

It's the providers (the ones she has contacted) on this list who say they can't provide broadband to "this address" even though Openreach say FTTC is available at "this address"

She has previously had Broadband with BT, but that was copper: it was BT she contacted first (through her account). It is a rural area, but not that rural: between Dundee and St Andrews.

She is obviously going to need to speak directly to a provider, rather than relying on the web page tools.

 

[cuthbert]

That is an interesting one, for sure. I’ve been working on a project getting new BT circuits (Sogea, BTNet and FTTC) into some very strange and quite awkward places recently and although it can be a bit of a challenge, and take multiple visits, there has always been some way of doing it. Maybe it really is just cabinet is full.

Like I say, might be worth trying a BT Business broadband product if all else fails - these are the solution we’ve been using and although they are a little bit more expensive, you might find it opens up a few more options and gets the order progressing. Good luck! Genuinely very interested in hearing the reason!

 

[myotis]

That is an interesting one, for sure. I’ve been working on a project getting new BT circuits (Sogea, BTNet and FTTC) into some very strange and quite awkward places recently and although it can be a bit of a challenge, and take multiple visits, there has always been some way of doing it. Maybe it really is just cabinet is full.

Like I say, might be worth trying a BT Business broadband product if all else fails - these are the solution we’ve been using and although they are a little bit more expensive, you might find it opens up a few more options and gets the order progressing. Good luck! Genuinely very interested in hearing the reason!

It is strange, as it's a fairly large village, surrounded by several other fairly large villages, and there is an existing BT line running into the house.

Could it be that the bits between the cabinet and the house need updating, so although technically she is now in an FTTC area, the wiring from the cabinet to the house and socket in the house, aren't suitable.

I think that, for all the use she will make of it, whatever, the solution it will be low cost. Tethering her phone might work for her (but with a more data-friendly contract) or a wireless hub, as suggested earlier.

I will update the thread if/when any progress is made.

 

[Matthew Grey]

It is strange, as it's a fairly large village, surrounded by several other fairly large villages, and there is an existing BT line running into the house.

Could it be that the bits between the cabinet and the house need updating, so although technically she is now in an FTTC area, the wiring from the cabinet to the house and socket in the house, aren't suitable.

I think that, for all the use she will make of it, whatever, the solution it will be low cost. Tethering her phone might work for her (but with a more data-friendly contract) or a wireless hub, as suggested earlier.

I will update the thread if/when any progress is made.

Probably not that. In this instance an install is booked and engineer sent out to implement it and fix any cabling issues.

 

[myotis]

Probably not that. In this instance an install is booked and engineer sent out to implement it and fix any cabling issues.

But, could this still be the reason the online checkers are saying no service is available because they can't "simply" move to the next step of supplying broadband. I'm guessing the online tools may only be geared up for straightforward situations.

Is this something that the broadband provider would organise, and then bill the new customer, or is it something that is seen as OpenReache's responsibility as part of providing the network, and the costs would be covered by OpenReach.

 

[Matthew Grey]

Doesn't work that way. Service provider will just see if that address is part of the network.

They look and see that yes, 1 Acacia Road is part of the Openreach network and book installation. After that it's openreach doing the work, sorting cabling issues etc...

If the provider is saying they can't even book an install, then openreach have said 'we can't currently supply this address, don't send us any orders'. Usually this is because openreach know the cabinet is at capacity or there's a simple routing issue somewhere and the order needs placing manually, or the address just isn't serviceable...this is highly unlikely.

Either way, it just needs a phone call. It's likely a miscommunication somewhere between the service provider and openreach that is confusing the online booking system.

 

[myotis]

Doesn't work that way. Service provider will just see if that address is part of the network.

They look and see that yes, 1 Acacia Road is part of the Openreach network and book installation. After that it's openreach doing the work, sorting cabling issues etc...

If the provider is saying they can't even book an install, then openreach have said 'we can't currently supply this address, don't send us any orders'. Usually this is because openreach know the cabinet is at capacity or there's a simple routing issue somewhere and the order needs placing manually, or the address just isn't serviceable...this is highly unlikely.

Either way, it just needs a phone call. It's likely a miscommunication somewhere between the service provider and openreach that is confusing the online booking system.

Yes, it's certainly confusing when the Openreach web site is saying to the consumer that they can supply FTTC to an address, but then telling the supplier that they can't provide it at that address.

Let's hope a phone call sorts it out.

Thanks.

 

[Matthew Grey]

Yes, it's certainly confusing when the Openreach web site is saying to the consumer that they can supply FTTC to an address, but then telling the supplier that they can't provide it at that address.

Let's hope a phone call sorts it out.

Thanks.

I'm sure it will. It happens more than you would think.

 

[Mr Bump]

Thanks, I have suggested this, but wasn't sure of the prices. That seems a suitable solution for what she wants.

there are a few services that just go on a 30day contract, depends on what availability she has. unlimited data about £30/month

 

[myotis]

there are a few services that just go on a 30day contract, depends on what availability she has. unlimited data about £30/month

Thanks, we will see how things go next week.

 

[myotis]

Well, this has just got weirder.

Today, going onto the websites of the same providers she tried yesterday, she is being offered a broadband connection :-(

Thanks to everyone who has replied, but hopefully this means the problem has "gone away"

 

[swanseamale47]

My son come across a similar situation a few years back. That was a rural area with small villages and a business or two. he found that one of the businesses had 3 different broadband lines running to at and it was using up a lot of the "bandwidth" or whatever. This innocent business has security fencing and 24 hour guards and cameras everywhere..... I drove past for a look and got stopped by police a miles or so down the road for a routine check...

 

[myotis]

My son come across a similar situation a few years back. That was a rural area with small villages and a business or two. he found that one of the businesses had 3 different broadband lines running to at and it was using up a lot of the "bandwidth" or whatever. This innocent business has security fencing and 24 hour guards and cameras everywhere..... I drove past for a look and got stopped by police a miles or so down the road for a routine check...

Well, there is a lot of security fencing and 24 hour guards near my sister, but that's around what used to be RAF Leuchars, and is now an army base.

But it's getting even more confusing, as BT are only offering a "copper" connection, while Sky and another I've forgotten are offering FTTC.

She was confused as to why BTs offering was so much slower than the others, so I checked out the BT website using her address, and unlike the other night when I too got a no service available at this address, message, this time I was offered a service, which in small print told me it was copper only.

 

[turbotoes]

Here on Anglesey, in some rural areas we have over head fibre which was rolled out exclusively by BT, the only way to find out about it was to phone them directly, perhaps it’s a similar situation.

 

[myotis]

Here on Anglesey, in some rural areas we have over head fibre which was rolled out exclusively by BT, the only way to find out about it was to phone them directly, perhaps it’s a similar situation.

Thanks, but the Openreach website says that FTTC is available for her address. That was the first thing I checked.

 

[realspeed]

BT where I live could only provide fibre to the cabinet (Green box in the street) not to my house, So the area is now full of private companies doing just that instead.
Remember BT is not interested in supplying to private premises only to large companies giving BT a higher revenue for less work

 

[GetBusyLiving]

I only have fibre to the cabinet but since the cabinet is just across the road, I get about 60Mbs which is fine except for downloading large video games, but I don't do that very much. There is one local superfast broadband in the area but by all accounts, they don't have very good customer service. While I get a reasonable FTTC broadband speed, I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for a decent fibre company to take over.

 

[admirable]

FTTC only means fibre to the cabinet.
The first part of my mates street had new houses built 30 years ago and Telewest, now Virgin Media, fitted the FTTC.
Ten years ago a new builder came along and built 18 houses on adjacent land at the top of his street.
The result is the older houses have super fast Gig broadband from Virgin but the newer houses do not have FTTC so are normal phone line speed.
No 5G, and Virgin will not extend the FTTC as it's only 18 houses.

ps: there's a lot of water between Dundee and St Andrews

 

[myotis]

BT where I live could only provide fibre to the cabinet (Green box in the street) not to my house, So the area is now full of private companies doing just that instead.
Remember BT is not interested in supplying to private premises only to large companies giving BT a higher revenue for less work

Maybe this explains the discrepancies, if Sky are going to organise connecting the address to the cabinet, but BT won't take that on.

 

[myotis]

I only have fibre to the cabinet but since the cabinet is just across the road, I get about 60Mbs which is fine except for downloading large video games, but I don't do that very much. There is one local superfast broadband in the area but by all accounts, they don't have very good customer service. While I get a reasonable FTTC broadband speed, I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for a decent fibre company to take over.

My recent switch from copper to FTTC has increased my download speed from 362kb (yes I mean "kb") to 2.4mb, so I'm delighted with my "slow" FTTC speed.

FTTC has only recently become available to me, and in spite of several attempts to get faster copper speed no one could fix it, even after Openreach replaced various bits in various places, including replacing entire stretches of overhead cables. Nothing made any difference.

 

[myotis]

FTTC only means fibre to the cabinet.
The first part of my mates street had new houses built 30 years ago and Telewest, now Virgin Media, fitted the FTTC.
Ten years ago a new builder came along and built 18 houses on adjacent land at the top of his street.
The result is the older houses have super fast Gig broadband from Virgin but the newer houses do not have FTTC so are normal phone line speed.
No 5G, and Virgin will not extend the FTTC as it's only 18 houses.

ps: there's a lot of water between Dundee and St Andrews

In this case Openreach have already provided FTTC, at least their website says they have (FTTC plus copper to the address), which appears to be a Scottish Government funded initiative. Though that doesn't mean they are the people who actually did the work.

Yes, I know there is a lot of water between Dundee and St Andrews, but it seemed the best way of giving a rough geographic location that showed it wasn't in some remote, sparsely populated part of Scotland. And I'm guessing that cables will run under the Tay, so the water may not be all that relevant.

 

[GetBusyLiving]

My recent switch from copper to FTTC has increased my download speed from 362kb (yes I mean "kb") to 2.4mb, so I'm delighted with my "slow" FTTC speed.

FTTC has only recently become available to me, and in spite of several attempts to get faster copper speed no one could fix it, even after Openreach replaced various bits in various places, including replacing entire stretches of overhead cables. Nothing made any difference.

2.4 Mbs, that is pretty slow, in fact my upload speed is nearly eight times your download speed so you must be some way from the cabinet. My cabinet is about 40 metres away from my house and gives me 60Mbs but I do know that the further away you are the worse it becomes, and quite quickly too apparently.

 

[myotis]

2.4 Mbs, that is pretty slow, in fact my upload speed is nearly eight times your download speed so you must be some way from the cabinet. My cabinet is about 40 metres away from my house and gives me 60Mbs but I do know that the further away you are the worse it becomes, and quite quickly too apparently.

Yes, I realise it's slow, but compared with what I had....

There is a "cabinet" 200m away, but whether that is "the" FTTC cabinet, I don't know.

For now, I'm thrilled. For example, Vimeo is now watchable. I used to dread signing up for some online training only to discover they were using Vimeo.

 

[Matthew Grey]

Maybe this explains the discrepancies, if Sky are going to organise connecting the address to the cabinet, but BT won't take that on.

Sky are one of the few providers who own their equipment within some exchanges and cabinets, hence why occasionally they can offer a service BT cannot since BT are tied just to the Openreach network.

It's worth noting also BT are primarily business accounts now and have passed the domestic accounts to EE who they also own.

 

[Sangoma]

mobile WIFI prices are so cheap it like 200gb/month for £15

Who is that with?

 

[myotis]

Sky are one of the few providers who own their equipment within some exchanges and cabinets, hence why occasionally they can offer a service BT cannot since BT are tied just to the Openreach network.

It's worth noting also BT are primarily business accounts now and have passed the domestic accounts to EE who they also own.

Useful to know, but from the Openreach page where it said FTTC was available at the address they were linking to BT and Sky, among others, as potential providers.

It could still be a lack of connections, as suggested earlier, which could mean BT/EE are affected but Sky can use their own equipment

And yes, my search through BT seemed to jump in and out of EE pages.

As an aside, I would have a look at how you are spelling "Landacape"

 

[JohnMcL7]

I'd highly recommend the following small UK forum for ISP, mobile phone or VOIP issues since I've found it very helpful:

ISPreview UK Forum

ISPreview's public UK discussion forum

www.ispreview.co.uk

My first thought reading the thread is it's a capacity issue which I've seen for a few people because even in a city centre location showing FTTC availability can't order FTTC because the cabinet is at capacity. A decent ISP like A&A should provide better information on any possible issues rather than just straight out rejecting the order.

 

[myotis]

I'd highly recommend the following small UK forum for ISP, mobile phone or VOIP issues since I've found it very helpful:

ISPreview UK Forum

ISPreview's public UK discussion forum

www.ispreview.co.uk

My first thought reading the thread is it's a capacity issue which I've seen for a few people because even in a city centre location showing FTTC availability can't order FTTC because the cabinet is at capacity. A decent ISP like A&A should provide better information on any possible issues rather than just straight out rejecting the order.

Since my original post, and discussed above, in spite of attempts by both my sister, and me, to find someone who would offer broadband, and failing, the next day the same providers suddenly started to offer a connection.

Thanks for the link, that looks like a useful resource