Freeholder installed unaffordable superfast full fibre .......

[Perplex2]

Is anyone else in this situation?  The over-landlord has done a deal with a group of full fibre providers, installed infrastructure in the area where they own properties, and the monthly packages cost more than are offered elsewhere. Even the 'Community' provider among these providers charges more to these flats than to customers in the rest of the country.     G-Network also installed optic fibres in the street, was offering much more affordable packages, but has not got way leave to run fibers to the landings of the flats.  Probably no affordable provider will get this permission.  Offcom seems not to be interested - as long as residents are offered some kind of optic fibre internet, they don't care if landowners set up their own infrastructure and do high prices deal with a group of providers. Residents can do nothing about this.

[Perplex2]

We are in social housing - it is the freeholder who has installed the fast fibre broadband, and the leaseholder HA I think cannot do much about it. The prices start at about double what we would pay an affordable provider outside the area owned by the freeholder. And fr8ys - good advice. If I can get through to the nearest CAB I will ask them what can be done.

[Gondola]

As an example of the new build developments I was recently looking at, there were some that had provided full fibre from Openreach and Gigabit Networks and Virgin Media. So home owners there had a choice of 3 full fibre network operators.

Some developers had contracted exclusively with OFNL for an open access full fibre network for their estate developments.  There are currently 16 ISP's offering services via OFNL. Unfortunately only one was my personal choice of provider and the price for their service was somewhat more than for a service via their own full fibre network outside of the estate development.

Obviously some developers are set up to provide full fibre access from multiple network operators and some just exclusively contract with one. Pricing via OFNL may be more because OFNL need to earn a return on their investment. Open access means the ISP's still need to be competitive with each other so although the prices I looked at were higher via OFNL some offers are just a few pounds a month more.

You may also be able to obtain broadband from mobile services - 4G and 5G broadband - and in some areas from Fixed Wireless Access providers. The price of mobile broadband is very competitive and can offer unlimited data.

[Arne-TalkTalk]

If full fibre is available in the area we will do our best to provide it, but there would have to be an agreement with the building owner and Openreach/City fibre   (i believe its called  wayleave) to allow work to be carried out. If they refuse then there isnt much we can do. 

I presume you mean VOiP rather then VPN we do offer this service where available.

[Perplex2]

The over-landlord (a 'major landowner' in the area) contracted a company to provide 'open access' full fibre broadband to the whole area. According to their publicity, it is working well for businesses and the private sector residential leaseholders and renters. But the broadband retailers are presumably having to pay a higher price to the intermediate provider, and are passing the cost on to the residents.  The leaseholder housing association will be installing full fibre broadband access for many of it's properties, but might not be allowed by the freeholder to give our estate residents access to affordable full fibre broadband.  Even if Talktalk were going to offer full fibre broadband, I doubt they would want to pay the higher fees for access to the infrastructure here. Or they would have to charge more to residents living here. 

[Perplex2]

Good idea to contact CAB.  We don't lease, we rent from the leaseholder, a housing association, so we choose our own energy providers, and broadband via the landline (those who can afford it).  Wondering if talktalk will be offering superfast broadband and vpn phone when the landlines end.

[Perplex2]

No. We do not rent from the freeholder, who put in the optic fibre broadband cables from the street to the landings outside our flats.

We rent from the HA that leases from the freeholder.  The HA would not include a service such as telephones or optic fibre broadband with the rent, as not everyone would be able to afford it.  Is talktalk going to be providing superfast optic fibre broadband and vpn for when the copper landline services end?

[Gondola]

Hi @Perplex2 

A full fibre service connection provided via the Openreach network has a choice of competitive Internet Service Providers (ISP's). Via other wholesale full fibre network providers the choice of ISP can be limited. Buying an ISP service directly from a full fibre network operator is often the cheapest option when that is available. Some new build developments and multi occupancy buildings have full fibre broadband and sometimes TV services installed by a third party network operator. It then depends on what ISP's choose to sign up to retail services via that third party network and how much it costs them for access. I know from my recent looking at some new build developments that the choice of ISP can be limited and the retail price higher than outside of the development.

You mention Ofcom regulation and my understanding is that Ofcom's wholesale price regulation supposedly encourages investment and promotes competition. In a press release the regulator said: ‘Over the last few years, we have brought down the wholesale price Openreach charges retail providers for its entry-level (40 Mb/s) superfast copper broadband service, in line with its falling costs. We are now keeping this price – and the prices of slower copper broadband packages – flat in real terms.’

In addition, Openreach’s fastest fibre services will continue to be free from pricing regulation. Ofcom said that this is because the ability of networks to raise wholesale prices significantly for the faster, unregulated products is constrained by the fact that people can choose the entry-level service as an alternative.

Last year Ofcom said ‘We recognise that full fibre is a long-term investment, taking more than a decade – if not two – to pay back. So, we aim to allow all companies the opportunity to achieve a fair return over their whole investment period, and do not expect to introduce cost-based prices for fibre services for at least 10 years.’

[Arne-TalkTalk]

Is the cost included in your rent? 

[fr8ys]

I think you'd be best raising this with the Citizens Advice to get details of the legislation surrounding this. It seems like you may have answered your own question already but getting official advice would be best as this is not a specific TalkTalk issue.

Also what is stated in your lease regarding services to the property you lease? Are you free to select Electricity providers or do you have to use the landlord nominated provider?

This is a wider issue than just broadband and I doubt staff here could give advice given the legal implications.