Upgrade to Full Fibre

[FrustratedFamily]

Before Christmas Openreach pulled fibre cables in our street, so we contacted Talktalk to see when we could get full fibre and were told it would take a few weeks for their system to upgrade.

Mid January we got in touch again and were told to basically be patient it might take a few more days even though Openreach was showing our property had full fibre availability.

2 weeks ago Openreach were in the duct in the pavement at the end of our drive, so we spoke to them.  They confirmed we are full fibre ready and just needed to speak to our provider - they even showed us an arm that lifts up with connection ports for us and three neighbours.  But still Talktalk tell me they cannot provide me with an upgrade as the package will not show until their system updates and just to wait a bit longer.

We've been having issues with our connection dropping, so they sent Openreach out to check our line which is fine and the engineer checked and confirmed we are full fibre ready.  So they sent an engineer to replace our hub even though their remote tests showed despite being about 7+ years old it was working fine. I didn't even know they had engineers that come out, I've never seen one before and have spent hours rebooting, unplugging, plugging and testing when there have been previous issues, none of which were ever in our home.  SO far the current problem seems ok, but as it was intermittent I'm reluctant to say it's fixed until we've waited at least a week.

The engineer also checked and confirmed we are full fibre ready and when I spoke to the tech department, they were the first at Talktalk to actually look and see our property is full fibre ready it's just their update that is required, so basically does anyone have any idea how you actually get to communicate with someone high enough up in the company to point out the business they are missing out on in our village as everyone is going full fibre, but obviously not with Talktalk.  And the only reason I'm still with them is that if we break contract before renewal in October, they want to charge me over £80 and all because I'm frustrated that I could almost open the duct and plug a cable in myself but their SYSTEM isn't updated - I wonder if they've tried turning it off and turning it on again?

[nambuso-TT]

Hi there 

@Gliwmaeden2 we do apologize for that, yes the message was meant for @FrustratedFamily.

[Gliwmaeden2]

@siphosethu-TT, I think you meant this to be a reply to @FrustratedFamily ? It says "in response to Gliwmaeden2" but should be in reply to the OP.

[siphosethu-TT]

As outlined above, this is not yet available in your area with TalkTalk. There is not much we can do at the moment besides hope it will be available soon, I'm really sorry if you are unhappy with this. 

[FrustratedFamily]

I can understand what is being said but it doesn't make much sense when I can apparently get full fibre now from at least these providers, some of whom I've never heard of before : A&A; BT; Co-op; Cuckoo; DirectSave; EE; FibreNet; HomeUnity; GigaConnect;  Plusnet;  PopTelecom; RebelInternet; Sky; Utility Warehouse; VFast; Zen  and of course Virgin on their own cables.  So am I seriously supposed to understand that a company as large as and that's been around as long as Talktalk is behind all these on being updated?  

[mandisa1-TT]

Thank you so much for the support @Gliwmaeden2 

[Gliwmaeden2]

@FrustratedFamily, as in the last staff reply: Openreach putting it in the street has very little to do with immediate individual availability. Often one ISP has the monopoly for a while, before it's available to others and we never know in advance of availability. Only when it's on stream with the individual provider. 

There's nothing unusual about this at all. The same happens with Cityfibre installations. In my own street it was only available through Vodafone for a long while. Later all the competition is set up.

So you do need to keep checking, though from time to time Talktalk offers a free upgrade when they really want to encourage the move to Full Fibre in any particular area.

[mandisa1-TT]

This is a very common issue during the final stages of Openreach's full fibre rollout, the physical fibre is in place on your street, but the Openreach database hasn't yet been updated, so providers like us (TalkTalk) still show your address as unavailable. 

Even when Openreach complete the physical work in your area and mark the property as “fibre ready,” there is still a separate data update that needs to be passed to all service providers. Unfortunately, this part isn’t immediate, and until that data fully populates in our ordering systems, we’re unable to place a full fibre upgrade order — even if the engineering work looks complete on the ground.

[mandisa1-TT]

My apologies for my error, the highest package available to you is Fibre 65 that you are on, as you have advised the connection is now okay with the new HUB please monitor it and if you are still experiencing slow speeds, we will support you further. Highest download speed promised to be 23.9Mbps, Lowest download speed is 21.5Mbps, minimum guaranteed speeds: 19.4Mbps. We are unable to upgrade you to full fibre package if it is not showing on your account as yet.

[FrustratedFamily]

I've been told that so many times, back in December it was wait a few weeks, it's still the same now, so  how many weeks does it take for your system to update?  It's been there since before Christmas.

And it's interesting you saying "the highest package available to you is Fibre 35" as we're supposed to be on Fibre 65, so does that explain our slow speeds I wonder?

And finally forgive me if I'm not confident that I'll be communicated with to tell me.  In the past two weeks I've asked for someone to call me back, the first time I was told it could take up to 72 hours on a Thursday, by the same time on the Monday no-one had called, so I got in contact again and was told it would happen within 24 hours - but you've guessed it it didn't.  So that time I called rather than webchatting, after going through several operatives I finally got someone helpful who arranged for Openreach to check the line.  When that was proved to be ok I was straight back on to you and actually had several calls back from a chap who really tried to help, but it took over an hour and a half in total, before he was finally able to send an engineer, basically after speaking to a manager as he couldn't just send a new hub out to me as your tests showed no problem.  At that point I was beginning to wonder if the hub was just a decoration and we weren't actually supposed to try accessing the internet with it as apparently both the line and hub were fine!  

So I am checking every few days online to check availability myself and you better believe that if I find it before I'm notified I'm going to be very unhappy after this long wait.

[mandisa1-TT]

Hi there @FrustratedFamily We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused to you, please be patient, as Openreach recently carried out the work it will take a bit of time to update on our end. I have accessed your account, and it seems for now, the highest package available to you is Fibre 35. 

Once full fibre is available, we will send you communication advising so, however you can also use the following link to keep on checking: Why Fibre isn't available in your area

Please monitor the connection with the new replacement hub and let us know should you require further assistance.