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Johnsd82's avatar
Johnsd82
Joining in
12 months ago

Installation Denied

I need some advice as am now getting desperate. I have recently moved into a new property and booked VM to be installed. I had my initial installation booked for the 17th of April, this was delayed until the 30th of April and then again until the 13th of May. Yesterday I received a phone call from VM stating they will be cancelling the installation as the local authority have denied permission to dig up the pavement. I complained as both my neighbours have VM but it appears the cables come from either end of my street and not passed my house (engineer has checked). VM stated they will ask maintenance if there is an alternative way of routing to the property. 
Both myself and my partner work from home but can only get 34mb with Open Reach. We only moved into the property as VM stated they could provide 1gb connection. 34mb is not fast enough for us to both work from home!! Any suggestions on how to get the installation agreed please??? 

8 Replies

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  • goslow's avatar
    goslow
    Alessandro Volta
    12 months ago

    I would suggest that you contact your local highways authority directly (may be a local council or county council) and find out from them if VM ever requested permits to work.

    VM's default excuse for installation failures is one of 'council permits'. Several savvy customers, in past topics on here, have made direct contact with the council only to find VM never requested a permit or a permit was issued but VM failed to use it in the allocated time window.

    There is also a chance (if the work really does involve a lot of digging or traffic management) that the cost of your installation might exceed the budget allocated for one property/customer and VM has just come up with an 'alternative' explanation for you to shut down further discussion.

    If there is any truth to the 'permit' excuse you will be able to get an explanation direct from the council. Reports on here suggest most are usually very helpful.

  • jpeg1's avatar
    jpeg1
    Alessandro Volta
    12 months ago

    It is possible that the council has refused permission, although they must have agreed to the work for your neighbours.

    There are also other possibilities. The cost to extend one of the existing cables may exceed the limited budget that VM allows for a new connection. Or the extended cable run may be too long for technical reasons.

    VM don't have any statutory commitment to install a connection, so they will generally walk away from a difficult or expensive job. And they never accept a contribution towards the costs. 

    • Johnsd82's avatar
      Johnsd82
      Joining in
      12 months ago

      I am hoping that is not the case as really cannot live with the current maximum speeds provided by Open Reach. 

      I cannot understand why this house was missed as the whole area had VM installed about 2 years ago, the engineer showed me VM’s plans which state there should be an access point outside my house but theres not even a cable that goes passed. Its such a mess up

      • Alex_RM's avatar
        Alex_RM
        Icon for Forum Team rankForum Team
        12 months ago

        Hi Johnsd82,

        Thanks for posting and welcome to our community 😊

        We're sorry to hear the account has been deemed unserviceable, this can happen if work required exceeds budget costs.

        Sadly in this instance there would be nothing we can do.

        Alex_Rm

  • jpeg1's avatar
    jpeg1
    Alessandro Volta
    12 months ago

    If your house was there when the area was cabled, there must have been a technical reason why it was left out.

    Have you checked with Openreach when they will be bringing FTTP to your postcode?  Have you checked what 4g/5g coverage is like locally? EE has the widest 5g coverage, or 3 has the fastest speeds if they are in your area. 

    • Johnsd82's avatar
      Johnsd82
      Joining in
      12 months ago

      unfortunately the open reach website states they have no current plans for upgrades  in my area.

      I have tried the mobile solutions of which three is the most stable at 30mb. EE are the fastest reaching speeds of over 120mb but this seems to depend on the wind direction as changes minute to minute, it drops as low as 6mb even though its not moved position and still has 5G connection. its a shame but none of these are suitable 

  • Johnsd82's avatar
    Johnsd82
    Joining in
    12 months ago

    I have now had an update from virgin… apparently their cabinet does not have enough space to connect our address which is why we were left out. So they will not connect us as its too high a cost!! I asked if all of the calls i have had are recorded, which they are, so I asked why i have been mislead with the reason they will not install when the council have now confirmed they have not even been approached in the 8 weeks I have been waiting for VM to be installed… the answer I have received is that they will investigate my complaint with a daily sum provided to be while I am waiting for the broadband to be installed. Personally I think I will end up taking this to the ombudsman as i have been mis-sold and mislead for months

  • jpeg1's avatar
    jpeg1
    Alessandro Volta
    12 months ago

    Mobile connections will always vary in speed depending on the number of users connecting to your local cell at the time, and that varies considerably during the day.  

    If you get one of the mobile internet router boxes you can improve the speeds considerably by mounting it inside a suitable window, preferably upstairs. 

     On my EE phone I get typically 40Mbps at my desk downstairs, but over 200Mbps by a bedroom window upstairs.