Forum Discussion

JatHanspal's avatar
JatHanspal
Joining in
18 days ago

Repeated Install Delays - underground permissions

I was signed up by an agent who knocked on the door in around September time.  I was with BT, and had a contract end date of 19 Dec 2024.  The install date for VM was set at 18 Dec 2024.  I was told at the time I signed up, given my BT cables run underground, that VM would install the same way.  

Original date passed with nothing happening, just a text the night before to advise date change.   When I spoke to them, they said something about missing permissions/approvals that were needed. Date was moved to 4 Jan.  On 3 Jan, engineers attended and said they wanted to span a cable to the top of my house.  I said this was not the agreed install, it was meant to be underground.  They said they are not authorised to do this.  I was told to expect a call back within 24 hours, it did not happen.

Just chased on the phone today, was told that some 'back end' team who they cannot connect with have logged a new approval request on 3 Jan.  They dont know they details.  I explained that I needed underground install, so the agent on the phone then said they can now see this is the request that was made (not sure what changed, or just fobbing me off).  Advised me that they need 8 weeks for the approval to happen, hence the new install date of 27 Feb.

I am out of service with BT (who cut me off early and refunded me) and have no mobile signal to leverage at my home address.  

How can I find out what is really happening?

 

Should I just cut my losses, cancel VM and re-sign up with BT?

  • -tony-'s avatar
    -tony-
    18 days ago

    take what the agent says with a salt mine - they have no idea how the connection is to your house - i assume you fed them info about wanting the cables underground - thats all they will have picked up on and made up whatever sounds feasible to get rid of you and close the call - thats the important bit - closing the call and moving on the the next mug customer

    as to pulling through BT ducts - again they have not a clue - i am surprised they even know they exist - again that may be because you mentioned it

    so go back to my earlier post - how are others connected on your street - yours will be the same - if others are from a pole then you will be - if there is a VM access point on the pavement thats where the cable will come from - no one that you speak to will have any idea what on your street

    there is in some areas agreement with BT to use their ducts but getting that info from offshore CS will not happen as they dont know but are experts at BS and telling you what they hope you want to hear

  • jpeg1's avatar
    jpeg1
    Alessandro Volta
    18 days ago

    You don't have a choice of how the connection is made to the house. The great majority of VM connections are underground, but some new installations are run overhead from a nearby pole. It depends on the technology being used. 

    The sales person has no technical knowledge and will tell you anything to get his commission. 

     

    • JatHanspal's avatar
      JatHanspal
      Joining in
      18 days ago

      Indeed - he probably just wanted commissions and is not really helping since.

      I am not open to an overhead wiring option.  So I need someone from the installation team to advise me if they are able to run it in the ground or not, and if not, I can cancel the install and move back to BT.  I can't get that answered by anyone - that's the annoying bit.

      • -tony-'s avatar
        -tony-
        Alessandro Volta
        18 days ago

        no idea where the 8 weeks comes from for permissions -  if it needs a council permit - some areas do some dont from applying to consent will take 2 to 3 days - so more BS - you should be able to tell if its underground or over - look on the pavement outside you house - if theres an entry point to an underground duct then thats it - you can also look at installs on houses near by - i small brown box on the front house wall - cable going to it underground or from a pole

        looking at what is in your area will tell you rather that the numpties at VM who will make anything up to get rid of you

        by all means go back to BT but dont cancel the install - you are entitled to about £6 a day compensation from your original install date to when you finally go live - you then have 14 days to cancel at no cost - you may have to go to the arbitrator to get your money but you will get it and have non of their rubbish of £20 offers to settle or 6 or 8 weeks deducted for council permissions - as said thats max 3 days

        as you have learnt they are a shambles - good when it works but they have not a clue what to say or do other than lie when you ask reasonable questions

  • JatHanspal's avatar
    JatHanspal
    Joining in
    18 days ago

    I was advised by the agent on the call that the permission that is raised is for 'pre-pull'.  Does anyone know if this relates to pulling/pushing cables to my property via the BT/Openreach conduit/tube?

    • -tony-'s avatar
      -tony-
      Alessandro Volta
      18 days ago

      take what the agent says with a salt mine - they have no idea how the connection is to your house - i assume you fed them info about wanting the cables underground - thats all they will have picked up on and made up whatever sounds feasible to get rid of you and close the call - thats the important bit - closing the call and moving on the the next mug customer

      as to pulling through BT ducts - again they have not a clue - i am surprised they even know they exist - again that may be because you mentioned it

      so go back to my earlier post - how are others connected on your street - yours will be the same - if others are from a pole then you will be - if there is a VM access point on the pavement thats where the cable will come from - no one that you speak to will have any idea what on your street

      there is in some areas agreement with BT to use their ducts but getting that info from offshore CS will not happen as they dont know but are experts at BS and telling you what they hope you want to hear

      • JatHanspal's avatar
        JatHanspal
        Joining in
        18 days ago

        Thanks Tony

         

        I will take a look outside today/tomorrow on this.  I know what they wanted to do was to run from the telegraph pole to my house, overhead.  The contractor said there was access to the tube/conduit (he had found my neighbours and said he could find mine) but the issue was he is not authorised to do this work.

        Despite all the service/setup issues, is the performance genuinely better than non FTTP options?

  • jpeg1's avatar
    jpeg1
    Alessandro Volta
    18 days ago

    If you are going to be fed by coaxial cable it is quite likely that this cannot be fed through the Openreach duct as these are often not sufficiently sized for it to be pulled through.   In that case the new cable could be dug into your front garden/drive, or just laid on the surface if they can get away with it. 

  • JatHanspal's avatar
    JatHanspal
    Joining in
    17 days ago

    I believe my service is not coaxial, but FTTP - XGS - PON, at least according to https://bidb.uk. 

    I noticed I did previously get a text with a link to virginmedia.com/boundary - where they asked for some information in support of the install, but I did not manage to get the link to open.

    Took photos a short while ago of what I can see outside my house, will share shortly.

  • JatHanspal's avatar
    JatHanspal
    Joining in
    17 days ago

    My office, where the BT cable comes in - this is where I want to VM cable.  its around 40m from the telegraph pole.

     

    the said pole where the want to run the cable, and the covers next to it.

    Another shot of the upper end of the said pole that holds the cables right now.

    Cover outside my neighbours house.

  • jpeg1's avatar
    jpeg1
    Alessandro Volta
    17 days ago

    If it's XGS-PON then forget the coax. Is the pole on your side of the road or opposite? If the VM cable is feeding a pole on the opposite side they will certainly want to use the pole to feed you. 

    Is there a reason why you can't use the existing Openreach connection with one of the many available ISPs? 

    • JatHanspal's avatar
      JatHanspal
      Joining in
      17 days ago

      The pole is my side, pretty much outside my house at the end of my driveway.

      Openreach is not FTTP at this time, and only VM offer FFTP in my area at present.  Hence I wanted to improve the connection, by moving to FTTP.  So wondering if they can take the cable down the tube to my house (assuming its possible, and not blocked etc).

      Anyone know how to the virginmedia.com/boundary link to work?

  • jpeg1's avatar
    jpeg1
    Alessandro Volta
    17 days ago

    The rising cable will be terminated at a box at the top of the pole. It's difficult to see how they would get a single fibre back down the pole and into the OR duct.

    VM always look for the simplest and cheapest way of connecting, so you may be out of luck. 

  • unisoft's avatar
    unisoft
    Knows their stuff
    17 days ago

    It's dropwire to the house from the pole. It doesn't have to be a pole closest to the house, the CBT might be on another pole. Alternatively, VM can take a fibre from one poles CBT to feed another poles cbt as the feeder fibre. I've seen this done by BT and Altnets especially if the CBT is only serving up to one handful of properties.

    • JatHanspal's avatar
      JatHanspal
      Joining in
      17 days ago

      Forgive me, but does drop wire mean taking it from the pole, to the ground and then into a tube/on surface to the house?  Or does it mean overhead from the pole to house?

  • jpeg1's avatar
    jpeg1
    Alessandro Volta
    16 days ago

    The drop wire is usually taken to mean the wire from the pole to the house.

    No one in customer services will be able to say what will happen at a particular installation, they have no communication with the installer. Only the person doing the job will decide how to do it, and they will decide when they get there. 

    But running the wire direct from pole to house would be the first choice because it is usually the quickest and cheapest. 

    • JatHanspal's avatar
      JatHanspal
      Joining in
      16 days ago

      Thanks - but what I wanted to know, since they already visited, is what they are actually working on in regards to pre-pull now given what we know.  Any how I discuss other options to expedite the install, so they dont have to keep going back for approvals.

       

      Live in hope 🙂

      • Sabrina_B's avatar
        Sabrina_B
        Forum Team
        14 days ago

        Hi JatHanspal 👋.

        Thanks for reaching out to us and welcome to the Community Forums, sorry to hear you are experiencing delays to your installation. So that we can look into this further and get some clarity for you we would need to bring you in for a private message. Please look out for the envelope on the top right of your web browser or if you are using a mobile device, it will be located under your profile icon.
         

        Thanks.
         

        Sabrina