On the same note and what a coincidence!
Our conversion to full fibre started way back in February...
The equipment (hub plus phones) arrived within weeks.
At the end of March BT Openreach van turned up to run the fibre from the house to the box (actually a pit in the front lawn of the house two doors down).
At that point it all unravelled.
The duct was blocked apparently in various places, looks likes builders rubble (one piece was a piece of hefty broken road kerbstone on top of the broken duct) by the roadside and probably under the road.
Having spent most of the day trying they gave up and decided the "heavy mob" would have to come out and dig through to a point where the duct was intact back to the cabinet.
The heavy mob AKA Openreach Civils arranged and kept an appointment for 10th May.
With one big builders truck complete with built in crane it looked like this were moving ...
But they weren't....
The one truck crew decided the job was too big/complicated for them and they required more help and left.
Two weeks later Openreach Civils returned with two trucks, various bits of heavy equipment ready to battle the builders rubble hidden since 1988.
But two trucks, crews and loads of gear was not enough. Having spent most of the day digging in the front garden, trying to poke through the duct (all if which had already been tried by the first little van plus the first Civils crew) they concluded it would require digging up the road and require traffic control etc.
Scratched my head a bit as we live at the end of a cul-de-sac with only one more drive (shared by two houses) past us.
Never mind, with a cheery wave and a "we'll be back in a couple of weeks" off they went.
Since that at the end of May it all went quiet until today.
When a little Openreach van turned up to switch us over to digital voice service.
One look at the fibre box on the house wall with nothing running into it and he quickly realised it wasn't going to happen.
He took pictures, made numerous phone calls, and explained that a form W51 or W50 or some such hadn't been previously completed so everything had ground to a halt.
He's done an assessment, completed the relevant form, scratched his head a few times trying to figure out why Civils thought they needed to close the road or dig any appreciable distance.
While he did this and waited for various call backs I kept him supplied with pints of water and witty banter.
Eventually he tired of the witty banter, assured me it shouldn't take long now. He also volunteered the info that this is happening all the time, turning up to do a booked job only to find an earlier required step has not been done
So Minky, you are not alone.
In fact I think I'd prefer chasing a mad parrot from chasing a dysfunctional Openreach.
