Moving house - delay to broadband from openreach

[Elliott22]

We are moving house on 20/11 and had an engineer booked for 24/11 to set up the broadband. I have now had the following message:

just a quick update on your order. Openreach has informed us that they currently do not have the equipment in place to connect your Broadband and Talk to your phone exchange. They are looking for the best way to get you connected. You will receive a text with an update on your order on 27/11/2025.

We need broadband to work from home immediately. We cannot wait for an update on the 27th. 

The current tenants have working braodband so we should have no issues in setting this up. 

Could someone explain what is causing this delay and what options we have to get connected asap.

[SKY1992bf]

@Elliott22  Every order requires a new separate connection the fact that the current occupant has a connection makes no difference to your order as it will be disconnected and lost once they cancel 

it also depends on the type of connection that is currently in place and what service you have ordered ie they may only have standard connection and you may have ordered full fibre connection 

Unfortunately there is nothing sky can do to speed things up as they are in the hands of openreach who would have given you the next available date for your area

[Elliott22]

Thanks. They gave me no option other than to switch to fibre, so I assume that is whats causing the issue. 

I will call back and insist that i am happy with the slower connection and that i dont want fibre if it means causing a delay.

[daveNOS]

@Elliott22 If Fibre is available at the address then thats all that will be installed, Openreach won't accept orders for legacy connections that are in the process of being replaced nationwide.

[TimmyBGood]

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@Elliott22 wrote:

The current tenants have working braodband so we should have no issues in setting this up. 

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Typically the issue is that the change of user has triggered a  (non-negotiable) move of the property from the current copper circuit to a full fibre connection irrespective of which broadband tier has been subscribed to with Sky: this is part of the national transition away from Victorian technology.

An ISP cannot order wholesale connectivity over an existing metallic connector in an exchange area designated as 'fibre priority'

[TimmyBGood]

@Elliott22 

You can confirm this by putting the address into the BT Wholesale Availability Checker should indicate which broadband provisioning type is applicable.

https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL/AddressHome 

It's the table and the two text lines below it which are most useful.

Remove any personal information (such as the address itself) if you post an image.

[Elliott22]

Thanks, I have had a look and im not entirely sure what this means.

Could you explain please?

[TimmyBGood]

@Elliott22 

OK, the address is scheduled for an underground FTTP installation but there's no existing duct ('UG partial Direct In Ground') which almost certainly accounts for the delay.

It's not a fibre priority area so there might be some wiggle room if it looks like an optical circuit is going to take a very long time to arrive, but you'll need to be very persistent with Sky (and understand that ultimately they aren't responsible for the infrastructure and have no control over the national switch away from copper circuits)

[JimM1]

@Elliott22 The text under the table is the important part, Our records show and the FTTP is, you get FTTP at the 1000/220 split there is NO choice, it is going to be an underground connection to the home and all to be installed when OR get round to doing your requested connection, it's a wait now and hope there plan goes as expected and does not fall over!

[GD1]

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@Elliott22 wrote:

We need broadband to work from home immediately. We cannot wait for an update on the 27th. 

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Unfortunately working from home does not give you any kind of priority on a domestic connection, demands to "get connected asap" has no leverage for the reasons explained in other posts.

[Waveman]

As 'working from home' is important to you, look into a tempoary soloution from one of the mobile providers, most offer a rolling monthly option of some sort.

You could also look at Starlink as a tempoary soloution, not cheap, but if working from home is essential then its a workable soloution. The kit is free if you stay connected, return if you disconnect. Its also on a 30 day trial offer at the moment. Various options are available.