Openreach Put Router on short lead, we cannot reach router?

[Lord-Help-us]

Openreach installed Sky Router cable  a large tall china cupboard in the far corner of the lounge, we asked him to extend it but he claimed his duty was to install wife and broadband inside our property (the house) and nothing else, he informed us if we wanted to extend it we haan Ethernet extension cable from the router to the phone, computer and tv, or allow Sky to do this for  a £60-00 extra fee. We ordered Sky phone-talk, Sky Wi-Fi, and Sky Films, but they could not be used nor  connected by Openreach (he refused to do this?), Strange as it seems we have been unable to phone Sky for advice, or to complete the installation work we ordered from them meaning to be installed, connected and working meaning connected by Sky and left working without our input or 20 foot extra length extension ethernet cable purchase?  We never had this trouble with BT, whose router was placed where it was accesible and required. Does anyone have a live agent Sky person number we can dial, and not a chat laine with a robot voice? Leeds LS17 Leeds subscriber. 

[Mark39]

BIt confused here. Was this a new telephone line installation, or fibre optic cable? 

[TimmyBGood]

@Lord-Help-us 

Neither Sky or Openreach offer '20 foot extra length extension ethernet cable' and an Openreach installer has absolutely nothing to do with 'Sky phone-talk, Sky Wi-Fi, and Sky Films'

[Lord-Help-us]

This was a complete install of Sky tv, Sky Phone and Sky Wi-fi. The fitter drilled through the rear house brickwork walls - from the rear garden the router entry hole , it  was located in the corner of the lounge behind a 5-foot tall china cabinet on a very short lead - the router itself was placed on a nearby window ledge by him, the Sky Openreach installer said this was his part of the job completed and if we wanted to extend the router further for ease of use we had to go to an electical shop and buy the cable to do so which came in three sizes. We have now cancelled the order placed and are being disconnected, what a waste of time this was for us.

[Chrisee]

@Lord-Help-us the. Enginercwas 100% correct. You can buy indeed cables of what ever type and length you want in most any hardware store, larger supermarket or online for a few pounds so cancelling seems a curious decision. 

While you bought a bundle of services from Sky the installation was of a fibre briadband broadband service which is a standard process done by Openreach literally thousands of times each day. The engineers, whether employed by Sky themselves or Openreach or one of their sub-contractors have a limited time assigned for each job. The job specification includes connecting the ISP''s router and connecting one device it does not include running internal cables or overcoming logistical issues..There is therefore limited ability to cope with variations due to the end customers set up but most engineers do try to satisfy requests where possible but as they are human that does vary..

The other products you bought from Sky are all provided with instructions for the customer to install themselves. The forum regularly advises customers what to do when they get stuck as do Sky's customer service agents. There are companies in most areas who offer AV installation services which you can pay for if you want a fully turn key service but that is not part of the standard install.

[Lord-Help-us]

Yes, you are correct, but no one told us this, it was not mentioned ever, all they did was to install wi-fi, a wi-fi router providing wi-fi. we alreadt had wi-fi from BT, installing wi-fi was not our goal, intention, reason for placing an order or plan, as Sky MUST KNOW we wanted a telephone, and the SKY tv service and if this was not connected when the enginner left then it waas NOT INSTALLED, why should ages 83 and 80 both disabled one in a wheelchair have to go to a various shop's to buy at our expense and cost the extra extension wire to finish the job for Sky.  Look at this problem as what did we order and what did we get?. Could it be selling the extra bit of wire for £60, is a well planned CON, one which covers the cost of the whole install and what allows Sky to get paid extra for a job that was from the outset their duty to perform. 

[TimmyBGood]

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@Lord-Help-us wrote:

Could it be selling the extra bit of wire for £60, is a well planned CON, one which covers the cost of the whole install and what allows Sky to get paid extra for a job that was from the outset their duty to perform. 

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I'm not aware of any mechanism through which an ISP can charge for such things: are you saying you paid Sky for additional work?

Purchasing a longer ethernet cable from a shop has no financial benefit to the ISP (and should cost a few pounds)

I think you are misunderstanding the role of an ISP and their 'duty', and you certainly misunderstood the order process if you were trying to obtain a 'Sky telephone line' while keeping BT broadband, because that's just not an option.

[Jane1945]

I find sky to be so unhelpful 

where is a human being to talk to?

[Chrisee]

@Jane1945 couple of thousand agents in Sky's call centres every day taking calls from around 7am to 9pm. The problem is with 12 miliion cudtomers the lines get pretty busy. If you really need to speak to sn agent stay on the line and dont accept offers of texts etc. 

[Lord-Help-us]

Excuses, Excuses, Excuses, one person on here posted the our Openreach installer had no connection with Sky, suggesting our Sky installer must have stolen the Openreach van he was driving and using? Others claim we were not entitled to ask the Sky Openreach installe to make sure the router-Ethernetcable he installed  would reach our computer, it didn;t. So guess what we cancelled the whole deal and set-up, no phone, no SKY tv, no Sky broadband, all disabled and out. All for a piece of extra-long- wire, I am asking Sky for a full refund, and to come out and close the blooming big hole they drillied in our rear house wall.  Avoid Sky, save time and trouble and £600 per year. 

[TimmyBGood]

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@Lord-Help-us wrote:

 one person on here posted the our Openreach installer had no connection with Sky, suggesting our Sky installer must have stolen the Openreachv an he was driving and using?

Openreach Ltd, the national network maintainer, is an independent company within BT Group.  Sky personnel do not work for Openreach or drive Openreach vehicles: they are employed by Sky UK within Sky Group, an overseas division of the Comcast Corporation.

Others claim we were not entitled to ask the Sky Openreach installe to make sure the router-Ethernetcable he installed  would reach our computer

That is correct.

I am asking Sky for a full refund, and to come out and close the blooming big hole they drillied in our rear house wall.

Every other Openreach client ISP would have the same installation procedure.

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[Chrisee]

@Lord-Help-us you are complaing about having to spend roughly £10 to buy a longer cable 

[Lord-Help-us]

I am not complaining about spending £10-00 for a longer cable, I am complaining the installation was not fully completed as ordered and when the surley, rude and couldn't care-less installer left our house we could not sit down to watch Sky tv, or use our computer and all they had done was to installed *wifi* into our home. The router was hidden begind an 6 foot tall glass cabinet cupboard and could not be easily reached.  The fitter said he did not have time to answer any questions and to ring Sky, he claimed he was there only to install the wifi and his job was completed and Goodbye. So we cancelled and  went with *THREE,* £4 PM THE FIRST 6 MONTHS AND £9-00 PM AFTERWARDS, and use a mobile instead of a landline. To understand our problem it is like ordering double glazing and the man leaves the glass windows in the garden and says sort it out yourself, We do not have a duty to sort anything out, to buy wires, or to go shopping for them so cancelled the lot. 

[TimmyBGood]

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@Lord-Help-us wrote:

To understand our problem it is like ordering double glazing and the man leaves the glass windows in the garden and says sort it out yourself, 

Again, you misunderstand how the national data network functions and how the rollout of FTTP is proceeding.  Openreach has responsibility up to the optical network terminal, and it's the infrastructure to this point that they install after an order is placed by an ISP (personnel from which typically don't attend at all)

It does sound like you encountered a very unhelpful specimen of Openreach installer: with 80,000+ installations happening each week to hit the national target by December 2026 then unfortunately that's going to happen sometimes.

[Lord-Help-us]

 Surely you miss the point, after the installer left, we contacted and complained to Sky, they said to have the ethernet cable extended would cost £60-00, which was another way of saying to have the job domne properly will cost you £60-00, so we ran. Bought elswhere!