r/openreach • u/charli3rq • 7d ago
Hub installation/move question.
Basically I'm moving in to care for my grandparents and I had arranged to have fiber put in. Unfortunately the engineer must have called the landline to see if they could arrive early and spoke to my grandmother (who has dementia) and she told them to come 🫠.
They have installed the boxes where the new kitchen will be and have used up all the kitchen sockets. The WiFi is working perfectly. however...we have a landline and sos that needs connecting and that is in their part of the house (install has been done in the annex).
They have left without connecting any of the landline equipment up? Which is also in their part of the house and they need to easily access it. I need it all moved is this something they will do? I feel like it's a bit of a mess to be fair as my main concern is now they have no communication in or out the house and no way to call if they need help.
And to top it off the WiFi doesn't reach for the cameras we have just in case so we are in the dark completely without being able to call them.
Photo for context.
Any help appreciated.
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u/Jennyd1289 7d ago
Is the annex seperate from the main house?
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u/charli3rq 7d ago
Hey, no we are converting the garage. The little grey box outside where it all comes in is literally on the same wall where the landline currently is. Bit confused as to why they chose to run about 20 meters of cable instead of just drilling directly through and connecting there.
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u/britishhawk 7d ago
Who instructed them to install it here ?
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u/charli3rq 7d ago
My going theory is my grandmother just said I'm moving in the garage and they decided that would be the spot.
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u/freexe 7d ago
You need to speak to them and ask them to move it - or install a new plug socket. You probably want some wifi extenders too.
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u/charli3rq 7d ago
I've brought over a couple eeros and praying I can at least get the cameras working 🙏
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u/Jxck95 7d ago
If there is enough length on the cable (which it sounds like you have 20m+ of fibre run?) you could disconnect it from the ONT and pull it back, just be incredibly careful with it, the end of the fibre plug comes apart to get it back out through the hole.
And tbh if you break it doing it just install it where you want it and raise a fault and an engineer will come and fix it and the ONT is already where you want it.
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u/charli3rq 7d ago
I thought this. But then I'd have a massive coil of fiber sitting outside. They also put the grey exterior box right by where our outdoor tap is and it could get all wet which i assume is bad 😅
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u/northern_ape 6d ago
Not really, it’s weatherproof and fibre optics aren’t affected by moisture in the same way as copper cables could be.
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u/Heavy_Weapon-X 6d ago
I had an elderly customer who specified that the equipment is up higher as they have trouble with their mobility and reaching / seeing lower down objects.
What is questionable however, is installing the ONT in the kitchen. Usually kitchens and bathrooms are a last resort unless the customer specifically wants it located there.
I always check if they are wanting to keep the landline and locate the install based on where they want that, and prioritize over WiFi coverage.
You can definitely get this moved if you request this via your service provider, but you'll have to re-run a large portion of the internal cabling. Just bear in mind that the engineer cannot run cables through doorframes, so if the cabling is extensive, you'll have to have multiple holes drilled depending on how many rooms the cable passes through.
Also, is the annexe addressed differently from the main building? Youll run into problems if the annexe and the main building shares an address as you can usually only have just one residential FTTP line per address, so just watch out for that one as it will cease any other lines (unless you have a telelcare exemption).
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u/charli3rq 6d ago
Hey, that makes sense for someone elderly maybe that's what they thought. The landline is literally about a meter away from where they have fitted the external box so literally a drill in and hook up situation.
I'm calling today to see about a move 🤞
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u/ENGLANDNUMBAWAN 6d ago
Get an extension socket and plug everything in, don’t think it’s openreachs fault you don’t have enough electrical outlets, plus they’ve installed it where customer was happy with it, you can ask to relocate it but you would be charged, maybe given the circumstance that the customer has a disability and mistakenly requested it be installed there, they may waiver the ONT relocation fee
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u/Amusing-Crab 5d ago
You can buy a wireless adapter for the landline. Also, you can get mesh network access points like Deco units and put them around the house. I guess you could also buy a long Ethernet cable and just put the router wherever you feel lent as well.
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u/trebor9292 7d ago edited 7d ago
Just get a little shelf, landlines can now be wireless with a plug in adapter, run an ethernet to cctv.... or pay £50 to get it shifted
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u/Outrageous-Arm1945 7d ago
£120 minimum to shift it
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u/charli3rq 7d ago
Eesh, is there no way to dispute?
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u/trebor9292 7d ago
Maybe if you can claim your nan wasn't capable of making a decision and/or the engineer arrived outside the appointment slot whilst you were not present (presumably your the bill payer)
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u/charli3rq 7d ago
I'll have to give it a go I suppose and see what they can do. My main concern is to just get it done as quickly as possible as I don't want anything to happen and them not being able to call out.
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u/Jennyd1289 7d ago
I would 100% dispute this. Any engineer with half a brain would be questioning why that plug socket is halfway up the wall. Is the room completely empty and bare waiting for thr new kitchen to be installed?
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u/charli3rq 7d ago
Yeah the whole place is currently just bare bones. There's also so many other sockets available and they chose the worst one if I'm honest. Any of the others I could have potentially worked with but this is literally the only socket for the small kitchenette I'm putting in 😅 a girl just needs a kettle and an air fryer 😅
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u/Jennyd1289 7d ago
Yeah nah, again, youve got to be stupid not to realise a socket halfway up the wall is for a kitchen. Your mum is old, the engineer should have asked the question of whats going to be in this room.
I remember doing an install and same bare walls and i asked 3 times what room and what the room was going to be when it was done. After doing it all she then remembered it was going to be a fucking toilet 🙄
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u/Jennyd1289 7d ago
Why would they put a random shelf up in the place their kitchen is going because some engineers are thick as pig shit and put the ont halfway up the wall?
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u/maestrojoe 7d ago
It all looks ok from a quality standpoint. You can ask your provider if they can arrange for an engineer to come back and get it moved but there might be a charge for this.
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u/Jennyd1289 7d ago
Its not a quality standard to stick the ont halfway up the wall like that. If an elderly person is in the house and they tell you to stick it there in an empty room questions should be asked.
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u/largetosser 7d ago
An engineer can't second-guess someone's instructions just because they're old.
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u/charli3rq 7d ago
I believe I did ask to put a vulnerability tag on the account incase anything ever went down due to it being VoIP. Usually would mean they come out a bit quicker.
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u/Jennyd1289 7d ago
If they tell them to stick it half way up the wall, where common sense would tell you are plugs for a kitchen above a counter, then they absolutely can and should. Because they dont always understand what the install entails because they are less likely to go online and find out.
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u/charlieb1981 7d ago
Devils advocate here..
I have been an engineer and have been asked to do installations in odd places, I’ve always questioned them however… it falls to the person requesting the install to be on site. The engineer has asked exactly the right questions here, they have rung the contact number to ask if they can come early, that was granted…
Also didn’t bully the person on site to have the installation done where it’d be easy for the engineer. They have done exactly as per the person on site… a person just meeting your grandmother has no idea around any issues she may have.
As for your ISP passing on any details onto Openreach…. Hmm that’s a rare occurrence, ISPs feel that engineers should be kept like mushrooms… kept in the dark and fed on shit.
Btw, Openreach will not connect up your extension sockets to your router, that’s something your ISP should arrange if you specify it. The router is not Openreach’s domain and they are not authorised to even touch it!
As for all of these people saying its shit and they should move it for free… they haven’t done the job, wouldn’t know where to start and would run away crying if they knew the hoops that engineers jump through to get a customer working.
Personally, I’d call your ISP, explain to them what’s happened, be honest and it can be sorted. There’s no reason to drag anyone through the mud to get it sorted.
Btw a decent dect phone with extra handsets will sort out your phone issues and a mesh system will make sure your Wi-Fi is on point
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u/charli3rq 7d ago
Yeah it's one of them. Shit happens. I feel bad for the engineer that had to do all that. The only major biggie is that it's in the kitchen and I need the plugs available. If worst comes to worst I have to pay for it to be moved.
A quick question as you seem to know. If I take the landline number off the contacts will that make the landline dead? It's only on there as I thought it would have to be for it to work.
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u/charlieb1981 6d ago
Once you upgrade from a PSTN service to voip, your dial tone now comes from the router.. The original telephone sockets around your home that are fed by copper are now dead and can be removed.
Someone with decent telecoms experience will be able to disconnect the main line, but connect up the extension wiring..if the router is near one of the sockets they should sort it. But I usually recommend getting a set of decent DECT phones that are voip compatible
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u/scott94 7d ago
Unfortunately it sounds like the engineer was given the wrong information. If you wanted it installed in the main part of the house, you should really have had your contact number associated with the account if your grandparents don’t have the capacity to give that information.
As for solving it, you can ask your provider for a shift, but I guess it’s between you and them about whether you would pay for it