When I developed a farm in Cornwall six years ago Openreach installed phone and broadband cabling. Last February I rented the farmhouse to a former soldier who wished to develop an online business.
Eight months on he still isn’t connected and has to run his business from friends’ kitchens since there’s no reception. When his child had an accident he was unable to call an ambulance from his own home.
Openreach has repeatedly failed to meet its own deadlines to reconnect the line, and he has now been told he may have to wait until November. Openreach blames the need to lay more cabling, but when the previous tenant was fobbed off with this an engineer connected them immediately. Openreach’s failure threatens his business and the rural peace he sought after serving in Iraq. HW, London
As you predict, Openreach says the delay has been caused by the complexities of laying cable . “Although the previous tenant had service, once they left and cancelled it the line was allocated to a new customer,” says a spokesperson. “When the new tenants moved in the local cabinet was full. To expand capacity we have to run extra lines back to the local exchange. We always explore various solutions before we carry out major work and in this case we had a look at inactive lines to see if we could fix them. We attempted to do this but it wasn’t possible.”
Council restrictions on road works and a ban on digging in the tourist season has, Openreach says, delayed the project. But eight months and counting is an unreasonable length of time to lay less than 2km of kit, and since you wrote to The Observer two more installation dates have been missed.
The trouble is, Openreach is not accountable to its end-users. Residents on new developments struggling to get connected are allowed to liaise directly with BT, but similarly stranded residents in older homes must complain through their provider. Moreover, any compensation for delays is paid to the provider, so customers who have lost out have to take their case to whichever alternative dispute resolution scheme their provider is signed up to.
Openreach has at last connected the phone line, and the broadband has now gone live. It promises to discuss a goodwill gesture.
If you need help email Anna Tims at your.problems@observer.co.uk or write to Your Problems, The Observer, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU. Include an address and phone number.
