BT and Openreach is a disaster

Sorry about this personal story, but I’ve been trying to get broadband for two months (Update)

I moved into a flat two months ago and notified BT, of whom I was a long standing customer, of the move. The flat was already linked to BT broadband because the previous occupants had a contract.

But for two months I have failed to get the broadband. I must have spoked to 20 different BT/EE ‘guides’, all of whom try to be helpful but having spent somewhere over 20 hours now on the phone and been promised an engineer three times who does not turn up, I am at my wit’s end.

I have had multiple texts and email saying it was fixed, followed by one saying it’s not.

It’s really difficult to navigate life without broadband.

The end of the story is that I now have broadband, but my neighbour hasn’t as his was taken away to give to me!

After being patient for two months I got in touch with my MP, Sarah Sackman, who went into action. I was immediately escalated to an ‘executive complaint’. I got a text at 7am the next day and an engineer appeared at 9am.

My street does not have underground fibre so it hangs from telephone wires, looking a bit like something from the 1950s. Each telephone poll can only support a limited number of ports and apparently a contractor had taken away my connection to give to someone else. The engineer who came to restore my connection did the same, took away a neighbour’s connection to give to me.

Today I met my cross neighbour as Openreach had sent an engineer to try and sort his lack of broadband. I don’t know how they are going to resolve this!