british internet fiber question

where i live in a masonette is only a original copper cable telephone line so we are stuck on the maximum that the line is allowed which is 65-72mbps (sorry if i got the letters wrong) but about 3 years ago Virgin did install Fiber lines yet every time i look up my address on the site it says we cant, i have emailed virgin to ask why
but apart from a auto-email i never get a responce, why install fiber lines if nobody can use them, our landlord is awesome so when we asked for a external satalite dish because the comunal kept going down he said yes but our council said NO because aparently it will make the building look bad (thats the short version) saddly because this place is a Lease to our landlord not a full Owned i can sort of see why, so is there any way that we can get them to say yes to getting a fiber box and line from the junction outside thats legal?

I would very much doubt Virgin are legally allowed to install a fibre connection without the owners permission. Perhaps you would need proof of ownership. If you are the owner, that’s a good start. But if you’re not the owner, it’s sometimes easier to seek forgiveness than to ask permission.

If you enter your Maisonette Postcode and then enter your address after it asks, it will either say you can, or you can’t. There is nothing you can do about it. Perhaps like in Australia, it’s slow to roll out.

Check your address:



As far as I understand it, Virgin owns their own cables.
You could try changing over to BT if they are an option to see of they have passed Fibre by your residence.

Check your address:


As far as getting a response from Virgin, I would guess if it says you can’t get Fibre, all they are going to say is “Fibre isn’t available yet at your address” /The End

Assuming your postcode (guessing here) is AL10 0UB

Virgin says you can get Ultra Fast Broadband (Over 1000Mbps)

For the same postcode with BT it says you can only get Broadband.

Seems odd as BT has been around since Moses walked up the hill and forged the Ten Commandments…

i watched them install the little black caps on the path outside, at first i didnt pay attention so to speak but when i went to a friends he had one of the black caps outside his house and he had virgin fibre, what i dont get it why install the junctions outside if none of this street is allowed to even tap into it, as i said we are on the copper line using "fast fiber" as they call it on BT and im sorry but 68-72mbps in today is a joke yet outside is a cap with up to 700mbps link, my code is BS23 3TA

Took them all of an hour to drag Fibre up from the Junction to my home 2 years ago, that included installing the connection to my house. They can use junction boxes that are a fair distance away so there must be some other reason.


I checked your postcode and had to use a random street address, obviously.
I was given a “Be the first to know” message where I could enter my email to be informed.

I also clicked on “My address isn’t listed” and was taken to a form where I could enter details to send an email.

Again, I’d guess the best answer you’re going to get is “Fibre isn’t available yet at your address”

You need to find a fibre rollout map or a fibre coverage map (Probably from BT/Virgin/or your Gov)


It appears that Nexfibre is responsible for rolling out Virgins Fibre infrastructure? I’m not sure.

Nexfibre key areas in 2024

• Cheshire
• Derbyshire
• Durham
• Kent
• Lancashire

Some News for you to take a look at if you choose:

Not the greatest Rollout Map.

antspants said:

Took them all of an hour to drag Fibre up from the Junction to my home 2 years ago, that included installing the connection to my house. They can use junction boxes that are a fair distance away to there must be some other reason.


I checked your postcode and had to use a random street address, obviously.
I was given a “Be the first to know” message where I could enter my email to be informed.

I also clicked on “My address isn’t listed” and was taken to a form where I could enter details to send an email.

Again, I’d guess the best answer you’re going to get is “Fibre isn’t available yet at your address”

You need to find a fibre rollout map or a fibre coverage map (Probably from BT/Virgin/or your Gov)


It appears that Nexfibre is responsible for rolling out Virgins Fibre infrastructure? I’m not sure.

Nexfibre key areas in 2024

• Cheshire
• Derbyshire
• Durham
• Kent
• Lancashire

Some News for you to take a look at if you choose:

Nexfibre announces rollout for Virgin Media availability

Virgin Media broadband availability will be increasing over the next 12 months as Nexfibre publishes rollout plan.

www.choose.co.uk

Our network - nexfibre

www.nexfibre.co.uk

Building Digital UK

Building Digital UK (BDUK) is helping to bring fast and reliable broadband and mobile coverage to hard-to-reach places across the UK - transforming people’s lives and driving economic growth. BDUK is an executive agency, sponsored by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology .

www.gov.uk

Virgin Media O2 Linked Nexfibre Publish UK Full Fibre Rollout Plan

Network operator nexfibre, which holds a wholesale partnership with Virgin Media (VMO2) to deploy a new 10Gbps capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband IS

www.ispreview.co.uk

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i genuienly appriciate your replys my man, personally i think the only choice i have over copper is the mobile wifi, where i am is a Ex-Council property and you cant even bolt a sat dish to the side because of our council

Toasty92 said:

i genuienly appriciate your replys my man, personally i think the only choice i have over copper is the mobile wifi, where i am is a Ex-Council property and you cant even bolt a sat dish to the side because of our council

Click to expand...

Not a problem. I know what it’s like. When I first built, I had to get a dish on the roof because we didn’t have broadband and the copper wires were too old and faulty.

The Sat Dish was worse than dial-up. It was unbearable because I rely on the internet for my businesses.

I feel your pain, truly I do. But I’ll be honest with you, Toasty, 68-72mbps isn’t anything to sneeze at in an area that may not yet have been added to the Fibre infrastructure?

antspants said:

Not a problem. I know what it’s like. When I first built, I had to get a dish on the roof because we didn’t have broadband and the copper wires were too old and faulty.

The Sat Dish was worse than dial-up. It was unbearable because I rely on the internet for my businesses.

I feel your pain, truly I do. But I’ll be honest with you, Toasty, 68-72mbps isn’t anything to sneeze at in an area that may not yet have been added to the Fibre infrastructure?

Click to expand...

damn son thats bad, i remeber dial up well. my speed is good for what i do but it is slowly becoming just below of acceptable, been on this speed for 10 years now and my line is MAXED, we have had a few ISP and BT for us is the most stable so i think im gonna keep rolling with it :)

Not sure how Virgin delivers their Fibre service but we had the same problem when we tried to change ISP recently. We have Fibre To The Cabinet, and a copper connection to the house.
When we tried to get another ISP, we were told that Internet wasn't yet available in our area ( even though we already had it).
The reason is that the green cabinets were full and no additional lines were available. If Virgin uses the Cabinet system as a main delivery point then individual fibre cabling from there that could be the reason.

All the copper is being removed, and the exchanges are shut; it doesn't look like there are any firm plans for your postcode yet, but Openreach has your postcode to be done before December 2026.

All you can really do is hold out, and it will come.

As for finding a way to see if you can get tapped into the Virgin box, I think you may get a better answer by asking at a dedicated UK internet forum like ISPreview UK Forum

65-75 Mbps is good, no reason to complain about that. Mine is 13 Mbps (extra cost 25 Mbps).

No Virgin Media at all in my UK town, copper/fibre/dialup. Postcode lookup with Virgin has always said no service.
The postcode you have given also says that, no service with Virgin, with BT as yet no Ultrafast(FTTP).

The bottom line is at least BT/Openreach whatever will provide FTTP within the next couple of years. Replacing the copper, keep checking.

FTTP - The road outside me appears to have 2 fibre companies one installed last year, various flyers with ISP services listed, and BT I think this year, just checked BT Ultrafast up to 900 Mbps.

I would be tickled to death if I could get consistent reliable 68-72 Mbps. I live 3 miles from town but there is no fiber and no plans of getting any. Over the years we've had every kind of satellite dish there is on our house. We've spent a fortune on connection fees. They've all been horrible, usage was capped, and most locked us into long contracts. The best we can get is a 50 Mbps unlimited wireless plan, but bandwidth to the tower is shared so during peak hours when everyone is streaming, I consider myself lucky to get 10 Mbps, usually closer to 5. To make matters worse, we can't depend on cellular data either as we're in a dead area. Usually we get enough of a cell signal to talk, but that's about it. Sometimes, I have to go outside to even do that. The wait list for Elon's Starlink is 2 years with another big connection fee.

as an update to this old thread, virgin 100mbps+ is being switched on here aparently in the next 6 months

Toasty92 said:

as an update to this old thread, virgin 100mbps+ is being switched on here aparently in the next 6 months

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Hey so we were the same, dug up our full towns streets, put in boxes and re ran cables etc etc, then about 2 years later i can now get up to 1gb, No one has been in my house.

our "fibre" boxes have been here for about 3-4 years and ive seen the caps tapped into on normal houses, just waiting for us Massonette places to be gifted now

Toasty92 said:

our "fibre" boxes have been here for about 3-4 years and ive seen the caps tapped into on normal houses, just waiting for us Massonette places to be gifted now

Click to expand...

This might be why ive not noticed any upset to individual houses, they just put them at the very front of our garden about 3 years ago without so much as a how dyou do! Technically theres a tiny portion at the edge of our garden that the council own so i guess thats why!

Well I'm on 50mbps copper & we have just had fibre into the close where I live. BT fitted a box at the end of the street 5 years ago with fibre but the copper is buried in the pavement. Unfortunately the contractors didn't use conduit, they just buried the cable!
BT have just dug the pavement up & fitted conduit so when my current contract expires in January its fibre for me!

Word of caution re. UK full fibre.

If you go full fibre, your landline will no longer work UNLESS your router has an analogue telephone connection port. Many non-isp routers do not have such a port. Even if you have such a port, the landline only works if you have power unlike current direct analogue connection (via copper cables) where power is supplied by BT remotely.

The uk is actually closing down its analogue telephone network.

Now for many, this change is not a big deal.

However, as I live alone and getting on a wee bit, I have a telecare system where I can call for emergency assistance e.g. if I have an accident (happened a couple of months back!). My telecare provider had to replace the old analogue system as it would not work on full fibre. The new system actually uses the mobile phone networks (it is not tied to a particular network but it automatically picks up strongest signal). It also has a battery backup in case of a power cut.
So if you or a relative have a dependency on your landline (often older people do) or need a telecare system, make sure you sort out an alternative solution.

Another thing to realise is landlines are not leased from BT like older broadband - for full fibre it is the ISP supplier who provides the landline service. Depending on ISP supplier, there may be an additional cost.

Vodafone provide the landline free of charge but calls are pretty pricey unless you buy a bundle of time as well.
TBH I never use the landline as I get unlimited free mobile calls but I like to have an emergency landline backup in case my mobile service is down.

Full fibre pulls a bit of a scam really offering you full fibre for similar price to older broadband neglecting to tell you that the broadband part of the cost is really around £15 per month dearer (you are no longer leasing a landline). Overall, the total cost is similar but the ISPs are coining it as the £15 goes to them rather than BT who operate the old analogue system).

cereberus said:

The uk is actually closing down its analogue telephone network.

Click to expand...

Dangerous in my opinion. They’re disconnecting analogue land lines in Australia also, once they connect you to the NBN

My mother is getting older and has been having falls. We had a storm, no power (So no NBN) mobile phones went down. She had a fall, after she was able to crawl, her NBN phone wouldn’t work, she couldn’t call any of us, couldn’t call for help.

A land line may of prevented this.