topic Re: Has anyone had the 'Free' upgrade to Full Fibre please? in Broadband & Landline

Has anyone had the 'Free' upgrade to Full Fibre please?

FiestaRed — Thu, 06 Aug 2026 09:21:39 GMT

Has anyone had the 'Free' upgrade to Full Fibre please? I'm just wondering how the changeover day went with BT Open Reach.

Re: Has anyone had the 'Free' upgrade to Full Fibre please?

JimM11 — Thu, 06 Aug 2026 10:26:53 GMT

@FiestaRed Yes, apart from a 21 day extra delay, the on the day when OR got involved and it went as sweet as a nut. No issues, FTTP went live once OR finished installing, took about 1Hr for them, did the ONT FW updates and i switched over the DSL to the FTTP connection, FTTC died away and FF Full Fibre took over. Free part is only the FF Full Fibre upgrade and staying on the Package assigned to you with the ISP, you want to go faster then the price changes, just so you are aware.

Final install was done 15/10/2024, so original would have been 21-23 day's before this, non agreement with the contractor assigned to the install, plus he did not arrive until about 3pm on the 8-1pm appointment as his previous job overrun time wise but he did call to say was running behind schedule MJ Quinn by the book and NO thinking outside the box. Would have been a nightmare had i allowed him to do as he proposed so was NOT happening.

Re: Has anyone had the 'Free' upgrade to Full Fibre please?

FiestaRed — Thu, 06 Aug 2026 09:49:41 GMT

Really appreciate the reply Jim. Thank you.

Re: Has anyone had the 'Free' upgrade to Full Fibre please?

Schockwave — Thu, 06 Aug 2026 11:12:23 GMT

@FiestaRed < I upgraded to full fibre in June, and the person arrived earlier as two had arrived at the previous one he was going to, so came earlier, not a problem as I was there, had overhead cable, new one put in, box on the outside and one on the inside, roughly about three hours to do, as he had to climb the pole, still do have the old cable, not bothered, it does not work, as now have full fibre, but chose 74 Mbps, as am saving £9.- and it works well, the only reason I did it, to save money, although would have to do it at some point anyway, the way things are going. I only had a two week wait from date ordered until done.

Re: Has anyone had the 'Free' upgrade to Full Fibre please?

FiestaRed — Thu, 06 Aug 2026 11:26:24 GMT

Thanks for the reply. I'm not really sure what "overhead" is with full fibre. Does that mean I could be getting either a connection from the point on the pavement outside my house or from the telephone pole across the road where my copper wire broadband comes from now? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Re: Has anyone had the 'Free' upgrade to Full Fibre please?

JimM11 — Thu, 06 Aug 2026 11:34:14 GMT

@FiestaRed You need to go look yourself at what may be happening, use the BTW link below, fill in the Address Number and your postcode, the bottom below the table will say what you are getting, and if it's straight forward or complicated.

BT Broadband

Have linked mine below so if you need to see.

Re: Hot and cold messages from EE/openreach is this usual? - The EE Community

Re: Has anyone had the 'Free' upgrade to Full Fibre please?

Schockwave — Thu, 06 Aug 2026 11:37:18 GMT

@FiestaRed , if you have copper via the pole, then they will do the same for the fibre, just new cable to the box outside your house to the box inside your house, it will be the pole as you have the copper that way, no digging up the road or garden, works exactly the same whether through the telegraph pole or underground.

Re: Has anyone had the 'Free' upgrade to Full Fibre please?

Schockwave — Thu, 06 Aug 2026 11:38:22 GMT

The lower cable is the copper one and the upper one is the fibre.

Re: Has anyone had the 'Free' upgrade to Full Fibre please?

FiestaRed — Thu, 06 Aug 2026 11:43:09 GMT

Brilliant. Thanks to both of you for all the help.

Clicking on the BT Broadband gave me a table and the lower part of it reads:

Our records show the following FTTP network service information for these premises:-Single Dwelling Unit Residential OH Feed hoist required.

FTTP is available and a new ONT may be ordered.

Re: Has anyone had the 'Free' upgrade to Full Fibre please?

XRaySpeX — Thu, 06 Aug 2026 12:18:54 GMT

"Overhead" means your BB comes from a telephone pole, but that applies to @Schockwave . Yours may be either overhead or underground. To find out, what does BT Wholesale Broadband Availability Checker > Address Checker estimate for your address? Post the whole table, the text below it and the line above it, blanking out your address.

Yes, you will get Full Fibre (FTTP) overhead (OH) from a telephone pole, just like @Schockwave , but OR eng will need to bring along a hoist.

Re: Has anyone had the 'Free' upgrade to Full Fibre please?

Schockwave — Thu, 06 Aug 2026 15:08:10 GMT

@XRaySpeX the company who came to me used a ladder for the bottom half and then climbed the rest on the pole, did not use a hoist, so depends who Open Reach send.

Re: Has anyone had the 'Free' upgrade to Full Fibre please?

Denzel99 — Thu, 06 Aug 2026 17:57:22 GMT

As I understand it, it depends on the condition of the pole. If it is marked with a “D” for defective or deteriorated, (depending on who you talk to), it means they are not allowed to climb it with a ladder and a hoist is required. That may cause a delay in the install.

The survey notes at the bottom of the purple boxes on the BT checker, recommended above: https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL often says if it is a known problem.

If you can’t put your phone number in, use your address or the UPRN.* If it says UG that is underground feed, OH is overhead, i.e. poles. Also, if it says in the purple boxes “1 stage” that means it can be done in one visit. Something like KCI2 means two visits. One to do the external cabling work, then a second visit to do the internal work.

*UPRN (unique property reference number) is probably more accurate. You can look that up here: https://www.findmyaddress.co.uk/search

Re: Has anyone had the 'Free' upgrade to Full Fibre please?

trevQPK — Thu, 06 Aug 2026 18:05:47 GMT

My upgrade from BT fullworks 50 to EE 900 full fibre went without issue technically. However, keep an eye on your billing, EE seems to have an issue getting things right.. So far my bills have been all over the place and I’ve had to contact them nearly every month.