Original article ISPreview UK:Read More
Internet provider TalkTalk has confirmed to ISPreview that they’re no longer selling Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC / VDSL2) based broadband packages on Openreach’s network to new customers. But the ISP says that this is only a “pause” while they finish setting up their new platform.
The situation recently came to our attention after a number of people in FTTC-only areas (i.e. locations where full fibre FTTP isn’t available yet) found they couldn’t order a broadband package (ISPreview has verified the same with our testing). Such consumers were instead presented with a generic message to say that “all TalkTalk broadband plans use full fibre broadband [and this] isn’t available in your area, so we can’t offer a broadband plan today.”
In addition, one of our regular readers, and an existing TalkTalk subscriber of some ten years (credits to Joe), similarly reported that his planned house move into an FTTC-only area had also been hit by a similar message. Upon chasing this up with the provider’s support department, Joe was told that his only options were to “transfer the services to a friend or family member or cancel without penalty“.
“If only they still covered FTTC areas with no possibility of Full Fibre, they wouldn’t have lost a customer of 10 years,” said Joe after deciding to take TalkTalk up on its penalty free cancellation offer and switch to a different provider. ISPreview has since found a couple of other reports on social media echoing a similar experience.
TalkTalk’s Generic Notice on FTTC Order Attempts
We can’t offer a broadband plan today.
All TalkTalk broadband plans use full fibre broadband. At the moment, our Full Fibre isn’t available in your area, so we can’t offer a broadband plan today.
Full fibre rollout is continuing across the UK, so it’s worth checking back — full fibre could be available near you in the future. If you’re already a TalkTalk customer, you can still renew or upgrade your plan anytime in My Account.
The move seems particularly unusual for a provider in TalkTalk’s position, where a mix of heavy debts and high levels of customer churn have put growing pressures on the underlying business. Earlier this month it was also reported that Vodafone / VodafoneThree had tabled a bid for the provider (here).
The ISP has since informed us that the FTTC situation is not permanent (they don’t say that in their above notice) and relates to their ongoing work to fully adopt Kraken’s new customer management platform. Kraken is designed to empower their customer care specialists to more quickly and effectively review customer account details and take actions that would previously have involved long and complicated processes.
The provider told ISPreview that they’re still working to finish setting up this new platform and migrating customers to it, which clearly can’t yet handle FTTC sales as these have now been “paused“. However, TalkTalk said that current customers (including when re-contracting and home movers) should have been “unaffected” by this, but they also acknowledged issuing new feedback to agents in order to ensure that similar requests are processed correctly going forward.
Finally, the ISP noted how they are currently exploring potential options for future sales through Kraken to properties with an FTTC connection, although no timescale was offered for when such orders might be accepted again.
In fairness, it is expected that FTTC will be gradually withdrawn as FTTP coverage rises, but most would probably agree that it’s too early to put a stop sell on this in FTTC-only areas that still account for a sizeable number of UK premises. At present FTTP is available to around 25 million premises, which leaves over 5-6 million lines on copper services and many of those will be FTTC-only.