Experience with Glasfaser connection
Hi everyone. After a long long waiting period, we finally got our Glasfaser connection completed this month. This was a very frustrating wait, and I learnt quite a bit during this which helped me speed up the process a bit. If you are facing the same issue, I think this might help.
The process in very short takes a few steps. I will add the timlines on when these steps were completed for our apartment building.
Booking the connection - Completed end of 2022
Street connection - The glasfaser connection has to be layed down the street you live in and distribution boxes connected. Depending upon the street you live in, this step might have been completed a long time ago. For my street, I believe it might have happened before I moved in, so 2023 or before.
Basement connection - The basement of your building has to be connected to the street. To know if this has been done or not, you can check the basement if a Glasfaserkasten has been installed and if you can see a wire from the street coming in to the box. (Completed end of 2023)
Viewing appointment - The technicians conduct a house visit by coordinating with the owner/verwaltung to understand how cables should be routed through the building (Completed mid 2024)
Building owner approval - Depending on the ownership structure, this can be quick or slow. (Completed mid 2024)
Buidling wiring and floor distributor assembly - Technicians connect wires to the glasfaserkasten in the basement and the wires are passed to all the floors in the building. An etagenverteiler is tyen installed in each floor. To know if this step is completed, check the glasfaserkasten (if possible) for wires coming out of it and etagenverteilers in each floors. (Completed Oct 2024)
Glasfaser apartment connection - The apartment is finally connected to the etagenverteiler and the connection can be activated (Completed Jan 2025)
This took a whole lot of time and was especially frustrating because of the poor DSL connection in our building. I sent countless emails to Telekom and was always met with the "Please be patient" reply.
Now, the real issue was the status of these steps I mentioned was not updated correctly in the Glasfaser portal. The viewing appointment and building owner approval was the only ones correctly marked. The other statuses were never constant and kept changing.
At the end of 2024 when I realised that the etagenverteilers were already installed and the only step remaining was connecting the last few meteres to my apartment, I sent multiple contact forms to Telekom. I attached photos of the etagenverteilers and asked why the connection hasn't been made yet. Surprisingly, Telekom replied that our building was not yet connected to the street. But I know for a fact that it has been connected since 2023. I took the photos from the basement and refuted their claim. They replied that the company which did the connection never updated the status to Telekom and asked me to send an email to the civil engineering company to ask if they have connected and turned the street distribution box.
I don't know why they can't do it, but it is my need so I did that anyway. I attached all the photos and asked them why the status with Telekom hasn't been updated if all these steps have been completed. I did not get any reply for a couple of days, but received the email asking me to book the appointment for the final connection!
And that was it! The way that the different steps are given to different companies, there are information gaps everywhere. If I had not taken the claim to Telekom with photo evidence, I think I would be waiting for more months before they finish the connection. If you are tired of waiting for your glasfaser connection, it might be worth it to check your basement and floor comnections and not completely trust the status that you see in Glasfaser portal.
Hope this helps someone :)