What happens at a YouFibre installation

YouFibre doesn't build the fibre in your street. Its site says its network is built by Netomnia and that YouFibre looks after you "from order to install, and beyond". Netomnia and YouFibre are both part of Substantial Group: Companies House lists Substantial Group Limited as holding 75% or more of YouFibre Limited, and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) describes Substantial as including Netomnia, Brsk and YouFibre. Availability depends on Netomnia having built your street: YouFibre's postcode checker tells you whether you can order now or should register for updates.

As of 28 October 2026, nexfibre's proposed purchase of Substantial was still under CMA review; our guide to the Netomnia network follows that story.

1. Decide two things at checkout: whether to use One Touch Switch if you're leaving another provider, and whether to add YouPhone to keep your home phone number (YouFibre can't move your number once your current broadband is cancelled).
2. Set up your direct debit, then book. YouFibre says you can book and track the install in My Account or the app once you've ordered and set up a direct debit. The calendar shows the next available date, or you can pick another; YouFibre confirms the date and time by email.
3. Answer the reminder. About 72 hours before, you get a reminder; one YouFibre help article says the text asks you to reply to confirm.
4. Take the engineer's call on the day, confirming their arrival time and that someone will be in.
5. Go live. YouFibre's terms say monthly charges start once it has confirmed your order and the service is installed, and any fixed term begins on the day your service is activated.

YouFibre's plans page says you can be up and running in 10 days, or earlier if your diary is free. That's its own claim, not a guarantee. The Price Book and YouFibre help pages we read in October 2026 give no lead time for non-standard installations that need a survey, so ask for a realistic date if yours does. Our guide to broadband installation lead times explains why waits vary.

A survey is only needed for a non-standard installation. The Price Book (from 9 October 2026) offers free standard installation where the network termination equipment (NTE) installed inside your home is no more than 100 metres from the nearest distribution point in the network. The NTE is the box where the fibre ends indoors. It does the job Openreach calls an optical network terminal (ONT): connecting the fibre line to your router (see our guide to the ONT and its lights).

The Price Book says a non-standard installation is needed if:

• specialist surfaces, outbuildings or features must be navigated or reinstated;
• the work is over five metres in height;
• hot tarmac work is needed, or more than 10 metres of concrete or tarmac has to be reinstated;
• the socket YouFibre installs in your home would be more than 10 metres from your house entrance.

YouFibre then surveys your home and quotes before completing your order, and no work starts until costs are agreed. An agreed charge is confirmed in writing and taken with your first monthly payment. If you don't go ahead, its terms say there's no charge for the survey.

One wrinkle: YouFibre's residential terms (last updated 10 July 2026) say a Standard Installation Charge "may apply", while the current Price Book calls standard installation free. Check the installation line on your order before you confirm. How other networks handle non-standard work, and your options when a quote arrives, are in our guide to extra installation and construction charges.

YouFibre's terms have you confirm that you're the occupier and either the freeholder or a tenant with legally binding permission from the freeholder for the equipment to be installed. If you rent, get your landlord's agreement before anyone drills and, if your landlord isn't the freeholder, the freeholder's too; our guide to broadband for renters covers how to ask.

YouFibre can't install until it has all the consents it needs, and you may need to provide a wayleave agreement (permission for the network to put and keep its equipment on land or a building). If consents can't be provided, it may end the contract. This can matter where the cable has to reach you across property that isn't only yours, for example a shared driveway or a block of flats: see our guides to broadband wayleaves and full fibre in flats.

If a visit has to be rearranged because access or permissions weren't available, a rescheduling fee may be charged, but YouFibre's terms say it must tell you and get your agreement first. If it can't contact you or complete the install, it may end the contract and charge reasonable costs where you caused the problem.

• Keep the whole slot free. The engineer can arrive any time in a morning (8am to 1pm) or afternoon (1pm to 6pm) slot. You, or another adult aged 18 or over, must let them in and stay while they work.
• Free up two power sockets: one for the router and one for the fibre connection box.
• Clear space inside and by the outside wall: YouFibre's terms say you must provide space, power and ducting for its equipment.
• Keep pets out of the room where the engineer works, as YouFibre asks.
• Check who's at the door: YouFibre says its engineers wear a uniform and an ID badge.
• Leave your old broadband alone. YouFibre advises not cancelling anything until you're up and running and happy.

YouFibre says the engineer's two-hour window starts when they arrive, and it takes around 90 minutes to get you online. Its install-day help article sets out the visit like this:

1. The plan. The engineer brings the router and cables and talks you through how they'll bring the fibre in. Say now where you'd like the boxes and router.
2. Outside. They run a fibre cable from the nearest connection point in the street to your home, fit a small box on the outside wall and drill a small hole for the cable.
3. Inside. They fix a small box where the cable comes in, find the best spot for the router, set it up and run a speed test. If you've added YouMesh (YouFibre's Wi-Fi boosters) or YouPhone, they set those up and test them too.
4. Getting you online. They give you the Wi-Fi details, connect up to two devices and sort out Sky Whole Home if you have it.
5. Finishing. They check you're happy with the set-up and speeds, may recommend YouMesh, tidy up and ask you to sign off the installation.

Before you sign off, walk round to see where the cable runs and check for damage, ask which lights on the fibre box show it's working, try the Wi-Fi in the rooms you use most and, if you have YouPhone, make a test call. Later, run our broadband speed test on a device connected by cable.

The Price Book says every standard installation includes a mini Wi-Fi survey to find the best router location, usually central and away from obstructions, thick walls and large or metal objects. YouFibre recommends that spot, but you can choose anywhere up to 10 metres from the NTE, and it will tell you if it thinks your choice will reduce your Wi-Fi range. Its tips: keep the router in the open, off the floor and away from baby monitors, microwaves and cordless phones; a longer Ethernet cable can move it somewhere better.

Example: if the fibre comes in at the front and your office is upstairs at the back, a central router plus a booster or cable may serve you better than a socket in a far room, which could make the job non-standard. Our guides to mesh Wi-Fi versus extenders and finding Wi-Fi dead spots help once you're connected.

YouFibre says every new customer gets a Wi-Fi 7 router free: the YouFibre Hub on You 200 to You 2000 and the Hub Pro on You 8000, set up by the engineer. You can use your own router instead, though YouFibre's are set up for its network.

The kit stays YouFibre's property: if you leave or cancel, you must return the router and Wi-Fi equipment within 14 days in a prepaid package it provides. Our guide to cancelling YouFibre lists what goes back.

If your home already has a working YouFibre socket, no installation is needed, though YouFibre's terms say an activation charge may apply. If you move into a home that already has YouFibre installed, its moving-home help article says to get in touch and it sorts it out.

One Touch Switch is Ofcom's switching process: you contact only the new provider, and your current provider must keep your service going until the new one is live and send you the switching information, including any early termination charges. Our guide to switching broadband providers covers the rules in full.

With YouFibre:

• Choose it when you order, online or by phone, giving your current provider's name and your account number.
• The handover follows your install. YouFibre says your old connection is switched off once your YouFibre service is fully running, and it asks your old provider to stop charging on the switch date. Its plans page promises to switch you over on install day with "no downtime".
• If it can't be used, YouFibre tells you. You can carry on with the order but must contact your old provider to end the service yourself: wait until YouFibre is working and, if you're moving your number to YouPhone, until the number transfer has completed.

Check your contract end date and exit fees before you order: your old provider's switching email confirms them. If things go wrong, see broadband switching problems.

YouFibre's broadband doesn't need a landline. To keep your number, add YouPhone, its VoIP service (calls over your broadband rather than a copper line), when you order. YouFibre says it can't port your number (move it across) if you've already cancelled your current broadband.

• Your YouFibre broadband goes live first; the old service is cancelled once the number transfer completes.
• Porting is free and can take up to 30 days, depending on your current provider. YouFibre emails you a porting date and aims to have the number working within one working day of it.
• Until then, YouFibre can give you a temporary number.
• If the number hasn't moved one business day after the agreed porting date, YouFibre's Complaints Code of Practice lets you claim under its Number Porting Compensation Scheme: a daily share of your monthly subscription per day of delay, credited to your next bill.

YouFibre's terms say 999 and 112 calls on its phone service won't connect in a power cut or if the internet line fails, and that back-up power is your responsibility, so keep a charged mobile. If anyone relies on a landline or telecare alarm, see our guides to digital landlines in a power cut and keeping your number when you switch. GOV.UK says most customers are expected to have moved off the old copper phone network (the PSTN) by the end of January 2027. For other phone options, see broadband and phone deals.

YouFibre's terms say it assesses risk before any installation, and if the work can't go ahead for safety reasons, because no adult is there, or because of complexity or missing materials, it will make other arrangements. It also says it will repair any damage it causes, but not redecoration needed after its equipment is fitted. Photograph anything you're unhappy with before signing off; see our guide to installation damage to your home.

Ofcom's voluntary automatic compensation scheme covers delayed repairs, missed appointments and late starts, but only with providers that sign up. ISPreview's April 2026 list of supporters ("most of the major ISPs") doesn't name YouFibre, and YouFibre's Complaints Code of Practice, read in October 2026, mentions only its Number Porting Compensation Scheme. If an engineer doesn't turn up or your start date slips, ask YouFibre what it will offer. Our guide to automatic compensation explains the scheme.

To complain, start with YouFibre. Its Complaints Code of Practice names the Communications Ombudsman as its alternative dispute resolution (ADR) scheme: if YouFibre can't resolve your complaint within six weeks, or earlier if you both agree, it says it will issue a "deadlock" letter, and you can then take the complaint to the Ombudsman. Even without that letter, a complaint first raised on or after 8 April 2026 can go to the Ombudsman six weeks after you first raised it (eight weeks for earlier complaints). Our guide on how to complain about your broadband provider takes you through it.

YouFibre is only available where Netomnia has built, so see what else reaches your address before you book an engineer. You can compare broadband deals at your postcode through our partner's comparison, browse full fibre broadband deals or look through the broadband providers we cover. We don't switch you ourselves: you order with the provider you choose, on its terms. Waiting? Our guide to getting online while you wait for installation has stopgaps.