Who to contact about my Cabinet

Hi All

I'm seeking advice from a greater power here

I am connected to cabinet 130 in Bolton and even though all three local exchanges that service Bolton are AO my cabinet isnt. After several emails and twitter messages Bt just respond with the standard its not due for upgrade message. This cabinet server over 400 apartments that have been built over the last years. And the builders in their wonderful wisdom didnt involve Virgin media in the development so they wont extend their network into the development even though it runs directly infront of the street

I have written to my MP about how BT refuse to give trigger levels for Cabinets as they used to do with ADSL and Exchange trigger levels and he has had an email back from someone at BT (faily high up i think) saying it will be investigated

I know Manchester got allocated some BDUK funding which department would be best to write to at Bolton Council to see if they have any BDUK projects/funding etc?

P.S. Has anyone actually ever managed to get more information about their cab trigger levels or even better managed to get BT to reconsider their decision?

nga.enquires@openreach.co.uk

The guys on there are normally really helpful and maybe able to tell you when it's no on the rollout.

i got an answer from them but not a good one

"Whilst, for commercial reasons I can’t divulge specific figures as to why a cabinet is uneconomic to deliver at this point in time"

All i want is a vague idea or even a trigger level of registrations for my cabinet. I would campaign to all the apartments if i could only just get a number eg "300 registrations for cabinet 130" they used to do it for the ADSL exchange upgrade.

I cant see why 400+ apartments is uneconomic. I know all the ducts leading to the leisure park are fine as the builders had to pay to get a few more installed leading to the apartments

This is why BT's monopoly on our communication infrastructure is not fair

Doesn't Bolton come under Lancashire rather than Greater Manchester?

Openreach is not doing trigger levels full stop.

So even if you got everyone to say they would order, they will still say they want you to subsidise the enabling of the cabinet (s).

Why? Probably because of some anomalies with the older registration systems, i.e. phone book submissions.

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/5755-another-oxfo... One community raised the money to get Openreach to finally enable the cabinets.

As for the monopoly, if Virgin Media is as close and refusing they are also as guilty.

There are no trigger levels, and signature campaigns aren't, by themselves, much use.

Collecting lots of money isn't enough either - you probably need the local council on your side to get any traction on that front.

The main reason is that BT are paying more attention to the BDUK funding, and the projects organised by each county/council.

So, ordinarily, I'd direct you to get in touch with your local BDUK project.

Bolton seems to be part of a Greater Manchester bid (alongside Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Tameside, Trafford and Wigan). However, there seems to be no real concerted effort to get hold of the BDUK money available - I can't find one single reference to the starting point, a local broadband plan. This Salford-oriented report mentions that a draft went to DCMS, but there is nothing further.

Perhaps these people can help more: Manchester Digital Development Agency

It sounds like it would be more economical for Virgin to provide if they already have other properties with connection close by (they presumably already have the infrastructure in place whereas BT would have to install all of the backhaul fibre).

So, why not go after Virgin rather than BT. Have you asked Virgin what their trigger level is? I suspect you will get the same response - they are both commercial companies and have no obligation to provide high speed broadband to anyone.

Your MP can do nothing to get BT to do trigger levels as it is nothing to do with the government. BT are a commercial organisation using commercial decisions on rollout - and they aren't even a monopoly in your area (unlike my own). In fact not being a monopoly could feed in to their decision as if they chose to fibre the cabinet it is possible that Virgin would swoop in, connect everyone up and destroy the business case to have fibred you in the first place.

EDIT : One thing to add. Rather than asking BT the trigger level perhaps ask how much it would cost to get it upgraded. If you can get the other people on the exchange to pay their share of the upgrade then BT may be willing to do it. There are some other locations that have done this but be warned that it may not be cheap (hence the reason it isn't economically viable).

Edited by ian72 (Mon 03-Jun-13 09:52:40)

Hi Andy,

I completely sympathise with your situation. Since 2009, I have been living in a new build apartment block in Salford that is 5 minute's walk from the very centre of Manchester. It is served by the Blackfriars exchange which is about 300m away. Virgin Media was installed in the street outside in days gone by for premises long since bulldozed, but when this building was being planned, ntl was in the grip of Chapter 11 - I know, I was working there.

This building, with 250 apartments, has its own cabinet (134) and it would be a doddle to install fibre to the building down the existing ducting. There is plenty of space for the equipment that would sit nicely by the landlord's power supply area. The cabinet is inside the building itself.

Over the last few years, I have watched every street around the building get fibre and the cabinets pop up on every corner.

In 2011, I submitted a FOI request to find out more about the cabinet upgrade status. After that was declined, I then contacted my MP and got a letter via her from Ian Livingston containing the usual fob-off guff about "economic viability". I feel I have exhausted every single avenue of enquiry and got nowhere.

Yes, my ADSL2+ speed is 16Mbps+ but it's not good enough. I have finally decided to move out. I'm ditching Manchester altogether now and moving to a tiny market town in Lincolnshire where, of course, I can get 80/20 FTTC.

It's very frustrating for those of us in this situation, but moving is really the only way forward - even if it is just a few doors down the road.