Having seen my broadband slowing down from +6.5Mb/s to below 3Mb/s and some evenings to below 2Mb/s combined with high latancy as soon as any load was applied to the line, I went through the faults process with my ISP IDNET.
The only conclusion that could be reached which I had suspected for a long time was that I was on a congested VP and from feedback from other people in the community is that it was a widespread problem impacting multiple ISP's.
This exchange WNGLC is a 20CN exchange serving three villages and outlying rural areas, the village nearest the exchange (the smallest) has been FTTC enabled. The remaining two villages, mine included have a part built FTTP network - no spurs installed from the main link through the village as yet.
Work appears to have halted since the end of July 2016.
Towns nearby have had progress on their FTTP and FTTC even though they already have LLU enabled 21CN accessible to them.
Below is some excerpts from my email comms following my initial email to BT Openreach CEO Clive Selley's Office:
Me:
Dear Sir.
> I have been informed by IDNET (my ISP) that BT have confirmed that my
> local exchange (WNGLC) is congested, I quote from IDNET: ' BT have
> advised the exchange is now at full capacity with no available room to
> move the circuit to a separate area with more spare capacity.'
> FTTP is currently partly built but has stopped since 7/2016.
> It would appear that this is affects all 20CN customers on this
> exchange
> - numbering in the hundreds.
> Could you please advise as to why this area has been sidelined in
> favour of already 21CN areas when there is a BIG problem here.
BT Openreach:
The Project Manager for the Glyn Ceiriog area has advised that the work needed to provide fibre to the premises in Glyn Ceiriog is being replanned. Unfortunately we are unable to advise of a date as to when fibre will be available. We will be carrying out improvements and adding to the network infrastructure. This will result in fibre to the premises being available to more people than it would have been on the previous plans.
I understand how disappointing it is that I am unable to provide a date for completion. The Openreach fibre checker is the best place to check for any updates and information, and is updated regularly.
I have included this below for you
https://www.homeandwork.openreach.co.uk/when-can-i-g...
I am sorry I am unable to bring any better news at this time, but hope you will be encouraged by my comments that fibre broadband will be made available to Glyn Ceiriog in the near future.
Me:
As I mentioned previously the exchange is classed as congested by BT Openreach as advised by IDNET.
The reason for contacting you was to find out what was going to be done to ease congestion at the exchange?
If installing Fibre to Glyn Ceiriog is the only option then what is being done to prioritise the build?
The Fibre Checker said we were due to have fibre 2 years ago and has been updated regularly with new dates which have come and gone.
BT Openreach:
Thank you for your further correspondence. We have not been made aware that the exchange is full, until your e-mail advised of this. We are looking into this and I will get back to you as soon as I have any information of value to share.
Thank you for your patience.
Then from BT Openreach:
We can find no evidence to substantiate your Internet Providers claims that the exchange is congested, or that" the telephone network in the village is a mess "
As I have advised in my previous e-mail , work is ongoing to provide fibre to the premises in the future although I have been unable to give a completion date for this.
If any residents experience problems with telephone service, then the correct people to contact would be their Service Provider. This is the recognised industry process. The Service Providers will then contact Openreach for assistance should this be necessary.
Kind Regards
From IDNET:
The wholesaler confirmed during the fault progress they had seen the line is connected to a congested VP and then checked to determine if the line can be moved to a less congested part of the network however found there is currently no capacity to do this. this could be on the network between the exchange and the wholesaler network so may not be visible by Openreach unless they contact the wholesaler to check on the VP status for your line.
Me:
Hi Sharon, I'm forwarding the response I have had from IDNET to your previous email.
My initial contact with your self's was following a response to IDNET from BT concerning my question about speed issues at my exchange.
BT Openreach:
I have asked BT Wholesale to look into the exchange congestion claim you have made, and am waiting for them to respond back with their findings.
I will be back to you by 28th March at the latest to advise further.
BT Openreach:
I have received the response regarding the exchange congestion issue at the Glen Ceiriog exchange. As you have advised, the 20cn capacity is exhausted and there are no plans to increase that. The relief project to bring 21cn in is scheduled for enablement in July 2017 with residual migrations of customer circuits to be completed by October2017.
I appreciate this this means the issue wont be resolved until summer this year at the earliest, but hope this does reassure you that the exchange will be improved.
Please can you advise if you are happy for the case to be closed.
Now to me this raises a question as to how many other exchanges around the country are in the same position?
It took for me to ask a knowledgeable technician at IDNET to chase this up with BT Wholesale to start getting any answers.
Now it would appear that several hundred customers at this exchange are in the same boat as me and as yet no assurances from BT that they giving any added priority to the build at this location.
The Community Council has recently been flagging up issues about the poor telephone service in the area with BT, our AM and MP due to lots of voice line faults and complaints to them about internet issues - hence my mention of it being a mess in one of my emails.
Having spoken to various engineers I have been told that there is a lot of aluminium multipairs installed in the village and various joints have been disturbed during the build - mostly laying pull ropes as no fibre spurs installed yet as far as I'm aware (our cabinet has had patch bays installed recently to replace the crimp connections).
Main aim of this is to give BT a kick up the to get this sorted ASAP.
Any advice what to do next is welcome.