FTTC Time-frames

Hi all,

I'm new to the forum, but have been using ADSL Guide/Think Broadband for a number of years.

This question may have been answered before, so apologies in advance. I have searched the forums but not found anything relating specifically to my query.

My area should have fibre by the end of September accoding to BT's infinity map. A council planning notice has just gone up near my street for a new DSLAM cabinet. I have also checked the plans online on the council website (it's amazing the information available nowadays, seeing all the line drawings/photographs the engineers have submitted for planning permission!)

Obviously it varies, but what experiences do people have of the time-frame from a planning notice appearing, to the DSLAM being installed, through to the ability to order fibre, and the installation itself? I note that the planning notice says there is a public consultation period which lasts for one calendar month, thus ending 4 August. I have already submitted my support to the parish council via the district council's online planning permission site!! Thanks peeps.

Actually, not many FTTC cabinets need planning permission - most go through an electronic submission (but still with a 1-month notice period) that Joe Public never finds out about.

Can you post a link to those plans? I'd love to see what detail they end up going to for it!

As for timescales...

BT's map, on its Infinity site, can get out-of-date (as do most marketing materials). BT Openreach is the best place for finding out their plans at an exchange-level: Openreach "where and when".

One good rule-of-thumb is for a cabinet becoming ready about 3 months from the first signs of earthworks - which is usually the appearance of a concrete base for the cabinet, complete with some ducts, and possible some new manhole covers placed outside. But, because most cabinets don't need planning permission, I don't think there's a rule-of-thumb that goes with PP. In fact, you'll probably create our first one

Once a cabinet is ready, it generally appears on the checkers with "proper" dates (rather than the quarterly "preliminary" dates) dated about 2 weeks later. Orders will be taken on the named date, and fulfilled around 2 weeks afterwards. However, the exchange doesn't usually go live until there's a good batch of cabinets ready (10 or so), so a very early cabinet may wait longer.

The thing most out-of-direct-control to BT seems to be the works to connect power. That has its own rules of planning/co-ordination with the council; that will take a good chunk of that 3-month wait to happen. If things go wrong with the power, then delays of 2 months can happen quite easily (usually becaue of rules for co-ordinating roadworks).

Another place for you to check progress is to check your council's highways website, and look for planned roadworks (tick any boxes to make sure you include works that are just on the pavement, if it has that kind of thing). That will help you see the plans for power - which was the only thing visible locally, not PP.

Our exchange (and cab) are due to be enabled also by the end of September, but the cabinets have been in for at least 3-4 weeks and all work appears to have stopped (so they're either complete at the cabs or have moved on elsewhere).

Even the cabs in the conservation area of town (which needed planning permission) have been in at least 2-3 weeks.

It's looking a little tight (given they can't install the cab or base until after August 4th) for you though.

In reply to a post by WWWombat:

Actually, not many FTTC cabinets need planning permission - most go through an electronic submission (but still with a 1-month notice period) that Joe Public never finds out about.

Really?

Dont you mean this from the openreach website....

“Under Part 24 of the Town & Country Planning Act BT as a Code Operator has deemed planning permission to install Cabinets so no notification at the planning stage is required in most cases under this piece of legislation. However if the Cabinet is to be installed in Article 1 (5) land i.e. National Parks , Conservation Areas etc then a Prior Notification application must be sent to the Local Planning Authority (LPA). They then decide if the application has to go through the process and if it does they have 56 calendar days in which to consult interested parties and consider the application. The LPA can refuse the application on the grounds of siting and appearance only. However if no written rejection has been received within the 56 days installation can commence. Under Para 5 of the Electronic Communications Code (Conditions and Restrictions) Regulations 2003 BT must notice the LPA of our intention to install any Cabinet. The LPA do not have the power to veto any site but they can request conditions to be attached to the installation and they have up to one calendar month to do this. However BT can reject these conditions if they feel they are not reasonably practicable. In order to install the Cabinets BT must notice the Highway Authority via the New Roads & Street Works Noticing system when they intend to work in the street. This allows the Highway Authority to ensure there is no clash with other Utilities who may be working in the same area and so avoid any unnecessary congestion.”

Del

That looks about right.

The problem is in the way that the council treats these electronic notifications. They never seem to get published in the same way a proper PP is, so other members of the public have no ability to see them when searching council records.

It means the council may well get to make "conditions", but the public are never informed of either the notification or the condition.

It also means we never know when a fibre cabinet is happening, nor what might be holding it up.

Thanks for the info. It's because we're in a conservation area! I had a search on the council website and for the installations nearby and in other villages, the application status is Prior Approval Not Required (usually after Pending Consideration).

Sure: Openreach planning application

There's quite a bit of information in the Documents tab.

Interestingly, there's a 'Supporting Statement' PDF provided on one application for a nearby village, which I haven't seen on any other application so far. It's a bit bland but interesting(ish) as a local!

Thanks for the Openreach link. I'm currently in the 'Coming Soon' list. I should be grateful, it's all good compared to what I'm hearing from some people!

Three months would make sense- within the past year, my RFS estimate has changed from June 2012, to September 2011, to June 2011 and back to September! So there's approximately three months between now and Openreach's estimate if everything goes to plan. I've read on forums that it can fluctuate quite a bit as the 'real' RFS date changes.

What you say about power makes perfect sense, since things obviously can't work without power, so I imagine it's the last thing to be connected. I've checked the council's roadwork schedule, or rather I've tried (it's offline for the time being!) <rolls eyes> I'll keep checking!

As an aside, whilst out and about this evening, I noticed a new DSLAM around the corner. I can't believe I missed that being put in!! It must have happened in the past few days. I can't find anything on the planning site, but the roadwork barriers are still in place with Openreach and Carillion's names on the barrier. I can clearly see where a trench has been dug up leading to a BT access point/man hole cover (I think they call them joint boxes) in the road. This can only be a good thing!

Interesting!

I can't imagine many people bothering to object to a DSLAM unless it's in a really obviously stupid place. And yes, I have read that story on one of the national newspaper's websites, about the lady complaining about having a DSLAM outside her house!! I think it was on TB that I read about it initially, so I decided to add my comments of support to the plans in any case. Nobody is stopping me from getting fibre! (Not if I can help it anyway!)

For the Highway Authority side of things, visit the ELGIN (Electronic Local Government Information Network - Roadworks info) website and setup an Email alert or RSS feed around your local BT cabinet and you should get alerts when the Streetworks notices/permits are listed for Openreach and associated power company works are due to happen.

Edited by Yaz (Mon 11-Jul-11 00:06:24)

Interesting reading there - thanks! 84 metres between the PCP and the DSLAM - around the corner, and well out of sight!

The supporting PDF couldn't be found.

The 2 different periods of 3 months are very different. The changes you keep seeing on the checker are simply because BT never makes "preliminary" dates any more accurate than those 4 dates each year (ie the end of each quarter). The default behaviour for their computers seems to be, in mid-March, mid-June, mid-September and mid-December, move back all preliminary dates unless a proper date has been assigned.

In reply to a post by Yaz:

For the Highway Authority side of things, visit the ELGIN (Electronic Local Government Information Network - Roadworks info) website and setup an Email alert or RSS feed around your local BT cabinet and you should get alerts when the Streetworks notices/permits are listed for Openreach and associated power company works are due to happen.

Many thanks for that link. I've been following the rollout of FTTC in my area closely for the best part of 18 months. My exchange was one of the first 60 to be announced, but was later delayed multiple times. I have a new RFS date of 30th September and the cabinets around me are all in place. I did a quick roadworks check on the site you linked, and it would appear that BT are going to be extremely busy over the next 2 weeks, with 3 minor roadworks scheduled on the large and small FTTC cabinets between now and next Tuesday within 200m of my house.

Still no sign of any power company applications, but it looks as though my cabinet could be RFS by the end of this month! Fingers crossed my date gets pushed forward from 30th September... The cabinets have been sitting idle for 3 months and I'm getting restless on this abysmal 4Mb ADSL2+ connection.

Here's a picture of the larger of the two new cabinets within 300m of my house... I snapped this pic around a week ago while at the traffic lights. Can't be long now until it goes live, because I'm fairly sure that yellow/black cable being pulled is the fibre!

http://i1230.photobucket.com/albums/ee486/WWB01/cabi...

Edited by Wizen (Mon 11-Jul-11 16:44:42)