FTTC Cab Power Signs!

Well I just signed into London works and I see power works proposed to the current PCP im connected to (FTTC Cab was installed early October), so this seems like interesting times ahead in finally getting the FTTC cab powered up. The exact message reads:

Connections Highway Services: NEW INDIVIDUAL SUPPLY: BT CABINET PCP05

What im a bit concerned about is why they'v mentioned PCP, as the PCP doens't need a power feed to it, do they mean the adjacent FTTC cabinent?

It refers to the FTTC cabinet which is connected to PCP5

Edited by deleted (Fri 02-Dec-11 11:57:02)

In reply to a post by Ribble:

It refers to the FTTC cabinet which is connected to PCP5

Well the proposed date of installing power started on the 16th and is ending today. Throghout that period no actual works or any signs of any work happening has occured. Looks like they'v missed the dates! Can anyone shed any light on why this could be?

In north herts it used to be EDF who were responsible for the local power grid and they were doing it on the cheap as all work was further subbed out to smaller contractors who would take ages to get anything done.

Now we have UK Power Networks who seem to have brought a lot more of the work in house and you see their vans everywhere doing FTTC installs.

So it depends who is responsible for your local power network and how reliable they are.

Maybe they ended up with other work to do that took priority?

Once that kind of thing happens, the next thing to get in the way is the council fine for not finishing roadworks on time. The threat of such a fine means they'd rather not start, or just fill the hole in unfinished, than pay the fine. It is cheaper for them to just forget the work, and re-apply for a new roadworks slot... the leadtime for which means there'll be a gap of at least a month.

The beaurocracy behind roadworks (aimed at keeping traffic moving, not at keeping services running) means this kind of "adding a month+ delay" is most likely, rather than an attitude of "catching up ASAP". Maybe it springs from the laws of unintended consequences, but it is an obvious reaction from the contracting companies.

In reply to a post by Anonymous:

In north herts it used to be EDF who were responsible for the local power grid and they were doing it on the cheap as all work was further subbed out to smaller contractors who would take ages to get anything done.

Now we have UK Power Networks who seem to have brought a lot more of the work in house and you see their vans everywhere doing FTTC installs.

So it depends who is responsible for your local power network and how reliable they are.

On mine it says EDF Energy.

Oh dear more delays to bear with. No proposed plans to install power to my cab for the next three months according to londonworks.gov.uk....great.

Edited by Bobby_Valentino (Mon 02-Jan-12 13:23:16)

I have a friend in the East Midlands with a shiny new FTTC cabinet and a FTTC enabled exchange. Cabinet is silent, no humming, and BT Wholesale checker says nothing about FTTC broadband at all for his BT telephone number.

Take a look at My problems http://forums.thinkbroadband.com/fibre/t/4010790-has...
Much the same as yours.

Edited by deleted (Mon 02-Jan-12 14:02:11)

In reply to a post by Bobby_Valentino:

Oh dear more delays to bear with. No proposed plans to install power to my cab for the next three months according to londonworks.gov.uk....great.

I feel your pain.

I'm connected to (and within 50 metres of) PCP 33 (bottom right of picture).

According to LondonWorks there are no scheduled activities in this area before 31/03/2012 (the latest revised date for FTTC).

PCP 28 has apparently (according to the Openreach engineer) been 'LIVE' since 09/2011.

Frustratingly, both PCPs had 'DSLAM' painted on the pavement adjacent to them on the same date in April 2011.

Naively, I hoped that Openreach would just add another 50m to my distance from the cabinet and re-route my telephone line to PCP 28 (I believe the underground ducting has been there since last century!).
Sadly, that doesn't appear to be the case.

I'm almost (but not quite) tempted to go for Virgin Media.

In reply to a post by Anonymous:

I'm almost (but not quite) tempted to go for Virgin Media.

At least you have the choice...

Well it looks like power plans have re-appeared on the londonworks website, now planned towards the end of this month. But there is a slight change to the works owner. It has now changed from EDF energy to UK Power Networks. Anyone know if this company is better than EDF?

TIA.

UK Power is a distribution company, in a similar way to Openreach. EDF is a supplier, similar to an ISP

In reply to a post by Ribble:

UK Power is a distribution company, in a similar way to Openreach. EDF is a supplier, similar to an ISP

Ah okay, I just so hope the works go ahead this time!

Are there non london website like the london one?

ie: how would you check in Dartford, if there were power requirements due for a cabinet? ??

The ELGIN website will detail upcoming road works in your area.

EDF was also respobsible for a large amount of the country's distribution newtwork as well as being a supplier.

And they were pretty poor at the job with almost every job that needed doing being outsourced to small local firms.

@Spasch
thank you very much !

Do you happen to know, before they put power to a cab.. would the electrical work
appear on that website for the appropriate cabinet postcode ???

Edited by deleted (Sun 08-Jan-12 13:37:43)

How long after power is installed does it take for a cab to become fully commisioned and RFS? (Showing availble on the BTWholesael checker)

Every cab is different. I've seen anything from 1 week to many, many months depending on other stuff. Having power installed is not always the final stage

Is there a shortage of power/electrical enigneers working for the power companies? Iv seen many many cabs near my area that have had thier proposed dates for power to be installed but those dates have been missed countless times over now.

Dates get missed, the planning is reapplied and new date is given, date is missed and the cycle continues.

What is going on!?!?!

Simple...

The government, in an attempt to reduce the delays we (as drivers) suffer from excessive delays, set rules that require the utilities to have to register roadworks in advance, and set fines if the roadworks go on too long.

It is in the interests of the utilities to over-book these roadworks slots "just in case" (after all, they have to book them a month in advance, so have no idea whether the install teams are ahead or behind schedule.

It is also in their interest, if something goes wrong, to just fill the hole in (unfinished), and rebook in another month's time.

In reply to a post by WWWombat:

Simple...

The government, in an attempt to reduce the delays we (as drivers) suffer from excessive delays, set rules that require the utilities to have to register roadworks in advance, and set fines if the roadworks go on too long.

It is in the interests of the utilities to over-book these roadworks slots "just in case" (after all, they have to book them a month in advance, so have no idea whether the install teams are ahead or behind schedule.

It is also in their interest, if something goes wrong, to just fill the hole in (unfinished), and rebook in another month's time.

Iv heard that theory before on here, interesting!

In reply to a post by WWWombat:

Simple...

The government, in an attempt to reduce the delays we (as drivers) suffer from excessive delays, set rules that require the utilities to have to register roadworks in advance, and set fines if the roadworks go on too long.

It is in the interests of the utilities to over-book these roadworks slots "just in case" (after all, they have to book them a month in advance, so have no idea whether the install teams are ahead or behind schedule.

It is also in their interest, if something goes wrong, to just fill the hole in (unfinished), and rebook in another month's time.

Not quite right but a little truth in what you have said.

Minor works (duration of 1 to 3 days) = minimum 3 days in advance for notice/permit to be submitted.
Standard (duration of 4 to 10 days) = minimum 10 days in advance
Major works (duration of 11+ days) = minimum of 3 months in advance

Kent and London now operate under Permit Schemes. Further details on the Kent permit scheme can be found here (check page 3 for application and response time info).

**edit**
In addition, If the works take longer than either the �Prescribed Period� or the �Reasonable Period�, they become �unreasonably prolonged� � and the highway authority may levy a charge (Section 74 charge) for each day, or part of a day, in excess of the prescribed or reasonable period (from £100 to £2000 based on works category and road category - more here).

Also, the utility can carry out a temporary reinstatement but must complete the permanent reinstatement within 6 months from the date of temp. If they perform a temp reinstatement and wish to return to site at a later date then the permit/notice periods apply for the 2nd phase of works.

Edited by deleted (Mon 30-Jan-12 22:56:13)

Thanks - it is good to see some numbers, but I could have sworn I'd seen a month specified somewhere - can it vary by council? Certainly our cabinet moved along with month (+)-long gaps between each attempt at getting power.

Nevertheless, the real change is on how these rules impact on the planning & scheduling of work for projects like this (non-emergency work). That would be to give too much notice (just in case someone complains about the scale of work); to schedule too many jobs (to make sure the teams are not idle); to cancel jobs (when the team have too much to do); to re-notice & re-plan when the job goes wrong (to make sure there are no fines).

Beaurocracy at its best - and it pretty much guarantees that the rollout of any one cabinet will seem to go in fits & bursts, with long gaps between each. It must be fun to do the project management on this!

In reply to a post by WWWombat:

Thanks - it is good to see some numbers, but I could have sworn I'd seen a month specified somewhere - can it vary by council? Certainly our cabinet moved along with month (+)-long gaps between each attempt at getting power.

Nevertheless, the real change is on how these rules impact on the planning & scheduling of work for projects like this (non-emergency work). That would be to give too much notice (just in case someone complains about the scale of work); to schedule too many jobs (to make sure the teams are not idle); to cancel jobs (when the team have too much to do); to re-notice & re-plan when the job goes wrong (to make sure there are no fines).

Beaurocracy at its best - and it pretty much guarantees that the rollout of any one cabinet will seem to go in fits & bursts, with long gaps between each. It must be fun to do the project management on this!

The notice periods are the same across England (and Wales if I remember correctly). Local Highway authority areas where Permitting is in place will place additional emphasis on the Works promoters to supply conditions to the Streetworks permits (off peak working 09:30 to 15:30 or manually controlling traffic lights on site) as part of the permits.

BT Openreach are planning these cabinet works long before it reaches the Streetworks phase. The Local District Councils will need to establish if any cabinets will require planning permission (conservation areas etc.) before the Local Highway Authority begin to go over Streetworks notices/permits.

My experiences of the rollout aren�t good. I can't say too much but Local Government bureaucracy isn't the problem. The time and patience spent dealing with works promoters and sub-contractors has been a nightmare.

What normally comes first or what is the procedure when installing a fttc cab...is it installing power to the cab or linking the tie cables between the pcp to the fttc cab?

Tie cables usually very soon after cabinet placement.

Hmm, I havent explicitly seen this being done. I know they installed the cab and the extra information that was also included when the cab was being installed is "Install 21m of 1 way poly duct in Footway".

Currently the power is being installed to the cab, they'v dug up road pavement and I can see the power joint attachment.

Maybe they will connect the PCP and FTTC cab after power completion?

Edited by Bobby_Valentino (Sat 04-Feb-12 16:28:27)

Well the power has been connected, but I hear no humming from the cabinet? Do BT have to visit the cab to swtich it on or what?

Probably. The mini cabinets don't make much noise, and neither large nor mini cabinets need much cooling at the moment, so you wont hear much, if any fan noise when they are running

Well my cabinent has had power connected to it for a while now and nothing seems to have happpened. I dont think the PCP is connected to the FTTC and I dont think the fibre has been blown to the cabinent. How long after power connectivity should activity around the cab resume/begin?

Days/weeks/months. There is no set time and each cabinet is has its own planning issues. I doubt it will be active and accepting orders for a few months yet.

Edited by deleted (Mon 13-Feb-12 22:14:12)

Just had a quick nosey at the end of our road. About 5 metres from the existing green cabinet, is an new box with 240Volts sticker on the side of it. Its not very big, roughly half the size of the normal green cabinet and the surrounding pavement has been taken up. Is this just the power point?

Probably the small FTTC caninet. Power is contained within

Edited by deleted (Tue 14-Feb-12 17:02:55)

In reply to a post by Anonymous:

Just had a quick nosey at the end of our road. About 5 metres from the existing green cabinet, is an new box with 240Volts sticker on the side of it. Its not very big, roughly half the size of the normal green cabinet and the surrounding pavement has been taken up. Is this just the power point?

As Ribble says. Is it the Huawei or RECI 128 on this page?

It looks like ECI 128, but, in green.

I will see if I can get a photo shot of it and post back.

Forgot to log in. lol

It could be the Huawei128. Will have another walk down tomorrow.

Right, I popped down this morning and here is a link to the cabinet. The same cabinet has popped up in a few locations around the village too.

Local FTTC Cabinet MYHOB

Is this all I should expect to see?

Certainly looks like the smaller FTTC cabinet to me. They're making a bit of a mess with the digging, though, aren't they?

Its been like that for 3 weeks now. ;p

Well my cabs had power installed for the last 2 weeks now and its been sitting idle since! How long after does it normally take for BT to start finalising and RFS'ing the cab once power has been installed!?

3.5 months from power on to RFS for us on SMCO cowley.

Installed and powered end of October, just went live last week.

Edited by TheManStan (Tue 21-Feb-12 19:36:10)