Rural Broadband Question

I have hunted high and low for the answer to this question but to no avail.

I live in a small village about 4 miles from the nearest town where the telephone exchange is. Naturally my broadband is terrible (1mbps if the wind is blowing in the right direction).
I have just found out the exchange will be set up with Infinity on the 1st of June. Does this mean the rural areas served by the exchange are likely to be fibre equipped too?
If not, what is the likelihood of small villages being equipped with fibre?
Also, is there a rollout plan for Virgin broadband fibre or similar available anywhere on the Internet?

Unfortunately, there is no answer to be given. Rollout is at the whim of OpenReach, it seems.

While the exchange you're connected to is due for FTTC rollout, there is no guarantee your particular cabinet will be. Your best bet is to check the Openreach checker with your phone number (if a BT line) or your address/post code (if not BT).

As for Virign, they're saddled with massive debt due to poor acquisitions when they were NTL and investment in rollout is non-existent.

If you post your postcode someone can check whether your cab is listed as one being considered for roll-out.

Also what is you're local CC, as they will be making their Local broadband plans to access the BDUK funds that have been awarded to them, these funds are for white areas where the commerical rollout will not go to.

The process is not quick but plans to tender should be completed this year with work starting towards the end of 2012, so there is improvments coming.

Hi, sorry to be hijacking this thread but would it be possible for someone to check my postcode to see if my cabinet will be enabled for fibre optic? I do not know how to do it that is all.

Thanks.

Is there a cabinet in your village? Small is relative, in Wales / Scotland it can be 100 houses or smaller, in S.East it can be 1000+. A lot depands on size.

If your village has one or more cabinets and street lighting you have a good chance.

If your village has no Cabinet don't expect anything without BDUK funding, unless in Cornwall or N Ireland where you have funding available for 99% coverage. ( All villages but not all properties).

If no street lighting, power could be a problem so reduces your chances a lot.

Keep checking nearer the time and keep an eye out for a new cabinet alongside the existing ones.

I am in a similar position to you (but about 3 miles rather than 4) and we got a fibre cabinet in the village, so there is hope. It's all ancient telegraph poles and overhead power cables round here so I was pleasantly surprised to get 40Mb FTTC.

In reply to a post by Mk1:

I have hunted high and low for the answer to this question but to no avail.

I live in a small village about 4 miles from the nearest town where the telephone exchange is. Naturally my broadband is terrible (1mbps if the wind is blowing in the right direction).
I have just found out the exchange will be set up with Infinity on the 1st of June. Does this mean the rural areas served by the exchange are likely to be fibre equipped too?
If not, what is the likelihood of small villages being equipped with fibre?
Also, is there a rollout plan for Virgin broadband fibre or similar available anywhere on the Internet?

It's down to the accountants I'm afraid. They will look at how much it costs to install a cabinet then how many people are likely to choose to upgrade. Then it's just cost v. return.

Here's one possible example based on my limited knowledge:
£100k to install the cabinet.
100 premises.
Assume 100% take-up (questionable).
Needs £1k profit from each connection in order to break even.

The problems with the above (where the uncertainty comes from) are:
1.I've no idea how much it actually costs to install a cabinet. Different locations probably cost different amounts.
2.Number of premises varies.
3.Take-up is unlikely to be 100%.
4.What period of time will BT wait for the return? A year, three years? A decade?
5.How much of the monthly subscription we pay is actually profit for BTor?

Additional factors:
1.Are there any other organisations that will contribute toward it?
2.Does BT value the 'kudos' of providing a service at a loss?
3.Does BT consider it worthwhile covering off an area to 'shut the door' on competitors such as cable?

So basically it's a complicated business decision. Very few businesses set up shop in rural areas for very good (if unfortunate) reasons. BT is not a charity and in fact as a PLC it has a legal 'duty of care' to its shareholders not to waste money. Not that it stops it doing that from time to time

Cabinet cost is roughly 30k, this figure is from a local broadband meeting with my local CC, info was from bt.

Is that for the 288 connections or the 144 cabinets?

Ta,

Stan

Similar situation at home - they've put three cabinets into our village, although the third is not yet active. The exchange went RFS in Aug/Sept but our cab is still unpowered. So yes if your exchange is being enabled and your village is not tiny then I would expect you've a good chance of getting fibre - don't forget customers on 1mb lines are very likely to buy a fibre product so they're a good place to put cabinets! Also Infinity is the service/product/brand name from BT - technically the exchange willl be enabled for FTTC or FTTP connections!

Cost between 288 and 144 won't be too different. It's the same fibre ran from the exchange and the same amount of work to get the fibre to the cabinet. It's just a slightly bigger cabinet with more ports in it.

In reply to a post by ccxo:

Cabinet cost is roughly 30k, this figure is from a local broadband meeting with my local CC, info was from bt.

That makes my example sound a lot better

In reply to a post by Alex1M6:

Hi, sorry to be hijacking this thread but would it be possible for someone to check my postcode to see if my cabinet will be enabled for fibre optic? I do not know how to do it that is all.

Thanks.

Should have been a thread of your own, but with(out) the info you have(n't) given it isn't possible to check for you.

PS One of my pet hates is "I'm sorry to do something I know I shouldn't, but I'm going to do it anyway"

The figure was the average BT quoted for cab upgrades, i will follow up to see if i can find out more info.

£30k to £35k is my rough figure I work too.

Smaller cab builds are possible, i.e. reducing the cost per line in less dense areas, but as BT is pushing for coverage mainly it is the big builds we see for now

Mk1

Where do you live? There may already be alternatives available.

Hi everyone, thanks for your comments.

I had a scout around over the weekend and discovered a cabinet (had given up hope then I saw a handily parked BT van which gave the game away). Its in the entrance to the village about half a mile from where my house is.
I live in Hertfordshire and th nearest large town is Ware although as I mentioned in an earlier post it is a good few miles away.
I thought I'd looked at all the alternatives but any other leads would be awesome.
I live in hope......

In reply to a post by Mk1:

I had a scout around over the weekend and discovered a cabinet (had given up hope then I saw a handily parked BT van which gave the game away). Its in the entrance to the village about half a mile from where my house is.

A fibre cabinet half a mile away should dramatically improve your speeds, assuming you are connected to it.

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

£30k to £35k is my rough figure I work too.

Smaller cab builds are possible, i.e. reducing the cost per line in less dense areas, but as BT is pushing for coverage mainly it is the big builds we see for now

How many lines would that support?

288