Just had some bad news from BT about Infinity

Just got off the phone with BT Customer Care (via their Facebook page - they're really good at responding on there) about when I might get Infinity.

The chap told me that he'd spoken to their suppliers (I assume he meant OpenReach?) who told him that my line isn't connected to a street cabinet, it goes straight to the exchange! Huh?

I told him I can see 3 BT cabinets from my front door. He suggested that maybe when my line was installed there was no spare capacity in any of the cabinets. Hardly likely as I live on an estate that has been built over the last decade and my house was one of the early phases so there should have been plenty of capacity.

He then suggested that perhaps when my house was built the cabinets weren't installed so they had to run the line from the exchange.

That sounds odd as this development has over 500 properties so surely BT would have installed the cabinets at the outset knowing that the capacity would be needed in the near future?

He said that I would have to wait until they rolled out FTTP. The only other option he said was to wait until the cabinets I can see have been upgraded then ask BT to give me a new line from one of them (subject to capacity).

So, it looks like I won't be getting Infinity anytime soon

Is it really likely that my line runs directly to the exchange? Is it more likely that their database is wrong?

The entry for my postcode in the Dec 2011 PCP to Postcode spreadsheet that someone posted in another thread is

SSTRO,TROWBRIDGE,BA148UX,{SSTRO}{M_A},1,92%,,,,

You could ask another FTTC provider and see if BT Customer Care are "mistaken".

BT Broadband's supplier is BT Wholesale.

That entry indeed says it is an exchange only post-code . It could be wrong, but not in that respect I wouldn't think.

Are they definitely BT cabinets, not VM cable? The likelihood of there being three BT ones within sight of your front door is a bit remote. I've got a few pics here. What sort of numbers do they have on them?

The roads south of 'The slipway (road)' are on PCP 64
The roads north of 'Swan Drive' are on PCP 17
The cabs outside your house day they have either of these numbers on them?

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

BT Broadband's supplier is BT Wholesale.

That entry indeed says it is an exchange only post-code . It could be wrong, but not in that respect I wouldn't think.

Are they definitely BT cabinets, not VM cable? The likelihood of there being three BT ones within sight of your front door is a bit remote. I've got a few pics here. What sort of numbers do they have on them?

Definitely not VM. I've asked Virgin if I can get their cable service and they say no - and no plans to extend their network onto our development either (even though the surrounding estates all have it).

The cabs look like the "Modern PCP outside a pub" in your photos. I'll look at the numbers some time.

As for seeing 3 from my front door, I live right on the major junction at the entrance to the development where all the major roads meet.

Just a thought you could have a exchange only line if the cabs are outside your house.
BT bring a large multicore cable from the exchange to the new estate, the split them between the two cabs, and the properties nearby are connected directly to the multicore cable back to the exchange. Hence you have a exchange only line but nowhere near to the exchange!

Are you ADSL / 2+ speeds above the norm for your line length? If so that might be a indication you have a rather good route back to the exchange DSLAM.

In reply to a post by parish:

As for seeing 3 from my front door, I live right on the major junction at the entrance to the development where all the major roads meet.

If you live in the flats on Blackthorn Way you are connected to PCP64 and will get FTTC.
The postcode you have is a bit off as it's a new build?

In reply to a post by bookey:

Just a thought you could have a exchange only line if the cabs are outside your house.
BT bring a large multicore cable from the exchange to the new estate, the split them between the two cabs, and the properties nearby are connected directly to the multicore cable back to the exchange. Hence you have a exchange only line but nowhere near to the exchange!

Are you ADSL / 2+ speeds above the norm for your line length? If so that might be a indication you have a rather good route back to the exchange DSLAM.

From my Home Hub:


ADSL line status
Connection information
Line state Connected
Connection time 8 days, 15:56:08
Downstream 3,680 Kbps
Upstream 448 Kbps
ADSL settings
VPI/VCI 0/38
Type PPPoA
Modulation ITU-T G.992.1
Latency type Interleaved
Noise margin (Down/Up) 9.1 dB / 19.0 dB
Line attenuation (Down/Up) 48.0 dB / 29.5 dB
Output power (Down/Up) 18.1 dBm / 12.7 dBm

When I first moved here 4 years ago it was closer to 5Mbps

I reckon i'm 3-3.5km as the crow flies from the exchange so about 5km line length? Seems about right for ~50dB attenuation

Edited by deleted (Thu 05-Jan-12 00:52:17)

In reply to a post by bookey:

In reply to a post by parish:

As for seeing 3 from my front door, I live right on the major junction at the entrance to the development where all the major roads meet.

If you live in the flats on Blackthorn Way you are connected to PCP64 and will get FTTC.
The postcode you have is a bit off as it's a new build?

Junction of Thestfield and Marina

In the April 2011 version of the PCP to Postcode database - http://www.google.com/fusiontables/DataSource?snapid...
- under SAU_NODE_ID it says {SSTRO}{p63} for my postcode which I took to mean cabinet 63

Ouch!

With that attenuation that is a rather low downstream connection. The higher than normal noise margin will be accounting for some of the missing speed, but the two together indicate you have a problem line. This may be addressable by you.

You are on ADSL and I would expect 4000-5600kbps connection speed. On ADSL2+ a little more, but a much higher upstream. You would also have a better BT DLM on ADSL2+ giving you a better throughput for the connection speed. Any idea why you aren't on ADSL2+?

Are you connected to the master socket, or an extension? Were the telephone points builder-installed?