FTTC/P Areas

Exeter (WWEXTR) is listed as a FTTP/C exchange.

Many areas have gone live for FTTC, including mine, both myself and my mother have an FTTC connection and get the full 40 meg which we're very pleased with.

However I notice a lot of areas listed as getting FTTP in the spreadsheet that was kicking around here a while back have ended up with FTTC, and the areas that have had firbre laid along the pavement last summer still show as having no form of fibre available atall via the BT Wholesale availability checker.

My old flat was pole fed and has had a tell tale black / yellow fibre sticking out of the top of the pole for over six months now and I saw OR laying the fibre in the conduit and aggregators in the manholes as I say, last summer, but none of these areas show as live.

Two questions:

1. Areas that are / were scheduled to have FTTP but are fed by cabs that have been FTTC enabled - will they still get FTTP?
2. Does it usually take so long to get the FTTP up and working?

I'm not actually bothered, I've got FTTC now and my attainable rate is over 80 meg so speeds are well above anything I could possibly need, just interested

Believe there was a tainted spreadsheet doing the rounds

1. http://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/5016-fttp-on-dema...
2. FTTP is slow to deploy due to the amount of new tubing needed to carry the fibre, and then the joining of all the fibres together.

Best to use the BT Wholesale checker to see what response it gives you for your phone number.

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

Believe there was a tainted spreadsheet doing the rounds

1. http://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/5016-fttp-on-dema...
2. FTTP is slow to deploy due to the amount of new tubing needed to carry the fibre, and then the joining of all the fibres together.

Best to use the BT Wholesale checker to see what response it gives you for your phone number.

Fair enough. I can't see the overlay option being too popular given the costs but still wondering why the availability checker (BT Wholesale) shows FTTP unavailable in areas six months after the fibre was laid... The aggregators are sat pole top and in the manhole covers - the infrastructure has been in place since the summer.

Never mind, I have my FTTC and I'm chuffed to bits with it

That's worrying.

I live just up the motorway in Taunton, we are also down as FTTC/P. I have seen plenty of new FTTC cabinets pop up, including one just at one end of our housing estate on the main road (no. 39). However, our estate (which is only 7yrs-ish old) is not fed from this older cab. There is another newer one (no. 115) only 20ish metres away that we use.

On the spreadsheet Here my postcode (TA2 7TQ) and cabinet are listed as FTTP, but the btwholesale checker shows nothing about FTTC/P for my number. I even bothered @BTCare on twitter, but they said it hadn't been decided yet. Does anyone out there know what is happening?

I haven't seen any work taking place, but all our cables are underground. t sounds like I might be waiting some time though...

The fibre may pass some areas without connecting people in that area.

Or are you saying nowhere in Exeter has access to FTTP?

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

The fibre may pass some areas without connecting people in that area.

Or are you saying nowhere in Exeter has access to FTTP?

It's not fibre passing, like I say, it's fibre at the top of the pole connected to an aggregator. This is the same in many areas around town...

I've seen OR lay the fibre all around several estates in underground conduit, and up the poles ready for ordering, but those areas have shown no fibre services available for 6+ months.

None of the postcodes / addresses I've checked return as having FTTP available despite the physical infrastructure having been there for 1/2 a year...

Good luck in Taunton!

I don't think the issue is with BT being able to get the fibre distribution part sorted out (ie to poles & manholes) - it is the work after that point... and that is all still within a trial that has been delayed.

So, on that evidence, it doesn't surprise me that the FTTP parts of the deployment have come to a crashing halt, even with fibre laid to the poles.

Another important aspect that would kill off FTTP deployment was the uncertainty of the battery requirement - and BT waiting for Ofcom's answer, before then having a pricing strategy. Once they start deploying FTTP as a replacement access network, they need those parts answered.

With some of those in place, you might think that BT would now start to ramp up the FTTP deployments - and that indeed might be happening internally.

But the cynical response to the "FTTP-on-demand" announcement is that BT might as well just deploy FTTC everywhere, and let the most desperate customers pay the extra for FTTP installs. If this is close to being true, then you should expect area-wide FTTP installs to stall, and be replaced by FTTC.

The one thing I'm pretty sure about - is that once you have FTTC, then you aren't going to get FTTP as a default area-wide install. Not for a good while longer...

Thanks, it seems I'll need it. I really hope I'm not just left indefinitely with my existing 4Mbps while the houses only metres away enjoy FTTC @ 20Mbps+.

In reply to a post by WWWombat:

But the cynical response to the "FTTP-on-demand" announcement is that BT might as well just deploy FTTC everywhere, and let the most desperate customers pay the extra for FTTP installs. If this is close to being true, then you should expect area-wide FTTP installs to stall, and be replaced by FTTC.

The one thing I'm pretty sure about - is that once you have FTTC, then you aren't going to get FTTP as a default area-wide install. Not for a good while longer...

This would be fine, except lots of areas in and around the city centre (I.e. exchange radius under ~ 700M) have no Fibre options atall.

No matter.

TBH I don't really care whether or not I get FTTP at any point in the future, 40 Meg (or indeed 80 Meg soon) is plenty enough - and with 80Mb of the future FTTC product being so close to the FTTP speeds 110 Meg, really what'd be the point?

Just feel sorry for those in the city centre.

Exeter has the opposite dilema to what it had a few years ago - now blistering speeds are available on the outskirts and suburbs but nada centrally ...

Note: The black tubing may not have the fibres actually in it, so unless you saw them blowing/splicing and adding fibre to the plates in the aggregator then you cannot be sure.

There was a general announcement a while ago that said that planned FTTP areas were not going to complete for some time. So it may be as others have said, they are waiting on some aspect.

Cornwall should get a good covering of FTTP, certainly there is a commitment there to do a good chunk of FTTP, and not just FTTC with FTTP on Demand.

Did ask about FTTP on Demand, and the planned FTTP should still be going ahead.

My money is on BT accelerating FTTC roll-out to cover as many homes as possible quickly, and the fibre teams are now busy doing that, and will come back to FTTC eventually. The final few metres to get FTTP was taking 7 hours per home in Milton Keynes, so was pretty labour intensive.

Our village is scheduled to get FTTP, served from one of the main exchanges in town rather than the local exchange. Over the last week contractors have been busily shoving tubing down the ducts between all the poles (including the pole outside my house - hurrah ) and off up towards the main road to town. Someone had a chat with them & they reckoned another 6-8 weeks to "live"

Be sure to come back to us once you are up and running.

sure will

BrianG

I've always been frustrated that Exeter seems to be served well with Virgin cable, and now BT decide to stick FTTC/P into the mix too, rather than concentrating on places that don't have any cable connectivity, like Exmouth, *waves* - Oh and BT are enabling the estate I'm on, except my street and the 3 other streets around it. Joy...

Looks like BT has decided to re-evaluate how they deploy FTTP anyway with the recent announcement of fibre overlay.

SMCO which was going to have a higher proportion of FTTP, certainly has more FTTC deployed than initially envisioned. This may be part of the faster roll-out timelines that BT has given for completing their roll-out plan.

2 months on from the last post in this thread... has anyone in Exeter got FTTP yet?

Same situation here in Exwick where fibre or conduit was pulled through all the manhole covers last Summer.

Now I notice that BT have started sticking "Get fibre now" posters on many of their cabinets. Very frustrating, especially as almost every day I drive past an open reach van doing a new FTTC install at some lucky person's property!

The FTTP situation has gotten quite pathetic, so far it seems hardly any mixed fibre towns actually have FTTP, there's a few places with pure FTTP and trials areas but no where that was added to the list a year ago has any as far as i know, at least none that is live, openreach need to get their act together, either deliver the FTTP like promised or just give us FTTC for now, i think it's unfair they're leaving many towns with half a job done.

latest from our area (EAMAD) is that one cabinet goes live end of April, the other end of May, and BT are "on track" to deliver FTTP to the rest during June

Some people in ilford central can get it, my friend has an install on monday.

I was told that the FTTP service has not yet been finialized and theres no information.

He lives closer to the exchange than me, but hes only 5 mins/a few roads away. maybe theres something in that.

A couple of my friends have fibre in Taunton now, one on Blackbrook estate and one in Trull!

I live on Ilminster Road, anyone any idea how I can see when my cabinet might be enabled please?

Thank you

If it is mentioned on a checker that is the closest you will get.

Any dates generally ebb and flow depending on how well other cabinet installs go. So some can be a year overdue and some a few months early

ive tried getting info out of bt regarding fttp as my hose is in a trial area of it but everybody ive spoke to seems to have no idea about it or doesn't even know they do it anybody know who i can talk to who would be able to gimme reliable info

Possibly fairest to say no-one is panicking over FTTP just yet, emphasis on FTTC as it gets most coverage in quickest time.

The various online checkers should update once its available, and is probably only real indicator, beyond seeing drums of black tubing being shoved through the ducting locally

In reply to a post by chrigurndevon:

2 months on from the last post in this thread... has anyone in Exeter got FTTP yet?

Same situation here in Exwick where fibre or conduit was pulled through all the manhole covers last Summer.

Now I notice that BT have started sticking "Get fibre now" posters on many of their cabinets. Very frustrating, especially as almost every day I drive past an open reach van doing a new FTTC install at some lucky person's property!

Some parts of Beacon Heath have Fibre to the premises showing as ready to order on the Wholesale and Infinity availability checkers. Haven't checked other areas. TBH FTTP still doesn't make Beacon Heath much more appealing

Edited by deleted (Sun 06-May-12 10:28:50)

The latest update on our FTTP rollout (EAMAD) is that BT have had problems with contractors' work which will have to be redone. So the June estimate (given in April) has been revised to "not known"

Just wanted to pop my head in and say I'm in Heavitree in Exeter and have just been offered Plusnet's 40/2 and 40/10 trial FTTP products - the ONLY ISP willing to offer any form of Fibre to me! May be good news for others in my boat in Exeter. Check this link... http://community.plus.net/blog/2012/01/24/plusnet-fi...

In reply to a post by beercan:

Just wanted to pop my head in and say I'm in Heavitree in Exeter and have just been offered Plusnet's 40/2 and 40/10 trial FTTP products - the ONLY ISP willing to offer any form of Fibre to me! May be good news for others in my boat in Exeter. Check this link... http://community.plus.net/blog/2012/01/24/plusnet-fi...

I'm afraid 40/2 and 40/10 aren't FTTP they're FTTC. If you had FTTP available to you then 100/15 would be an option.

No matter, glad you're on board!

You need to read the link in beercan's post.

In reply to a post by chrigurndevon:

2 months on from the last post in this thread... has anyone in Exeter got FTTP yet?

Same situation here in Exwick where fibre or conduit was pulled through all the manhole covers last Summer.

Now I notice that BT have started sticking "Get fibre now" posters on many of their cabinets. Very frustrating, especially as almost every day I drive past an open reach van doing a new FTTC install at some lucky person's property!

We're now over a year on from when I saw Openreach installing fibre in Haldon Road and they've still not made it live.

So far the only areas I know of that have it live are around the bottom of Stoke Hill / Prince Charles Road / Beacon Heath area, and they've had it live for nigh on a year!

/hump

In reply to a post by ccxo:

You need to read the link in beercan's post.

Oh I get that openreach do 40/2 and 40/10 FTTP options, but if he was on FTTP wouldn't he have been offered 100/15 as well?

I wasn't on the phone, but was following the full info and via the FAQ they emailed me.
"Plusnet Extra Fibre 100Mbps Trial � £34.49"
I haven't progressed this yet as I won't stay within the usage allowance. I barely do now on 4meg, so how they expect people to on FTTP to do so (even with the unlimited offpeak) I'll never know!

It is an ISPs right to only offer certain speed points, so if not ready to launch the 100Meg and faster they may well only offer the speeds that match the pricing of the more common FTTC services.

In reply to a post by beercan:

I haven't progressed this yet as I won't stay within the usage allowance. I barely do now on 4meg, so how they expect people to on FTTP to do so (even with the unlimited offpeak) I'll never know!

Not even with the new 250GB allowances? I won't ask what you use your connection for.

Well every speedtest should use around 0.5GB on those speeds And seen how often some people run them I don't expect allowances to last that long.

In reply to a post by beercan:

I wasn't on the phone, but was following the full info and via the FAQ they emailed me.
"Plusnet Extra Fibre 100Mbps Trial � £34.49"
I haven't progressed this yet as I won't stay within the usage allowance. I barely do now on 4meg, so how they expect people to on FTTP to do so (even with the unlimited offpeak) I'll never know!

I expect those usage allowances have changed. They certainly have on FTTC, which is now 250GB on the top package.

In reply to a post by R0NSKI:

Not even with the new 250GB allowances? I won't ask what you use your connection for.

2 Sky HD boxes with Anytime, 2 xbox 360s gaming online, Netflix, photo uploading, website management and data backups soon pushes a 100Gb but 250 may just about cover it... May have to re-visit the idea...

And no, I don't torrent...

That lot will hit it hard, and about the only thing you could schedule overnight would be the data backups, which is what I do with mine.

Shame these streaming services don't permit overnight downloads for later viewing.

In reply to a post by beercan:

I wasn't on the phone, but was following the full info and via the FAQ they emailed me.
"Plusnet Extra Fibre 100Mbps Trial � £34.49"
I haven't progressed this yet as I won't stay within the usage allowance. I barely do now on 4meg, so how they expect people to on FTTP to do so (even with the unlimited offpeak) I'll never know!

I stand corrected!

Glad you've managed to get FTTP. If you don't torrent BT Retail would be a perfect place to get 100Mbit from; I will be once they make the cab 135 area in exwick live

TBH I probably would take BT's service if they would actually pull their finger out and confirm it's available. They still say it's not...

In reply to a post by beercan:

TBH I probably would take BT's service if they would actually pull their finger out and confirm it's available. They still say it's not...

What does this say:

https://www.btwholesale.com/includes/adsl/main.html

?

Try the "Address Checker" (not postcode checker) instead of the phone number checker to see if there is an inconsistency / database error

Phone No: There is no data available for this number (I'm on Sky LLU).

Address: ...fixed line speed up to 1Mbps. ADSL Max broadband line speed of 2Mbps;... typically 1Mbps - 3.5Mbps. ADSL2+ broadband line speed of 2.5Mbps; typically 1Mbps - 4Mbps.

Nothing shown for FTTP or FTTC services.

Postcode checker says the same.

In reply to a post by beercan:

Phone No: There is no data available for this number (I'm on Sky LLU).

Address: ...fixed line speed up to 1Mbps. ADSL Max broadband line speed of 2Mbps;... typically 1Mbps - 3.5Mbps. ADSL2+ broadband line speed of 2.5Mbps; typically 1Mbps - 4Mbps.

Nothing shown for FTTP or FTTC services.

Postcode checker says the same.

But you currently have a PlusNET FTTP connection?

Does anyone else know how this is possible when even the BT Wholesale address checker doesn't say it is available?

In reply to a post by izools:

But you currently have a PlusNET FTTP connection?

I don't think he has, he stated PN had emailed him about the FTTP trial, which he says he has not yet progressed.

Edited by R0NSKI (Fri 19-Oct-12 10:13:32)

PN advised the process is:
Transfer me from Sky to PN's equivalent ADSL package, then approx 2 weeks later my FTTP package would go live following an engineer visit.

I have not yet progressed this due to the usage cap in place at the time.

Other than the (now irrelevant) usage cap issue, what concerns me is that if they cannot supply me with FTTP for whatever reason, they said I'd then be stuck on their ADSL package for the minimum contract term (12 months) which will not be as good as my current package, and will cost me more.

Regards

EDIT: Just seen on the roadworks map that the connection I believe I'm served off has the following BT work in progress:
"Works Start: 19 Oct, End: 23 Oct
Low impact, delays unlikely
Location: O/S 95 SALTERS ROAD EXETER EX2 5JE
Description: Locate and excavate 1 blockage in existing duct
Current status: Work in progress"

You never know, this could be a good sign!

Edited by beercan (Sat 20-Oct-12 08:58:13)

Have you checked the FTTP trial allowance has been raised to match the FTTC live one? I think it has.

The 12 month contract on ADSLx is only for the free setup and router, that otherwise you have to pay for. The broadband itself is on 10 days notice. See this post.

Even on the 18-month FTTC one, if you leave early the charge is only £6 per outstanding month, not the full £19.99. (Plus the router charge iof you leave within the first 12, as above). I assume, but you'd better check, what happens on the FTTP re early cancellation - but unlikely you would want to leave early. It may be the same, or it may not have ben determined yet. I can't see any reason why it should be different.