FTTC in Byfleet (Surrey)

Anyone got any inside info on progress or anything?

RFS is set for June 2012 (after being pushed back from Jun 2011 and then Dec 2011)

However I've not seen any evidence of anything happening at all
No spray markings, trenches being dug, roadworks scheduled or Openeach activity anywhere in my immediate surroundings. I am in the New Haw/Woodham area.

There are a couple of FTTC green boxes installed a bit further along down the road, but I have learned that these go back to the Weybridge exchange. A couple of mates live near this box, so I asked them to put in their phone numbers to the Openreach checker and it came back as available, and Weybridge exchange...

Is there anyway to telling where to expect a cab to pop up?

Edited by deleted (Thu 17-May-12 16:24:43)

Has the postcode appeared on a checker, and what exchange does it indicate?
http://www.coolwebhome.co.uk/fibre/checker.php

It is possible to run fibre to another exchange, i.e. they may do a cabinet that has the phone going to byfleet, but the fibre to weybridge.

Thanks,

Postcode is KT15 3RH
Says BYFLEET and that is does FTTC/FTTP.
I doubt I'd get FTTP since I'm not that close to the exchange!

Anyone with some more info on when/where to look out for roadworks?

Roadworks

Whoop! Spotted some cones and fencing with BT printed on it have appeared outside a really ancient green cabinet at the bottom of my street (prob less than 50m away!)

I checked on the council website and saw this:

Runnymede
WOODHAM LANE, ADDLESTONE

From 30 May 2012 to 01 June 2012

Organisation: British Telecommunications plc
Scale of works: MINOR
Site location: NC WOODHAM PARK way o/s wayside cottage WOODHAM LANE
Location: WOODHAM LANE
Description Build 1 cabinet and base (600mm x 300mm x 1000mm),Install 2m of 3 poly ducts in Footway
Traffic management NONE / SIGNING ONLY

Hopefully that is a fibre cab going in. I haven't seen anything that looks like reels of fibre cable though.

Runnymede
WOODHAM LANE, ADDLESTONE

From 30 May 2012 to 01 June 2012

Organisation: British Telecommunications plc
Scale of works: MINOR
Site location: NC WOODHAM PARK way o/s wayside cottage WOODHAM LANE
Location: WOODHAM LANE
Description Build 1 cabinet and base (600mm x 300mm x 1000mm),Install 2m of 3 poly ducts in Footway
Traffic management NONE / SIGNING ONLY

Hopefully that is a fibre cab going in.

Yes, absolutely correct.

I haven't seen anything that looks like reels of fibre cable though.

That will only occur after all the "heavy" civil engineering has been finished.

\o/

RFS date is 30 June, not sure if that seems likely or not seeing as it's only about 5 weeks from now.

If it's not achieved in 5 weeks, check in about 18 weeks. And if that is also missed, check again in 31 weeks!

Bah well I just had a look, and actually it looks like they have just replaced the old PCP with a new PCP - definitely not a fibre cabinet. [censored].

In reply to a post by AndrewUK:

Bah well I just had a look, and actually it looks like they have just replaced the old PCP with a new PCP - definitely not a fibre cabinet. [censored].

Oh [censored], indeed!

Don't be dispirited. The first part of the job can involve "re-sleeving" the existing PCP to ensure that there is enough physical space to run in the tie cables that link the new FTTC to the PCP.

Re-reading the quotation that you posted, above, it still does read as the recipe for a FTTC installation.

Keep watching the site and please continue to post updates here.

Hopefully!

Here is the old green cabinet:
https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=grange+road+new+haw...

Note google maps is about 2 years out of date, there are houses there now

I'll try to get some pics of the new one, perhaps it is a FTTC, I only had a glancing look as I drove past on the way home.

That old GPO-era PCP most definitely would need to be re-sleeved, so things are still looking positive for you.

Roadworks have all finished now, they have re-sleeved the old cabinet by the looks of it with a shiny new one.

The new one looks the same as this (shamelessly found using google images!)
http://davidsudworth.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/img...

It's now marked as Cabinet 1 (previously the markings had faded off and weren't readble), which the spreadsheet says will be the one I am connected to.

The good news is that cab is less than 100m away from me in a straight line. The bad news is there is no actual FTTC cab installed next to it yet! There are no additional roadworks planned or in progress on roadworks.org either

Interestingly the RFS date for the exchanged changed to 01/06/2011 (from 30/06/2011) so will have to keep an eye open for more activity hopefully soon.

You've got a few months wait yet, i'm afraid

Meh, already put back a year on the original date, so I guess a few more months won't hurt... /cry

In reply to a post by AndrewUK:

Roadworks have all finished now, they have re-sleeved the old cabinet by the looks of it with a shiny new one.

<snip>

It's now marked as Cabinet 1 (previously the markings had faded off and weren't readble), which the spreadsheet says will be the one I am connected to.

The good news is that cab is less than 100m away from me in a straight line. The bad news is there is no actual FTTC cab installed next to it yet! There are no additional roadworks planned or in progress on roadworks.org either

Interestingly the RFS date for the exchanged changed to 01/06/2011 (from 30/06/2011) so will have to keep an eye open for more activity hopefully soon.

Progress is slowly and surely being made. The RFS date could be reset to the end of September . . .

Who can really understand the mysteries of Beatie's internal workings? (A rhetorical question that does not require a response!)

Ok another update.
It seems about 8 new roadworks around Byfleet have been scheduled by BT in early July all of which say the following. Hopefully that's the fibre cabs going in, after they reskinned the old PCP earlier this month!

Runnymede
GRANGE ROAD, NEW HAW

From 03 July 2012 to 09 July 2012

Organisation: British Telecommunications plc
Scale of works: STANDARD
Site location: S/O 196 Woodham Lane on Grange Road
Location: GRANGE ROAD
Description To erect street cabinetExcavate to lay Telemetry duct, Lay concrete plinth (3 days to set)Stand cab, Check& Clear site
Traffic management NONE / SIGNING ONLY

Well after a few days of cones and holes in the ground, a shiny new green FTTC box has popped up today. For some reason BT decided to stick it right in the middle of a grass verge in the pavement instead of tucking it up against the wall next to the main PCP. Look like a bit of an eye-sore but if I gives me uber speed broadband I don't care

Now to wait a few months for them to actually switch it on, I guess...

In reply to a post by AndrewUK:

Now to wait a few months for them to actually switch it on, I guess...

Welcome to the waiting game (!) - my FTTC cab was physically installed last week, all roadworks finished last Friday, now I wait....

Well the FTTC cab is installed! It's one of the smaller ones. I don't think it's actually doing anything yet, but there are more roadworks schedules (by BT) next week for 2 days. Not sure what that is for since it looks like a completed install. Maybe it's to pull the fibre through?

Having said that the date for live has been pushed back (again) from June 2012 all the way to December :/

Edited by deleted (Sun 15-Jul-12 22:32:54)

In reply to a post by AndrewUK:

Well the FTTC cab is installed! It's one of the smaller ones. I don't think it's actually doing anything yet, but there are more roadworks schedules (by BT) next week for 2 days. Not sure what that is for since it looks like a completed install. Maybe it's to pull the fibre through?

Having said that the date for live has been pushed back (again) from June 2012 all the way to December :/

In your case I hope the roadworks are for the power people. I would expect the fibre is in place the same day, or day after the cab delivered.

The date you quote is that from the BT wholesale checker? December is two jumps forward, the next date everyone should be showing is 30th Sept.

Use your phone number on this one. (unless you have a Sky or TalkTalk line)
https://www.btwholesale.com/includes/adsl/main.html

The date is from samknows. BT checker doesn't say anything about fttc, just adsl/adsl2

In reply to a post by AndrewUK:

The date is from samknows. BT checker doesn't say anything about fttc, just adsl/adsl2

Then the date is for the exchange, and 1 cab to be enabled - and in my case over 2 years difference between the exchange date and my cab date.

Ah Ok hopefully it will be sooner than that for me then!

I found out from the council that the roadworks starting tomorrow are indeed for UK Power Networks to connect the power to the cab

In reply to a post by AndrewUK:

Ah Ok hopefully it will be sooner than that for me then!

I found out from the council that the roadworks starting tomorrow are indeed for UK Power Networks to connect the power to the cab

Lucky I've registered on roadworks.org but no sign of any works in the cab location. (The installation of the cab was on there).

Just noticed this on the Openreach tweet feed
Superfast broadband has started to become available in BYFLEET

The website says Accepting Orders aswell.

Sweet I thought! However, the checker still says no for me though using the telephone number check, and December 2012 using the postcode check. A bit of a bummer since my cab was one of the first in, and it's been powered up with fans whirring away inside it for about 2 months after the last activity around it finished!

Grr hurry-up and flip the switch!

In Brookwood, it took about 4 weeks from when they said the exchange was accepting orders until I found the first place where they actually reported availability.

Unfortunately, my cabinet took another 3.5 months to become available, and then took another 2 months to actually install.

It's a great test of patience

Ouch!

It would be nice to have it in time for Christmas - thinking ahead to the Steam sale and all those cheap games to buy and download (and then not get round to playing for about 3 years!)

At last the checker says I can have infinity!

I was going to just order Infinity 2 from BT. A quick question for those who have done it, and I'm sure there are many. When you go through the order process you have to pick a line rental option. However since I am already a BT customer (not for broadband, just phone) I'm surprised the order process didn't pick that up. I'm assuming it won't place an order for a whole new phone line or something.

Also since I currently pay my rental annually to save money, if I choose that option it says I'll be charged a one-off cost of 129 quid, but I've already made that payment earlier in the year - so I'd be paying it again before my current period has elapsed?!

Well have just done the deed!
Left BE (a bit sad since they were reliable for the 6+ years I was with them!) and signed up for Infinity 2.

Estimated speed is 65Mbit down/20 up and activation/installed scheduled for November 9th.
Hope it all works out OK! Plenty of time to shop for a new router as I don't intend using the HH3, I need gigabit ports and I discovered it only has 1 or 2 which is a bit pants...