FTTC when?

According to BT Openreach orders are being accepted for fibre broadband from my local exchange (Hertford), yet when I contact my ISP (Plusnet), they say it's not yet available.

So what does "accepting orders" mean exactly? No doubt FTTC will be available soon in my area but I am curious about the apparent conflict of info.

They are most likely accepting pre-orders ready for when it does become available or pre-registering your interest when your area does go live.

Jo
Accepting orders means that 'some' cabinets on Hertford exchange are enabled and can have orders placed on them.
Conversely other cabinets may not have had FTTC provided yet and lines served by these cannot have orders placed.

If you use your telephone number in the BT checker it should tell you if your line has FTTC available on it.

Some lines served direct from the exchange will not have FTTC provided, as there is no cabinet.

There is a list from Dec 2011 that showed plans for each postcode and cabinet. If you post your postcode and ask on here, someone with access to it may be able to tell whether you are on a cabinet and when it is likely to be enabled.

The announcement that the exchange has gone live doesnt mean that ALL CABs have.

The CABs seem to be opened up gradually - presumably to manage the numbers of installs to be done as well as completing the CAB installation, fibre installation etc.

It certainly isnt a case that a switch is thrown and a whole exchange has FTTC!

What is your postcode please? We can get more detail from elsewhere using that.

Also did you read the first three paragraphs/notes on the OR page?

Edited by RobertoS (Fri 08-Jun-12 09:30:11)

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

What is your postcode please? We can get more detail from elsewhere using that.

It's SG14 3JW

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Also did you read the first three paragraphs/notes on the OR page?

Yes, looked like a standard disclaimer

EAHTF HERTFORD SG143JW {EAHTF}{P33} 0 100% 6.33 8a Yes FTTC

So your connected to CAB 33, all lines from your postcode connect to it, and its on the list.

Your exchange is accepting orders, so your cab is either done, or due very very soon.

Bt's Wholesale DB hasn't been updated with the 07/06 tweeted exchanges yet.

try again monday/tuesday and ya'll likely see a different result

from my own experince btw, phoned Bt to order and was given the above reason, DB's aren't updated yet, they are once a week likely monday/tuesday as thats when they are normaly Tweeting new exchanges go live, but the queens party put a hammer in the works for this week

My exchange "started accepting orders" yesterday according to the Openreach twitter feed, if I check my cab it gives me the June 30th date but if I check a couple of the other cabs around town (all far from each other) it says it's available.

Basically:
One friend can get it who lives quite a bit away can get it.
One other friend who lives nowhere near either of us can't get it.
I can't get it.
I checked two other cabs which are again spread out (nowhere near each other) and they can get it.

So I'm not sure what you've been told is true (I hope it is though).

Cabs go online in batches, so the first lot will be active with the exchange going live and others will follow.

In reply to a post by Moradin:

EAHTF HERTFORD SG143JW {EAHTF}{P33} 0 100% 6.33 8a Yes FTTC

So your connected to CAB 33, all lines from your postcode connect to it, and its on the list.

Your exchange is accepting orders, so your cab is either done, or due very very soon.

Thanks very much for the info

my exchange was also tweeted, and shows as accepting orders on Open Reach Where and when map.

but not on Samknows.com, or any of the ~20 or so post codes i've tried for it via BT's checker.

can't say for your exchange, but i'm willing to bet i'll be able to order early next week, my Cabinet has been there for months, and has all the work required for it go live done

reason i mention samknows is, they get data from bt - if they can't see it's not available for some, bt/other isp's prob can't either

I think I've found out when my exchange will be FTTC - end of September 2012 apparently - by using the postcode checker on the BT adsl checker web site

In reply to a post by joconnell:

I think I've found out when my exchange will be FTTC - end of September 2012 apparently - by using the postcode checker on the BT adsl checker web site

Quarter end dates are notoriously unreliable. It just means sometime. Highly likely to slip by 3 or 6 months during the last week of the quarter. You wil find many people here where that has happened repeatedly, over a year or more.

Idiotically, it can also slip like that, then come back in the first week of the next quarter with live or in a couple of days. . Just don't get your hopes too high, or tell the kids (if you have any) it's due then.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Just don't get your hopes too high, or tell the kids (if you have any) it's due then.

Sage advice. I'm not desperate for FTTC, the biggest difference it'll make to my online life is that I'll be making more use of online storage services and on-line photo albums than I do now, and it'd be nice to be able to surf/DL whilst watching content on iPlayer on the Smart TV