Odd connection to cabinet...

Hi all,

I'm trying to find out why we can't currently get Infinity. All houses near us (including many friends) can receive infinity, but our cul-de-sac cannot!

I looked at the PCP data from Dec 2011. Whilst our actual postcode is not listed, some very close are - but show some strange results...

Here is a map of our local area, with a number of postcodes to SUA_NODE_IDs mapped:

http://batchgeo.com/map/42e7458f35af63a609c315f1d9ef...

We're on a road just by Carroll Rd. What's bizzare is our red markers (smack bang in the middle of the blue markers) seem to be connected to a cabinet up by Whitleigh! Annoyingly, addresses in this area are enabled for FTTC - but we're not. Very strange, as that green void inbetween is quite a long way away.

There doesn't seem to be any green BT cabinets on our cul-de-sac. It was built in the 1980s, which was after all houses on Crownhill Road were built - but that still seems like a huge effort to connect us to a cabinet a long way away, considering there are several cabinets close to us.

Is there a way to find out definitely which box we are connected to? We currently get a terrible 3Mb connection and I'm desperately trying to avoid Virgin - their service in Plymouth is terrible.

Do Openreach ever re-route connections to different cabinets?

Might you PM me your postcode and house number?

Sent, thanks

There are lots of errors in the data, but you could be on an direct exchange line. Looking at the two red markers by Carrol Rd I get the following from the December data, I think you've looked at the edited version, which only list info thats going to get FTTC/P

The exchange flag being 1 means it a direct exchange line, which quite often happens with some new estates, although yours is not new it was built after the other houses.

SAU_ID Name Postcode Percent Lines SAU_NODE_ID Exchange Only Flag Uplift
WWCRWN CROWNHILL PL53SA 92% {WWCRWN}{M_C} 1
WWCRWN CROWNHILL PL53SA 7% {WWCRWN}{P38} 0 13.66

SAU_ID Name Postcode Percent Lines SAU_NODE_ID Exchange Only Flag Uplift
WWCRWN CROWNHILL PL53RZ 92% {WWCRWN}{M_C} 1
WWCRWN CROWNHILL PL53RZ 5% {WWCRWN}{M_F} 1
WWCRWN CROWNHILL PL53RZ 1% {WWCRWN}{P38} 0 13.66

Exchange only lines can't have FTTC, apparently BT are looking at rolling something else out for these.

ADSL24 will be able to give you more accurate info.

Edited by R0NSKI (Thu 21-Jun-12 23:14:42)

That could explain things. I did wonder why the local postcode was only showing 1%.

We're quite far from the exchange so I imagine it was quite an effort to get us connected directly to the exchange.

If we are indeed connected directly to the exchange, is there any known process for contacting BT to request e installation of a cabinet or some other procedure?

I'm afraid its as R0NSKI says. Your postcode is entirely connected via an exchange only line, meaning that the feed to your estate is underground straight from the exchange. Here is a quick snippet of your local area.

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=2z3uzyx&s=6

Each icon represents a postcode, and the little blue icons indicate that the postcode is served via an exchange line rather than a cabinet. The icons with numbers within indicate which cabinet that postcode is served from.

Sorry about that!

James

Edited by Adsl24 (Fri 22-Jun-12 08:42:04)

In reply to a post by camason:

We're quite far from the exchange so I imagine it was quite an effort to get us connected directly to the exchange.

Not really an effort as BT would just pull through another cable through existing ducting underground. The usually install exchange lines due to the fact that the closest cabinet would have been full capacity at the time, so they were not able to connect the estate to it. Therefore, its far easer for them to just run a cable from the exchange direct to the estate than worry about the installation of another new cabinet.

Before FTTC was around it made no difference, and it was probably better to be served on a direct exchange line as potentially its a better (newer) line with less joints. But unfortunately there isn't much you can do about it now, that's the way your estate is cabled up and Openreach won't do anything to re-route it.

Thanks

Doh.

Thanks James for taking the time to look that up for me.

Looks like it's Jittery Virgin Media for me I might keep my old line active for gaming.

Openreach are looking into what to do about EO lines like yours, but I don't expect it is top priority. They want to get their population coverage figures up ASAP.