FTTC availability at LCSHW (Shaw) Exchange

Hi everyone,

New member with a rollout question. I have recently moved and am now hooked up to the Shaw exchange (LCSHW). According to samknows.com there is FTTC in the area, but currently my cabinet isn't supoprting it. According to the BT rollout map, it says that Infinity will be available by June 30th 2012.

I'm concerned that, now approaching that date, my cabinet actually won't be upgraded and I'll be stuck with hideous 3Mbps forever!

Can anyone advise me where my nearest cabinet is and whether/when there is a plan to fibre enable it?

Many thanks in advance.

Mike

Please let us know your postcode. (It helps to have some information with which to work!)

OL14PN

Thank you. I have some information that has been extracted from the December 2011 document --

LCSHW,SHAW,OL14PN,{LCSHW}{M_F},1,25%,,,,
LCSHW,SHAW,OL14PN,{LCSHW}{P13},0,75%,,,,

We can see that 75% of the lines originating from your postcode area are connected via the PCP number P13 whilst the other 25% are Exchange Only lines (i.e. go directly to the exchange without going via a PCP).

The bad news is, that at the time the document was prepared, FTTC deployment was not scheduled for {LCSHW}{P13}.

There is an April 2012 document but only ISPs have access to it. Perhaps James, from ADSL24, may notice this thread and kindly look up the current status for {LCSHW}{P13}, please?

Edited by burakkucat (Mon 25-Jun-12 16:22:25)

Thanks for this. Hopefully the chap can provide more up to date info. I'm beginning to feel that sense of dread that I'll be on copper ADSL forever, unless I move house..!

Hmmm I actually work for an ISP and having checked into this with colleagues, the April spreadsheet appears to still state the 25/75 ratio. I guess (or assume) this means that I have no chance of getting FTTC or for that matter FTTP.

I have cable installed at the premises (even though I don't use it), so perhaps that explains why my cabinet isn't being enabled, or why FTTP won 't be installed.

Might have to go with Virgin, which I really wanted to avoid :/

The other thing you need to determine is whether your line is Exchange Only. Perhaps your colleague will also be able to assist with that? If not, you need to talk to an Openreach engineer and ask if she/he would look up the status for you.

If your line is connected via {LCSHW}{P13}, then you may just need to be patient.

I share your pain. I moved from Top Sholver 30mb + virgin (had no issues over 6 years plus the free doubled speeds) to bottom sholver and the space of one road betwen the two meant I ended up in 3mb area for god sake.

Talktalk are in no rush either. Everyone else is getting it activated this week and coming weeks on BT & Plusnet but I may have to wait until September or longer.

I would trade houseswith you just to get that Virgin cable back. Least theres no connection and speed issues like DSL providers have.

Not sure which one you work for but atleast Virgin give permanent discounts and double your speed for free every couple of years or so. Your mad not to want to go with them! If id have stayed where I lived and with Virgin I would of had 60mb unlimited broadband, no speed or connection issues and a phone for £28 p/m

Edited by deleted (Tue 26-Jun-12 08:19:29)

Unfortunately (as discussed via PM) Cab 13 is still not planned for FTTC

Yeah we moved from Derker, where we had BT and I was getting rates of 52Mbps often and police of around 15-17Mbps. Now it all feels a bit like I've gone back to original ADSL.

I can't get any sense out of BT on the matter and have spent a couple of days on and off looking into this, getting help from folks like James (adsl24) here and guys in our tech support. It could have been resolved in a simple "yes" or "no" answer from BT. I should know better really.

Good to hear you've had a decent experience with Virgin. I've just read so many negative reviews and forum comments about them, so am wary. That said, you're old place is only up the hill from me, so maybe that's a good sign that the Virgin quality in our area in general is OK.

Sorry to hear you're stuck with olde worlde rates now though.

Thanks for your help James. It is appreciated.

Thanks to everyone! Here's the response from BT which I received this afternoon. So, it's Virgin or no one. I've placed an order for the 60Mbps package just now, so I'll let everyone know how that goes, in terms of performance, customer care and the like.

Cheers!

<SNIP>
Hi Mike,

Thank you for sending you details in.

I have checked your exchange and cabinet with BT Wholesale and unfortunately the news is not good.


There are issues with power and light delivery to the cabinet, the contractor scheduled and attempted power install on 30th April but reported�.- unable to excavate due to location on steep incline and heavy rain�.
We don�t have a revised date for power install as yet

There is a section 58 affecting installation that council are reviewing. The section 58 is in place until Sept 2013, a section 58 prevents excavation for a set period when the road or pathway has been resurfaced/re-laid. We need to excavate to provide fibre to the cabinet. And until this case is reviewed with the council we don�t have a date for service until the obstacles are overcome.

I Hope this provides clarification on this for you.

If you have any further queries please don�t hesitate to contact me direct via this E-mail.

Best Wishes
</SNIP>

In reply to a post by AtheistM:

Thanks to everyone! Here's the response from BT which I received this afternoon. So, it's Virgin or no one. I've placed an order for the 60Mbps package just now, so I'll let everyone know how that goes, in terms of performance, customer care and the like.

Cheers!

<SNIP>
Hi Mike,

Thank you for sending you details in.

I have checked your exchange and cabinet with BT Wholesale and unfortunately the news is not good.


There are issues with power and light delivery to the cabinet, the contractor scheduled and attempted power install on 30th April but reported�.- unable to excavate due to location on steep incline and heavy rain�.
We don�t have a revised date for power install as yet

There is a section 58 affecting installation that council are reviewing. The section 58 is in place until Sept 2013, a section 58 prevents excavation for a set period when the road or pathway has been resurfaced/re-laid. We need to excavate to provide fibre to the cabinet. And until this case is reviewed with the council we don�t have a date for service until the obstacles are overcome.

I Hope this provides clarification on this for you.

If you have any further queries please don�t hesitate to contact me direct via this E-mail.

Best Wishes
</SNIP>

Who did you contact with your query to get a bespoke response? I dont seem to be able to get anything other than a scripted response from anyone about ours! Cheers

Hi mate,

I started by using Twitter via @BTCare. They then sent me here:

https://bt.custhelp.com/app/contact_email/c/4953

Using this form, give them your full details (including line number, full address) and explain that you wish to know what the status is of your cabinet in relation to FTTC and what your options are. Seems to have helped me, despite the news being bad. Try and be as specific as you can and include any other research you've done.

Best of luck!

Mike

Great stuff, cheers!

Currently on between 1 - 2 Mb so my desperation for Infinity knows no bounds

Yeah going from 52/17 down to 3/0.3 feels like dial up right now! As soon as two of us are online it's rubbish.

As you must have been typing that i've just been disconnected and re-connected at 1Mb, really fed up with this now and just want Infinity

Anything but basic surfing is a joke at this speed, two online at once? Just a pipe dream... particularly kids on Moshi Monsters or somesuch!

What's your post code? Feel free to PM through and I'll do some tests I was shown. Might provide a clue.

thanks - although i've gone through all available postcode / cabinet checkers however the BT infinity postcode checker shows anomolies for different houses on my street. Specifically its different depending on which telepgraph pole you are connected to. I fear there is a DB error somewhere and it will hold up any infinity / fibre order I place.

My cabinet serves a cul-de-sac with about 16 houses on it. 75% are FTTC enabled, the rest aren't due to being connected directly to the exchange. It's a relatively new bunch of houses, which is the biggest mystery, as is the fact the cul-de-sac is about 100 feet long.

I got an explanation from BT Wholesale today, which ended with me ordering Virgin, which is disappointing.

The cabinet checker says 100% of my postcode go to the updated cabinet so hopefully I'm ok on that front. Distance wise whilst i'm not right next to it a rough estimation would be 500m following the BT ducting then overheads.

Still, i'll only believe I can get it when the openreach engineer leaves my house after a successful install.

That has just made thing a whole lot clearer. I live on Oakley Drive and connected to cab 12. The checker says its not coming but the PCP says it is and the cab is there and powered up (you can hear it buzzing). Guess I'll be waiting along with the rest of you.

Good luck to you both!

Virgin rock up to mine on Saturday morning, so fingers crossed I'll be hitting the high speeds again.

The ADSL I'm getting right now is about as fast as 3G, I kid you not.