Bannockburn FTTC (RFS 01/06/12)

Hi

My exchange has an RFS date of 01/06/12 (Bannockburn) http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange/ESBAN

To date, there has been no work carried out by BT Openreach in the local area. Additionally, checking Stirling Councils planning site shows only a single application for a DSLAM in Bannockburn! I am assuming they are well behind schedule.

Also, does anyone have access to a PCP that covers the postcodes for my area. They are not in the December PCP.

What's the usual lead-time between the RFS date and being able to actually order FTTC in an area?

Nigel

Samknows dates are only estmated live dates for the exchange, cabinet works will go on for weeks/months later after a exchange has been enabled.

The engineering teams work at best speed moving between cabinets, their are many different stages to getting a FTTC cab installed to live, alot of problems do occur which slows down work on individual cabinets.
Since the teams need to move quickly between cabinets it means that some cabinets are delayed until they can return.

Looking at your local area 3 exchanges are planned to have FTTC rolled out, Alloa and Bannockburn are both planned for September, the 3rd is December so its quite likely that the teams are working in Alloa and the move across or are still in already enabled exchanges.

As for the usual lead tme, how long is a piece of string, it varys by area and what resoruces are avaliable, the rollout moves at best speed.

One of the ips's on this forum has access to the April 2012 spreadsheet and should be able to tell you what cabinet you are connected to and if it is planned to have FTTC and where its located.

If it is planned then you can either use roadworks.org or if that does not cover your area the council roadwork website that does and keep an eye on roadworks planned on your pcp.

Edited by deleted (Wed 27-Jun-12 14:11:55)

Hi

Thanks, looks like a bit more of a wait required then... The BT OpenReach 'Where and When' page was saying June 2012. Just checked today, and its now September 2012 though.

http://www.roadworksscotland.org/

Is the site for roadworks in Scotland. BT are listed at several sites, but not at the cabinets near my house

Maybe i'll be connected by Xmas!

Nigel

Edited by veletron (Wed 27-Jun-12 16:48:43)

So, that's wonderful

BT, the blighters have announced that FTTC is available in my area (I assume that means they are done with it), but it turns out that only around 50% of lines connected to the exchange can actually get it. Unfortunately, my line is one of the ones which cannot.

Thanks for nothing BT!

BT announce the exchange as accepting orders after a few of the cabinets are ready (and the exchange itself, of course).

They may still be working on more of the cabinets in the near future, and there may be a few that have encountered installation problems (which usually knock back service between 2 and 6 months).

There may even be one or two cabinets that have been left until a future phase, but this seems less likely.

The best way to find out *exactly* seems to be an Openreach email address that I can't recall exactly (something about "complaints or enquiries"). Search on this forum - it should be easy to find.

In reply to a post by veletron:

Hi

Thanks, looks like a bit more of a wait required then... The BT OpenReach 'Where and When' page was saying June 2012. Just checked today, and its now September 2012 though.

http://www.roadworksscotland.org/

Is the site for roadworks in Scotland. BT are listed at several sites, but not at the cabinets near my house

Maybe i'll be connected by Xmas!

not all of bt jobs will show on that page and not all the bt jobs that are shown on the map will get done

Nigel

Well, its the 30th today - the date on which www.dslchecker.bt.com said my cabinet would be enabled by. Just looked at DSLCheck once again, and all info's regarding the upgrade of my cabinet have been removed.

Drastic action now required. Either move house, it start a community fibre project to try and get some decent speeds to my estate. Probably the former, somewhere with Virgin Media, don't wish to line BT's pockets any further!

Sick to death of BT...

Having done some postcode checks it appears that only 50% of Bannockburn got its cabinets upgraded. BT, in its press releases has been quoting the total no of lines at the exchange (8000). False advertising, that in my book. Looking online the 50% availability is not at all uncommon.

Pished right off!!

It's not unknown for the BT checker to "blank" the cabinet just prior to taking orders.

In reply to a post by Gadget:

It's not unknown for the BT checker to "blank" the cabinet just prior to taking orders.

Quite common in fact. I don't know which checker is being discussed, but this one tends to do that.

The 30th is one of 4 end quater holding dates Openreach estimate work to be completed by, the cabinet is ready when its ready, as others have said above give it a few days.

Its a commercial deployment, Openreach will only enable the cabinets that it deems will give a good return- Openreach will return in later phases to enable more cabinets in a area, so the inital wave is not the end of the rollout.

Edited by deleted (Sun 30-Sep-12 15:32:16)

I guess I am rather peeved because I actually put some effort into ensuring that I got FTTC! - I printed and delivered 900 leaflets off my own back encouraging local folk to pre-register on BT's infinity website such that BT got the message that my area was 'commercially viable' !! - only to find that my area got left out! Maybe said leaflets were not acted upon.

The comments above give me some hope that i'll not be left out of the loop forever anyway.

Nigel

Well done - it is this kind of behaviour that makes the difference. But it takes a lot of persistence and perspiration. And luck.

Right now, with BDUK subsidies going through the microscope of EU checking, I'm not surprised that BT are being "harsh" on the decisions about whether an exchange is considered viable.

By sticking closely to the rules on viability, BDUK funding is a lot more likely to happen - and access to the extra funding will change the viability boundaries significantly more than a leaflet drop.

I posted the leaflets back in May - fat lot of good it did!!!

"Hypothetically"

You could get a decent wifi antenna, and pick up a free fibre connection somewhere in Stirling as they have been enabled

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xo_dUZEzeLQ&feature=r...

Edited by deleted (Mon 01-Oct-12 22:48:58)

Well versed in the art of long distance WiFi! Proud owner of several Yagi's, a couple of panel antenna and a parabolic dish! Purely for geeky purposes of course!

I have a campervan, and not wishing to do without internet, its got a pole on the back with a WiFi and 3G antenna, an Alfa router inside to shares whatever I happen to get. I share via FON at home, and can often get connected via FON while away.

Take them skiing too, to avoid hotel wifi charges

I have had good range/speeds previously testing wifi links between a couple of yagi's. Might be an option of all-else fails, but since we are talking about 1000 houses missed out on FTTC, I would have to get antenna on a big pole to get it over alot of rooftops to donor!

BTW: Bannockburn (my local exchange) has been enabled, no need to point it at Stirling, Its my local cabinet that missed out. Time for another round of leafleting this weekend - see if I can't get my neighbours to pre-register. Surely they cant all be perfectly happy with 2.5down/0.4up ??!!

Nigel

Edited by veletron (Mon 01-Oct-12 23:23:51)

Found the following: recombu.com/digital/news/fibre-broadband-why-doesnt-my-bt-cabinet-have-fttc-when-my-exchange-is-ready_M10846.html

Recombu has also been quoting my rantings! recombu.com/digital/news/fibre-to-the-fifty-per-cent-digital-voices-29092012_M10982.html

Some good news!

Just checked RoadworksScotland.org and some new roadworks have appeared by BT taking place from 5th-10th October near my cabinet, P17. Hopefully, this is FTTC work! I have located the cabinet here: http://goo.gl/maps/Q1EaJ which sort of explains why my ADSL is so slow despite being <1.5 miles from the exchange as crow flies. That cabinet, which is on the Bannockburn exchange is actually physically closer to the Stirling exchange. (all addresses served by it are Stirling rather than Bannockburn). The feed cable will have to come from Bannockburn exchange past my house to the cabinet, then come back the way again. I suspect that the line length is 4 miles+. I'm guessing there is still 1KM of copper between the cabinet and my house, but FTTC should still get me better than 2.5MBit down/0.5Mbit up anyway! Its the upload speed I most hope gets a good speed boost.

I got one of your leaflets and attempted to register my interest.
The BT page always says "we couldn't find any results for the details you entered" when I attempt to check the status or register, even though it asked me to confirm my address on the previous page, pretty pathetic really.
I had to phone them to register my interest, I doubt many others would have bothered.

Did bt do any road works near that cabinet? I did not see any works being done during those dates and unfortunately still not showing as my post code having fibre from cabinet 17.

Started putting cabs in Fallin this week

They re-shelled the old cab 17 last week, and there's roadwork signs now sitting beside the road ready to be put out... so good indications so far that they are getting ready to install a fibre cab close by.

Hi

Yep, I saw that it had been re-shelled. I believe that they got some power into the vicinity at the same time for the new FTTC cab. Further roadworks at Cab 17 are scheduled from 15th to 20th of this month. roadworksscotland.org

I had hoped that my cabinet was closer. Its 1KM away line of sight. The BT cables come up the pavement so they should be close to 1KM long also.

I'll still get a good boost... but nowhere near the 76/20Mbits headline figure, more like 35/5. If FTTH-On-Demand gets rolled out beyond the current trial exchanges it will be orderable for folks currently on FTTC. I note that FTTH-OD should be easy to deliver in my area - burried BT cables, frequent access hatches, and existing conduit under my garden.

Nigel

Got this reply from openreach yesterday (15th Oct) to an email I sent them last month.... regarding fibre in my area.

Rather disappointing! - sounds like we ain't getting our fibre cab this week after all, or even this year by the sounds of things:


Good morning

Thank you for your email regarding the availability of fibre broadband to your area. I am sorry for the delay in responding.

I can confirm that the cabinet serving your property (PCP17) is part of the fibre roll out in Bannockburn. However, we have unfortunately experienced some delays with the work.

During our deployment we sometimes encounter problems with our roll out plan which can unfortunately result in a delay to our initial plans, delays vary from 3 months to 12 months depending on the scale of the problem. The sort of issues that we encounter are things like blocked underground cable routes, disputed land ownership and the existence of unrecorded underground lines for utility companies to name a few.

At present we are carrying out a new survey into the location of the fibre cabinet. Once this is complete we should be able to provide a date when we expect the cabinet to be ready to receive orders. I suggest that you check again at the beginning of 2013 at our website www.openreach-communications.co.uk/superfast/where-and-when when there should be some progress on the work

I am sorry I cannot give any further information at this time

Kind regards


Graeme Hughes, BMA613
Network Investment Customer Engagement
DSO | Openreach
Web: www.openreach.co.uk

Hi,

How do I find out which cabinet in Bannockburn I am connected to? I would like to find out if I will be affected by the delay you highlight in the post above. I notice there are currently roadworks at the Firs area in Bannockburn which are assigned to BT on roadworks.org - I guess the cabinet they are working on there would be the cabinet I am connected to as I live not to far from there but I'm not sure, Hopefully it is not cabinet PCP17

Well ain't that just wonderful! Maybe I need to find someone that did get connected, and setup a wifi link over the rooftops! Prob easier to move house.

Once I discovered that my post-FTTC speeds were not going to be anything to write home about I lost interest anyway.

At least you got a response - they never bothered to email me back.

BT - why am I surprised when they once again fail to deliver! Had similar issues with them 10 years ago when I ran the campaign for ADSL in Dunblane. ( http://web.archive.org/web/20021003040817/http://www... ). Amuses me that we struggled to get BT to roll out ADSL (trigger set at 650 initially), but that they got FTTC 12+ months ago.

Nigel

Edited by veletron (Fri 19-Oct-12 10:56:40)

In reply to a post by Anonymous:

Hi,

How do I find out which cabinet in Bannockburn I am connected to? I would like to find out if I will be affected by the delay you highlight in the post above. I notice there are currently roadworks at the Firs area in Bannockburn which are assigned to BT on roadworks.org - I guess the cabinet they are working on there would be the cabinet I am connected to as I live not to far from there but I'm not sure, Hopefully it is not cabinet PCP17

To find your cabinet, go here: http://fttc-check.alc.im/

There is quite a bit of work going on at the moment to connect Falin and Cowie. They'll probably discover similar issues that prevent roll-out at these locations too.

Incidentely, when they reshelled PCP17, I got an extra half megabit on ADSL2+ !! Prob some rusted out connector blocks in it.

BT: Ancient infrastructure sold to the public at premium prices!

Nigel

I am rather concerned that BT will decide that this cabinet is 'too costly' to deploy on, and that we will forever more be left in the broadband slow-lane.

To this end, I have written to the community council and will likely do another leaflet campaign to all the houses on PCP17 to encourage pre-registration.

Maybe if I highlight the fact that if BT passes this cabinet by, then we may well forever-more be stuck in the broadband slow lane - folks will register their interest.

Nigel

Thanks for the reply

I got the following info

"P8 90% 2.92 8a Part of deployment FTTC (Fiber to the Cabinet)
P14 9% 2.18 8a Part of deployment FTTC (Fiber to the Cabinet)"

So I'm either cabinet 8 or 14. Now I just need to find out where they are, and if they have the cab number on them!!

This is possibly P8 and this could be P14

FK78LG shows streetside Dslam cab, as does FK78NG on the Infinity checker, just scroll down, click I'm not with BT enter 999 as house number and enter the postcode,, click check now, then when it cant find the address just enter the postcode and click find address.

Thanks Ronski. My postcode is FK7 8LW. If its anything to do with distance, I am closer to P8 than P14, although both are quite close. Don't think there is anything imminent, not saw any roadworks and roadworks scotland does not have any planned BT roadworks this side of christmas.
http://www.roadworksscotland.org/MapSearch.aspx?lat=...
Not looking good.

There's 19 properties listed for your postcode, assuming 19 lines then two go to cabinet P14 with the other 17 going to P8.

Only way you'll know which one your connected to is when one cabinet starts giving estimates and the other doesn't, or ones live and the others not, or an ISP or BT themselves tell you.

PS. Only thing distance has to do with it is the closer you are the higher the speed you should get, P8 would be the best as that's only about 250 meters by the most logical route, of course sometimes there's nothing logical about the route your phone line takes! P14 is about 500 meters depending on route. 500 meters would be good for 40 to 50 Meg depending on line quality, 250 meters could see you get the full 80 or close to it, again depends on quality of line.

Thanks once again Ronski. Looking at the picture of P8 that you supplied, the cabinet appears to be in a fairly non disruptive place. Is there any chance that BT dont need to apply for roadworks to be used at this cabinet and perhaps just put their own barriers up? Like I say there doesnt appear to be any application for roadworks on the horizon. The other scenario is that the work has already been done because the status of cabinets P8 and P14 is as follows
ESBAN Bannockburn Accepting Orders Now, perhaps there is some reason my own particular line cannot be upgraded to fibre, I have heard of this happening before?

I don't think either cabinet is live yet, I checked a few addresses last night, when doing this you must use postcodes that have 100% supplied from the cabinet, otherwise you may choose an address from another cabinet. Then using the infinity checker you can get addresses from the BT database, then input them into the address checker here

This one is right on top of P14, 1 FK78NG
This one is on top of P8, 1 FK78LG

Neither are showing speed estimates, but thats normal, some can show months before, others will show estimates just before they go live.

Oh and here's a map of post codes supplied by those cabinets

In England I'm certain they would have to apply for a roadworks permit, don't know if its any difference in Scotland. I would suggest taking a drive/walk and seeing if both already have their FTTC twins installed, they can be anywhere within a 100 meters of the PCP.

you could always offer to fund the cabinte by the local community (using private money) - use contact openreach web page to ask for a quote (you can do this only because the exchnage is enabled but the cabinet is outside the commercial critera

Information on your search is displayed below. Note: You may have more than 1 cabinet serving your postcode.

Cabinet Probability Uplift Phase Status Type
P9 62% 23.46 8a Part of deployment FTTC (Fiber to the Cabinet)
P21 37% 22.72 8a Part of deployment FTTC (Fiber to the Cabinet)


I did a search of the cabinets in my area, where do i go to contact BT for activation date?

In reply to a post by R0NSKI:

I don't think either cabinet is live yet, I checked a few addresses last night, when doing this you must use postcodes that have 100% supplied from the cabinet, otherwise you may choose an address from another cabinet. Then using the infinity checker you can get addresses from the BT database, then input them into the address checker here

This one is right on top of P14, 1 FK78NG
This one is on top of P8, 1 FK78LG

Neither are showing speed estimates, but thats normal, some can show months before, others will show estimates just before they go live.

Oh and here's a map of post codes supplied by those cabinets

In England I'm certain they would have to apply for a roadworks permit, don't know if its any difference in Scotland. I would suggest taking a drive/walk and seeing if both already have their FTTC twins installed, they can be anywhere within a 100 meters of the PCP.

Thanks again Ronski.

Took a walk this morning, first to P8 which is only 1 min walk away. As I entered that street the first thing I saw was Openreach van!! However I suspect it is parked outside the drivers house as there was no activity, the van was still misted up with the early morning condensation as if it has been there all night, and it is Sunday after all - oh well!
The existing P8 cabinet does have a shiny new fibre cabinet adjacent to it though, so thats something. Do BT put the cabinets in place and then come back in future to connect lines, or could this cabinet be live to certain lines?

Next to P14, which is at least 4-5 mins from my house.
Found a cabinet which has 14 painted on it so no doubt there, unfortunately no new Fibre cabinet in the immediate vicinity.
So a bit of progress made, but still nothing concrete. Why do BT have to be so secretive? If they were to tell me that Fibre to my cabinet was 6 months away, even a year, it would almost be better than the not knowing.

Cabinet is put in place first, then they will run in the tie cables between the PCP and the fibre cabinet, then power is connected and finally fibre from the exchange is connected. After the cabinet is installed the latter items could be done any any order really and there could be months between each step, and finally it will need to be checked and commissioned.

Once cabinet is live all lines connected to the PCP should be able to order, as long as they are not too far away and there is enough capacity in the FTTC cabinet. I say should as there have been database errors which until sorted stopped people ordering.

One of the reasons they appear so secretive is they simply don't know when it will be completed, there can be problems connecting power and running in the fibre from the exchange - the fibre may not be fed from your local exchange.

Edited by R0NSKI (Sun 21-Oct-12 14:15:10)

think worth checking with the planning authority to see if cab which does not have a dslam (Fibre cab) has either been delayed . objected too or not applied for

If not applied for likely not be part of commercial deployment -- the "list" that keeps gettign referred to is an Openreach decisioning sheet at a specific moment in time and is subject to change of technology, or exclusion and is reviewed regularly to see if still with in our criteria for commercial deployment - (commerical deployment finished in 2014)

Quite true, the data dates from December 2011, so could well be out of date.

That said BT's own live data shows a street side DLSAM under postcode FK7 8NG, and this is very near the location of Cab 14 - please refer back to this post to verify this. It's quite possible the cabinet is installed, but the anon poster didn't spot it, it can be up to 100 meters away. If it's not installed it may well still be scheduled, otherwise why would it show up in my checks.

Was supposed to be FTTC-enabled in June, then in September, and am now seeing this on the BT DSL checker:

'Your cabinet is planned to have WBC FTTC by 31st December 2012. Our test also indicates that your line currently supports a fibre technology with an estimated WBC FTTC Broadband where consumers have received downstream line speed between 18.1 to 72.3 Mbps and upstream line speed between 4.2 to 20 Mbps.'

Might PCP17 finally get FTTC by the 31st December or is this yet another promise that BT wont bother to keep?

The dates you mention are just place holder dates and in reality meaningless, the cabinet could go live before, or long after this date.

Received the following from my MP's office. I saw her press release when BT announced availability at Bannockburn with just 10 cabinets upgraded, and sent her a note re the situation of the 50%+ of properties in Bannockburn that had been left out.

�As you are aware Bannockburn is now accepting orders for super fast broadband. I�ve checked the cabinet which serves Mr xxxxxx and I�m pleased to say it has been included in the current rollout. Unfortunately, due to inclement weather that we have had in Scotland over the past few months and a shortage of equipment, the upgrade of this cabinet has been delayed. We hope to have the work completed and the cabinet ready for service by February 2013.

So I�d like to assure you that the cabinet is still very much part of our investment plans. Your constituent needs to register an interest for the fibre product with his own Service Provider (SP) and they�ll let him know when it becomes available. He also needs to talk to his SP if he has any further enquiries or issues with his broadband service. �

Thanks for info, makes intersting reading, we are in Plean and test shows .
Cabinet Probability Uplift Phase Status Type
P10 100% 23.5 8a Part of deployment FTTC (Fiber to the Cabinet)

Saw the fibre going in along the A9 and a new cabinet appeared but nothing apart from ADSL on any checker...guessing I'll have to be a bit more patient!

Gregor

Looks like its all about patience where BT is concerned...

I note that roadworksscotland has BT working in Plean on 6th Nov.

Does the following site give you a date for FTTC availability?

http://www.dslchecker.bt.com/adsl/ADSLChecker.Teleph...

Nigel

Thanks Nigel, link shows WBC FTTC by 31st Dec 2012 speed estimate 38.1 to 45.6... that would do nicely! The BT works are shown at the primary school (newley opened) so maybe just there, don't really mind waiting just good to know it's in the pipeline,
Rgds
Gregor

Hi

Was just reading about the situation in Cumbernauld, where the roll-out of FTTC is seemingly even more patchy than Bannockburn: http://www.superfastforkierhillroad.co.uk/

Postcodes where BT aint gonna bother doing owt:

http://batchgeo.com/map/18eadd70c43476215498d9618000...

Postcodes where BT has done half a job:

http://batchgeo.com/map/3f79f7ee3309d86e5864b28cf20b...

Postcodes where BT completed the job:

http://batchgeo.com/map/3b7f398b672379850817ca0d3251...

One can hardly say that Cumbernauld is rural !!!

I was speaking to a BT engineer this weekend gone, who commented that BT has a habit of rolling out in the area's where nobody wants or can afford FTTC (council estates), while not rolling out in affluent area's where folks could afford it. Although... maybe its like Sky TV --> perhaps its only those on benefits that can afford these luxuries these days cause those of us not on benefits fund said luxuries!

Nigel

In reply to a post by veletron:

perhaps its only those on benefits that can afford these luxuries these days cause those of us not on benefits fund said luxuries!

Nigel

LOL, spot on there me thinks.....

Still no fibre for my line. Its been 3 months approx since it was rolled out in Bannockburn. Phoned up BT today, waste of time. The people in the call centre know nothing (not their fault), its bad customer service that they cant tell their customers when/if they can provide a service. Like I have said previously I would rather they said it will be x amount of months before you can get it, at least that way you could forget about it.

BT retail will only know the information they can access, which is whats provided to them by Openreach, its the same information all isps that sell a fibre service from Openreach use.

You can contact Openreach on the email below, included your address and phone number as they will ask for it, will take a few days to reply but they will say if your cabinet is planned in the rollout.

[email protected]

In reply to a post by ccxo:

BT retail will only know the information they can access, which is whats provided to them by Openreach, its the same information all isps that sell a fibre service from Openreach use.

You can contact Openreach on the email below, included your address and phone number as they will ask for it, will take a few days to reply but they will say if your cabinet is planned in the rollout.

[email protected]

Thanks very much, email sent

Dont expect a reply from the nga.enquiries lot. They never bothered to respond to my queries. In the end, my local MP emailed them on my behalf and was able to extract a response.

On another note, BT has recently updated the availability for Cabinet PCP17 in Bannockburn. Initially it said 'June' then 'September' Then 'December' and now ruddy June 2013.

I have a zero percent expectation that the useless barstuards will actually get around to delivering it by this date. I'll be more likely to get faster speeds via ruddy 4G LTE than I ever will via any of BT's cr@ppy fibre!

The date for Plean & Cowie have also slipped until June 2013. Date for Fallin has slipped until December 2012, but if you believe that you'll believe anything! Plean and Cowie actually have cabinets full of VDSL2 kit and the fibre backhaul to the exchange all installed. [censored] is stopping them being connected, god only knows. I guess it just useless barstuards at BT.

By the time BT finally connect us up, i'll either be dead, or fibre will have been superceeded by some other technology, or perhaps hell will have frozen over?

"Your cabinet is planned to have WBC FTTC by 30th June 2013. Our test also indicates that your line currently supports a fibre technology with an estimated WBC FTTC Broadband where consumers have received downstream line speed between 18.1 to 72.3 Mbps and upstream line speed between 4.2 to 20 Mbps."

Jesus, the level of utter incompetence is just incomprehensible!!

Nigel

On the whole, the reports suggest that they had finally become good at responding to that email address.

However, there are increasing reports of slowness & inaccuracies, so I'm wondering if they're now being a little too successful.

I live in Fallin and am having fibre optic (sky) installed tomorrow.

In reply to a post by veletron:

On another note, BT has recently updated the availability for Cabinet PCP17 in Bannockburn. Initially it said 'June' then 'September' Then 'December' and now ruddy June 2013.

I have a zero percent expectation that the useless barstuards will actually get around to delivering it by this date. I'll be more likely to get faster speeds via ruddy 4G LTE than I ever will via any of BT's cr@ppy fibre!

The date for Plean & Cowie have also slipped until June 2013. Date for Fallin has slipped until December 2012, but if you believe that you'll believe anything! Plean and Cowie actually have cabinets full of VDSL2 kit and the fibre backhaul to the exchange all installed. [censored] is stopping them being connected, god only knows. I guess it just useless barstuards at BT.

By the time BT finally connect us up, i'll either be dead, or fibre will have been superceeded by some other technology, or perhaps hell will have frozen over?

"Your cabinet is planned to have WBC FTTC by 30th June 2013. Our test also indicates that your line currently supports a fibre technology with an estimated WBC FTTC Broadband where consumers have received downstream line speed between 18.1 to 72.3 Mbps and upstream line speed between 4.2 to 20 Mbps."

Jesus, the level of utter incompetence is just incomprehensible!!

Nigel

Well I did get an automated response saying they were really busy but would reply!
Regarding what you posted about you having WBC FTTC by June 2013 - at least you have that info. Mine doesnt even predict that I have a date, so I'm guessing this means my cabinet will be activated even later than June next year?

H

In reply to a post by mjf09:

I live in Fallin and am having fibre optic (sky) installed tomorrow.

Lol

I do find it rather amusing that those living way out in Fallin can get fibre broadband, but my house, which is less than a mile from the telephone exchange (but with 5 miles of cable) cannot!!!

Hell, If I stood on the roof of my house I could see the back of the exchange!

Nigel

My house is the length of a football pitch from the exchange!

To me it makes sense to connect those furthest from the exchange (and therefore those who have had to suffer the slowest speeds) to the fibre network first. Install took 20 mins. Speeds as advertised. Very impressed so far.

Joy......

In reply to a post by mjf09:

To me it makes sense to connect those furthest from the exchange (and therefore those who have had to suffer the slowest speeds) to the fibre network first. Install took 20 mins. Speeds as advertised. Very impressed so far.

agree, obv have a much higher take-up, those super close to there exchange, will get 12-18mb anyway


Still tho, BTOR dates slip again and again and again.

In reply to a post by mjf09:

To me it makes sense to connect those furthest from the exchange (and therefore those who have had to suffer the slowest speeds) to the fibre network first. Install took 20 mins. Speeds as advertised. Very impressed so far.

I'd agree with that if line lengths were sensible! I'm <1 mile from exchange, but with 5 miles of cable, I get 3Mbits on a good day.

Nigel

In reply to a post by gryffe:

Well I did get an automated response saying they were really busy but would reply!
Regarding what you posted about you having WBC FTTC by June 2013 - at least you have that info. Mine doesnt even predict that I have a date, so I'm guessing this means my cabinet will be activated even later than June next year?

Note that you need to use the postcode checker, and not the phone no checker to get this info... (at least for me).

3Meg over 8km of cable is pretty amazing as in they thought 2 Meg at 3.5km was the limit at one time

In reply to a post by veletron:

In reply to a post by gryffe:

Well I did get an automated response saying they were really busy but would reply!
Regarding what you posted about you having WBC FTTC by June 2013 - at least you have that info. Mine doesnt even predict that I have a date, so I'm guessing this means my cabinet will be activated even later than June next year?

Note that you need to use the postcode checker, and not the phone no checker to get this info... (at least for me).

Got a reply today

"Thank you for contacting us about fibre broadband. You are connected to Bannockburn exchange cabinet ES/BAN 8.
The delay to cabinet 8 is due to that we are waiting for the power utility company to connect power, install a meter and certify the cabinet.
Unfortunately, until the power company supply ourselves of when they expect to do the work, I subsequently cannot give yourself a date of when we expect the cabinet to go live to accept orders for fibre broadband.
We are chasing the power company and we await their reply to our requests."

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

3Meg over 8km of cable is pretty amazing as in they thought 2 Meg at 3.5km was the limit at one time

5KM of cable, not 5miles (my mistake). Still reasonable for the distance though, and I got a boost when they re-shelled the cabinet of about 0.5meg on the sync speed.

Nigel

In reply to a post by gryffe:

In reply to a post by veletron:

In reply to a post by gryffe:

Well I did get an automated response saying they were really busy but would reply!
Regarding what you posted about you having WBC FTTC by June 2013 - at least you have that info. Mine doesnt even predict that I have a date, so I'm guessing this means my cabinet will be activated even later than June next year?

Note that you need to use the postcode checker, and not the phone no checker to get this info... (at least for me).

Got a reply today

"Thank you for contacting us about fibre broadband. You are connected to Bannockburn exchange cabinet ES/BAN 8.
The delay to cabinet 8 is due to that we are waiting for the power utility company to connect power, install a meter and certify the cabinet.
Unfortunately, until the power company supply ourselves of when they expect to do the work, I subsequently cannot give yourself a date of when we expect the cabinet to go live to accept orders for fibre broadband.
We are chasing the power company and we await their reply to our requests."

This is interesting.

When I sent my email query I had not received a reply after about 4 or 5 days so sent another email saying "could somebody please reply to my query"
I then received the reply I posted above.
Today I received another email from a different person, responding to my second email, with a totally different response

"Thank you for your enquiry. You are connected to the Bannockburn Exchange, cabinet 8.

After checking our systems cabinet 8 is showing as to go-live towards the end of February 2013, barring any complications."

I wonder which of the two is most accurate?

In reply to a post by gryffe:

I wonder which of the two is most accurate?

Following Occam's razor (the simplest explanation is probably correct) and avoiding all conspiracy theories, the answer is probably: Both of them.

Or rather: both of them are an equally accurate statement of the plan, as they knew it, at the time the answer was written.

BT Openreach is currently working on Cabinet P4 (Cowie) linking it to the new FTTC cabinet next to it. I believe power is installed already. It looks like the fibre has been pulled into it, the Openreach Engineers are now linking the 2 cabinets together. I stopped and asked them if they knew when it will be activated and they both said around the end of December. According to them, everything is in place. I took some pics and will try to upload them. Hope this info is useful.

[IMG]http://imageshack.us/a/img407/6266/img0950fc.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://imageshack.us/a/img39/245/img0951sd.jpg[/IMG]

In reply to a post by wrightie:

BT Openreach is currently working on Cabinet P4 (Cowie) linking it to the new FTTC cabinet next to it. I believe power is installed already. It looks like the fibre has been pulled into it, the Openreach Engineers are now linking the 2 cabinets together. I stopped and asked them if they knew when it will be activated and they both said around the end of December. According to them, everything is in place. I took some pics and will try to upload them. Hope this info is useful.

[IMG]http://imageshack.us/a/img407/6266/img0950fc.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://imageshack.us/a/img39/245/img0951sd.jpg[/IMG]

Very useful thanks
P4 is the cabinet my line goes to, I contacted Openreach concerning this and they replied the same day telling me they expect p4 to be ready for orders around Feb 2013.
My reason for contacting them was the wholesale checker makes no mention of fttc if I check with phone number, but does with post code.

Edited by deleted (Thu 06-Dec-12 21:45:41)

I live in falkirk and my area has been fitted with a fttc cabinet quickly , at this stage they have linked the junction box and pcp to that cabinet. However not sure they have connected the power yet. Accordingling to the council street plan they had to dig part of the road adjacent to the fttc cabinet to locate the power cable. Guess I will keep an eye on roadworksscotland.org.

Were planned to live by March 2013 hopefully sooner however just need to wait and see.

Done a check on bt wholesale my postcode shows a planned fttc install with an estimated 50 to 60mb speed, when checking for address no mention of fttc and did the phone number check with sky didn't recognise the number.

Moving to BT by mid january to get the fibre the soonest, heard there is a slight delay if your with another supplier.

Good luck with getting your Bannockburn cabinet activated quickly.

Edited by deleted (Thu 06-Dec-12 22:40:18)

In reply to a post by WWWombat:

In reply to a post by gryffe:

I wonder which of the two is most accurate?

Following Occam's razor (the simplest explanation is probably correct) and avoiding all conspiracy theories, the answer is probably: Both of them.

Or rather: both of them are an equally accurate statement of the plan, as they knew it, at the time the answer was written.

Using Roadworksscotland I notice that BT have scheduled work in the street that has the cabinet (P8) that will provide my fibre between 10th and 19th December. Of course they could be doing anything, but its encouraging. Will take a walk along and have a word with engineers.

If the roadworks name BT, then it probably isn't for power works. In the past, it seems to be the power companies that get named for those works.

Still worth chatting though...

My cabinet had the power done as it was installed. What they could be doing now is the fibre for the cabinet

Grrr, fibre, fibre all around me and not a drop to drink! At this rate, everywhere on the Bannockburn exchange will get connected up apart from Pike Road/Wallace Park.

Nothing showing on roadworks.org for my cabinet through to December 2013. I give up! Wish I never moved from my old house!

NB: BT working along the A9 from Plean early Jan, several BT road-works listed on roadworksscotland.org

Nigel

Took a walk past cabinet 8 today - nada!!

Got another email today

"I have checked our systems again and they still indicate that cabinet 8 is showing as to go-live towards the end of February 2013, barring any complications."

Why do I have a feeling in my water that there will be complications ?

I mentioned earlier that I got a response from the FTCC checker with post code, but no mention with address or phone number I contacted Openreach and said the cab ( p4 )should be ready Feb 2013.

Entering phone number today it says the following

Your cabinet is planned to have WBC FTTC by 30th June 2013. Our test also indicates that your line currently supports a fibre technology with an estimated WBC FTTC Broadband where consumers have received downstream l
ine speed of 63.7Mbps and upstream line speed of 20Mbps.

Here's hoping the earlier date is accurate.

Edited by deleted (Sun 23-Dec-12 21:12:52)

In reply to a post by JohnP53:

I mentioned earlier that I got a response from the FTCC checker with post code, but no mention with address or phone number I contacted Openreach and said the cab ( p4 )should be ready Feb 2013.

Entering phone number today it says the following

Your cabinet is planned to have WBC FTTC by 30th June 2013. Our test also indicates that your line currently supports a fibre technology with an estimated WBC FTTC Broadband where consumers have received downstream l
ine speed of 63.7Mbps and upstream line speed of 20Mbps.

Here's hoping the earlier date is accurate.

I checked mine and also noted that it had my Fibre date as 30th June 2013, which is at odds with the email response I got from BT that I posted above - eg the end of February. Have emailed them back requesting clarification.

More work was carried out on cabinet P4 (Cowie) today, I believe this now completes the work on this particular cabinet. I also believe that cabinet P4 will be ready to accept orders in February, contrary to what the BT Wholesale checker is saying. Hopefully my source is correct!

Yes I saw two guys today working on both cabs

I cannot wait, have had so much trouble with my broadband for over 12 months, Openreach engineers have said the cables from P4 back to the exchange are not functioning correctly, and simply cannot cope with a broadband signal (15+ engineer visits in 14 months!) Openreach will not fix the cables and my only hope of a stable connection is FTTC

More delays at Bannockburn! End Feb is now end March.

"After discussions with the project manager, the majority of the build for Bannockburn 8 is complete. However, we are currently waiting for the power utility company to schedule a date when they will connect the power, install a meter and certify the cabinet. As such I cannot give you an exact date for when the cab is due to go live, however, we are hoping for the end of March."

Hi

Interested to know how you managed to contact the project manager. BT has never responded to my direct queries regarding P17. The only response I did manage to get was after my local MP wrote, but the 'taking orders' date for P17 on that letter is now well past.

With around 800 properties on P17, mostly at speeds less than 5Mbits this has to be one of the larger cabinets not yet completed for the Bannockburn roll out.

Nigel

BROADBAND AVAILABILITY CHECKER
For Postcode FK7 7XX
Available Products

WBC FTTC Up to 72.3 Up to 20 -- 30-Jun-13
WBC ADSL 2+ Up to 2.5 -- 1 to 4 Available
ADSL Max Up to 2 -- 1 to 3.5 Available
WBC Fixed Rate 1 -- -- Available
Fixed Rate 1 -- -- Available

Edited by veletron (Fri 18-Jan-13 16:16:39)

I didnt have direct correspondance with the PM. My post has a direct quote from the email sent to me by somebody at BT who had been speaking with the PM.

Just seen this from roadworks Scotland at the location of Cabinet P17

Low Impact Works (1487127)
Road Name Pike Road, Stirling, Stirling.
Location Side 2 Maurice Avenue On Pike Road
Works Dates 18/02/2013 - 28/02/2013
Work Type STANDARD
Roadworks Authority Stirling Council
Works Promoter British Telecom
Works Promoter Contact No. 0800 3282873
Works Reference BT020-S000000036610

Hopefully that means it might be installed before the June 2013 date on BT's own site. Might be worth others re-checking www.roadworksscotland.org for works near their cabs.

Nigel

Crikey, a response from BT:

Thank you for your enquiry. You are connected to the Bannockburn Exchange, cabinet 17.

We have been experiencing some engineering problems with the deployment of your cabinet, however, our systems do indicate that the cabinet will hopefully be ready for service towards the end of March 2013, barring any complications.

I suggest you continue to monitor our Web-Site which will keep you up to date with our latest deployment news for your exchange, the site also contains FAQs.

The Web-Site can be viewed using the following link:

http://www.openreach-communications.co.uk/superfast/...

I am sorry I cannot provide a definite date at this time.

When a cab is on 'Hold, Deferred or Delayed, unfortunately the dates shown on the website, (which are advisory only), display the end of the current quarter, which will roll over at the end of the current quarter. This continues until we have either a specific date for the cabinet to go live or it is cancelled out of the program. I'm sorry this causes confusion.

Email from Openreach regarding Cabinet 4 - Cowie

Thank you for your enquiry. You are connected to the Bannockburn Exchange, cabinet 4.

We have been experiencing some engineering problems with the deployment of your cabinet, however, our systems indicate that the cabinet will hopefully be ready for service towards the end of April 2013, barring any further complications.

I suggest you continue to monitor our Web-Site which will keep you up to date with our latest deployment news for your exchange, the site also contains FAQs.

The Web-Site can be viewed using the following link:

http://www.openreach-communications.co.uk/superfast/...

I am sorry I cannot provide a definite date at this time.

When a cabinet is on �Hold, Deferred or Delayed, unfortunately the dates shown on the website, (which are advisory only), display the end of the current quarter, which will roll over at the end of the current quarter. This continues until we have either a specific date for the cabinet to go live or it is cancelled out of the program. I�m sorry this causes confusion.


Regards,

Julie

Julie Cummings BWA613
Network Investment Customer Engagement


Oh well, so much for February!

Latest regarding cabinet 8 for Bannockburn, work to start this week

Road Name Station Road, Bannockburn, Stirling.
Location Opposite 17 Across Carriage Way To Outside 17 Station Road
Works Dates 14/02/2013 - 26/02/2013
Work Type STANDARD
Roadworks Authority Stirling Council
Works Promoter British Telecom
Works Promoter Contact No. 0800 3282873
Works Reference BT020-S000000037292

Hi im also connected to cabinet 4 - Cowie, when i checked the BT website yesterday it said it would be available in June.

I've just checked again and now there is no date for Infinity at all!

Any idea why this has happened?

The new batch of 99 exchanges I believe has coincided with them adjusting other dates, and some cabinets have slipped down the queues and others will have gone up the queue.

Some winners and some losers

The BT wholesale checker is now saying March 2014! Surely that's got to be a mistake?

It does indeed now say 2014. The email I posted was the most recent response from Openreach, I would be willing to bet that 2014 is a mistake and that cabinet 4 will be accepting orders by end of March 2013. Just to be sure, I have asked Openreach and will post their reply here as soon as I receive it.

In reply to a post by wrightie:

It does indeed now say 2014. The email I posted was the most recent response from Openreach, I would be willing to bet that 2014 is a mistake and that cabinet 4 will be accepting orders by end of March 2013. Just to be sure, I have asked Openreach and will post their reply here as soon as I receive it.

I bet it is not a mistake, but really hope you are correct. I too have emailed for clarification. Two links that I have looked at previously had stated the work would be carried out in the first half of this year and the first link now says 2014, the second link says I can only get broadband where previously it said I could get broadband AND fibre, albeit the fibre would not be available till June this year. Now the fibre has been removed
Worrying, if nothing else.

Openreach response to another poster

http://forums.thinkbroadband.com/fibre/t/4211693-re-...

"The change in dates on the website is as a result of the recent Advertising Standards Agency ruling �Openreach will be moving to provide a six-and-nine-month view of when exchanges will be enabled to improve the accuracy of this data when it is presented to end-users by CPs.

However, the deployment plan remains the same � the majority of people who were given a March date will still be able to receive service by that point, we are just unable to provide a three-month view any more as a result of the ASA ruling.

Whilst in most cases we were able to forecast an accurate date, deploying fibre is a complex engineering job which involves planning consent in some cases, power provision, traffic management, etc. Therefore there will always be the potential for unexpected delays to occur for an individual cabinet. Moving to a six-month view reduces the impact of such delays on our predictions."

In reply to a post by gryffe:

In reply to a post by wrightie:

It does indeed now say 2014. The email I posted was the most recent response from Openreach, I would be willing to bet that 2014 is a mistake and that cabinet 4 will be accepting orders by end of March 2013. Just to be sure, I have asked Openreach and will post their reply here as soon as I receive it.

I bet it is not a mistake, but really hope you are correct. I too have emailed for clarification. Two links that I have looked at previously had stated the work would be carried out in the first half of this year and the first link now says 2014, the second link says I can only get broadband where previously it said I could get broadband AND fibre, albeit the fibre would not be available till June this year. Now the fibre has been removed
Worrying, if nothing else.

Latest email I received from person at Openreach, concerning cabinet 8 in Bannockburn

"Our systems indicate that we are in the final stages of completion for the cabinet and this will hopefully be ready for service early-mid March 2013, barring any complications. Please be aware that the systems can take up to 2-3 weeks to reflect this information."

Received this today from Openreach:



Thank you for your enquiry. You are connected to the Bannockburn Exchange, cabinet 4 (Cowie)

Our systems indicate that the cabinet is in its final stages of completion and will hopefully be ready for service by early March 2013, barring any complications. Please be aware that the systems can take up to 2-3 weeks to reflect this information.

Fingers crossed!

Hope this info is helpful!

Cabinet 4 Cowie is now accepting orders.

I placed order today with Plusnet, here's hoping it all goes well.


cabinet 4 went from estimated March2014 yesterday, to available this morning??.

WBC FTTC Up to 63.7 Up to 20 -- Available
WBC ADSL 2+ Up to 2 -- 1 to 3.5 Available
ADSL Max Up to 2 -- 1 to 3 Available
WBC Fixed Rate 1 -- -- Available
Fixed Rate 1 -- -- Available

I doubt I will get anywhere near 63.7 ,cabinet is about 350m from house,but anything over 2 is a bonus

Hope the rest of you guys dont have much longer to wait.

I too placed an order with Plusnet just waiting on my MAC code from my current provider.

Ive been quoted 57mb but i live in Dr Campbell avenue which is quite a fair bit away so im not expecting anywhere near that. But as you say anything over 2mb is a major bonus!

Good Luck!

I live in Fincastle Place and according to the checker, I am attached to cabinet P22 which is at the end of my street. It says it is not part of a phase so does anyone have any idea if our estate is not in the plans?

Cheers

https://www.btwholesale.com/pages/static/Community/B...

What does this checker say Kev73?

I have to use the postcode checker on this (have a sky phone line) and it shows no availability or even a mention of WBC FTTC at all on this.

I have sent an email to Openreach to see if they can give an update. I'll be gutted if our street is going to miss out!

Cheers!

Not looking good to be honest, hope you here some good news back from them!

I have spoke with a BT engineer regarding the last estate built by Ogilvie in Cowie, where you live. He said that your cabinet is sited right at the start of your estate on the main road, and because there has not been enough interest registered with BT regarding fibre optic it will not be upgraded. You will need to chap doors and ask people to register an interest or you wont get the upgrade. Bad news but I hope this info helps.

Thanks for your reply johnnydcowie!

Looks like I'll have to think about canvassing the estate to get more folk signed up or I'll be stuck on 2mbps forever!!

Does anyone know if it is a percentage of people who are attached to a cabinet that have to register interest or is it on numbers of people who register as I believe there may only be 100 or so properties attached to this cabinet so potentially would never reach a required amount should it be a certain number to make it worthwhile (if you know what I'm getting at)

Cheers

At long last!! Goodbye 2mb!

Ordered, being installed Thurs 7th March, hardware on its way. Plusnet advise 48.5Mb down 8Mb up but have said it underestimates it, so will prob get higher. Anything is better than what I currently have.

For any other Cowie residents here, you may be interested to know that the reason the broadband is so slow in the village is down to the cables coming from the Exchange, which are in a very poor state and most of which struggle to cope when ADSL is applied to the circuit. When I moved into the village I was told by BT I would be lucky to get 1mb. I went with Plusnet as my ISP who thought I could get higher, the highest speed I had was a steady 4.5Mb download synching at 5Mb. This did not last long before a fault developed.

Over the past 12 months I have had 15+ Openreach engineer visits, who have swapped pairs, done a lift and shift, changed lines between cabinet and house etc. Every single time the "fault" was fixed, I would get a good speed which would then drop like a stone, then the line would go faulty again. The cables are unable to cope and Plusnet raised these concerns with Openreach via Wholesale, as you may have guessed Openreach could not care less and denied there was anything wrong with the cables as they can support PSTN service and therefore they have fulfilled their obligation as ADSL is not guaranteed. However, they are prepared to just continue to send staff to juggle with the lines until they hit a good one!

I'll be glad to see the back of the ADSL speeds and the hassle Openreach have caused with their total disregard for their network, and their "customers" I just hope that this FTTC will be trouble free. To those of you on the other side of the road served by the small cabinet 22, get in touch with your MP's who in turn will hassle Openreach as I am not sure chapping doors locally will help. I think that the only reason we got FTTC was Openreach knew the state of the main cables was poor and it was cheaper to leave them there and run fibre which will take a number of ADSL customers off those connections thus easing the pressure on the existing infrastructure, and saving them a fair bit of cash in the process! And to all the frustrated Openreach engineers who tried their best over the past 12 months to increase the speeds, a massive thank you, it is unfortunate that your hands were tied by Openreach management who appear to care more about penny pinching than providing a good network!

Yep, finally available at Bannockburn P8. This is probably ahead of schedule, they told me early to mid march so I guess March 1 is VERY early March. Just the other day one of the checker sites still said March 2014!!. That site now says available so at least they realised their mistake.
Order placed, engineer visit to install booked for 8th March. Went for Infinity 2, the full bhoona!

March 2014 is not a mistake, Openreach due to a recent ASA ruling are not allowed to shift the estimated dates back by 3 months, they now do it by 6-9 months.
In a few cases this has ment they put the date to March 2014 which is the end of the commercial rollout, though most cabinets with a March 2013 date previously will be enabled by then.

March 2014 is rubbish. Im on cabinet P2, and it started off December 2012, then June 2013, now 2014. Oh well, at least i'll get my full 12 months discounted ADSL with Plusnet

Read the last entry on the Openreach FAQ, have to wait for the cabinet to go live.

http://www.superfast-openreach.co.uk/faq/

Edited by deleted (Sun 03-Mar-13 19:18:04)

Cabinet P17 (Pike Road, Stirling) Is now on its spot after BT works end-feb. BT are supposed to be re-visiting from today for a few days. I am hoping this is to connect power and commission the cabinet. Ever hopeful - will be great to watch iPlayer/Netflix without ruddy buffering all the time, and my home-hosted linux box will love the extra upstream.

Those lucky beggars at the north end of Pike road should get close to the 80/20Mbits. I am 1KM away at the south end of Pike road so will likely have half that, but still much much better than the current speeds!

Checking daily for an 'available' status at http://www.dslchecker.bt.com/adsl/ADSLChecker.Teleph...

Nigel

FTTC was installed this morning, took about an hour and a half, went smoothly. Engineer ran and pinned length of cable to where I wanted the data socket. Very tidy job, Openreach FTTC router is very small and is now screwed to wall next to socket.

(The data extension kit is free of charge but must be requested when ordering FTTC otherwise the Engineer may not have enough available on the van so if you want both routers located away from the main socket remember to request the kit!)

I'm in the Dr Campbell Avenue/Richard Quinn Street/Tibbies Loan area -

BT Wholesale checker indicates: Up to 45.6 downstream Up to 8 upstream

Actual Speed 74.8 downstream 16.6 upstream

Currently profiled as line speed 78/20 with Plusnet - Openreach engineer advised line can and should achieve maximum possible speeds, the copper between Cabinet 4 and this estate is very good according to the Engineer.

I'm very impressed so far!

Currently watching BBC HD on demand via Sky HD box, listening to Internet radio, downloading HD video on laptop with no slowdown at all!

Cheers for reporting back. I am very jealous!

How long after cabinet went in was it until you were actually able to order? My cab went in 24th Feb, and roadworksscotland has BT making a return visit this week (only they have not turned up!). I am hoping that this is not indicative of yet more delays getting fibre/power/etc to the cabinet!

Checking the checker daily so I can pounce if/when it finally becomes available!

Liking your speeds! Checker says 34.6down/6up for me, hopefully it will sync a bit higher like you.

Nigel

Had the confirmation email from Openreach about cabinet P22. Won't be upgraded as it is not economically viable due to the low number of users attached to it. Even if everyone registered an interest, looks like it wouldn't be upgraded as there are only approx 100 households attached. I'm well scunnered by this!!! For all those in Cowie not attached to P22, enjoy your new speeds.....I'm well jealous!!!

Hi Nigel,

I think the cabinet was there for quite a few months before it was enabled, it was delayed due to duct blockages. I imagine it won't be that long before your local cabinet it sorted. Once the cabinet is there Openreach are more willing you give you an indication of the approximate go live date they are aiming for. I always got a good response to the NG Enquiries email address. Keep us updated!

Disappointing to hear that. Stirling Council has funds available for "rural broadband" may be an avenue if enough interest they can pay BT to bring FTTC to your cabinet. I know that they were looking at the areas locally which would miss out and although I'm not sure of the speeds you folks get, I thought the minimum speed was to be 2Mb (which I struggled to maintain even off Cabinet 4 which your cabinet runs off)

Here is the contact details of the guy at the Council:

Sandy Frickleton
Business Liaison Executive
Economy, Employment & Youth
Stirling Council
Viewforth
Stirling FK8 2ET
Tel 01786 443403
Fax 01786 443199
E-mail [email protected]

In reply to a post by Kev73:

Had the confirmation email from Openreach about cabinet P22. Won't be upgraded as it is not economically viable due to the low number of users attached to it. Even if everyone registered an interest, looks like it wouldn't be upgraded as there are only approx 100 households attached. I'm well scunnered by this!!! For all those in Cowie not attached to P22, enjoy your new speeds.....I'm well jealous!!!

Got my fibre on Friday. I got the advertised speeds of up to 76mb when connected via ethernet from Home Hub to laptop. Only problem is I use my laptop wirelessly 99.9% of the time in another room and cant use ethernet cable in that room and the download speeds are very disappointing. When running speedchecker the download speeds I get wirelessly are all over the place, the average best I get is about 10mb, I have had as low as 4mb, and once or twice as high as 29mb. I am hoping that this is just because my line is in the "10 day" stablisation period, however even then I have a gut feeling my best speed at the end of the 10 days will be 30mb. I have been poring over the BT forums since Friday, there are a LOT of horror stories there about people experiencing far worse results than me. Now I realise that people tend to only post on these forums when they have a problem, and therefore it means the vast majority are probably happy. However, you might want to bear in mind that if you cannot connect via ethernet cable your download results might be a lot lower than you think. To be fair BT more or less say that in the small print.

New router required!! I used to have the netgear WNDR4500 which gave 150Mbits/sec on 2.4GHz and 210Mbits/sec on 5GHz (room above the router). I have since moved to an Asus RT-N66U which gives similar speeds, but has VPN server functionality (my reason for change). Unfortunately, the wireless at 5GHz on the Asus is flakey (2.4GHz is fine). On the netgear WNDR4500, both wireless frequencies were rock-solid. Range on Asus is better than on Netgear.

Tests done using tripple-stream client with 40MHz channels on 5GHz. (40MHz channels on 2.4GHz is a bit anti-social!!)

Right enough, I don't know if its poss to just swap out a home hub not sure if BT gives you access to the PPPoE login details.

Nigel

For those over the road in Cowie (the have-not's), speak to your neighbors over the road who do have FTTC, and agree to go halves on the cost if they will share.

Something like:

2xPanel Antenna: http://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-TL-ANT2409A-Outdoor-...

2xAlfa AWUS036NHR http://www.amazon.co.uk/Alfa-AWUS036NHR-High-Gain-Wi...

2xAlfa R66 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Portable-Wireless-802-11N-AW...

The R66 (with FW update from Alfa) will talk to the high power USB adapter.

The kit can be used to setup a wireless-bridge across the road.

I have the Alfa R66 and AWUS036NHR attached to an antenna on the back of my motorhome. This generally gets me some internet access when in the wilds where there's no 3G. I use BTFON for the most part. Also works well abroad - park near a Macdonalds, and use their wifi from 100+ M away.

I also take the same kit on skiing holidays - generally somewhere to cable-tie the antenna on a balcony, and obtain some wifi from elsewhere, re-broadcasting the signal inside the apartment.

Using those two panel antenna's correctly aligned you should get a reliable 50Mbit link over a couple of hundred M. There is also a larger version of the panel antenna.

Nigel

Edited by veletron (Mon 11-Mar-13 13:22:06)

If you are getting the 76 Meg when using Ethernet then the issue is just that wireless does not go through walls very well

Yes, Mr Saffron that is indeed the problem. I live in an "old" property and the walls are pretty thick. On my last laptop I actually needed a USB wireless adapter otherwise I had no signal strength whatsoever, luckily my new laptop doesn't require this boost to achieve a signal.
In my naivety I still hoped I would achieve 40/50mb wirelessly. I have just run the test again and got 14.3mb. Does anybody know if my wireless speed will increase during my 10 day settling in period?
Anybody got any ideas as to the best way to boost wireless signals, or recommend any super performing adapters/boosters.
I don't want to change my home hub, in fact as I have BTVision maybe I can't anyway. Surely a homehub is a fairly high performance router anyway?

No, it won't. Best option is to place more APs around your home where you are getting bad coverage (with the connection to the homehub done via ethernet or homeplugs).

A router on 5GHz may improve things if you live in a built up area with a lot of wireless networks? Is that the case?

But perversely if the problem is the walls blocking the wireless signal 5GHz may be worse.

But to add another voice, the 10 day settling period (which does not exist on FTTC anyway) will not change the wireless speeds.

I have the same wifi speed issue also getting similar speedtest results, full speed via ethernet cable, 35/16 via wifi. My wireless card in my Sony VAIO is a Qualcomm Atheros which Sony assure me is N capable. I went to Argos and spent £9.99 on a TP Link Nano USB N150 Wireless Adapter. (Argos number 912/6325) problem solved, just remember to disable the internal wireless card to avoid conflict. I'm using a Plusnet supplied Technicolor FTTC router.

Hi

Not all 'wireless N' laptops are made equal. Some of them are 150Mbit/sec, some are '300' and some '450' Note that these are max theoretical speeds. Real-world speeds are about 1/3rd of the headline speed (even in the same room, 1M from the router!)

Like others have said, if walls are thick then forget 5GHz. If I take my phone (which is dual-band) into the garage behind a brick wall then 5GHz signal is useless, 2.4GHz is still OK.

Look at either powerline 'homeplug' adapters (200Mbit/sec homeplug will get you 50-60Mbits real world), The 500Mbit/1Gbit home-plugs don't do much better than this...

Avoid a wireless repeater since these halve the effective bandwidth by using the same wireless channel both for the connection to the router and to the client (same data appears twice on the channel).

I reckon home-plug is your best bet. http://www.broadbandbuyer.co.uk/Shop/ShopDetail.asp?...

Wireless homeplug's are available also (homeplug with built in access point), but they are expensive vs buying a cheap AP to connect to one of the above homeplugs. Also, integrated wireless homeplugs limit where you get to put the antenna. Try: http://www.broadbandbuyer.co.uk/Shop/ShopDetail.asp?... for a 300Mbit AP. Be sure to use an AP rather than a wireless router or you'll end up with internal NATing (some routers can be made to behave like an AP anyway).

Nigel

Hi

BT responded to my MP's email re delays at cabinet P17 (pike road, Stirling). They say that the delays are caused by blocked/collapsed ducting. The issue is ongoing.

BT never showed for the second session of roadworks near P17 scheduled 8th-15th March. I suspect there is nothing more for them to do until they manage to blow the fibre through to the street cabinet.

The wait continues!

Nigel

Hope it arrives soon, it is well worth the wait!

BT have been there most days last week and they were there working on cabinet 17 again today. Hopefully that means should get fibre soon.

That's good news. I cycle past am and pm - expected to see the 'spoil' of roadworks going on. Did note a stray lone bollard last night!

Should you get chance, maybe you could ask the workies if the fibre is now through to the cabinet? According to BT that's the issue that's caused the delays.

Nigel

Pah... still nothing. And no more roadworks planned. I wonder what the hold-up is now!?

Cabinet 17 now taking orders!!! Ordered for earliest date for install, next Friday.estimate of 30mbits down and 6 up a ten-fold improvement. Hopefully it will be a wee bit higher than that.

PCP17 covers pike road and the houses in the estates to the south both sides of the road. For reference, my house is on the southern extremities of the area covered by pcp17 1km from cabinet.

Nigel

i've been following this post for some time and finally decided/got round to registering.
congrats dude, glad your finally getting fibre
my cousin up the road (in the king robert hotel area) has fibre and the speeds are eye watering

im on cabinet p7, which according to various checks is fttc enabled

im also with talktalk (but not for much longer)
before joining them last month i was told "fibre is avaliable on your line"
i'd be able to book it as soon as the broadband went live,
suprise suprise, it went live and then the availabilty checker reported "fibre is coming soon"
i've phoned countless times explaining that my exchange and cabinet is enabled and that the error is with their system but to no avail

ive emailed open reach asking for confirmation so we'll see how that goes

if it is confirmed then im cancelling talktalk and going with another isp

Talk Talk seem to slow at getting the Cablelink installed so that they can offer fibre. Round my was it was about 7 months after BT and Sky were offering fibre before you could place an order with them.

i was happy sharing my neighbours wifi at 15meg
but when they offered fibre that was the incentive to get my line active again

it just angers me that i was basically lied too just to get me signed on to a contract
so im thinking of cancelling today then migrating to sky
via a complaint to ofcom about shoddy unlawful buisness practices

i'm a bit of newb when it comes to exchanges, cabinets ect
am i right in thinking that each isp has to put in theire own cablelink after the cabinets have been fttc'd?
if thats the case, then they should maybe spend less time trapping folks into contracts and more time upgrading cabs that are fttc enabled.

i know im going on about them a bit, but i've been on the phone to them all morning get passed around by people who are neither able to comprehend the problem or the english language and my blood pressure is through the roof.

In reply to a post by cyanide1980:

i'm a bit of newb when it comes to exchanges, cabinets ect
am i right in thinking that each isp has to put in theire own cablelink after the cabinets have been fttc'd?
if thats the case, then they should maybe spend less time trapping folks into contracts and more time upgrading cabs that are fttc enabled.

It's only the LLU providers that require the cablelink to connect to their own networks.

Any ISP's that resell BT's products should be able to offer fibre products straight away.

In reply to a post by cyanide1980:

im also with talktalk (but not for much longer)
before joining them last month i was told "fibre is avaliable on your line"
i'd be able to book it as soon as the broadband went live,
suprise suprise, it went live and then the availabilty checker reported "fibre is coming soon"
i've phoned countless times explaining that my exchange and cabinet is enabled and that the error is with their system but to no avail

Hi there just noticed your post. I am also with TalkTalk, and so far have had no major issues. If you have not already done so register on the TalkTalk Members Forum, they are actually very good and the staff (called OCE's) will look into any complaints.. They do take time as they only work Mon-Fri (usually) but it's better then calling Customer Services.

Just thought I'd let you know.

thanks man, will give it a go

heres a link to my talktalk post if anyone wants to follow
http://www.talktalkmembers.com/forums/showthread.php...

Nigel,

You'll be champing at the bit now! If you want the openreach kit somewhere else in the house ask the engineer for the data extension kit they'll fit a data extension socket anywhere you like (within reason)

The checker for cabinet p4 gave estimates of 48/8 but in reality it is nearer the full whack so I'll not be surprised when you report back that you are getting much higher speeds than the estimate. Who is your ISP? If it is Plusnet the FTTC router they supply is pants. I'm using a BT Homehub 3 at the mo which is much more reliable.

Hope your install goes smoothly, look forward to you posting your first impressions!

Iain

Edited by deleted (Sun 24-Mar-13 12:20:13)

Hi

I've got an Asus RT-N66U thats giving me 250Mbit/sec wireless speeds on 5GHz so hopefully that will do the trick. I did order the plusnet router cause it was £5.99 P&P, and free router. I will shove it on fleabay and hopefully get more than £5.99 P&P charge!

The Asus has a built in VPN server which I look forward to using at reasonable speeds post FTTC!

WIll deffo post results!

Nigel

Well, the 'plusnet fibre router' is a very basic 'technicolor' thing. They are worth £5 on fleabay so I guess I shall not bother flogging it. I'll shove it in the loft for backup purposes...!

I don't believe it will even take DD_WRT, OpenWrt or Tomato firmware to make it more useful...

On another note, Maplin is now open in Stirling, and I was forced to purchase a weather station!!! Neat bit of kit - ideal for the geeks. Spitting out data onto the internet as we speak:

http://scratch.veletron.com/weather/

Nigel

Edited by veletron (Wed 27-Mar-13 13:35:49)

Installed nice and quick, gone from 3-4Mbit to 36Mbit down and from around 600kbit to 8.5Mbit up, so not the full rate (I am 1KM from cabinet), but a huge improvement.

http://www.speedtest.net/result/2608239811.png

Nigel

In reply to a post by veletron:

Well, the 'plusnet fibre router' is a very basic 'technicolor' thing. They are worth £5 on fleabay so I guess I shall not bother flogging it. I'll shove it in the loft for backup purposes...!

I don't believe it will even take DD_WRT, OpenWrt or Tomato firmware to make it more useful...

Exactly what I did with mine, kept it for backup purposes.

On another note, Maplin is now open in Stirling, and I was forced to purchase a weather station!!! Neat bit of kit - ideal for the geeks. Spitting out data onto the internet as we speak:

http://scratch.veletron.com/weather/

Nigel

Interesting, which weather station did you get from Maplins, although I would be concerned about advertising my exact location.

Its the USB touch station. It goes not have GPS or owt - so you can specify your own lat/long. Mine points to a location a few streets away. I use the 3rd party 'cumulus' to copy the files to my net-accessible box.

Nigel

Hi

Anyone else suffering speed issues with plusnet on FTTC. My 36mbit fttc is failing to stream iplayer. did a speed test and it came out at 5.5mbit download, 8mbit upload. 5.5Mbit??!! I am thinking this is a lack of bandwidth at either plusnet or exchange contention?

Nigel

I had the same problems in the first couple of weeks, turned out to be my router. Plusnet did send Openreach out and all tested ok. Speeds are now stable, averaging 63 down and 16.5 up. I had a couple of slowdowns at night recently, go to the BT Speedtest and follow the instructions, even using the BT login it indicated very slow speeds which now seem to have rectified themselves. Plusnet were ok but the Openreach guy said Stirling and Bannockburn exchanges have plenty capacity on them so it might indicate a local issue. If the BT speedtest shows the same low speeds then Plusnet/Openreach will class that as a fault. I think anything less than 12Mb is classed as a fault, could be wrong though.

Hi

Aye, it fixed its self once I rebooted BT Modem. Back to normal now. Looks like the neighbours have discovered FTTC (Openreach van opposite this morning). Will be interesting to see how crosstalk effects the throughput. I gather its the norm to loose a wee bit. Working from home is (almost) pleasurable now!!

Nigel