Hey Pete,

If you want to drop me your email or other contact details in a PM we can stay in touch.

Regards


Richard

Hi Richard,

Just wondering if you have had any further Contact with BT?

Pete

I moved to Woodlands Park 18 months ago and I've been chasing BT (and my ISP, Virgin) for months about the slow (< 2Mb) and unreliable connection.

Developer says it was not their decision to not lay cables, it was BT, BT says it's not them, it's BT OpenReach.

I finally had a reply from BT OpenReach this week which says:-

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Unfortunately this address is not scheduled to be upgraded at present.

Openreach do have a website whereby you can check any upgrades in your area and also 'register an interest' - http://www.superfast-openreach.co.uk/where-and-when/

Any service issues you do need to take up with your service provider who in turn should raise them with Openreach on your behalf.
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In a modern development such as Woodlands Park, failing to provision a fast broadband connection for the hundreds of residents is a crazy decision,

In reply to a post by Anonymous:

I moved to Woodlands Park 18 months ago and I've been chasing BT (and my ISP, Virgin) for months about the slow (< 2Mb) and unreliable connection.
...
In a modern development such as Woodlands Park, failing to provision a fast broadband connection for the hundreds of residents is a crazy decision,

I agree with you - but the driver of this provision would be the developer. The developer is driven by price... and if he sees his properties in less demand, or attracting lower prices, then he will start demanding that provision (and paying for it).

The ultimate answer is in *you* the consumer. If the consumers don't buy the places in the first place, the message *is* received.

You would think that the Government would make a new law, requiring any new development of a decent size, to have access to Virgin Media coax or FTTC/P minimum.

Chances of our government ever doing something as sensible as this? 0

I'm not convinced, in the way you mean it: The law should allow the market to work, and that's it. Government will need to step in for places where the market doesn't work - so ironically would be for small rural developments, not large ones!

Openreach have a Developer's guide document that describes what developers need to do. I see that it was updated in April 2012, and now includes the requirement to install ducting for blown fibre.

It also distinguishes between "Tactical FTTP" and "Strategic FTTP" - but certainly the new parts of this document are all the fibre-based requirements.

BSI also have a document on the internal provisioning - cabling, ducting, and equipment space.

So the information is there. It just needs developers to use it, and consumers to demand it! It'd help if consumers knew that they needed to demand it, though

Does anyone know if the development in woodlands park has had any ducting placed to allow the installation of fibre optic cable?

In reply to a post by WWWombat:

I'm not convinced, in the way you mean it: The law should allow the market to work, and that's it. Government will need to step in for places where the market doesn't work - so ironically would be for small rural developments, not large ones!

Openreach have a Developer's guide document that describes what developers need to do. I see that it was updated in April 2012, and now includes the requirement to install ducting for blown fibre.

It also distinguishes between "Tactical FTTP" and "Strategic FTTP" - but certainly the new parts of this document are all the fibre-based requirements.

BSI also have a document on the internal provisioning - cabling, ducting, and equipment space.

So the information is there. It just needs developers to use it, and consumers to demand it! It'd help if consumers knew that they needed to demand it, though

The problem is the market doesn't work in this way, it's broken and needs fixing. If developers see low house sales, far bigger factors are involved such as house price movements, mortgage availability etc. Developers will go for the lowest cost solution to offer the bare minimum i.e. a telephone line for each house. Consumers assume that "internet' will be available and are far more concerned when purchasing a house about location, price, etc.

It needs government to set minimum standards for developers, just in the same way as there are minimum standards for energy performance, electrical wiring, utility provision etc. etc.