FTTC Washington (NEWAS)

Hey,

Long time lurker here. As I know there are quite a few here connected to this exchange and I am kind of jealous of people sharing information about their local exchanges I thought I would sign up and make a thread for us to discuss the roll out in Washington.

What we know already:

The exchange went live on 31st July.

As far as I know the only cab currently taking orders is P3 in Donwell. I have not checked all the cabs however but I have been sampling and it is the only one I have found so far. It was live actually a week or so before hand and had the 'Fibre is here' sign. Before that it was saying 30th September.

I have seen the cables being done in Rickleton two weeks ago but there has been no movement as far as power is concerned since then.

The road is dug up in about 4 places by Telnet along Bonemill lane right beside the turn off for Washington Highway which would suggest to me they are installing the power there but having some difficultly. I am guessing by the position they are going to P15 which is just besides St. Georges Church.

I really wish they would concentrate on the 'not spots' that are not already covered by Virgin where I imagine the take up will be huge. The documents say my cab will see a 43.7 uplift yet they work on the ones with 2 uplift first where take up will be tiny.

Despite driving about a fair bit the past couple of weeks I have not seen an Openreach van anywhere for quite a while except parked outside McDonalds in Team valley. With Sunderland North going live this week I imagine they are also served by the same core of engineers so everything might be taking longer.

At least we have the promise from the council that 90% of the homes they represent will have FTTC by the end of Summer. If that comes and goes at least we have someone else to complain to.

So anyone seen any works going on etc?

At least we have the promise from the council that 90% of the homes they represent will have FTTC by the end of Summer. If that comes and goes at least we have someone else to complain to.

Where does this promise come from? The Council have no control over how quickly the rollout goes other than providing some funding into a BDUK project which is aimed at the areas not covered by BT's initial rollout.

In reply to a post by Kr1s69:

At least we have the promise from the council that 90% of the homes they represent will have FTTC by the end of Summer. If that comes and goes at least we have someone else to complain to.

Where does this promise come from? The Council have no control over how quickly the rollout goes other than providing some funding into a BDUK project which is aimed at the areas not covered by BT's initial rollout.

I misspoke it was less of a promise and more of a 'this is our plan, we hope it happens': http://www.sunderland.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=6075 There is another article here: http://www.itpro.co.uk/637297/sunderland-to-get-wall...

You are right the council side of things was the BDUK funding, however they made such a big deal about it and got quite a bit of press that if/when they do fail to deliver it will be interesting. Ultimately we all know how easily dates slip for BT so it is unlikely to happen, however what I should have said in my OP was that local businesses will not be happy when they have to back peddle because of the failed delivery when they made such a fuss about it. Sorry about the confusion.

Supposedly the Sunderland North exchange went live yesterday, though after thoroughly searching different postcodes and tel numbers on the BT wholesale site, not a single cabinet appears to be live yet.

Openreach working on Biddick Lane a couple of weeks ago, but when using the BT checker no mention of FTTC availability . For our postcode doesn't even seem to be a date for BT Infinity.
There is a new cabinet near the arts centre, no. P52. Irritating as several years ago the pavements were dug up "to lay cables" but we can't get Virgin so are stuck with landline, via telegraph poles.

I'm a long time lurker on these forums too.

I live in Rickleton and my cab (P25 I think) has had power installed, I'm fairly certain. OR (or a sub contractor) dug a trench outside a neighbours fence, he asked the guy and he said it was for power cabling.
Like many, I'm waiting hopefully for the big day when I can order. Searching the BT checker for my postcode gives an estimated d/l speed of 69 meg. I'll be delighted with that!

In reply to a post by magpie:

I live in Rickleton and my cab (P25 I think) has had power installed, I'm fairly certain. OR (or a sub contractor) dug a trench outside a neighbours fence, he asked the guy and he said it was for power cabling.
Like many, I'm waiting hopefully for the big day when I can order. Searching the BT checker for my postcode gives an estimated d/l speed of 69 meg. I'll be delighted with that!

I am in Rickleton as well, P24 though which is just on the end of Petrill. P25 is the one opposite the primary school I think. That is actually quite interesting as walking past the P25 today it does not look like any work has been done for quite a while how long ago was that? I had a little listen on P25 today and it did not sound like there was any activity there but I don't really know what I am supposed to be listening for to be honest.

I imagine as there is so little distance between the two cabs power would be put in around the same time. The thing that annoys me the most is seeing the BT advertisement for fibre on the phone box every time I walk past the Woodlands.

OR dug a trench in the grass leading to the entrance to Wellhope a couple of months ago and laid some black cabling, then again about 2 weeks ago as far as I recall. The latter time was when a friend in Wellhope asked them what they were doing and they said installing power.

That was about the time they were working on P25 as well so hopefully they are just doing it all in one big push. As far as I am aware providing power is one of the last stages before it goes live. Supposedly if you listen at the vents you can hear the fans turning but I have not had any luck with it as of yet. I only wish I knew someone in Petrill so I could ask them if they have had any trenches dug

Their are many stages to enabling a area for FTTC, the speed of the work depends how many cabinets are planned and if other exchange areas are being worked on nearby.
Power is installed by seperate sub contactors for the power companies and can take multiple vistis before a cabinet has power, this is usually one of the slowest parts of the rollout.

As for the slow spots in your area, Openreach will enable the most economically viable cabinets that will give the highest amount of take up for their investment.
VM cable areas are high population centres which the openreach rollout does target due to the large potential take up, also taking customers away from a rival is another benefit.

Edited by deleted (Tue 14-Aug-12 18:59:11)