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Whitchurch in Hampshire (THWI) was one of the winners of the race to infinity and as such 3 of the 4 cabinets in the town have been upgraded to FTTC and are taking orders, with 3 outlying cabinets in the pipeline.
However, the cabinet that I am connected to has not been upgraded. Somewhere I saw that the exchange was destined for FTTC/P so there is speculation that those connected to the cabinet that has not been upgraded would be getting FTTP at some point in the future.
Today I received a flyer through the door stating that M.K.J. Communications would be carrying out urgent street works on behalf of Carillion Telent and British Telecom this Friday. Does any one know whether this is an indication that the FTTP work is on-going, and if so, how long we might have to wait for availability?
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If it was FTTP then the word urgent would not normally be used
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The author of the above post is a thinkbroadband staff member. It may not constitute an official statement on behalf of thinkbroadband.
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I kind of thought that as well, but wondered whether any one else had received similar flyers in the past. I will speak to the guys doing the work on Friday and see what they can tell me about what they are doing.
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Whitchurch IS getting some FTTP, but I think it's going to be a new build estate. Two bods I know have just got dates through for the FTTP Brownfield site course, as they will be doing the installs in Whitchurch.
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There is no new building going on in Whitchurch that I am aware of. We have has a number of new small estates over the past couple of years, but nothing now. There is not much space left without extending the town into the countryside. And the cabinet that they have not upgraded is the one closest to the small industrial estate. Why not upgrade that one to FTTC of they are not going to do something else.
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the cabinet that they have not upgraded is the one closest to the small industrial estate
To eek out the revenue from 'high end' service to business, private wires, and the like.
Definitely FTTP coming to somewhere near you.
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the cabinet that they have not upgraded is the one closest to the small industrial estate
To eek out the revenue from 'high end' service to business, private wires, and the like.
Definitely FTTP coming to somewhere near you.
Sounds like BT's typical business model - dated in the 80s!
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I spoke to the guys who are doing the work in my road today and, despite the skepticism (yours and mine), they are installing tubing on behalf on BT between access holes in the pavement, which they claimed was in preparation for installation of fibre for FTTP. Here's hoping and waiting.
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I have been way for a week and have therefore only just noticed your news article entitled "Openreach announces next phase of superfast broadband roll-out". There it states that WHITCHURCH HAMPSHIRE is one of the "Areas offering FTTP now". However, none of the checkers show availability for my line despite being almost certain that I will eventually have this available. So it appears that again the information is somewhat optimistic, at least in my case.
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It might still be limited to a few parts of the exchange area.
Although FTTP doesn't require cabinets, there's still a significant amount of kit that needs to be deployed in the underground chambers & through the ducting - and I guess that this is only partially done. I imagine that, internally at least, BT know which "jointbox areas" are now active.
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Our village is also getting FTTP as a result of winning a "Race to Infinity" slot. According to the latest news from BT the village is serviced by 6 "PONs", which I think are the jointbox areas referred to above. One went live last week, and someone has even managed to place an order. 3 more are expected to be released over the next few weeks
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Which village is this, out of interest?
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Caldecote, Cambs. Exchange is Madingley (EAMAD), but FTTP is being delivered from the Cherry Hinton exchange in Cambridge (EACRH). Two other villages on EAMAD have already gone live with FTTC
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Our village is also getting FTTP as a result of winning a "Race to Infinity" slot. According to the latest news from BT the village is serviced by 6 "PONs", which I think are the jointbox areas referred to above. One went live last week, and someone has even managed to place an order. 3 more are expected to be released over the next few weeks
That's probably right.
A PON is a Passive Optical Network. It means that the fibre is a shared resource, split across a few properties, and having a shared fibre back towards the head-end in the exchange. The "passive" part means the splitter is not powered.
It would make sense if BT tracked FTTP connections through each independent PON in the same way it uses cabinets today.
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David - Did you get anywhere?
I also live in Whitchurch Hants and I'm in the same boat - in the middle of the town, presumably on cabinet 2, no Infinity available.
BJP
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I have no new information other than we are getting FTTP; the question is when. OpenReach have been doing work on the pavements so they are progressing, but very slowly. I do not really understand why they do not flood an area and complete it so that they can start to take orders. At the moment they are spending money and getting no return in so many areas.
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It's the same here - 3 months ago they got the fibre to the bottom of the pole outside my house; yesterday they ran it to the top of the pole! Nothing appears to happen locally for weeks on end, then a van or two turn up, do a bit of work and disappear. Occasionally we used to get more vans around for a few days. Been going on like that for nearly 9 months now. I think 3 or maybe 4 of the 6 PONs are now active
To be fair they are also cabling up the neighbouring exchange which also won a "Race to Infinity" slot, so maybe resources are spread a bit thin
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Have had several contacts with NGA and the project manager has stated the following:
I have been in contact with the Project Manager and he advises me that they are looking to permanently resource this in January 2013. Unfortunately, I cannot provide a definite date but we are hopeful this will be ready for service by the end of March barring any complications.
This of course is reffering to Cab2 FTTP.
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Nearly a year on from my initial post and we are closer to getting FTTP in the part of Whitchurch that is not yet enabled for FTTC. Today there is an Openreach engineer working on the cabling in a cavity in Upper Evingar Road opposite the end of Bicester Close. Although he did not want to commit himself he suggested that there was a couple of month's work to do before FTTP could be ordered.
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They have been spinning us the same line for over a year now. The areas of the exchange served via FTTC are live, but many households were promised FTTP. (in January 2011, to be delivered early 2012!). BT have sent representatives to our Parish Council meetings a couple of times in recent months. Each time we are told "just a few weeks now" or "should be about 3 weeks". End of June was the last "firm" date we had from BT; enough said. No properties served from poles have been connected (although many poles have fibre to the top), even the rollout to ducted properties has stalled.
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Well, it's 8 months on, still no Infinity for me in the town on Cabinet 2, not even any news.
I wrote to the MP, who was fobbed off with a generic "sometimes it's uneconomic" rather than any specific answer.
It's the lack of news and explanation that grates most.
BJP
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Well, as I say, there was actually an Openreach engineer working on a Fibre aggregation node ( as pictured here) in a cavity on the pavement. So although progress has been slow there is still progress and I do not see the point in OR still doing this work if they are not going to make FTTP available to order at some point in the (not too distant) future.
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I am disappointed. I was visiting my .brother who lives in London road and we returned home after a night out in the early hours to see some bt workers installing some fibre optic cable in pits in the ground with a cable winch and while I was talking to them asking what they were doing a woman came out to them being very verbally abusive saying I gotta get up at five in the morning blah blah blah a very obnoxious woman very rude at the end of the day they are only doing there job the reason its done at night is so they can access the manholes in the road without having to close the road off.. about 20 mins later I took my brothers dog out for a quick walk and I couldn't believe my eyes another idiot shouting at those poor blokes..yet on the Whitchurchweb they are begging for faster broadband to be completed!!! talk about want your cake and eat it..I am realty disgusted at the attitude of some of our locals...forgot to mention the gossip from town center our local busybodies (two local men) sat on a bench outside HSBC taking photos of the workmen parked on a pavement at 9pm while working in a manhole IN the pavement.. busybodies were apparently saying they were going to complain and send the pictures to bt just to try and stir it up a bit...
honestly... no wonder bt are taking so long we should welcome these workmen with open arms even offer them a cup of tea like we did after all they are only trying to earn a living.
Edited by deleted (Sat 24-Aug-13 18:25:37)
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If they were using a loud petrol powered cable winch in the early hours of the morning in an non-rural situation frankly I can't blame the woman.......I'd be pretty incandescent as well if it was outside my bedroom window.
But as you say not the workmen's fault - just the numpty boss who thought it would be OK.
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If they were in the road and as this was non-emergency work the council would have cleared the work for that time, and may even have asked BT to do it at that time to avoid traffic issues during the day.
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The author of the above post is a thinkbroadband staff member. It may not constitute an official statement on behalf of thinkbroadband.
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I remember one of the chaps saying that they were not allowed to do a road closure so it had to be done out of hours, as for the noise of there machine it was a little loud but was all over in about 10 mins.. small price to pay for FTTC.
I wish in the valleys that I had broadband any speed..I would put up with a fog horn outside my window all night if at the end of it I had decent Internet access.. dial up sucks so much some people just don't know when they are well off..
as for being incandescent...maybe it was the way I was brought up I was taught to be tolerant and respectful be it in converse with a crwydryn or yr heddlu..
Noswaith dda
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Well, at last I have some news... but not through BT or Openreach official channels of course.
Just before I went on hols on 13 August, I noticed a chap working on Cabinet 2 in Bell Street. I went to talk to him and he was very informative (good on you if you ever read this, better communication skills than Openreach!)
He was jointing the fibers that lead up to Caesar's Way, and told me that they would be also running fibres up Evingar Road, as far as, and into Kingsley Park. There was some more work needed to fit a box near the end of Kingsley Park - his lot didn't do digging - but he expected the fibers to be installed in about 3 weeks.
Of course he may not be the authority, but it sounded encouraging for this bit of Whitchurch.
Amusingly, he told me that three other people had stopped to talk to him as well, equally frustrated with lack of news.
BJP
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but he expected the fibers to be installed in about 3 weeks.
I will keep my fingers crossed for you, but that seems to be a fairly typical "estimate" by the engineers on he ground. When asked how things are going they invariably reckon "a couple of weeks"; they've been saying it here for nearly 2 years now 
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bgriffiths - Your scepticism was justified. It's now 6 months later.
There was a meeting at the White Hart with 4 BT representatives, some residents and borough Cllr Keith Watts.
Keith tells me they said "it'll all be sorted by April". Hmm.
I talked to another engineer fitting kit half way down Kingsley Park, who couldn't tell me whether it would be extended to the end of the road. It's not clear whether the existing copper is ducted or not.
Still clinging on to hope,
BJP
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Keith tells me they said "it'll all be sorted by April".
Still clinging on to hope,
BJP
We used to get that one too!
Never lose hope - we eventually got connected mid December. It didn't work properly for a few weeks, but since Jan 9th have had a solid 80/20 fttp connection (via pole). Most of our area is now able to order, although a few properties are still waiting.
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BG, just to be clear, are you connect to Cab 2 in Whitchurch or are you somewhere else entirely? If you are in Whitchurch would you be willing to indicate approximatley where you are to give the rest of us an indication what is deployed.
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Me?
Not Whitchurch, sorry. We are Madingley, one of the other RTI winners
or do you mean BJP?
Edited by bgriffiths (Sun 02-Mar-14 17:43:24)
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Hi. Yes, I was asking you. Thanks for the clarification. It makes your answers make more sense because I didn't think that anyone in Whitchurch had been enabled yet. At least it gives some hope that they might actually complete the deployment and not leave us on copper for ever.
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Ah ok, there's one posting buried way back up the thread where all is revealed!
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I too am from Whitchurch, I've been trying to keep up with the latest in regards to when we eventually get Fibre broadband. I'm glad to see that some action is being made, I didn't realise there was a meeting at the Whitehart.
I also work in the industrial estate that's there and my company has already got it.
If any more news comes up, could you keep this thread updated so I can keep track? Thanks
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Someone suggested that the Ardglen has FTTC from a cab at the top of Newbury Street along with most of Whitchurch. It is those of us on cab 2, which is at the junction of Bell Street and Evingar Road, who are waiting for FTTP. So which cab are you connected to?
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Oh the one by the arch way. That would make sense as I'm in Hartley Meadow so I presume that's my closest
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You can check which cab you are connected to by putting your phone number into the BT BROADBAND AVAILABILITY CHECKER but there are only 5 cabs in Whitchurch as far as I know so you are almost certainly on cab 2 in Hartley Meadow.
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Home
"Telephone Number 01256****** on Exchange WHITCHURCH is served by Cabinet 2"
Work (Ardglen Ind Est)
"Telephone Number 01256****** on Exchange WHITCHURCH is served by Cabinet 3"
So there you go, guess I'll have to wait until April. Thanks for the website
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I would not hold your breath for April. I do not see anyone from Openreach working in our area at the moment. The good thing is that eventually you should have a better Internet connection than your work does 
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Today the BT Broadband checker shows my Whitchurch phone number as having FTTP available. Now to decide whether to stay with my current provider or to switch elsewhere.
Edited by deleted (Wed 26-Mar-14 11:52:56)
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I moved TO PN with the specific intention of switching to the 80/20 trial. Haven't regretted it so far. I don't need / want all the extras that BT provide, and 80/20 is plenty (for now)
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Today the BT Broadband checker shows my Whitchurch phone number as having FTTP available. Now to decide whether to stay with my current provider or to switch elsewhere.
Still nothing for us.
In fact, about2 weeks ago my router lost connection, then started syncing at about 6Mb/s rather than the 13Mb/s I was getting previously.
I seem to be going backwards!
BJP
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Where are you in Whitchurch? What does the BT Checker say for your line? As I understand it they have still not pulled the fibre for Oaklands road and there are some exchange only lines that still need a solution which is pending.
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Still nothing from Hartley Meadow. The best speeds I'm getting are from "WBC ADSL 2+" and "WBC ADSL 2+ Annex M"
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Sorry for the slow reply, we're near the end of KP (reluctant to post a real address on an open forum). The last work I saw was Openreach installing something half way down the road (probably a PON).
The checker says ADSL2+ from Cabinet 2, so I presume I'm not an exchange-only line.
April is here, I've heard nothing from BT except sales leaflets through the door, which is a bit rich as they're the bottleneck.
BJP
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I just posted a query on scheduling through my ISP, and appropriately mistyped "Openroach".
Let's hope it catches on!
BJP
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Are we any closer to knowing when Cabinet 2 goes live with Fibre-optic? I haven't been following it recently
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Some news just in today - We're getting FTTP, our contact says, "they have found a problem with regards the manifold and duct", so it won't be immediate. I suspect this applies to this end of KP, don't know about Hartley Meadows.
Borough Cllr Keith Watts has the contact, I'd email him on his council email, you can look it up at B&DBC.
The Checker lists us as Cabinet 2, so the same may apply to you.
BJP
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Hartley Meadows is ready to rock and roll, have fitted 2 FTTP services there in the last month.
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In KP, Openreach have been digging around a manhole and marking the duct route with paint.
I think it's pretty obvious they don't know where the ducts go 
BJP
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I have placed my order for BC. Copper comes into the house underground but I have been told by PN that Openreach have applied for a way leave to install a pole. I suspect that they will need more than one to cover the close. Openreach obviously had not worked out how they were going to finish the job because initially a man doing a site survey told me that they would dig up my garden to bring in the fibre underground. The waiting goes on.
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I saw your posts on PN. Let me know how it goes.
I'm interested how they fit it because we have a very clean master box with all the wiring from inside routed under the floor and I'm not sure whether they're willing to put the fibre modem on the other side of a wall.
BJP
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I'm interested how they fit it
Ask away
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Hi Zarjaz,
Presumably they need a power socket for a fibre modem and it delivers gigabit on an RJ45 socket?
It would be neater to run the fibre to the other side of the partition wall from the master socket into the downstairs loo and have the modem there.
I should be able to run cat 6 down from the roof space into that partition, either into its own socket, or straight into the modem.
You may gather from the above I prefer to run my own router and separate WiFi router
BJP
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Mains for modem in bathroom would be a no no for the installer
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The author of the above post is a thinkbroadband staff member. It may not constitute an official statement on behalf of thinkbroadband.
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Hmm, it's a cloakroom and contains the boiler, but there is a WC and handbasin on the other side. Does that really count as a bathroom? 'elf 'n safety strikes again. We'll be form filling when the bomb drops!
BJP
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Presumably they need a power socket for a fibre modem and it delivers gigabit on an RJ45 socket?
Correct.
It would be neater to run the fibre to the other side of the partition wall from the master socket into the downstairs loo and have the modem there.
The installer will discuss options/cable routes with you on the day. If you really want it a certain route, why not pre drill the holes etc ? As Mr.S points out, bathrooms are usually a no-no due to damp ingress.
I should be able to run cat 6 down from the roof space into that partition,
Is running the fibre lead in from the external feed straight in to the loft not a option then ? Site the ONTE in the loft ? If you are going to take the FVA service too, why not run an internal wire from the loft back to the existing NTE, leaving slack either end. The installer won't be fannying about running cable through wall voids unless you have done this prior to the visit, or at least provided a drawcord.
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Thanks Zarjaz, making sure I don't have to make untidy choices on the day is exactly what I want to avoid.
The cat 6 in the house uses the loft as a way of dropping down into two of the rooms while promoting domestic harmony 
Most of the network fans up from the garage (I've almost got to the point of needing a patch panel, how sad is that!)
But the garage is on the other side of the hall from the NTE.
Pulling fibre into a roof space and down into the garage is probably a bit too much to ask an installer. I've just spotted the incoming copper in the external meter cupboard. A socket in there and cat 6 down from the roof space might be ideal if the fibre modem doesn't mind spiders
BJP
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Sounds like a plan ....... maybe see you there
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Having placed an order with PlusNet nearly 2 months ago and been through a site survey etc I have been told today that BT want £3277 to complete the FTTP installation. See the full saga here.
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Well, it's more than a year later, the ducting has been re-dug across the road and now there's a manhole cover 20 yards away, BT has delivered leaflets at this end trying to steal other ISP's business, but still no Infinity. Somebody says that the EO lines have been enabled.
Maybe winning the Race to Infinity meant I have to wait until Infinity?
BJP
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I have had my FTTP up an running in Whitchurch for a couple of months and there are many other people in Evingar Road and roads leading from it who have it as well. There are also people in Caesar's Way who are also deployed. However, it is all taking time so if you are further from Cab 2 (which is where I assume your copper line is connected to) then I assume that it will come in time.
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Well, it's nearly 3 years later and the fibre is still 20 yards away. Many Openreach staff installing FTTP in the town today, but we're still just past the end of of the area, despite being in the middle of the town.
Even the MP got fobbed-off by Openreach when I got him to write about 3 years ago.
So much for winning the Race-to-Infinity, it's the Wait-to-Infinity here.
BJP
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A mere 6 years after Whitchurch won the Race to Infinity, I've just signed the Openreach Permission to carry out work on a private property form.
Of course, I put the FTTP order in on 5 October...
BJP
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