My commerical deployment FTTP deferred to 2014

Hi,

I live in an area of Milton Keynes connected to the Woburn Sands phone Exchange rather than the main Milton Keynes pone exchange but the area is a housing estates (not new) that is part of Milton Keynes.

We just had a large number of cabinets deployed to the area include 3 to industrial areas (max 25 lines per cab) and some to a remotish rural areas with only 25 (max) houses connected to it the cab.

The estates where I live has some 900 houses served by two different PCP's.

The north half of the estate has 600 houses on it and now has a FTTC cabinet which is going live 31 Dec.

The south half of the estate has 300 houses on it and we've now been advised consistently the area will be FTTP. However, no firm date has ever been given.

We've now not had much information from BT for a few months so decided to push. The response we got was frankly quite shocking. BT have advised us that the south cab will be FTTP but that they are considering it for implementation in late 2013/early 2014.

The area has already been assessed for flipping but there is a engineering problem with the copper in the area which means the PCP has been written off - as I understand it.

So, I now feel that the area is in the position where BT will likely priorities BDUK and other work over implementation of the area. I also can't help but wonder if BT are stalling and will install a future large density cab with vectoring instead of FTTP and are using the FTTP as an excuse.

I understand the estate will only have one aggregation point and this is now installed and the ducting between it and the Exchange is clear and has sufficient capacity.

So how long wold 300 houses take? What's going on? Will we see commercial FTTP/FTTC deployment ongoing into 2014/2015?

Regards,


Gareth

Edited by deleted (Sat 15-Dec-12 15:19:11)

A manifold per dozen properties and then a fibre splitter every 32 manifolds linking back to the aggregation point

The final few metres is only installed once people order it.

Andrew,

I don't know what you're getting at. Bit confused . The estate definitely has a aggregation point as the fibre was spliced form that to the FTTC cab. So 1 AP to 900 houses and a clear run to the Exchange. The south half has been surveyed and ducts and chambers with CATV to properties is present - so ducting from chamber (fibre dp) to property is present.

http://goo.gl/JgSQU


Regards,

Gareth

As I understand it, CATV ducting, (VM cable?), is not available for Openreach use.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

As I understand it, CATV ducting, (VM cable?), is not available for Openreach use.

But MK had BT cable, not VM....

BT Cable TV?

The ANALOGUE cable TV system in Milton Keynes is owned by BT. In the late 1990s BT were forced to lease it to NTL, now Virgin Media. Neither company seems to be interested in upgrading this now obsolete system.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

BT Cable TV?

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/11/33637925-milton...

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/story/2011/04/04/bt-and-v...

http://www.prlog.org/10536368-virgin-media-cable-tv-...

You have Exchange Handover Node, Aggregration point, fibre splitter, manifold for FTTP

http://www.coolwebhome.co.uk/fibre-milton-keynes/wgc...

Shows the setup - the FTTC cabinets connect to the fibre at the Aggregation point, the manifold

Yeap, Milton Keynes has had all manner of things going on over the decades

Cheers Andrew,

Even more interesting considering BT have only provided a ECI 128 for 600 houses?

I got the distinct impression they don't plan to offer FTTC to all 600 - even if they wan't it.

I do wonder if the FTTP to the other 300 houses will be 100% coverage and BT will use implementation as a reason to remove any obligations on them regarding the very nackard copper network in the area - many pairs are voice only!

Regards,


Gareth

Nothing to stop them adding another cabinet of course

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

Nothing to stop them adding another cabinet of course

Yeah its going in before Friday. But, will OR be going FTTP on demand once the cabs are full.


Regards,

Gareth

FTTP on demand means YOU pay around £1500 to install and gives you a fibre back to the aggregation point so cabinet is irrelevant

In reply to a post by garethr:

Cheers Andrew,

Even more interesting considering BT have only provided a ECI 128 for 600 houses?

From what I understand is the ECI 128's are upgradable to 256 lines as long as the cabinet can take the extra tie-ins. Maybe they are only expecting a 30% take up.

In reply to a post by Kam:

The ANALOGUE cable TV system in Milton Keynes is owned by BT. In the late 1990s BT were forced to lease it to NTL, now Virgin Media. Neither company seems to be interested in upgrading this now obsolete system.

Thanks Kam.

Which leaves us with the original question I raised. Whether or not Openreach can use that ducting for FTTP. I expect it depends on the terms of that forced lease.

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

then a fibre splitter every 32 manifolds

Really?

I agree that a splitter works at 1:32 concentration (or 2:32 if dual parented), but the splitter node can hold 4 such modules. So that is 32..128 end users.

I also thought that a manifold held 7 or 12 blown fibre tubes, and acted as the final joint in the blown fibre tubing before the drop to the end-user properties.

So each splitter could serve 3-5 manifolds, and a splitter node could be 12-20 manifolds, assuming they're all fully populated.

I think it gets more complicated, as the splitter really is talking about the number of fibres, while a manifold is talking about the number of tubes... and multiple fibres can be blown down each tube - each of which *could* use up one of the 32 slots in the splitter.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

In reply to a post by Kam:

The ANALOGUE cable TV system in Milton Keynes is owned by BT. In the late 1990s BT were forced to lease it to NTL, now Virgin Media. Neither company seems to be interested in upgrading this now obsolete system.

Thanks Kam.

Which leaves us with the original question I raised. Whether or not Openreach can use that ducting for FTTP. I expect it depends on the terms of that forced lease.

They are already using it. That's how the MK FTTP trial was undertaken. A trial which BT vowed wouldn't require major civil engineering.

The result is coax, pstn copper and fibre in the same duct.


Gareth

In reply to a post by WWWombat:

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

then a fibre splitter every 32 manifolds

Really?

I agree that a splitter works at 1:32 concentration (or 2:32 if dual parented), but the splitter node can hold 4 such modules. So that is 32..128 end users.

I also thought that a manifold held 7 or 12 blown fibre tubes, and acted as the final joint in the blown fibre tubing before the drop to the end-user properties.

So each splitter could serve 3-5 manifolds, and a splitter node could be 12-20 manifolds, assuming they're all fully populated.

I think it gets more complicated, as the splitter really is talking about the number of fibres, while a manifold is talking about the number of tubes... and multiple fibres can be blown down each tube - each of which *could* use up one of the 32 slots in the splitter.

That fits with my understanding. Not seen anything to suggest BT go higher than 64 way.

Gareth

Edited by deleted (Sun 16-Dec-12 02:25:05)