Bangor and Caernarfon

Well, in an incredible surprise, just as soon as it's announced, fibre cabinets have started appearing around Bangor and Caernarfon. Amazing how fast BT can move with half a billion quid in government subsidy.

There's no information from Open Reach and the superfast-Wales site is not being updated yet (and is down many evenings; I worry for my connection when the planning organisation can't keep Apache running).

The cabinets are quiet at the moment so I assume are not powered up.

Does anyone have inside information regarding go-live dates?

BT are throwing FTTC cabs out like confetti! They've being doing all down the coast (I'm in Rhyl).

They seem to struggle to power them in a timely manner unfortunately. Just keep your eyes peeled on the usual sites. If your REALLY desperate to know then it might be worth emailing [email protected]

They will give you the blurb that Superfast Cymru have taken over but will end up telling you any news about your specific cabinet if they have any.

Cheers
Matt

nOw2

Even more of a surprise, on the Openreach site Bangor is now live! It appeared this morning on the excel file.

I suspect only a few cabs will be live but they must have started before everything was annouced to move that fast.

Have to find out if anyone can order, fancy trying out some Bangor postcodes on the checker?

I am doubtful if any are switched on.

Cabinets:
1 - no
4 - no
5 - no
7 - no
8 - no
9 - no
10 - no
11 - no
12 - no
13 - no
14 - no
15 - no
17 - no
21 - no
23 - no
24 - no
26 - no
27 - no

Found I have an absolute sod of wiring here. I have a cabinet 150m from my house, but I'm connected to a cabinet 800m away! What's the chance I could ask BT to wire a 2nd line in from the nearby cabinet? There is pole carrying phone cables from it literally on the back boundary of my property.

Edited by nOw2 (Mon 18-Feb-13 20:53:45)

Aha, heres's the answer:

In reference to www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-21544791:

The first street box to provide superfast broadband in Wales will be installed in Gwynedd.

The fibre broadband cabinet will be unveiled in Bangor on Friday ahead of plans to launch superfast broadband in the city as early as spring.

So, it's not really available yet.

Also, considering the number of active FTTC cabinets in Wrexham and elsewhere I wonder how exactly Bangor is getting 'the first street box .. in Wales'. Shoddy journalism

i'm on cab 27 lets hope they start in reverse order.

now theres the quandry of who to chose for unlimited or larger limits at cheaper prices than Zen can currently offer. Been an absolutley brilliant 10 years Mr Tang but looks like a move is likley

Edited by bigbadpirate (Fri 22-Feb-13 12:06:46)

I'm testing post codes but nothing is showing up yet. I don't really expect to see anything but hope springs eternal. I lived on the high street a couple of years ago - ADSL is near perfect there so I wish they'd started further out! The cable quality or maybe routing in Bangor's outskirts is really awful so fibre is a real boost. My parents are nearly the same distance from their exchange in a different town: they get 15+ and I get 4mbit/s!

Choose very, very carefully if you are thinking of moving from Zen.

I've been with Zen since 2005 and the support has been impeccable, though yes several times the cost of bandwidth has been an issue. My parent's connection remains on Zen.

I switched my connection to Sky for LLU and now spend 4 months in 12 seriously regretting it. There is zero support. I'll be switching back to Zen for fibre. (this years Sky problems)

04 may 2003 customer here. Id rather not move but £46 for 200gb seems quite expensive when there are others out there offering unlimited packages for £20. My fear is as you rightly point out that they will be of a similar quality to bt openworld who i was with and stuck with for 12 months of absolutly terrible service something i will never forget or forgive in my lifetime. Zen were and have been for the most part a breath of fresh air.

The LL57 1YE area is showing as taking up orders for infinity btw.

edit :good to know about sky not being an option, thanks. I kinda guessed that because i work in the construction/service sector and work in a lot of student accomodation and from what i've noticed they are constantly downloadin/streaming whether they are in their rooms or not, all on sky when i've asked. Maybe the extra £20 a month is worth it after all i'll weigh it up.

Edited by bigbadpirate (Fri 22-Feb-13 13:00:25)

In reply to a post by bigbadpirate:

The LL57 1YE area is showing as taking up orders for infinity btw.

Cabinet 6 - I happen to know exactly where that is: opposite the top of Orme Road outside the flats.

I was expecting something in the town-centre itself. This covers the far end of the high street, though the cabinet itself is ~400 yards away on a different road. Still, onwards and upwards.

edit:
Actually, cabinet 2 also. This is the cabinet outside the cathedral which features in the BBC video now included on the news story (which has also been corrected so it doesn't claim this is the first FTTC in Wales).

Edited by nOw2 (Fri 22-Feb-13 16:05:53)

In reply to a post by nOw2:

In reply to a post by bigbadpirate:

The LL57 1YE area is showing as taking up orders for infinity btw.

Cabinet 6 - I happen to know exactly where that is: opposite the top of Orme Road outside the flats.

I was expecting something in the town-centre itself. This covers the far end of the high street, though the cabinet itself is ~400 yards away on a different road. Still, onwards and upwards.

edit:
Actually, cabinet 2 also. This is the cabinet outside the cathedral which features in the BBC video now included on the news story (which has also been corrected so it doesn't claim this is the first FTTC in Wales).

journalists eh, all have the morals of allycats.idk? ?