FTTC Cabinets being installed in Barnstaple

On the Openreach checker Barnstaple just has a future exchange pin with a date of by Dec 2013. (Announced in 10b I believe.) In the last few days I have had my cabinet (40) upgraded to a new shell and FTTC cabinet fitted. There has been a hive of activity including engineers from Carrillion Telent. The cabinet was even installed during the weekend! Looking at roadworks.org there are cabinets being installed across the town.

Is there a chance that we should get FTTC soon? Is it common to have work being done so far ahead of the provided dates? On the adsl checker I have nothing for my phone numbers (2 lines) I'm about 300 metres by road to the cabinet. If i search using the postcode checker it says that fttc is available on 31st dec 2013 with estimated speeds of 55.1 down and 18 up.

Most of the time I have read about dates being pushed back and no sign of progress. I'm just hoping that in our case it's going to be different.

I have the same scenario here in Blantyre. Cabinets are about to go up, on roadworks, it shows a tonne of activity about to take place with BT.

I'd anticipate it maybe being live by the end of the Summer at the latest.

http://beusergroup.co.uk/technotes/index.php?title=D...

This might be a good help with knowing how long it will take from when the cabinet appears.

Edited by deleted (Wed 06-Mar-13 09:08:38)

Well hopefully it wont be too long!

The telent guys are now doing something in a trench that goes from the fttc cabinet in the opposite direction of the PCP. One can only guess that this is for the power.

You may well have FTTC soon.

Due to the ASA adjudication a couple of months ago BT are only publishing dates with 6 and 9 month views see post

This means that the dates cover the next 6 - 9 months and the exchange may be enabled anytime within that period.

The ASA ajudication was because some people complained that dates were not being hit and therefore the checker was incorrect advertising. BT cannot therefore publish any date to the public it may not hit.

It makes the checker only useful as a backstop as barring disasters all exchanges should be in adavamce of the published dates to prevent falling foul of the advertising rules!

Some of the complainants are posters on here but have done us all no favours on date accuracy!

I see. I guess it makes sense. I would rather know in advance though but I guess it saves disappointment for many.

Hi

Had an email a couple weeks ago from openreach giving an end of April 2013 live date as long as no unforeseen problems. (fremington)

Edited by deleted (Thu 07-Mar-13 11:28:05)

Thanks for letting me know It looks like there are works in progress all over town according to roadworks.org. My cabinet in Whiddon Valley seems to have slowed for a few days. The trench for the power has been open for a couple of days now.

Lets keep our fingers crossed for decent speeds soon!

Dave

Hopefully be able to watch iplayer soon !! (0.6-0.7 mb at the moment)

Cabinets I believe have power supply to them now with trenches filled in. Just need the fibre to them now and connect back to old boxes.

My cabinet is still awaiting power by the looks. The trench for the power still isn't filled in. Everything else looks done and is tarmacked back up etc.

Roadworks.org says my cabinet work should be done by the 15th, I just hope this is the case.

Now that I can see the cabinet every day I go to work and back I am just getting even more impatient!

Spotted vans with BNE on them doing something with the main road ducts at 2 places along main road in Fremington.... not sure who they are but must be a step closer

Cheers

Hopefully My cabinet on Whiddon valley now looks complete. They have tarmacked back over the power trench etc. I did listen to the cabinet last night but couldn't here anything. It was freezing though.

I guess I will just have to keep checking the availability checker!

If i search using the postcode checker it says that fttc is available on 31st dec 2013 with estimated speeds of 55.1 down and 18 up.

Where are you getting that from?

If I look at

http://www.superfast-openreach.co.uk/where-and-when/

then I only get the Barnstaple exchange marked as "Future Exchanges - Dates to be confirmed nearer the time"

The spreadsheet on the same page shows Barnstaple as "Calendar year 2013"

I can`t see anywhere on that site any speed estimates.

Can you provide a link??

Edited by deleted (Wed 20-Mar-13 14:51:14)

Try this:

http://www.dslchecker.bt.com/adsl/ADSLChecker.Teleph...

Thanks for the link - they kept that one quiet!

Hi all,

I live in Whiddon Valley also and believe I am served by cabinet 40....I've been going crazy recently at the activity with the new cabinet and cant wait to get decent broadband....2.5mb is [censored]! I'll actually be able to stream movies etc...

I to have only found the info saying end of Dec 2013, so that email to the chap in Fremington of April is very promising!

Currently with TalkTalk but ready to jump ship to BT as soon as its accepting orders. Which provider are you all with?

I got an email from Openreach today. They said that cabinet 40 is on schedule to be live in early April.

Wow. Thats much earlier than I thought... Cab 40 - is that the one at the bottom of whiddon valley by Barton Road?

I got an email from Openreach today. They said that cabinet 40 is on schedule to be live in early April. smile

Good news , hope Fremington is included at same time as 0.5mb is beyond words!!

Spoke to OR engineer working on box yesterday and cagely told me he had the impression early summer for us to go live but he didn't seem very sure...

Cheers

TT at the moment probably go BT or plusnet depending on TV or not (possibly SKY if the get exchange connected quickly and if can offer a very good deal.)

TT have been fine but sound like they can be very slow getting the fibre up and running in exchange and I CAN'T WAIT!!!

Cheers Kev

In reply to a post by sodicka320:

TT at the moment probably go BT or plusnet depending on TV or not (possibly SKY if the get exchange connected quickly and if can offer a very good deal.)

Just to give you an idea - Sky are generally able to offer fibre products 4-6 weeks after the exchange goes live.

Edited by deleted (Thu 21-Mar-13 15:29:04)

In reply to a post by scoob101:

Just to give you an idea - Sky are generally able to offer fibre products 4-6 weeks after the cabinet goes live.

Surely the only delay for a particular unbundled supplier should be when the exchange goes live?

The enabling of particular cabinets has no impact on the exchange.

Surely the only delay for a particular unbundled supplier should be when the exchange goes live?

The enabling of particular cabinets has no impact on the exchange.

Of course you`re right. Poor choice of words on my part. i`ve edited my original post accordingly.

Edited by deleted (Thu 21-Mar-13 15:30:00)

In reply to a post by scoob101:

Wow. Thats much earlier than I thought... Cab 40 - is that the one at the bottom of whiddon valley by Barton Road?

Cabinet 40 is the one at the second turning of Barton road by the cycle path.

They've now positioned a fibre cab further along, near the school.

Yeah, my partner told me, she saw them working on it when going to the school. They are popping up everywhere now, the top of pilton, by summerland stores etc. I'm surprised they haven't upgraded the cab at the start of Barton road.

Had email this morning from OR saying they are in the process of renewing the main old PCP before end of march and then will be continuing with the rest of the work connecting the fibre in Fremington. Then said might be delayed till beginning of May (original live dates were ...end of April , then end of 2013... !!) .

So still sounds like things are still on track and Barnstaple exchange enablement shouldn't be long !!

Cheers

Bideford has just changed from FE to AO (accepting orders) and they were originally announced a week before Barnstaple !!

Cheers

Cool! Hopefully we won't have to wait much longer.

Nothing appears to be happening at Cabinet 62 (entrance to Brynsworthy Park).

Earlier in the year there were contractors pulling "cable" between a manhole near the Cedars, entrance to Brynsworthy Park, and Old Bideford Road (Currys side).

Likewise a couple weeks later the same contractors appeared to be doing a similar/same job on the opposite site of Old Bideford Road (Sainsburys Side). Since then I've seen a green FTTC box appear in Maple Grove (estate behind Sainsburys).

However, still no FTTC cab has appeared alongside Cab 62 or that I can see on the Brynsworthy Park estate.

Iain

dose anyone know where the Forches Avenue Cabinet 34 is as i want to see if its getting upgraded or dose anyone know if its getting upgraded

In reply to a post by sodicka320:

Bideford has just changed from FE to AO (accepting orders) and they were originally announced a week before Barnstaple !!

Cheers

Unless I've misunderstanding your statement, Bideford was announced near to 3 months before Barnstaple.

Bideford as part of the June 2012 - Phase 10 announcements. Barnstaple as part of the Septmber 2012 - Phase 10b announcements.

So I'm not sure that you can look at Bideford now having an AO status as a sign that something is very soon to occur with Barnstaple. Potentially Barnstaple is 3 months behind Bideford, but that is really down to when Openreach actually started Bideford's upgrade, size of exchange and covering area etc.

Iain

Not that it matters really as it will happen when its ready to happen but from keeping a daily check usually on the when and where OR site Barnstaple was only a couple weeks max after Bideford as far as I can remember.

Our new Fremington PCP box being connected up to the new fibre box on Good Friday and Easter Monday so I imagine its more the exchange side of things left to do mainly now as very few road works from BT on roadworks website for the future few months.

OR email orig said close of April then most recent said early May due to new PCP box required. ( I am keeping fingers crossed for this anyway!)

Cheers

I just got this email from BT - Cab 35 is the one by the school in Whiddon Valley.



Thank you for your email

Information about the commercial fibre project can be found on the rollout site :-
http://www.superfast-openreach.co.uk/where-and-when/

In your locality whilst a good part of the job has been done, work on cabinet wwbarn35 is ongoing and expected to run for another couple of months.

Please register your interest on the website as this helps us assess local demand patterns

Many thanks

Hopefully it will be sooner.

I emailed openreach twice due to a lack of response on the 1st one. One reply said beginning of April the other said mid may for cabinet 40 which is by Barton road.

Based on what I`ve heard so far from this thread, Openreach and Sky - I`m thinking we should be able to place orders for fibre products (with Sky) by end of June / July. BT would be about 4-6 weeks earlier than that.

But I need it now!! Hurry up!

Went and had a quick listen to new fibre cabinet (Fremington) at the weekend and could definitely hear fans a hummin !!

Hopefully this means live date is very close as not sure I can take the suspense much longer !!!

Cheers

I now have speed estimates for my lines on the adsl checker. I juse need that little word "available" now

Fibre is available on my cabinet Ordered for one line but got an install date of 17th may . I'm hoping once i submit my mac i can get an earlier date via a cancellation.

Great news , where in Barnstaple are you ,as Fremington still isn't live yet?!?

Who have you ordered with ?

Where did you 1st see it was live?

Cheers

I'm in Whiddon Valley on cabinet 40. I have managed to get the date forward to the 10th of May while giving my MAC code which is a bit better.

My estimate on the bt checker is 51.1/13.2 but I'm hoping for more than that as I'm about 200m by road from the cab. I don't know of anyone else that has managed to orde rit yet, all my friend's cabinets say still not available.

Oh and I am going with BT for this line. My other will be going on to Sky fibre once it shows up on their systems as available.

Dave

Edited by Mtx (Thu 18-Apr-13 18:55:28)

Cool , think I might go try BT for 12months with you view box then maybe PlusNet.

Just had mail from OR for Fremington:

"Our systems are indicating that the build has been completed and that the cabinet is being tested and commissioned.
Ordering should be possible in around 10 working days� time."



Cheers

Just checked and I can also order. Also on cab 40 in Whiddon Valley.

Been checking the BT FTTC Checker site every day and still shows Barnstaple as FE, but read the post on here and then thought I'd check direct on the BT site...and I can get it.

Speed estimate says 28.6 down and 5.7 up, which I will be happy with...currently getting 2.6mb down!!! I just want to be able to stream properly without constant buffering.

Moved from Talktalk to BT earlier in April specifically so I could get fibre asap. Current package no more expensive than I was paying with Talktalk and my speedtest.net tests are consistent every time, whereas with Talktalk they always fluctuated. pings are in the 30ms, with Talktalk always in the 60's.

Just placed my order...installation May 14th.

Ideal I'm wondering if Cab 40 is the only one enabled at the moment? Maybe there needs to be one or 2 more live before the openreach site will change to "Accepting orders".

Where abouts are you? For a 28meg estimate I would think you are quite far away.

Woodland Close. I originally thought my cabinet was the one near the school, but one of the BT sites (google BT Wholesale checker) says I'm on 40. It now says FTTC available.

I guess distance over copper is still an issue, even though they use a different tech to ADSL for that section when on FTTC, which is faster over copper than ADSL, but only shorter runs.

Being stuck with 2-3MB adsl for years, I cant complain at 28.

PS: mtx - thanks for your update...I was just watching the normal checker site, so had no idea I could order!

Edited by deleted (Sun 21-Apr-13 08:37:41)

No problem I would have thought you would have been on the one by the school but I guess there had to be a boundary for 40 somewhere :/

for anyone that maybe looking for Forches area cab 36 is now (AO) all tho for the bt site to say this there needs to be 10 cabs live in barnstaple but u can order now

In reply to a post by Mtx:

. My other will be going on to Sky fibre once it shows up on their systems as available.

Dave

Sky told me today that the status of Barnstaple exchange is "unconfirmed" - which apparrently means they have notification of the FTTC enablement, but have not yet been given a date for accepting orders.

Yeah. I got impatient and ordered plusnet for that line instead .

From what I've read on here sounds like it'll be a few weeks after BT/Plusnet before TT and Sky get their gear up and running in the exchange.

Cant stop checking today... getting too close....

Cheers

Yeah. I didn't want to wait a few weeks really and to put my other line on BT I would have to wait until after my initial line order was complete because both lines are on the same account.

I'm just glad I checked the availability checker often and not just the openreach site.

In reply to a post by Mtx:

Yeah. I didn't want to wait a few weeks really ...

Yep that's why i'll probably change to BT or PlusNet from TT

Cheers

The 10 cabs was proven wrong ages ago, alot of exchanges go live with just 1 cab and then others follow in the next few days/weeks.

Thats exactly what I did....I've been with talktalk for years, and recently the service has been ok, so no other reason to change, but I figured BT would probably be the first to offer fibre, and I've read that the cabinets only hold a certain number of customers...if the cab fills up, you gotta wait for them to install another one!

So I didn't want to miss the boat, so transfered to BT early April and now have put my fibre order in. Talktalk site still says fibre unavailable.

Basically its impatience.....the story of my life!

Yeah I'd rather be impatient and get my lines activated than miss the boat When is yours getting installed?

I think Cab 40 is an ECI one that can take 128 lines.

I made a thread here to say it's live too. It will be interesting to see what sort of speeds everyone gets.

Well today both of my line installs have been delayed until the 17th. Both in the PM so I hope I don't have an engineer no show. It will be funny if 2 different engineers show up to do the work at the same time...

I spoke to Plusnet and they said that their notes don't say much accept possible cabling work which she guessed could be something in the exchange because I have a workmate on another cab that has has his order delayed too.

Has anyone else's order been delayed?

Wow....I don't even have a cabinet yet - and haven't seen anyone working near the regular cab for months.

Noticed yesterday Bickington has big superfast broadband stickers over the front of their fibre cabinet !!! Getting closer !!

Cheers

Perhaps this is a misconception in my head. Is it expected that where there is an existing "regular" BT cabinet they will now be installing an additional one for FTTC?.

Or is that not necessarily the case?.

Thanks

Iain

Yes fibre twin cabinet to the normal pcp cabinet within 50 metres I think.

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/guide/fibre-broadband....

Cheers

The exception is if Openreach have deemed the existing PCP as "not commercially viable" for whatever reason.

There's a PCP near me which is standing on private ground that has been removed from the current rollout plans.

My original install date was 14th May, but I have also been delayed!!!

Had an email yesterday saying its been delayed until 20th May.

Whilst disappointed, at least I know I am in the queue, hopefully early, so shouldn't miss the boat. There is nothing else I can do.

I did wonder if others had been delayed also, and see they have, so assume they're running about a week late?

Edited by deleted (Thu 25-Apr-13 18:35:16)

Yeah Kwhite01 I'd agree about the week late or so. My friend has a 16th install date and that isn't delayed. At least they have told us and not left us at at home on the day I guess.

barnstaple is now (AO) Accepting orders go go go

Post deleted by Sadoldman

Edited by deleted (Mon 29-Apr-13 17:35:35)

Post deleted by sodicka320

Edited by deleted (Mon 29-Apr-13 17:32:55)

I assume that despite the excitement not all cabinets are live yet?.

My parents address/number where I know a cabinet has been installed on both BT and Plusnet still shows no fibre. Likewise my own details still show no fibre - although as I've said previous I still don't see a Fibre cab for the area yet.

Iain

If you know you are served by a specific cabinet and there is not a new one next to it, then you wont get fibre. Depending upon where your parents are, even though they have a new cabinet next to theirs, it may not have been activated yet I guess (edit...just re-read your post and see this isnt the case). Are they Barnstaple or away? Also, which provider are you checking? I guess BT will give the quickest go live, whereas not all suppliers will be live straight away...you say BT and plusnet are active...are you checking their address /phone etc on bt or plusnet?

edit: another thought about your parents...the existing cab could be full? In which case they will need to wait until another one is installed (I think).

Glad I moved to BT early April.....my order is in and install date 20th May (although it was originally a week earlier), but even though BT site now saying AO, the talk talk site still says unavailable, so different suppliers will take longer to offer it, even on a live cab and live exchange.

Edited by deleted (Mon 29-Apr-13 20:54:56)

Its highly likely that not all of the cabinets are live yet.. More than likely there has been a threshold of cabinets gone live so that the exchange can be deemed as in service.

The bt checker should say what cabinet you are served by. If it has a fibre cabinet next to it you "should" be able to get it at some point.

You have the first batch of cabinets that range anywhere from 1-10 for the exchange to start accepting orders.

In the coming weeks/months the remaining cabinets will be enabled, suually their is a delay in the power/fibre works to each cabinet but once a FTTC cab is deployed it usually is finished.

If not FTTC twin appears next to your cab (can find which cab via the bt wholesale asdl checker -use number or address if on sky/tt but not the postcode checker as its less accurate).

Its worth sending a email to [email protected], they will take 15 days to respond and inculde your telephone number and address as they will ask for this.

Post deleted by Sadoldman

Hopefully it will get installed . I had my appointment on the 10th postponed until the 17th .

Hi,

Thanks for the reply (and to the others that commented).

I suppose I'd foolishly assumed that when Openreach announced it was enabling FTTC access from the Barnstaple exchange that - within reason - anyone being served by the exchange would be hooked up. I did however realised that there would need to be an element of cost vs potential demand.

As I don't live anywhere out of the ordinary (it's one of the estates at Roundwell) I'm just a little surprised to find that our cabinet is not part of the roll-out plans. That said having had a count up of the estate there are only 151 houses.

I have emailed Openreach to see if the cabinet features in any of their plans for FTTC. Failing that I guess I'll have to wait for BDUK/Connecting Devon and Somerset to fund an expansion.

Thanks

Iain.

Edited by deleted (Tue 30-Apr-13 14:11:56)

Post deleted by Sadoldman

Post deleted by Sadoldman

On a completely different note, when I moved from TalkTalk to BT in early April, BT were running an offer for people migrating from TalkTalk.

Today, I received my gift - a £100 Sainsbury's gift card!!!!! Was gonna switch anyway, but thats a tasty bonus!

In reply to a post by sodicka320:

Post deleted by Sadoldman

Why all these deleted posts?

No idea.

Ok , it was because I had put an advert in signature I wasn't allowed to do , didn't realise and they all got wiped !

I'm still here though waitin patiently for my plusnet fibre install in 2 weeks time !

(hopefully!)

Cheers

Edited by deleted (Fri 03-May-13 23:43:05)

I did wonder how long it would talk, I did the same without realising.

dose anyone know if the new build's in Forches will get fttp http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/products/broad...
as i dont know there new builds so who know i do hope so

In reply to a post by Rowbs:

dose anyone know if the new build's in Forches will get fttp http://www.productsandservices.bt.com/products/broad...
as i dont know there new builds so who know i do hope so

Do you have a postcode for the property?

i think it is EX32 8ER as thats what it is for there at the this time on google maps

Well, that's cab 36 which is live as you know.

Got txt today saying my equipment should be here on Friday. This was the original date before they moved the install, so thats ok.

Does anyone know if you have to use the BT Home Hub? When I moved to BT i was able to decline the Home Hub, but when I upgraded to fibre I had no choice.

I use an Apple Airport Extreme which uses a seperate ethernet adsl modem, so I'm hoping I can just plug the new fibre modem into the AA via ethernet without having to use the home hub.

In reply to a post by kwhite01:

I use an Apple Airport Extreme which uses a seperate ethernet adsl modem, so I'm hoping I can just plug the new fibre modem into the AA via ethernet without having to use the home hub.

You can and it works, I did this for a while. You need to set up a PPPoE connection on the Airport Extreme and use these details:

username = [email protected]
password =

leave the password field blank, or put a space if it doesn't like that.

Funnily enough I was search for this last night! I'm going to plug both my modems directly into my Draytek 2920 if I can.

Great!

Thanks for the reply, really appreciated.

Had a reply from Openreach today.

As suspected there response was:

"The rollout is based on the commercial criteria for each cabinet. Unfortunately when assessed cabinet wwbarn62 did not met these and is not included in the rollout programme. Whilst we monitor cabinet situations, even where numbers have increased there is no guarantee that a cabinet would be reassessed for inclusion in the commercial project. Where cabinets are not included in the commercial rollout Government funding (via BDUK) is available to Borough and County councils to improve fibre coverage and it is worth contacting your Council in relation to this."

So, seems I'll have to wait and see what CDS (Connecting Devon and Somerset) come up with.....

Iain

Oh that sucks .

Who's going this week? I'm due next Monday. Had the home hub delivered last Friday. I wont be using it, but am impressed how small it is.

Me !!!!!! In Fremington on Thursday afternoon if all goes to plan ......... just got to figure out how I want it wired up??

BT , TT or Sky still not showing available , plusnet seems to be only one for some reason.....

Cheers

Cool, hope it all goes well and you are online that evening to tell us how it went!!!!!

I play squash Thursday nights but might have to miss my beer after to get back and have a play !!

0.8 / 0.15 mb at the moment should notice a little difference I reckon!!

Cheers

Edited by deleted (Mon 13-May-13 21:54:41)

Both my lines get installed on Friday after a weeks delay. Good luck for Thursday! My friend gets his on Thursday too.

I think you may notice a slight difference...

The home hub is very small, I was quite surprised. I intend to connect the modems straight to my 2920n anyway. I don't know what the plusnet router is like as that one hasn't turned up yet.

Hi Guys,
can you let me know what your latency is like once you have the fttc service working. I am in Newport Area and I can get it now as well. Need to look around to see what ISP to go with. BT with football and a £50 Sainsbury Voucher seems good. The voucher will keep the misses happy! I am on Xilo monthly contract so can change easily once I decide on who.

Zoooooooommmmmm !!!!!!

Just had BT OR engineer to fit the new gear and he was very helpful and informative .

My internet had been off all day which might have been down to TT but now glad to be with PlusNet after this long wait .....

Engineer synced at full 80/20 (@300m from cabinet ) first speed test was 72/17 !!! (just a tad better than befores 0.8/.25 ) but is up and down a bit as expected.

Third person to be enabled on our cab 24.

Cheers

Lantency varies quite a lot, I've seen reports as low as 5ms, mines about 18 at the moment, but has been a lot higher, about 30 IIRC.

The quality and length of your line makes all the difference.

Brilliant!!!!! Impressed with those speeds!!!!! Was that what was estimated, or higher? My estimate is about 28, so no where near your 80, but better than the 2.5 I currently get!

How long did it take?

Nice! Just a small difference My friend also got his today. I can't wait until tomorrow now.

I'm jealous!!!! I've got to wait until Monday!!!!! BBBBBOOOOO!!!!!

Still, I'm glad these installs are going ahead - means mine is likely to go ahead also.

80mb....wow!!!!!

I cant quite believe we have it now after such a long wait !

67/20 was predicted so pretty good going if it stays around that but the BTOR guy said adsl was 1 to 25 contention where as fibre is only 1 to 3 so shouldn't decrease much when more people join either ( might not have the terminology correct there but you get the idea )

Tons better but a lot of website are slow any way it seems and don't seem that zippy but you tube used to buffer on lowest quality now HD is fully loaded in a blink.

BTOR eng also mentioned there is only OR gear in the exchange for fibre and u don't need to wait for SKy TT etc to get their gear in which sounded strange.

Very Happy now , just need to tidy cabling up a bit and maybe wireless desktop

Cheers

You're more likely to see a degrading service on FTTC as more people join the FTTC cabinet creating crosstalk which will degrade your service with some loss of speed.

The BTOR guy said that cross talk wouldn't be a problem with fibre !! don't ask me why maybe short length between old and new cabinets.

Cheers

In reply to a post by sodicka320:

The BTOR guy said that cross talk wouldn't be a problem with fibre !!

Judging by that comment, and the ones you mentioned in your previous post, the BTOR guy was an idiot

Just found strange problem mine and my wifes Tiscali emails have stopped sending but receiving ok ??

Sending from live email address works fine??

Any one know why this could be?

Cheers

In reply to a post by billford:

In reply to a post by sodicka320:

The BTOR guy said that cross talk wouldn't be a problem with fibre !!

Judging by that comment, and the ones you mentioned in your previous post, the BTOR guy was an idiot

Please expand, for the less technical (me!). Isn't crosstalk where the signal leaks from one cable to another, so on fibre, how?

In reply to a post by sodicka320:

Just found strange problem mine and my wifes Tiscali emails have stopped sending but receiving ok ??

Sending from live email address works fine??

Any one know why this could be?

Cheers

You are no longer on their network, some ISP email systems only allow emails to be sent from their network, to avoid it being used as a relay. Can you use webmail?

In reply to a post by sodicka320:

Just found strange problem mine and my wifes Tiscali emails have stopped sending but receiving ok ??

Probably the SMTP server is inaccessible from your new ISP.

More likely to be a coincidental problem with the TalkTalk email servers than anything to do with fibre, I suspect.

In reply to a post by kwhite01:

In reply to a post by billford:

In reply to a post by sodicka320:

The BTOR guy said that cross talk wouldn't be a problem with fibre !!

Judging by that comment, and the ones you mentioned in your previous post, the BTOR guy was an idiot

Please expand, for the less technical (me!). Isn't crosstalk where the signal leaks from one cable to another, so on fibre, how?

FTTC uses telephone wires from the cabinet to the house, where cross-talk can be a problem.

In reply to a post by kwhite01:

Please expand, for the less technical (me!).

Fair enough

Isn't crosstalk where the signal leaks from one cable to another, so on fibre, how?

Yes, but you've still got the old copper from the cabinet. If you're on a short run then crosstalk isn't such a major problem, but it will still occur as more users come on to the cabinet.

And (afaik) no connections use fixed contention ratios any more, it just depends how many users are trying to use the same bit of fibre, ie how much backhaul capacity the ISP has budgeted for. Some are better than others.

He seemed to know his stuff and how he explained it seemed to make perfect sense , I think it was because very short run of copper and not miles back to exchange

Did he mention vectoring? This is being thought of as a potential solution to the cross-talk problem on VDSL2.

In reply to a post by sodicka320:

I think it was because very short run of copper and not miles back to exchange

Maybe... wait and see what happens as the number of users on your cabinet goes up. Theory is all very well, but it's always trumped by practice

[censored] !! thought Tiscali ( who don't really exist now anyway. ) didn't worry about this and didn't stop things working when you change??

What email address would you guys recommend to prevent this happening again.

Cheers

In reply to a post by BatBoy:

Did he mention vectoring? This is being thought of as a potential solution to the cross-talk problem on VDSL2.

So, my estimate is about 28mbs, meaning I am quite far from my cabinet. So this means I could be affected by crosstalk.....meaning that the speed I initially get could drop as more people go live on my cabinet? Crosstalk...noise?

What sort of effect is it likely to have...i.e. big speed drop?

In reply to a post by sodicka320:

[censored] !! thought Tiscali ( who don't really exist now anyway. ) didn't worry about this and didn't stop things working when you change??

What email address would you guys recommend to prevent this happening again.

Cheers

Any non-isp specific, i.e. hotmail, yahoo, google etc.

Are they as secure as the isp ones ?

In reply to a post by sodicka320:

What email address would you guys recommend to prevent this happening again.

By far the best way is to buy your own domain name from someone like 1and1 (others are available- I know 1and1 'cos I use them!).

It's only a few quid a year for basic use and then your email is completely independent of any ISP, and doesn't have the spam/privacy concerns that are sometimes raised with the free providers.


eta- anything that's free has a (usually hidden) price tag...

Edited by billford (Fri 17-May-13 00:03:25)

In reply to a post by sodicka320:

Are they as secure as the isp ones ?

Cant comment on that as I don't use those I mentioned. I use the apple service "iCloud" and have a .me address.

The point is, they are independent of who or how you access the internet.

However, I dont see why not. My talktalk email account, which is still active despite me actively trying to kill it, gets tonnes of spam as talk talk aren't filtering it very good.

Any account is only as secure as your password!

Other people might have recommendations on which to go for. Think about how you access it...ie Outlook etc? Hotmail used to be a pig to configure via outlook, but I havent used it for over 5yrs, so dont know about now. Some have more features as well, i.e. redirection.

In reply to a post by billford:

In reply to a post by sodicka320:

What email address would you guys recommend to prevent this happening again.

By far the best way is to buy your own domain name from someone like 1and1 (others are available- I know 1and1 'cos I use them!).

It's only a few quid a year for basic use and then your email is completely independent of any ISP, and doesn't have the spam/privacy concerns that are sometimes raised with the free providers.

Good point.

Sometimes spammers target a domain (i.e. @talktalk.net) and generate random addresses based on that (i.e. [email protected], [email protected]). So obviously, @hotmail.com etc is vulnerable to this method.

Your own domain name, i.e me@sodicka320 is less likely to be covered by this approach.

In reply to a post by kwhite01:

So obviously, @hotmail.com etc is vulnerable to this method.

And how... I used to have a hotmail account (it may still exist for all I know), but it took me longer to sort through the spam than it did to read and reply to legit emails, so I ditched it.

I don't trust Google as far as I could spit St Paul's Cathedral... don't know anything about Yahoo.

In reply to a post by kwhite01:

So this means I could be affected by crosstalk.....meaning that the speed I initially get could drop as more people go live on my cabinet? Crosstalk...noise?

Yes - the speed you get initially can drop as more people get onto the cabinet. And yes, to each modem, the crosstalk from other modems is considered as noise.

Here's my personal experience:

My current line is 400 metres, with an estimate of 55/18. It initially achieved 80/20, with maximum attainable speeds of 88/26 (reported by the modem). Over 18 months, the crosstalk has increased, and the modem now reports attainable speeds of 72/25.

What sort of effect is it likely to have...i.e. big speed drop?

Crosstalk is a funny beast, and depends more on how close the copper pairs are within the cable, for how far, and how accurate the twists are - which ultimately depends on the manufacturing process.

It also depends on which exact pairs carry VDSL, so ultimately it depends on which other subscribers take an FTTC service.

So the impact is random.

The actual effect can come in two ways - it either appears as noise, which causes your modem to sync at a lower speed, or it appears as interference that causes data errors. If enough errors happen, DLM will intervene to add FEC & interleaving (which affects both speed and latency) or adds banding too (which further affects speed).

In reply to a post by kwhite01:

So, my estimate is about 28mbs,

BT's estimate already takes into account a reasonable worst-case for crosstalk on a line that otherwise works OK.

So while you may see a speed drop from your initial connection speed, that initial speed should be higher than the prediction (as an early adopter) and it ought to eventually drop to somewhere near the prediction.

Some lines have faults that mean they don't hit the prediction, but that is a different ballgame.

Thanks for all the info

Our works website is hosted by 1 and 1 and has domain email also . Email through them seems to have more down time than the others but still good enough.

Seems to work out at £1 a month.

Are there any other recommended companies for email hosting?

Cheers

@WWWombat - Awesome post. Thank you.

You don't need email hosting with 1&1, just the domain which only cost's a couple of quid a year.

All you do then is use 1&1 to forward to your ISPs accounts. If you change ISP just change the forwarding.

This is what I've done for years, and it works very well. I have webmail with my ISP if required, and use Thunderbird at home, and my tablet to collect mail whilst at work.

Hi Ronski

Sorry if being a tad dim but how would you get 1 and 1 to do it for free for new customer?

This for home not the work one , which I have gone from TT to PN fibre.

Cheers

In reply to a post by billford:

In reply to a post by kwhite01:

So obviously, @hotmail.com etc is vulnerable to this method.

And how... I used to have a hotmail account (it may still exist for all I know), but it took me longer to sort through the spam than it did to read and reply to legit emails, so I ditched it.

I don't trust Google as far as I could spit St Paul's Cathedral... don't know anything about Yahoo.

Thats what I'm saying - as @hotmail.com is a well known domain, IT IS vulnerable to the spam issue. And as I said, I havent used the others that I mentioned, so I couldn't comment on how good they were.

In reply to a post by WWWombat:

In reply to a post by kwhite01:

So this means I could be affected by crosstalk.....meaning that the speed I initially get could drop as more people go live on my cabinet? Crosstalk...noise?

Yes - the speed you get initially can drop as more people get onto the cabinet. And yes, to each modem, the crosstalk from other modems is considered as noise.

Here's my personal experience:

My current line is 400 metres, with an estimate of 55/18. It initially achieved 80/20, with maximum attainable speeds of 88/26 (reported by the modem). Over 18 months, the crosstalk has increased, and the modem now reports attainable speeds of 72/25.

What sort of effect is it likely to have...i.e. big speed drop?

Crosstalk is a funny beast, and depends more on how close the copper pairs are within the cable, for how far, and how accurate the twists are - which ultimately depends on the manufacturing process.

It also depends on which exact pairs carry VDSL, so ultimately it depends on which other subscribers take an FTTC service.

So the impact is random.

The actual effect can come in two ways - it either appears as noise, which causes your modem to sync at a lower speed, or it appears as interference that causes data errors. If enough errors happen, DLM will intervene to add FEC & interleaving (which affects both speed and latency) or adds banding too (which further affects speed).

In reply to a post by kwhite01:

So, my estimate is about 28mbs,

BT's estimate already takes into account a reasonable worst-case for crosstalk on a line that otherwise works OK.

So while you may see a speed drop from your initial connection speed, that initial speed should be higher than the prediction (as an early adopter) and it ought to eventually drop to somewhere near the prediction.

Some lines have faults that mean they don't hit the prediction, but that is a different ballgame.

Thanks, very interesting.

Sodicka320, it's not free you need to pay for the domain, which cost from £3.59 per year (first year is £1.19). But it's a very cheap way to get your own personalised email address you can take to any ISP

So say you register www.smith.co.uk, you then log in, and under Communication/Manage, select the Manage E-mail users option, then select new, the only option you will have is Forward.

From here you set up your email address, you could have any name you want before the @smith.co.uk.

Then you enter the address it forwards to, you need to set it to forward to your PN email address.

You can create multiple PN email addresses, and you can create multiple 1&1 email addresses. You can even set one address to forward to multiple accounts if you wanted.

If you change ISP, you just edit where the address forwards to.

Oh, and try and keep the domain name short, nothing worse than a very long email address, I just used my surname, and have email addresses for all family members, which forward to separate PN email accounts.

Hope that makes sense, any problems just PM me.

So he creates an address, i.e. [email protected] and gives this to his friends.

They email [email protected] and in the background, it gets redirected to his ISP email, i.e. [email protected]

So, if he changes ISP in the future, his friends dont know any different, they keep emailing [email protected], but in the background, he changes it to redirect to [email protected] etc.

So far so good.

However, when he replies to any emails that have been redirected to his ISP address, the reply will come from the ISP address, i.e. [email protected].

Have I got that right? So someone would email him on [email protected], but get a reply from [email protected] ...... this would be confusing, and he could end up in the same position....people start just replying to the ISP address, bypassing the redirect.

How do you deal with that?

Set the Reply-To mail header.

You set the reply address in your mail client to match [email protected] It's entirely transparent to his friends, and himself in fact. Once you get your head around it it's very simple.

I use the Gmail outgoing SMTP server when sending from my tablet, but it is as if it comes from my proper email address. Doing this allows me to send emails no matter what ISP I'm connected to the internet through.

Hope that makes sense.

Edited by R0NSKI (Fri 17-May-13 23:30:53)

Hi Thanks for all the info

But after a session of RTFM I found this which seems to be working a treat:

Switch Help Email

Cheers

Edited by deleted (Fri 17-May-13 23:55:32)

That will work but you still won't have ISP independent email address. For what it costs I would still get your own domain name for the email address and switch to using that. You can still collect emails from your old address (and advise anybody who uses it to use your new address ), for as long as it's not deactivated. You'll need to check what you're previous ISP policy is.

Well both of my lines are live. 50 down 20 up ish. 1 guy was a Kelly communications contractor who rushed almost put a drill through my monitor and didn't even do any tests on his install. He literally just told me to do a speed test.

For email I have my own domain and have hosting anyway for my websites so have always used that.

In reply to a post by R0NSKI:

You set the reply address in your mail client to match [email protected] It's entirely transparent to his friends, and himself in fact. Once you get your head around it it's very simple.

I use the Gmail outgoing SMTP server when sending from my tablet, but it is as if it comes from my proper email address. Doing this allows me to send emails no matter what ISP I'm connected to the internet through.

Hope that makes sense.

Thanks for that. I've got my head around it, but never appreciated the reply-to bit, hence why I thought your outgoing mail would come from the isp address. This makes sense now!

In reply to a post by Mtx:

Well both of my lines are live. 50 down 20 up ish. 1 guy was a Kelly communications contractor who rushed almost put a drill through my monitor and didn't even do any tests on his install. He literally just told me to do a speed test.

For email I have my own domain and have hosting anyway for my websites so have always used that.

Well....I'm glad your connected, but concerned about your experience. I hope I get someone who at least appears to care!

At the end of the day though, I guess all I need is "activating" at the cab, the face plate changing and the fibre modem delivering. As long as it works at this point, the engineers knowledge doesn't really matter, but from a customer service point of view, it would inspire confidence that the job has been done correctly if the guy seems to know his stuff.

How did he nearly put a drill through your monitor? And you say he did no tests....what exactly did he do? How long does it take?

He was literally rushing to get home back to Swansea. In racing twice he nearly scratched my monitor while dumping his drill on my desk. I asked if I could used my shielded rj11 and he plugged it in the lan sockets. it was just extremely careless and he didn't give a monkeys.

The Openreach guy tested the first line with a jdsu and some tone test. The Kelly Communications guy just said do a speedtest or something, saw it work and left almost running out the door.

In reply to a post by Mtx:

He was literally rushing to get home back to Swansea. In racing twice he nearly scratched my monitor while dumping his drill on my desk. I asked if I could used my shielded rj11 and he plugged it in the lan sockets. it was just extremely careless and he didn't give a monkeys.

The Openreach guy tested the first line with a jdsu and some tone test. The Kelly Communications guy just said do a speedtest or something, saw it work and left almost running out the door.

I'd be putting a complaint in if I were you. Why was he coming from Swansea? Were both lines via BT?

My appointment is AM on Monday, so a bit early in the day/week for the engineer to be rushing to get home.

Their is only a limited number of engineers from Openreach and its subcontractors such as kellys that can do home installs, so you will have engineers working in different parts of the country to meet the demand.

That makes sense.

Hope I get an Openreach guy!

Yeah the Kelly guy said he was staying at a hotel with other engineers so I guess they ship them around.

Thanks for the info regarding the airport extreme....all set up and running.

Had my install about an hour ago. It was a Kelly guy, from Cardiff. He wasnt very talkative at first, but got the job done.

Came, put the new faceplate on, connected some device to the phone socket then went to the cab. Came back, plugged the modem in, asked for the home hub and connected that. I connected to that and did a speedtest!

Said I used an apple router and he looked confused, so for ease and speed we just tested it with the homehub. Once he left I connected the modem to my apple router and input the new username and all was ok.

Was getting about 2.5 download. Estimate said about 28 download.

speedtest.net is saying about 37mb download, and 8 up!!!!!

Well chuffed with that!

Has anyone notices that the BT ADSL checker is not showing up FTTC estimates any more? Don`t get any FTTC numbers at all when searching by telephone or by postcode/address

My install is on Wednesday. Hope nothing is wrong!!!

It's not showing for mine now, it's probably just a glitch in the matrix.

Nope not showing in fremington either ....and i'm certainly flying now!!!!

Cheers

In reply to a post by sodicka320:

Nope not showing in fremington either ....and i'm certainly flying now!!!!

Cheers

Nice to know...... 2 more days to go..... this is getting unbearable!!!!!!!

40 down and 10 up is going to be......an improvement.

I get them on my number search

WBC FTTC Up to 53.5 Up to 13.2 -- Available
WBC ADSL 2+ Up to 7.5 -- 5.5 to 12 Available
WBC ADSL 2+ Annex M Up to 7.5 Up to 1 5.5 to 12 Available
ADSL Max Up to 5.5 -- 4 to 8 Available
WBC Fixed Rate 2 -- -- Available
Fixed Rate 2 -- -- Available

FTTC has been removed on post code checks due to the ASA complaints above 2/3 months ago. This was when all the dates moved because when displaying FTTC from a post code it was classed to be inaccurate and misleading.

Quick question regarding speeds....

My estimate said I would probably get about 28mb download. When choosing my broadband package, I chose infinity 1, cos that gives up to 38mb download. As the estimate was only 28, then there was no point going for the 76mb infinity 2.

However, I am actually getting about 36 to 37mb download.

Now, I appreciate the recent posts regarding the initial speed dropping off etc, but considering my line is capped at 38 and I'm seeing 37.....do you think I might actually get more if the cap wasnt there?

i.e. if I could get more, would I see 38 and no more due to the cap, and seeing 37 means that is the fastest?

Probably not explained that very well - so...

assuming you could get 50mb. If you had infinity 1, would you get a constant 38, or just "there abouts".

I've got my Airport Extreme running ok, but speediest.net fluctuates - I think this is normal, and apparently the first 3 days it will vary anyway, but would using the homehub be more consistent? And, can you stop the home hub creating the wifi hotspots?

Yes, you can contact the BT Care team and they will be able to increase your line for a couple of days to see if you could get better speeds. Then if you do you have to upgrade...

Thanks. Might leave it a week to settle down, then try that.

How far are you from the cabinet?
There is a graph about somewhere that gives you approx speeds for the distance.

I have no idea, cos I don't know the route the cable takes. There is another cabinet (not mine) much closer to me, so I think I'm on the edge of its boundary.

If its just a case of asking to "trial" infinity 2 for a few days, then thats got to be the easiest option....it will also be the definitive answer....it will either increase (meaning the cap was affecting it) or it wont change (meaning its just a coincidence that I'm getting just a smidge below the limit).

I'm just getting greedy now!!!!

Yeah mines 45 d/l about 8500 u/l over adsl it is so damn fast!! tbh would you even really notice the extra if it cost more?

The other way to find out is to unlock the modem, which is easy if it's an HG612, if it's an ECI one then don't bother (unless you like a challenge).

True, I probably wouldn't notice it, considering 30+ is like lightning to me!!!!

However....I did the BT speedtest tonight and it says the sync speed is 39.9mb! and the speed at the mac was about 37down and 8 up.

I did the test with the homehub plug in and ethernet cable to macbook, then with the airport extreme plugged in and ethernet and then with airport extreme and wireless. All said 39.9 sync (I guess thats the modem), and the down and up speeds were almost identical regardless of connection or router.

However, I found a bit on the BT FAQ last night referring to when Infinity 2 was released and people were asking about the speed increase. It basically said that unless your estimate was at least 40 down and 10 up, then you probably wouldn't notice any improvement on infinity 2 instead of 1.

Gave my apple tv away a few months ago cos on my crummy adsl it was rubbish. Wish I had it back now!!!

so 2 week's ago i could order bt infinity to my new house now there saying the box is not yet connected and the same for most of barnstaple [censored] BT

Edited by deleted (Thu 23-May-13 11:07:26)

Temporary delay. You should be able to order again soon