Why is my line not enabled for FTTC?

Just done a check on the BTW checker to see when I will be able to get Fibre Broadband. It confirms that Fibre Multicast is now available but nothing about when Fibre Broadband(FTTC) will be available.
This seems very strange as I was on an EO line but then in the New Year my line along with others in the village were transferred to a new cabinet (PCP12) outside the exchange in Mevagissey Cornwall (WWMEVA).
I have checked other lines on this cabinet and find that those in the centre of the village are now able to order FTTC but those 5 minutes walk away,including mine,are unable to and no availability date is given. I have emailed OR and Superfast Cornwall regarding this and haven't had any reply yet (OR 5 weeks ago).
According to the BE user group forum(BRAS checker) the recorded BT line length is 282 metres and by road to the exchange is around 800 metres. I am currently on ADSL2+ and get around 16 Mbps down and 1Mbps up and so I don't think it is the line length. Properties nearer to the cab than me are also in the same boat.
Anybody got any ideas why?

Does the BTW checker give a cabinet number for you? Just above the table of speed estimates.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Does the BTW checker give a cabinet number for you? Just above the table of speed estimates.

Yes it confirms that my line is on cabinet 12 WWMEVA.

If others on the cabinet can order, whilst some can't and they are close enough by the sounds of it then it must be a database error.

Try emailing the address here, if that's the one you emailed before then try it again.

In reply to a post by R0NSKI:

If others on the cabinet can order, whilst some can't and they are close enough by the sounds of it then it must be a database error.

Try emailing the address here, if that's the one you emailed before then try it again.

Email sent, but going on past experience with OR I will not hold my breath for a reply!

I wouldn't hold my breath, takes them about ten days to reply going by recent posts on here.

If NGA proves to not help then I can try the Cornish people who may actually know more about the local situation

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

If NGA proves to not help then I can try the Cornish people who may actually know more about the local situation

I have also emailed the Superfast Cornwall people about this and they are usually pretty quick in replying.

I take a keen interest in this outcome !
I'm on WWPAR exchange and have now got the Fibre Multicast live option too.
I am ( was?) on an exchange only line until recently but have now shown up on Cabinet 22 which is the brand new Cab placed right outside the exchange for the exchange only users.
Until recently , I was showing on TalkTalk's website as "coming end March 2013" , it has now reverted back to " coming soon"
Superfast Cornwall have not been able to say if I will actually receive Fibre , just wondered if anyone here could shed any light on the coming changes ?
Does Fibre Multicast available mean that FTTC would follow shortly ?
Thanks for any additional info

Pete

In reply to a post by Peterswest:

I take a keen interest in this outcome !
I'm on WWPAR exchange and have now got the Fibre Multicast live option too.
I am ( was?) on an exchange only line until recently but have now shown up on Cabinet 22 which is the brand new Cab placed right outside the exchange for the exchange only users.
Until recently , I was showing on TalkTalk's website as "coming end March 2013" , it has now reverted back to " coming soon"
Superfast Cornwall have not been able to say if I will actually receive Fibre , just wondered if anyone here could shed any light on the coming changes ?
Does Fibre Multicast available mean that FTTC would follow shortly ?
Thanks for any additional info

Pete

Just wondered ,how far are you from the cabinet and do you know if any lines connected to it have been enabled for fibre?

Ive been watching the work going on for the last few months , the DSL Address checker changed to Fibre Multicast enabled , over the weekend. I don't know of anyone in my postcode that is as interested as me in FTTC.
I talked to the engineers on install and they said it was for the exchange only lines at WWPAR , I think its still too early to know if anyone has taken up FTTC from Cabinet 22 , I have a few friends in nearby postcodes that are served by the same cabinet , will keep asking if anyone has an order accepted. I am 250M from the exchange by wire , was rather hoping that this would be me upgraded , although , Superfast Cornwall stated that even with the cabinet installed, there's no guarantee that it means our Postcode would be enabled still

I have been putting telephone numbers that I know are on my cabinet and find that numbers in the centre of Mevagissey have just been enabled but those like me, about 500 to 800 metres away from the cab haven't been.
Why don't you do the same? Incidentally, try and use an actual phone number as postcodes don't give the full information.

In reply to a post by Peterswest:

Does Fibre Multicast available mean that FTTC would follow shortly ?

No.

It indicates something about the exchange-based head-end infrastructure, and whether it is connected to the national multi-casting network - which I think is mostly aimed at efficiently broadcasting live TV/Video.

My old house had FTTC but no multicast (and still doesn't), my new house (different exchange) has FTTC with multicasting.

Done a few number checks for the new Cabinet 22 at WWPAR , and all the same results , Fibre Multicast enabled , no FTTC enabled as of yet , just can't be fully up and ready yet I spose

Had a reply from Superfast Cornwall ;

Hi George, according to the latest schedule we've received, enablement of cabinet 12 is fairly imminent. These new cabinets that replace exchange-only lines aren't as straightforward as regular FTTC cabinets, so we can't give any upfront confirmation of which premises will be able to order when. This particular fibre solution is entirely new so a few connectivity vagaries are to be expected - please bear with us while we try to communicate this as best as we can.
Regards, Mark

I did reply that cab12 was live and that only lines in the centre of the village were able to order fibre broadband. I also did confirm to him that Par exchange was having the same issue with ex EO lines on a new PCP.

Anyway will probably have to wait and see what happens and keep checking the BTW checker!

Thinking about it a little, I can see that merely placing a cabinet isn't enough... obviously your line (and others in the same bundle) needs to be re-routed via the cabinet once it is in place.

To do this takes some physical work to get the cable bundle(s) wired into the cabinet, and new lines from the cabinet to the MDF and into the line cards.

Could it be that the Openreach database says you are connected via that cabinet, but in reality you aren't actually physically wired into it yet?

Can't answer that one but I would hope that all the old EO lines have after 4 months, now been transferred to the new PCP.

Thanks for the info , have E-mailed nga openreach just to see if they can shed any more light .
Superfast Cornwall did say that not " all" EO lines will be able to move to these new cabs , just hope mines one of them. As another poster commented , must depend on which cabling can ( or must be ) re-routed ? But, as I said previously , ive never come up with a cabinet number on my EO line before , surely something must be changing

Got in touch with Superfast Cornwall and mentioned Peterswest problem,they must be getting fed up of me, this is what they replied;

Thanks for your repeated message - to which I can only repeat "This particular fibre solution is entirely new so a few connectivity vagaries are to be expected - please bear with us while we try to communicate this as best as we can."

The programme is well aware that coverage in some former EO areas is patchy and engineers are working to solve these issues.

I hope they can resolve this issue but I am not holding my breath. Will keep you posted on further developments.

Oh and one more thing, I am still waiting a reply from OR re my query about this problem
, now 6 weeks and counting. I did send a reminder/update to them last week.

Superfast are a good company , but I get the impression that they don't know the "nitty gritty" stuff , won't bother them again , will just have to wait and see if Cabinet 22 does include me for FTTC

Just as an aside on the "nitty-gritty stuff"...

In general, the proper E-side cables from exchange to PCP can have 500, 1,000 or more pairs, and are pressurised as a means of keeping water out, and identifying potential failures. They've been in place for decades - some of them are insulated with paper... and you wouldn't want that to get wet at all! The storm surge from Hurricane Sandy catastrophically took out all the underground copper cables in a New York exchange, such that they had to upgrade to fibre.

Take a look at this primer and at this discussion. Pictures of the cable vault in that New York exchange can be found here.

I don't know what happens with EO-lines, but the discussion linked above indicates that these lines can still be pressurised up to the point that the first distribution (D-side) lines connect. Are they treated much like proper E-side lines? Are they made of the same technology?

So, you can imagine that there are complications involved here, where the "E-side" of the EO lines have been in the ground for decades, have no slack to be re-routed and connected into a cabinet, could be made of paper, and expect to be pressurised to stay dry.

It isn't quite the same as popping into B+Q and buying some connector blocks.

In reply to a post by WWWombat:

Just as an aside on the "nitty-gritty stuff"...

In general, the proper E-side cables from exchange to PCP can have 500, 1,000 or more pairs, and are pressurised as a means of keeping water out, and identifying potential failures. They've been in place for decades - some of them are insulated with paper... and you wouldn't want that to get wet at all! The storm surge from Hurricane Sandy catastrophically took out all the underground copper cables in a New York exchange, such that they had to upgrade to fibre.

Take a look at this primer and at this discussion. Pictures of the cable vault in that New York exchange can be found here.

I don't know what happens with EO-lines, but the discussion linked above indicates that these lines can still be pressurised up to the point that the first distribution (D-side) lines connect. Are they treated much like proper E-side lines? Are they made of the same technology?

So, you can imagine that there are complications involved here, where the "E-side" of the EO lines have been in the ground for decades, have no slack to be re-routed and connected into a cabinet, could be made of paper, and expect to be pressurised to stay dry.

It isn't quite the same as popping into B+Q and buying some connector blocks.

They have been trialling this for a year so I would have thought OR would have 'ironed out the creases' before launching it on a county wide basis. Anyway, it does look like a complex situation and hopefully OR can deal with it ASAP.

In reply to a post by WWWombat:

It isn't quite the same as popping into B+Q and buying some connector blocks.

Scotch lock anyone?

PS. scotch locks are awful things and should never have been invented!

As of 1000 this morning , Cabinet 22 at WWPAR went live for accepting orders for FTTC , waiting has finally paid off !

In reply to a post by Peterswest:

As of 1000 this morning , Cabinet 22 at WWPAR went live for accepting orders for FTTC , waiting has finally paid off !

Yes but have all the lines been enabled for FTTC yet? My line on cab 12 WWMEVA along with the others I have reported on are still not able to order fibre BB.

Edited by deleted (Thu 28-Mar-13 18:02:00)

Just an update to confirm that as of today my line has now been enabled for fibre and I have gone and ordered an upgrade to my existing BT Total Broadband, no extra charges save for a new 12 month contract. Due to be activated next Friday(19/04/13).
Funnily enough it doesn't seem that neighbouring properties are able to order fibre. Looks like my email to OR 3 weeks ago has produced a result just for my line!

Edited by deleted (Thu 11-Apr-13 18:01:18)

hi there

looks like im in a similar boat as you guys were, im in launceston cornwall lots of areas around gone live and other areas of my town but no news on my area. About 2 months ago all the fibre vans were in the estate and it all gone in but nothing on btw checker. Superfast cornwall wont tell me anything except the words coming soon they did originally say march!. I think there is a delay but they dont seems to know much any ideas?