Fibre Help? (M6 5LZ - Pendleton)

Hi all,

I'm new to these forums and found the info here really useful in the pursuit of superfast broadband

Below is an email I have just sent to openreach to ask for advice obtaining broadband.

Does anyone have any additional advice that might help? What I'm really after is something which will let me check when my cabinet is due to be upgraded. I'm aware the openreach marker map will show if it's been delayed, however, I can't find any information at all about when (if at all) my cabinet was ever originally due to be upgraded to fibre.

Many thanks for any assistance anyone can provide.

-----------------------------------

Dear Sir / Madam,

I currently live at the following address:

xxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxx
Salford
M6 5LZ

My home telephone and broadband is serviced by Sky and I currently have an ADSL2 connection with approximately 15Mbps downstream / 1Mbps upstream.

From searching various websites (Openreach checker, BT checker, ISP availability information etc.) I have researched the following information for my line:

Exchange: Pendleton (Openreach checker suggests the exchange is accepting orders)
Service Type: FTTP
Phase: 6B
Cabinet: P64

While I have approached many ISPs to obtain either a FTTC or FTTP fibre connection, all have stated fibre is currently unavailable in my area. In addition to this, while I live in a Virgin Media enabled area, the required cabling is not present on my street and therefore my property is deemed unserviceable for cable.

Are you able to provide any indication of when fibre services will be available for my property? Further to this, if fibre isn't available; is it possible to give an indication of what needs to take place in order for it to become available ie. As the information above suggests a FTTP service is likely, is the lack of availability related to the installation of fibre cables from the P64 cabinet to my property?

Any assistance you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Kind regards,
Dan.

It may be cab is waiting on bduk project, thus council broadband website may have more info

Thanks for the reply and advice MrSaffron. I'll do a bit of research into the BDUK project and also have a look around on my council website.

A quick glance shows the project has a particular emphasis on rural areas - I'm definitely not in a rural area as I'm only a mile or so outside the centre of Manchester / Media City. Salford in itself is a high density residential area.

So far I've found this:

http://www.salford.gov.uk/pr-12-976.htm

I can't find anything else on the council website so I guess I just need to be more patient. All the signs seem positive

It might be worth having a quick look here. You never know, you might just get lucky!

Thanks for the advice Crusiux. I've just had a really terrible experience with Virgin Media though.

Virgin Media advertised cable as available in my area by post and also visiting my property. It also changed to available via their postcode checker. So I went ahead and ordered and cancelled my Sky subscription.

After taking a day off work the engineer who came to do the install asked where my cables were. When they looked at the street outside they explained that they'd need to get a construction team to complete a cable pull through as the property hadn't previously been serviced by Virgin Media.

This led to a 2nd Engineer appointment a week or so later. The construction works were scheduled for the AM, with the internal installation scheduled for the PM. After taking another day off work I was left a voicemail message the day before installation to be told the works were cancelled.

I wasn't ever really given a proper reason.

I was told:

- Civil works declined by the Council.

Upon challenging this because I don't live on a Council road, the reason was changed to:

- Incorrect ducting on my street.

- I was also left another voicemail which indicated a different reason. The 30m cable pull through was not economical and therefore it was declined by the area manager from a cost perspective.

Which ever reason it was, I'm fairly sure I don't want to go down the route of exploring an installation with VM again just yet.