Fibre Status Exeter

I was wondering if anyone could fill me in on what is happening with the fibre roll out in Exeter please?

I've checked here:
http://www.superfast-openreach.co.uk/where-and-when/

and I can see the Exeter exchange is taking orders. In fact my friend the other side of town tells me he already has fibre. But when I look here:
https://www.btwholesale.com/includes/adsl/main.html

All that is listed for cabinet 12, the one I am connected to is ADSL information:

WBC ADSL 2+ Up to 17 -- 15.5 to 19 Available
WBC ADSL 2+ Annex M Up to 17 Up to 1.5 15.5 to 19 Available
ADSL Max Up to 7.5 -- 6.5 to 8 Available
WBC Fixed Rate 2 -- -- Available
Fixed Rate 2 -- -- Available

There doesn't appear to be any date for connecting fibre. What does this mean? Is it not scheduled or not coming? I understand the old ADSL system well and how it was implemented in Exeter, but I am catching up on fibre.

I am desperate to move away from my current ISP, but it doesn't seem to make sense to do so without upgrading. I have contacted Openreach using the contact form on their website to ask them, I have no idea what their time scale for replies is. If find out anything I will of course share that information.

I would be very grateful for any help, thanks.

Edited by deleted (Tue 21-May-13 12:11:30)

The Openreach timescale i beleive is about 15 working days at current, heavy demand has slowed down the rate of replies, they will say if cab 12 is part of the commercial deployment or if it will be upgraded via the BDUK project for Devon and Somerset.

If you post your postcode we can look to see where cabinet 12 is, it may have a dslam installed next to it and its either waiting to go live or is currently at capacity and awaiting further capacity to be made available.

Mine was the same as my other cabinet number 6 and 7 already got FTTC live except me on cabinet number 8 isn't on FTTC as I had email BT Openreach and they say my cabinet 8 is expecting at the later stage end of 2013.

Just because there's nothing on the online checker doesn't mean it's not coming. I live in Oakham, Rutland and they have been installing cabinets here over the past couple of weeks. The rollout in the surrounding villages is being done with BDUK funding but Oakham itself is part of the commercial rollout. I know which cabinet I'm connected to and they are installing a fibre cab next to it (The power connection was done on Monday but there's no sound from inside it yet.) When I put my phone number into the checker it's doesn't mention fibre at all. When I search by postcode it says fibre isn't due until next year. On samknows it says the exchange itself will be fibre enabled on the 30th September but that site doesn't have any cabinet specific information.

If you can find out where your cabinet is and there isn't currently a fibre cabinet near it, keep checking roadworks.org for installation work. Also any jobs of clearing blockages in the ducts is a promising sign

When BT Openreach say it will be at the later stage (late 2013) but I don't understand why end of 2013 because it will be darker early in Autumn and Winter. Why can't they do it now where there is daylight all day in summer exspecially the work in daylight making it easier for BT Openreach?

Edited by adslmax (Wed 22-May-13 00:50:04)

In reply to a post by ccxo:

The Openreach timescale i beleive is about 15 working days at current, heavy demand has slowed down the rate of replies, they will say if cab 12 is part of the commercial deployment or if it will be upgraded via the BDUK project for Devon and Somerset.

If you post your postcode we can look to see where cabinet 12 is, it may have a dslam installed next to it and its either waiting to go live or is currently at capacity and awaiting further capacity to be made available.

Thanks for the info about Openreach replies that is very helpful

I am curious, how can you tell if a cabinet is for fibre or not? I had a look on google maps and noticed they don't even have some buildings on there that have been built in the last couple of years, so gave up and went for a walk. I have seen some cabinets further to the edge of town with the superfast broadband sticker on, but nothing closer to me.

I had a quick walk around today looking for cabinet 12. There are quite a lot of green cabinets in the area. How can you tell if they are broadband related or not, if they don't have the stickers? There are probably more than I found, I didn't go very far. Here are some photographs of some of the bigger ones:

http://postimg.org/image/pqg67z9p7/
http://postimg.org/image/bfehlpv9x/
http://postimg.org/image/lu7fpqe3f/
http://postimg.org/image/8fbm25yp9/
http://postimg.org/image/vbn3o4b3l/
http://postimg.org/image/6c5d0v671/
http://postimg.org/image/xpf59d259/
http://postimg.org/image/ak4qncx0d/
http://postimg.org/image/6usztx1xv/
http://postimg.org/image/to2iup3ob/
http://postimg.org/image/5drfxw2qx/
http://postimg.org/image/o7d8uw0yx/

In reply to a post by adslmax:

Mine was the same as my other cabinet number 6 and 7 already got FTTC live except me on cabinet number 8 isn't on FTTC as I had email BT Openreach and they say my cabinet 8 is expecting at the later stage end of 2013.

Thanks for your reply. Is this is in Exeter? Do you know where cabinet 8 is located? I was wondering if there is any order to them.

In reply to a post by No_One:

Just because there's nothing on the online checker doesn't mean it's not coming. I live in Oakham, Rutland and they have been installing cabinets here over the past couple of weeks. The rollout in the surrounding villages is being done with BDUK funding but Oakham itself is part of the commercial rollout. I know which cabinet I'm connected to and they are installing a fibre cab next to it (The power connection was done on Monday but there's no sound from inside it yet.) When I put my phone number into the checker it's doesn't mention fibre at all. When I search by postcode it says fibre isn't due until next year. On samknows it says the exchange itself will be fibre enabled on the 30th September but that site doesn't have any cabinet specific information.

If you can find out where your cabinet is and there isn't currently a fibre cabinet near it, keep checking roadworks.org for installation work. Also any jobs of clearing blockages in the ducts is a promising sign

That gives me some hope, thanks Thanks also to the link to roadworks.org, I will keep an eye on this. I could see earlier on today there are some electrical works going on and some virgin media stuff. What sorts of things should I be looking out for on there? Will it be noted as fibre work, or electrical work or...?

In reply to a post by adslmax:

When BT Openreach say it will be at the later stage (late 2013) but I don't understand why end of 2013 because it will be darker early in Autumn and Winter. Why can't they do it now where there is daylight all day in summer exspecially the work in daylight making it easier for BT Openreach?

Makes sense to me!

Openreach have more than enough work to fill the whole year. It cannot be all done in summer months.

I'm sure i have seen them working under floodlights?

They operate 24 hours a day across the country

Apart from the 4th one they all look like Virgin Media cabs.

Because mankind can create light in the dark these days, so we don't need to hide indoors when it is night

When using the roadwork's website make sure you check the option to show future works.

Installation of the fftc cabinet will often mention nga works, build cabinet base, install ducting or similar, and normally listed as BT work.

Power connection seems to be listed as either telephone or power work.

Some times what appears as a cabinet install can just be a reshell of the PCP.

broadbandcat (my cabinet number 8 is nothing to do with exeter, it my area Telford. Sorry for confused ya.

Broadbandcat the 5th link you posted is a Openreach PCP but its number 6, as you can see the number just above the door.

If you post your postcode we can help find your cabinet, bellow is a page of BT and VM street cabinets, you want to look for BT PCP's.

http://www.robertos.me.uk/html/street_cabinets_etc.html

In reply to a post by somerset:

Apart from the 4th one they all look like Virgin Media cabs.

This looks similar to the one two the one ccxo mentioned marked 6, I wonder if this makes two of them? The numbering is different. A342 I think?

In reply to a post by R0NSKI:

When using the roadwork's website make sure you check the option to show future works.

Installation of the fftc cabinet will often mention nga works, build cabinet base, install ducting or similar, and normally listed as BT work.

Power connection seems to be listed as either telephone or power work.

Some times what appears as a cabinet install can just be a reshell of the PCP.

Thanks very much for this information I will keep an eye out for those things.

In reply to a post by adslmax:

broadbandcat (my cabinet number 8 is nothing to do with exeter, it my area Telford. Sorry for confused ya.

No probs, thanks for clearing that up

In reply to a post by ccxo:

Broadbandcat the 5th link you posted is a Openreach PCP but its number 6, as you can see the number just above the door.

If you post your postcode we can help find your cabinet, bellow is a page of BT and VM street cabinets, you want to look for BT PCP's.

http://www.robertos.me.uk/html/street_cabinets_etc.html

Thanks, I think I may need a little help with this! I am surprised how many variations of cabinet there are, they all look slightly different to me. My postcode is E X 1 2 N P, if you have time to have a look it would be appreciated. I will see if I can find anything else with those pictures.

Edited by deleted (Thu 23-May-13 00:17:38)

http://goo.gl/maps/9XDAn

In reply to a post by Ribble:

http://goo.gl/maps/9XDAn

Thank you so much! That looks like it That is just across the road from where I was taking photos, but slightly round the corner out of sight. I have been out to confirm and taken some more pictures:

Two cabs, one new one GPO. Both appeared to be numbered 12. Is it likely the older one is not in use but hasn't been removed?
http://s24.postimg.org/gpfd09hzp/P1070028.jpg

Front and sides of the newer cabinet:
http://s7.postimg.org/5k4jukp57/P1070030.jpg
http://s21.postimg.org/lus0ap9vb/P1070032.jpg
http://s11.postimg.org/xv5k6f3cz/P1070031.jpg

Gross stuff behind cabinet, dunno why I took that picture, but I saw it so there it is:
http://s9.postimg.org/vdjdk7osf/P1070033.jpg

GPO Cabinet front and sides:
http://s23.postimg.org/41fsv4i8b/P1070034.jpg
http://s17.postimg.org/onso3obf3/P1070035.jpg
http://s13.postimg.org/g5xx6xh2f/P1070036.jpg

I tried to measure the distance from my building the cabinet. One of my steps is approx 50cm, so counted the steps and halved them to get the rough distance. The cabinet is 112 metres from my door, but only 40 metres from the edge of the building.

Have signed up to roadworks.org alerts. Some virgin media stuff going on today and planned water works, but that's about it.

Wondering if there is anything else I can check before I get a response back from Openreach?

Edited by deleted (Thu 23-May-13 12:09:10)

I'd guess that cab will be towards the far end of the planned commercial rollout, so early next year........just a guess though

Use google makes to plan a route, and change the distance to Kms, that will give you a more accurate distance, but it sounds as though you are nice and close.

Looks like you are right Ribble. I have had two separate replies, one from the [email protected] e-mail address and one from the enquiry I sent via the openreach website. I got a reply faster from [email protected] than directly though the website, in case anyone is wondering that.

First e-mail:

Thank you for your enquiry about fibre broadband, I can confirm that you are connected to Exeter exchange cabinet WW/EXTR 12. When rolling out fibre broadband, we don’t necessarily upgrade all the deployable cabinets at the same time. This may be for our planning or local planning reasons, engineering resource or technical issues. As such, your cabinet, along with others in the Exeter exchange area are currently in the planning stage so don’t as yet feature in on-line checkers. There is a long way to go through the build process, however, we are currently predicting that your cabinet will go live for fibre broadband in February ’14.

Please note that this is an advisory date which could move forward or backwards dependant on local conditions.

Second E-mail:

Thank you for your email

Information about the commercial fibre project can be found on the rollout site below:-

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

Cabinet wwextr12 to which your line is connected is currently being assessed as part of a later phase in your exchange area. That phase is expected to run into 2014. Until the outcome of the assessment is known there is no further information as to whether or not this cabinet will be viable under the commercial project. It probably will be close of August before the assessment outcome is likely to be known.

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

So... looks like I am going to be waiting a little while longer I am going to see if I can get other people in the area to register their interest. Slightly frustrating, I share a cabinet with the Jobcentre and various other businesses. I would have thought that would make it commercially viable.

Seriously wondering what to do in the meantime. Don't want to stay with O2 -> Sky a minute longer, however, don't really want to be lumbered with a 12 month contract again, will need to change sooner than that. Looks like fibre is not going to help me make my mind up yet.