WTH is going on with Fibre in Exeter?

WWEXTR was enabled for Fibre a couple of years ago now.

It was destined to be a FTTP/C exchange, with FTTC available in some areas and FTTP available in others.

I personally saw Openreach laying Fibre throughout various parts of the city two years ago - these areas have had the tell tale Fibre connection point atop various poles and have done since summer 2011.

Unfortunately near-as-makes-no-difference, none of these actually have Openreach fibre services available to order. The FTTC areas have been live for best part of two years now.

I recently moved, again to an area which was slated for FTTP but all I can get is ADSL 2+; but that's fine, with the aid of DMT Tool I'm connecting at a rock solid 19.2 Meg and am very happy with that.

The Openreach engineer however advised me that Openreach are no longer doing FTTP in Exeter.

I don't know how much to trust what he's said but if he's correct then this means that an alarmingly large proportion of the city will be left with ADSL; a lot of them at the end of a long line - E.g. Cab P135.- with no Virgin Media alternative.

You could try emailing [email protected], though there's a good chance they won't actually tell you much that's of use. I'm in a similar situation, though with Birmingham city centre on an exchange that had FTTP quietly yanked a while ago.

In reply to a post by hopkapi:

You could try emailing [email protected], though there's a good chance they won't actually tell you much that's of use. I'm in a similar situation, though with Birmingham city centre on an exchange that had FTTP quietly yanked a while ago.

Last time I contacted them I was connected to Cab P135 and they told me that FTTP should be available to order by Q1/Q2 2013.

I no longer live there but I've just done an address check and we're in Q3 now and it still isn't available to order at that address.

I've just sent them another email but as you say I won't hold my breath.

Um...

FTTP is certainly available, and orderable in some parts of Exeter, and I know of enabled lines very recently. There is a change in the wholesale packages available but I've not heard anything to suggest it can't be ordered at all.

There is more than a hint of 'chicken and egg' going on here ....... with little or no orders being placed by CP's.

Openreach are not racing to plough manpower, money, and time into this. This quick wins for the company are to be had from getting FTTC out as quick as poss, that will help meet the promises.

The costs involved are massive, and with no immediate sight of return on investment, you can well imagine the reticence.

It is coming, but with more of a whimper than a bang.

I got this reply from OR a few months back..

"Thank you for your enquiry regarding Exeter, cabinet 135.
I have been in contact with the relevant Project Manager and he advises that you are correct that Fibre to the Premise (FTTP) will not now be coming to your address. However, once the cabinet has been enabled for Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) there is the possibility of Fibre on Demand (FOD). "

But then I got Andrew (MrSaffon) to investigate and apparently I am still on the FTTP rollout plan...

Personally I've given up hope and I'm starting to lose interest in the whole issue.