DSL checker query re. "availability date"

Evening all, apologies in advance for the potentially repeated question.

I'm FTTC to become available now the exchange itself has been active for a few months.
DSL checker initially said between Sept13-March14 and each month its moved along to where it sits now at Dec13-March14. It now says an availability date for FTTC and Fibre multicast is available from March 31st 2014.

I think i probably know the answer to this but god awful 2mb down and .5 up is the reason for asking such an ambiguous question.

Is there any likelihood of the FTTC becoming available to me prior to the furthest away date on the DSLchecker/BT checker site or is there a "live date" in somebodies book somewhere that will determine when it goes live?

This is possibly me clutching at straws but i did notice that on DSL checker, the " FTTC range A (clean) / FTTC range b (impacted) section has appeared where it was not before, could this mean we're getting closer to a launch date?

I would be hugely thankful if anyone could give me any information less vague than is available to the phone staff at BT.

We are served by Cabinet 7 on the LYTHAM exchange and the postcode is fy85bz if anyone can use that information.

Sincere thanks once again.

'Fraid not . Even all the straws have been nicked.

The new layout of the checker happened recently - RONSKI opened a thread. All you can do is keep an eye open for markings on pavements near to the cabinet, for installation and supply to the FTTC one. Even those don't mean a lot, as it can take from a couple of weeks to many months after that for it togo live.

You could also check the local authority website for road works notifications. There's usually good stuff there.

I suspected as much, thanks for the reply though.

I'm starting to expect that March 31st date to start moving ever further away as we move into new year.

I expect they will be pushing hard next quarter.

Good god i hope so. It's a 3rd world problem but slow internet with everyone wanting to use it is a killer!

That's BT for you mate. BT never rush into anything. BT are awful taking too long before it activsted and live for FTTC to customer eg: roadworks.org date, installing cabinet, stood there for 3, 6, 9, 12 or even 18 months, then BT Wholesale checker a further delay from available date to accepting order then lastly a further delaying for openreach to installing and activated your FTTC at your property.

More likely anything from March 2014 until September/October 2015

Edited by adslmax (Thu 12-Dec-13 04:23:48)

Complete nonsense of course, as per.

Checker goes live as soon as the cabinet passes commissioning, barring issues. Cabinet goes into commissioning and testing as soon as it is complete, barring issues. The delay for install is because, shockingly enough, Openreach don't have enough engineers that they can install FTTC the moment you order it.

Some cabinets are delivered late, as expected with a project of this size, some are delivered early. Doesn't change that for a company that apparently never rush into anything BT are doing the fastest FTTC rollout in the western world.

You're a very special boy, Phil, and no doubt you'll be wanting special treatment when the cabinet goes live and be harassing Openreach / the BT CEO / God / Allah / Yahweh to install you first. Clearly so deserving.

Trust when you are enabled you'll post a speed test and either start worshipping BT in Katy Perry style or quieten up?

^^ no comment to you. Yes I want FTTC to hurry up and get their butt here! BT CEO told me to calm down and it will come soon in February 2014 but I don't believe any word from BT CEO. More likely end of 2014.

Edited by adslmax (Thu 12-Dec-13 11:06:00)

Indeed, they're just standing the cabinet for fun and will leave it dormant for several months for no apparent reason.

Seeing someone with 120Mb cable constantly whinging about not being able to get 80Mb via Openreach when, in this area, after 22 months of campaigning and waiting we finally have our cabinet meaning a deaf resident has just been able to have a sign language Face Time call with her parents for the first time in years really grates.

Most would be happy that they have SFBB of any kind. 1/4th of the population still don't, let alone the choice of Openreach or Virgin.

I rather have Hyperoptic than virgin media and bt fttc.

Quod erat demonstrandum.

Well i thought I'd make a post here as there's not a great deal more i can do other than fester in frustration.

The due date was the 31st of March, in 9 days for availability to go live and you'll never guess what's happened, that's right, it's now Dec 31st 2014.

Annoyingly, all the other cabinets in the local area both closer and further away from the exchange all still either have the March 31st date or have already gone live.

Can anyone hazard a guess as to what exactly is wrong with the cabinet that serves my road or is it just a case of Open-reach running out of time and unluckily for me our cabinet has been pushed to the back of the queue?

Cheers for any replies and/or sympathy!

Perhaps if you post exchange and cabinet number someone may know something.

In reply to a post by kinny999:

Well i thought I'd make a post here as there's not a great deal more i can do other than fester in frustration.

The due date was the 31st of March, in 9 days for availability to go live and you'll never guess what's happened, that's right, it's now Dec 31st 2014.

Yep, same here. If by some miracle they meet that, it'll be 4.5 years late.

It seems they're back to using placeholder dates that bear no relation to reality, automatically booting them back by 9 months when they're reached (rather than 3 months as previously).

Edited by arfster (Sun 23-Mar-14 14:04:53)

Ist the Lytham exchange (fy8) and cabinet 7 if that helps anyone.

It's even more annoying that the messages that shows on dsl checker is ' it has been delayed for te following reason ; it's taking us longer than expected. '

Completely useless and ambiguous.

I understand that things are out of their control sometimes, I just with it was more transparent when issues do arise.

I have just had the same thing happen to me !!! My installation date was the 31st March 2014 after changing several times last year. For the last three months it was fixed at the 31st March then today 28th March 2014 the website now shows 30th June 2014!!! I have been watching the install over the last few weeks and chatted to the installers .... Cabinet in......fibre in and connected to the exchanged.... Power installed....So cannot understand this new delay......

Any one with insight to why the further delay? I am on Exchange BISHOPSGATE and served by Cabinet 8.

Was soooo looking forward to getting my order in

Its a painfully inept way of informing the customers about what's happening.
Something a little less ambiguous regarding the reasoning would be a little less frustrating.

With regards to my situation, the cabinets which were still scheduled for 3 days time have now been pushed back until September so the fact that it's happening in more than one place leads me to optimistically hope that the Sept/Dec 14 dates are just plucked out of the air rather than an actual realistic timeline.

Think i need to keep y eye out for an open-reach technician (or find one on this forum perhaps?) and ask them if they can share any useful insight?

Yup same thing here. Good job I didn't sign up with BT on the hope that they'd upgrade my cabinet on time.


BT BROADBAND AVAILABILITY CHECKER
Address CATHCART ROAD, GLASGOW, G42 9X- on Exchange LANGSIDE is served by Cabinet 18

Featured Products Downstream Line Rate(Mbps) Upstream Line Rate(Mbps) Downstream Range(Mbps) Availability Date

High Low High Low
FTTC Range A (Clean) 80 77 20 19.9 -- 30-Sep-14
FTTC Range B (Impacted) 80 67.3 20 17.9 -- 30-Sep-14

WBC ADSL 2+ Up to 17 -- 10 to 19.5 Available
WBC ADSL 2+ Annex M Up to 17 Up to 1.5 10 to 19.5 Available
ADSL Max Up to 7.5 -- 6.5 to 8 Available
WBC Fixed Rate 2 -- -- Available
Fixed Rate 2 -- -- Available
Other Offerings
Fibre Multicast -- -- -- 30-Sep-14
Copper Multicast -- -- -- Available

FTTC is currently not available on this cabinet due to following reasons:- Sorry it's taking us longer than planned to get your cabinet ready for service. Please bear with us.

Edited by deleted (Sat 29-Mar-14 03:38:21)

Forgot to change my sig, now I'm on 152Mb.

yeah exact same scenario for me, i nearly signed up with them in advance as they told me BT customer would get first dibs (which i later found out to be complete BS).

If you enter your phone number on the BT can i get fibre bit on the actual BT site it may give you a slightly more optimistic outcome, for me it says "between July and December 14" rather than just Dec 14.

Seems like it's happened a great deal from the replies here and other forums i use. All within the last week or so.

I'd love an explanation, even if it is just, "sorry, we took too many cabinets on" .

I don't seem to be able to contact Openreach to enquire any further as their contact us page only seems to want to direct me to other companies unless i'm enquiring on behalf of the council or complaining about a different matter!

Are there any Engineers on here does anyone know? Or any forums they frequent that i could badger one?

In reply to a post by MUD_Wizard:

High Low High Low
FTTC Range A (Clean) 80 77 20 19.9 -- 30-Sep-14
FTTC Range B (Impacted) 80 67.3 20 17.9 -- 30-Sep-14

Your fibre estimated is the same as mine. Pretty good estimated. I am getting 74/19 with plusnet. As the line is maximum on 112,000Kbps down and 38,000kbkps up but BT limit at 79,999k/19,999k.

In reply to a post by MUD_Wizard:

BT BROADBAND AVAILABILITY CHECKER
Address CATHCART ROAD, GLASGOW, G42 9X- on Exchange LANGSIDE is served by Cabinet 18

High Low High Low
FTTC Range A (Clean) 80 77 20 19.9 -- 30-Sep-14
FTTC Range B (Impacted) 80 67.3 20 17.9 -- 30-Sep-14

I wonder if it's anything to do with a little referendum that is slowing down BT's plans?

Well then, just over a month to go until the December 31st date that's been looming ever since March.

I wonder what odds i'd get for betting on another delay sometime in the final 72 hours of 2014??