Massive delays on Leabrooks exchange FTTC activation

Fancied posting a rant on Christmas Day.

An ECI cabinet appeared on the end of my street around May/June, so I instantly got onto the BT website to see when Infinity is supposed to be available for me. It originally said it would be available between August 2013 and September 2013.

I patiently waited it out until the end of September expecting to be able to order, so I gave BT a call only to find out that it wasn't yet available and had been delayed. They told me it wouldn't be available until either October 2013 or November 2013.

Again, I waited and had another look on BT's website at the end of November to see the dates had been changed to between November 2013 and December 2013.

Here we are now on Christmas Day, near the end of December, so I thought i'd have another look on the BT checker to see if it is available yet by chance, before the end of December. No, it's now been delayed again and says between December 2013 and March 2014.

I wonder what is causing all of these delays, I've seen Openreach vans driving around every now and again, and I have seen someone at the cabinet just recently. It's very rare though. I was originally looking forward to signing up for a FTTC package, but it's taken so long now i'm no longer interested.

Also I find BT's website terrifyingly vague, its as if they just install fibre when they can be bothered. A 3 month timeframe is incredible. The lack of information about delays too...

Edited by Callumpy (Wed 25-Dec-13 17:22:12)

Have you tried the checker at
http://www.superfast-openreach.co.uk/where-and-when/
That often gives a reason if a cabinet is in delay by showing an additional pin on the response map.

Alternatively try emailing
[email protected] and include your telephone number and full address details.

You might get a sensible answer from [email protected]

The typical response time seems to be about three weeks, but in cases like this they are often very straight with the facts. A polite enquiry with those slippage details rather than a rant is probably best .

You seem to think Infinity is all there is on FTTC? Any ISP can supply FTTC, just like ADSLx. Infinity is merely the BT Retail offering.

In reply to a post by Gadget:

Have you tried the checker at
http://www.superfast-openreach.co.uk/where-and-when/
That often gives a reason if a cabinet is in delay by showing an additional pin on the response map.

Alternatively try emailing
[email protected] and include your telephone number and full address details.

Thanks, I have tried that checker and it just says:

"Exchange Name: LEABROOKS
Status: Coming Soon
Forecast date: December 2013

Follow us on Twitter for updates"

That suggests that it isn't even up to date with the BT Wholesale and Retail checkers.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

You might get a sensible answer from [email protected]

The typical response time seems to be about three weeks, but in cases like this they are often very straight with the facts. A polite enquiry with those slippage details rather than a rant is probably best .

You seem to think Infinity is all there is on FTTC? Any ISP can supply FTTC, just like ADSLx. Infinity is merely the BT Retail offering.

I will give them an email and see what I can get from them, thank you.

Im also aware that other ISPs have access to Openreach's network to serve VDSL. I'm never sure what I should refer to it as, there is so much false advertising around this new network such as "fibre broadband". The fibre only goes to the cabinet and is injected into the copper lines, I think it's wrong to call it fibre broadband, but it seems to have stuck and the ASA don't care about it too much.

Anyway, I've referred to it as Infinity as i'd be using BT's services if they were available to me, sorry about that.

Edited by Callumpy (Wed 25-Dec-13 19:39:49)

you have a few more months to wait yet

Dear Sir

Thank you for your further enquiry about fibre broadband, the deployment of cabinet EM/LEABR 17 is in delay due to several serious blockages in the ductwork between the exchange and the fibre cabinet.
We are working on clearing these but this has extended the intended go live date to early February ’14.
If you have any further questions, please ensure you have read the FAQ's on our website, http://www.openreachfibrebroadband.co.uk/faq/ . If your question is answered within the FAQ section, we will not respond to your e-mail.

Regards

Tony Franklin
NGA Enquiries
Email:- [email protected]|
W Web: www.openreach.co.uk

In reply to a post by idmanager:

you have a few more months to wait yet

Dear Sir

Thank you for your further enquiry about fibre broadband, the deployment of cabinet EM/LEABR 17 is in delay due to several serious blockages in the ductwork between the exchange and the fibre cabinet.
We are working on clearing these but this has extended the intended go live date to early February ’14.
If you have any further questions, please ensure you have read the FAQ's on our website, http://www.openreachfibrebroadband.co.uk/faq/ . If your question is answered within the FAQ section, we will not respond to your e-mail.

Regards

Tony Franklin
NGA Enquiries
Email:- [email protected]|
W Web: www.openreach.co.uk

Ah right, i'm on cabinet 16, the blockages must be further back towards Leabrooks then, or they are just waiting to finish cab 17 before they activate all of the other ones.

Cheers for that update, ill update when/if I receive a reply to my email.

The blockage was on Quarry Rd Somercotes, and has now been cleared.
just for info cab 17 is on corner of Pennine ave near old doctors

[img]http://s12.postimg.org/i9bqslxrh/Capture.png[/img]

Edited by idmanager (Thu 26-Dec-13 10:47:19)

In reply to a post by idmanager:

The blockage was on Quarry Rd Somercotes, and has now been cleared.
just for info cab 17 is on corner of Pennine ave near old doctors

[img]http://s12.postimg.org/i9bqslxrh/Capture.png[/img]

Oh, thats interesting, I wrongly assumed cab 17 would be near mine as i'm on 16, it's definitely not the case. Cab 16 is down Birchwood Lane outside where The New Inn used to be. Thats a good mile or so away from cab 17.

http://s30.postimg.org/5efvfn1fl/btchecker.jpg

thanks for the info.
i got excited when end of Sept came around then disappointed when it went back to end of DEC, the reason i found this thread was i need an update on whether the end of DEC was going to happen or not. It looks like not although the open zone pdf still says end of DEC.

thanks Oliver

If on the list then should be before end April 2014