Pembroke (SWPM) Build out started?

Noticed today that a new Cabinet has appeared on Upper Lamphey Road by the junction with Bishops Park. Looks like the images I have seen of FTTC cabs, not sure where the cab is that this will be linked to as passing by I didnt notice a PCP by it - but maybe I missed that. The sign by the street works says that it is being carried out by Carillion on behalf of BT.

Looks like we might finally be getting somewhere, I just have to hope that PCP29 gets served, Its mostly residential with only a Pub and a convenience store on it, all the other business premises are across the "river" and are most likely on the PCPs that (like them) are on Main Street (imaginative name huh?).

I envy my sister she has a PCP outside of her garden wall, IF she gets fibre there then her copper line could end up being measured in Inches )

In reply to a post by warweezil:

Noticed today that a new Cabinet has appeared on Upper Lamphey Road by the junction with Bishops Park. Looks like the images I have seen of FTTC cabs, not sure where the cab is that this will be linked to as passing by I didnt notice a PCP by it - but maybe I missed that. The sign by the street works says that it is being carried out by Carillion on behalf of BT.

The new FTTC cabinet can be some distance away from the PCP (other posters might know an upper limit). I have seen them on the far side of roads, around corners, and so on. The one serving me is a good couple of minute's walk along a side street for no obvious reason. Sometimes (but not always) there will be freshly laid tarmac connecting the two where they had to dig a trench.

Cab 11 is about 20-30 meters from the junction.

http://goo.gl/GLQ35c

I spotted another today at the end of Holyland Road just near mini roundabout at the top of town, it is about 20 feet and around the corner from the nearest PCP. Looking at it, it seems they have started this at the most easterly point from the exchange, the 2 cabs I have seen so far are on the edge of Pembroke - The first one I saw being around 5km from the exchange building at Pembroke Dock I hope to see a new cabinet snuggled up to PCP 29 in the next couple of weeks - especially as the cable infrastructure is all carried in a duct that passes 40feet from PCP29 on its way across the bridge into the town centre.

Maybe I will finally get a decent and stable service here.

Is there any way of finding out which pcps in a particular area are going to be fibre enabled under the Superfarce Cymru scheme?

Simple answer......No

Ribble found out the 3 cabs in Haverfordwest that are accepting orders...at least another 6 cabs not AO yet.

Ian

Cabinet for PCP10 in Cosheston has appeared according to my 'local contact'.

How lucky for Cosh residents that they have managed to get a cab out in the village - given the slow speeds experienced there I think that cab will be selling out pretty quickly

Edited by deleted (Fri 09-May-14 00:32:07)

Does anyone have any information on options for me?
My house is supplied by a cable coming straight from the exchange. It doesn't go through a cabinet.

FTTP? Any dates on that.

Just a hint guys, searching the Pembrokeshire CC Planning Portal for applications using key words like 'Openreach' and 'Cabinet' can throw up several hits. 'Openreach' resulted in the following for Pembroke:

'South of Park View, West Street, Pembroke, Pembrokeshire'
'Cabinet PCP007, Eastgate House, 144, Main Street, Pembroke, Pembrokeshire, SA71 4HN'
'West of 54 Main Street, Pembroke, SA71 4NP'
'East of Cross Cottage, Cosheston, Pembroke Dock, SA72 4UH'
'North west of Fleet Surgeons House, 1 The Terrace, The Dockyard, Pembroke Dock, SA62 6YH'
'Corner of Fort Road/Admiralty Way, Pembroke Dock, Pembrokeshire'
'Outside 2-4, Northgate Street, Pembroke, SA71 4NR'

and 'Openrach' produced!

'Opposite 20, Tremeyrick Street, Pembroke Dock, SA72 6DX'

There are also links to the details of each application which contains their PCP number. From that, and DSL Checker, you can work out whether you are going to be served by one

Edited by deleted (Fri 09-May-14 01:08:47)

Anyone, anywhere that is connected directly to the exchange unfortunately cannot get FTTC at the moment.

FTTP on demand will eventually become available in most FTTC areas, but it is extortionately expensive. So you may be stuck with 24Mbps ADSL2+ for some time

Any idea if my connection could be changed to work from the Cosheston new cab thats just been metioned?

I'm not far from there. I could literally lay my own cable!

Openreach will not reorganise their network for you - if you are currently fed direct from the exchange then you'll stay that way.

Besides which I guess the next cabinet along the road towards Cosheston for you would be PCP19 at Slade Cross which, it seems, is not on the list for conversion

There is FTTP and copper rearrangement in Pembroke so maybe fortunate.
Cab 19 will probably go FTTP

Its a possibility that I'm connected to Cab 19 because its not far from my place........ Someone just mentioned one day that I was connected directly to the exchange.
Any way of finding out other than asking an engineer?

Put your phone number in here:

https://www.dslchecker.bt.com

It will tell you in the text at the top of the results page.

Telephone Number 01646****** on Exchange PEMBROKE

Doesn't state a cab number as it does on another families number when checked. Looks like I'm knackered until FTTP comes in. One thing i did notice was it stated a maximum speed of up-to 12mb. I'm lucky I sometimes get over that

We are located just in st David's road. We run off cabinet 11 but I've noticed at the end of our road there's a smaller cabinet 11/1. I take it from each main cabinet it feeds smaller cabinets such as 11/1 and then to homes?

In reply to a post by mrdaveyk:

We are located just in st David's road. We run off cabinet 11 but I've noticed at the end of our road there's a smaller cabinet 11/1. I take it from each main cabinet it feeds smaller cabinets such as 11/1 and then to homes?

A DP rather than a PCP - take it you have no telephone poles on your estate?

That's right mate. All bungalows. So I take it cabinet 11 will have fibre from the exchange and then We will have copper to the dp and to home?

Cheers

Edited by deleted (Wed 11-Jun-14 17:02:48)

A lot of cabinets seem to be appearing without any planning mentions, Like the one in Merchants Park, Pembroke. What is concerning me now is that When I spoke to the guys that were working on PCP30 in Merchants Park, who were doing some preliminary works prior to the laying of Ducting and the installation of a cabinet they told me that PCP 29 was on their list for the following day, however since then 30 has had a fibre cab installed but Nothing has happened with 29, no ducting or base, no cabinet, I see many others going in - some only a couple of minutes walk from the exchange (beside the Ferry Lane Railway Bridge), but PCP 29 seems to have been forgotten, so the hope of a decent and stable service here seems to be receding slightly.

It is so frustrating - seeing the infrastructure going in all around me but not yet for the Cab that the wet string that serves my home is connected to. This line has always been difficult - even on dial up they had to tweak the gain because of issues when I moved here, and when Broadband came along (on the old Pipex 512 service) the line drops at varying intervals, sometimes several times in a day, and other times it will go for a couple of weeks without any issues, I had hoped for more than an average of 6 megs out of a line that is less than 3 Km in length. I'm hoping that if the issues persist after FTTC then it will add credibility to my theory that the issue lays in the loop between my home and the cabinet, and that might help me persuade Openjoke to finally get around to fixing a problem that has persisted for over 10 years,

Just to rub it in my sisters cab has had WPD doing power works earlier this week, and for the last 2 days an engineer has been shuttling between PCP30 and its twin for several hours, more and more new cabs appearing but PCP29 remains alone and unloved despite the stuff the contractor told me a couple of weeks ago it seems PCP29 is a long way down the list, forgotten between the ones on the edge of the exchange area and the ones just round the corner from it.

Might see something end of next month

Hate to rub it in even more but even Cosheston has a cab installed.

I'm gutted though as Tenby hasn't even got a rollout date yet. I'm keeping fingers crossed that the superfast cymru finally shows Tenby at the end of the month when it's updated!

My father-in-law lives about 50metres away from that Cab and he's over the moon - he currently only gets about 256KB/s down!

In terms of useful information the superfarce site is useless. They seem enslaved by twatter clearly not understanding that not everyone wants to be a twatter follower (in the same way that facebook doesnt appeal to many).

My view of the site is that is a lesson in how to get information dissemination totally wrong, when dealing with specifics of where and when, preferring to spout press releases and other PR puff that doesn't address any specific facts, nor does it seem to offer any route to enquire.

What a waste of design and hosting costs!

Cant see there being any planning issues - PCP29 is situated in a wide pathway that cuts through beteen 2 roads (Street view link below) , in the middle of a well populated and mature residential area which seems to have plenty of power available especially as they have just built a couple of Small estates on the northern side of the town "pond" within a 2 min walk of PCP29 - ironically they will also be served by this cab.

I saw a new chamber being created in the pathway at the bottom of Bush Hill, with some ducting being left protruding, I'm assuming that is the twin for another PCP, I'm hoping we wont be sharing it as it is almost twice the distance from here that 29 is, and given the reluctance of Openjoke to get to the bottom of my line drop issues of over 10 years, anything that introduces further "complexity" to my service is something that fills me with dread.

PCP29 street view

Edited by deleted (Thu 19-Jun-14 06:43:30)

DSLAM cabinets arnt shared with multiple PCPs.
AFAIK, the only issue awaiting your cabinet being completed is Openreach, and hopefully that will be done next month.......with luck.

If the ducting for a fibre cab for 'another' PCP than PCP29 then it won't be serving your line.

TBH I think you are worrying over nothing. PCP29 serves most of the Golden Hill estate and is almost certain to be converted.

Not so much worried as Frustrated that all around I see progress but not on my PCP, and given that I have been trying to get a decent stable service for 10 years I'm looking to see if the problem persists once I am on FTTC - which I think will prove that the issue is the copper between our Post and PCP29.

I see the Fibre contractors are now In Pembroke, working on Westgate Hill yesterday - I assume that is for the cabs in Merchants Park and Monkton, Ironically the Fibre feed will run right past the bottom of the path where PCP29 is located, so within 30 feet but no service... and of course the superfarce site has no real contact route open for us to find out what is going on.

Depressing........

At least you have a cabinet, I live top of Llanion and being exchange only lines up here, superfarce says it will upgrade exchange only lines but thats it, it doesn't mention how or when etc, BT juts leave us all in the dark with the roll-out.

Its so damned frustrating to see it going in all around me and yet my Cab seems to be left behind, no base or ducting laid, There are fibre cabs in Northgate Street, Main Street, West Street, Holyland road and Upper Lamphey Road, and Merchants Park - those are just the ones I know of in Pembroke, I'm told there are others but I have not seen them for myself.

I agree, The lack of information is ridiculous, I can see no reason why there would be problems putting a Fibre twin in for our Cabinet. Power seems to be available any time a builder wants to encroach on Mill Pond - ironically with new builds that will be fed from PCP29, there are no space issues around the cab,

But Like you there seems no way to obtain any real facts about what is happening.

I need to find PCP4 as well, thats around here somewhere.

Edited by deleted (Wed 25-Jun-14 22:32:39)

Probably found previously unmarked underground services where they were going to place the cab.

I finally got a proper answer from Superfarce Cymru yesterday. My original email received a reply that didn't in any way address the questions I had posed - I suspect it was a template general inquiry response and it wasn't until I became a little more abrupt with them that they actually asked BT about the issues delaying PCP29

It seems that due to "problems with the ground" at the original site chosen for the fibre cabinet a new survey had to be done and is now "being evaluated". Lets hope this survey was a little more thorough than the last one the unknown quantity is how leisurely this "evaluation" is going to be. The email doesn't seem confident of a rapid solution so I guess I will be sitting here with decreasing speeds (My ISP just dropped Daisy and reverted me to Enta - whom I left 2 years ago because of peak time slow downs) with the frustration of knowing that while this part of town remains unserved by FTTC, all the cabinets in Pembroke are fed from the ducting that runs within 30 feet of PCP29,

Rather than going forwards - I lost more than 1Mbps speed this month, its almost as slow as ADSLMax was in the evening. Its annoying to be paying so much for a service that is deteriorating while all around me will soon have access to much better service for a modest extra amount.

Ran my sisters number through the wholesale checker tonight, came back with 79.9 Mbps result so I guess PCP30 is live and accepting orders.

Maybe one day Openjoke and superfarce can getv thier heads together and finish "reviewing the next steps" after having to rethink the siting of the fibre twin for PCP29, but somehow I think Im now at the back of a long queue, still at the mercy of the manky Copper that has been the source of much frustration over 15 years at this address,

Unfortunately this does happen with some cabinets - it's probably an underground service that hadn't been identified.

More unfortunately for you that cab is in a conservation area:
http://www.pembrokeshire.gov.uk/objview.asp?object_i...

So if a planning application was required it has to be re-done for a new location.

This puts your cab at the risk of 'missing the wave' for this installation phase - by the time the resurveying and new applications are done then the installers may well have moved on to another area.

They should come back to install it eventually but the priority is getting a presence into new exchange areas against the programme.

It is literally on the border, so given that they can stand the twin "closeby" they could in theory put it just outside the Area denoted by the map.

Its a ridiculous area, the boundary runs through the gardens of some 1940s council flats and takes in the corner of a street and the front gardens of the flats opposite, none of which has any impact on the "historic town"PCP stands on the footpath that is at the very edge of the map. I'm not sure a planning application was required as none has been seen, no notices posted in the area (there is a post box adjacent to PCP29 which we use a couple of times a week so we would have seen any notifications that would have to be displayed in the area.

Im going to keep on at them and get a few neighbours to join in. Im sick of openjokes "it mostly works be thankful for that" attitude to my unstable service. We had to wait while the Minister responsible had everything done in her area despite NOT being a priority area, as well as other M4 corridor areas that Openjoke decided not to waste any more of their money on.

Time for an email to my Assembly member I think, before the money runs out/is curtailed

Edited by deleted (Tue 15-Jul-14 07:38:40)

Having been told a couple of weeks ago by Superfarce Cymru that a new survey for our PCP had been done and was "being considered" I decided to contact my Assembly Member to see if she could glean any firm information about a likely time frame.

She has been told that a new survey "IS required" , that the teams have left the area and that we will be looked at again at some point in the future. So it seems that at best we could see the reply from Superfarce Cymru as misleading, which begs the question - was it deliberate?

Meanwhile I have just had the spin-letter emailed from Superfarce Cymru telling me that "Pembroke is now live".... well PCP 29 isn't, and according to someone at BT there is no idea when it ever will be. Instead of announcing more dates it would be nice if they finished an area first. So while I am surrounded by fibre cabs. and knowing that the trunking runs within 30 feet of PCP29 I am angry that we remain unserviced. If only we cable. Id dump BTs clapped out copper crud. It seems we have been left to wait until other later areas get their roll out before we get belatedly included in this one

All of this on top of the Vivaciti fiasco that saw them dump me back on (WBC) Enta (javing ditched them on IPSC left due to evening slow downs) the move from Daisy LLU seems to have lost me around a meg of throughput despite a similar sync and I am almost back at ADSLmax speeds. So much for progress.

UK Broadband really is a farce.

Edited by deleted (Wed 23-Jul-14 21:57:47)

I have also had an email from Superfarce Cymru telling me that

"The first cabinets are now live in Pembroke but we are working on many more in the area. It was only announced a few days ago so this may explain between the lag in our announcement and the Openreach website.
The cabinet you are served by has not yet been enabled and we are currently looking for a location to site it. It is difficult to give a specific date because of the engineering complexities of deploying fibre cabinets. It involves not only provision of fibre, but availability of power connections, planning consent for the cabinet itself in some cases, road closures, traffic management permissions and space within our duct network to make the necessary connections. In a small number of cases we encounter problems which can significantly delay the cabinet, and take time to resolve. In the vast majority of cases these delays are caused by either power provision and local planning permission. We work closely with the power companies and local authorities to minimise such delays. We would not want to give you a date only for it to change causing disappointment and frustration."

Now I believe I am connected to Cabinet 32 - does anyone know the exact location of that cabinet or can you point in the direction where I can find out. I think it is the one on the corner of Holyland Rd/Main St.

I think it is the one on the corner of Holyland Rd/Main St.

Google shows that the cab outside Owen & Owen on Main St. has a big 7 painted on it so 32 has to be elsewhere.

I never thought of looking at street view!
I always assumed that I was connected to the one on Main St.

Looks like then the old 32 cabinet is the one almost opposite my house on the corner of Holyland Rd/Kingsbridge Dr, that is if the address/cabinet web site checker is correct.

Edited by deleted (Fri 25-Jul-14 11:52:04)

If 32's that much close to you it should hopefully mean you see some decent speeds once it is FTTC enabled and certainly better than if you had been connected to PCP7 in Main St. The BT Broadband checker is normally correct if you use either the phone number or the full address, however it is pretty useless if just using a postcode.

Well the cabinet (#32) is live!!!

Showing:

FTTC Range A (Clean) 80 77.7 20 20 -- Available
(Downstream High 80 Low 77.7 & Upstream High 20 Low 20)

Only problem is that Talk Talk have yet to agree it is live and to let me place an order.

You never know might be nearly there after several years of 2.6Mb high and 0Mbs low speeds.

Hi

Same thing happening in Hwest....last time i checked no cabs on the exchange are able to order talk talk FTTC, talk talk have to order (and pay) for some sort of connection to their LLU kit. (a GEA link cable).

Fibre at HWEST first cabs were accepting orders in April now nearly August so don't hold your breath.


IAn

Hi,

The issues with LLU and FTTC are well known and if your current ISP doesn't want to play ball then change

One other point is that at the moment any G.Vector Technology to go past 80 MBits on the uplink won't currently work on LLU lines but that might be getting ahead of the game

I've been with Plusnet for years and my cabinet in Haverfordwest went live last week and I'm on FTTC now (installed yesterday).

The BT Contractor who did the install said I was number 2 on my cabinet (PCP 13 on Pembroke Road).

For the record I'm about 300 meters from the PCP and on day 2 my like profile is set to 77 MBits down and 20 MBits up and I get 66 down and 13 up on testing.

Unless you're really wedded to your current ISP then change

Kind Regards

Simon

In reply to a post by Colin_London:

Anyone, anywhere that is connected directly to the exchange unfortunately cannot get FTTC at the moment.

FTTP on demand will eventually become available in most FTTC areas, but it is extortionately expensive. So you may be stuck with 24Mbps ADSL2+ for some time

A number of exchanges in Wales which come under the Superfast Wales project have had new cabinets with a fibre partner installed for current EO lines.

Those ex-EO lines will now be able to get FTTC.

LLU and vectoring is NOT an issue for Sky and TalkTalk since they are using the Openreach GEA-FTTC services, thus Openreach are in full control of the DSLAM for vectoring.

Hi Andrew,

Thanks for that information. I wasn't ware that Sky and TT were using BT's own equipment for their GEA-FTTC service.

I know that Sky has some equipped in at least one exchange in Pembrokeshire and TT seems to be more widespread with LLU for ADSL and ADSL2+.

Have you come across any new or recent information about vectoring and if or when BT might be implementing it?

Kind Regards

Simon

Vectoring is progressing but no dates. Needs modem manufacturers to get upto speed particularly people can get they own modem

I know for sure my exchange (Tenby) and Saundersfoot exchange both have Sky LLU installed as my brother has in in Tenby and a friend has it in Saundersfoot.

GEA link cable installed at Haverfordwest exchange for Talk-Talk...now accepting orders.

Ian

Just to keep others in Pembroke informed - I went back to BT and my line went live last week with download speeds of 76Mbs and upload around 20Mbs with a direct connection from the hub. Quite impressed with the wireless radius of the new hub in comparison to my previous TalkTalk box. Wireless ranges from 65Mbs+ down to 15Mbs depending how close you are to the box.

Amazing compared to my previous best of only 2.5Mbs on a good day with the wind blowing from the north-west

Edited by deleted (Mon 18-Aug-14 08:42:29)

What cab are you on in Pembroke - I'm on cab 24 and still awaiting the turn on, the fiber box has been in place for about a month and a half.

Still trying to unearth what is happening with PCP29. Superfarce Cymru say "work is at an early stage" but are unsurprisingly vague about what that actually means and it feels more like a fob off than a fully formed answer. A search of Pembs Planning reveals no planning consent applications for a cabinet, and I seem torecall there was little problem with Royal Mail erecting a postmans bag drop bin which stands adjacent to PCP29

The cabinet was supposed to go in weeks ago, installation guys are now nowhere to be seen and I have a feeling we have been quietly put on the back burner until some dim and distant point.

My connection yo-yo between 5 and 8 Megs depending on how many drops it has suffered which given the length of the line is disappointing. Time we have some open and honest answers from those in charge, the roll out has already been a farce with infill to urban areas being prioritized over rural communities.

The whole thing is a farce.

I'm on cabinet 32 opposite Kings Bridge Cottages on Holyland Road.

I can find zero information, or get a answer from anyone, regarding Llanion and the whole area being exchange only.

if they said 10 years at least i would know. its just plain stupid.

What does www.dslchecker.bt.com say for your phone number?

I am on Talk Tallk so doesnt recognise the phone number on address search i get

CENARTH CLOSE, PEMBROKE DOCK, SA72 6EB on Exchange PEMBROKE
Featured Products

Availability Date

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
Copper Multicast -- -- -- Available
For all ADSL and WBC Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) services, the stable line rate will be determined during the first 10 days of service usage.

Throughput/download speeds will be less than line rates and can be affected by a number of factors within and external to BT's network, Communication Providers' networks and within customer premises.

The Stop Sale date for Datastream is from 30-Jun-2012; the Formal Retirement date for Datastream is from 30-Jun-2014. The Stop Sale date for IPstream is from 31-May-2014; the Formal Retirement date for IPstream is from 30-Nov-2014.

Note: Please note that postcode and address check results are indicative only. Most accurate results can be obtained from a telephone number check.

So BDUK were planning FTTP in phase 12a?

Cenarth Close is quite close to the exchange (Google maps are hopelessly inaccurate about the true location of SWPM exchange), so most likely on EO lines given that it is a relatively young development on the site of an old army barracks that closed at the end of the 50's.

The route from the exchange building through Waterloo (opposite) to the site is straightforward and short maybe a shade over half a mile straight across the roundabout up the A477 to the top of the hill.

Yeah i get about 10Mb over copper, but i seriously suffer with massive downtime and seriously dips in speed, Talk Talk & Openreach say nothing is wrong, but trust me my old address i got about 6Mb and it was perfectly stable, this address a newer line in fact only installed from the grid a few years back but its seriously unstable. so desperate to get a real connection going, only no idea what BT exchange only plans are or tiemscales.

I can understand - I get an average of 6.5 here at The Green In Pembroke The line drops at random and after more than 10 years and 3 ISP's, Openjoke still insist there is no fault on this line, I don't know if it is disinterest or if the local engineers are so inept they cant find it, or some combination of both factors.

They even managed to make a complete horlicks of the ground survey of our Fibre cab so while most Pembroke now has FTTC we are stuck on mouldy old copper right back to the exchange. Superfarce Cymru are a waste of time and money, Its a waste of time trying to get any meaningful information from them - they seem purely concerned with PR, generating positive spin based of selective reporting of situations. Every question I have raised with them gets a bland non answer (often a template from what I can see) seeming to lack in both fact - and commitment to serve the public tha are making enquiries.

Had a word with Pembrokeshire planning today, they confirmed that the original notification for PCP29's twin was made last year and given unrestricted approval. They say that anew notification was made of The intention of Openreach to site a cabinet at The Green In Court Terrace Opposite Croft Court, and that there are no planning issues preventing it going ahead.

So that's one excuse that Superfarce Cymru offered blown out of the water. The annoying thing is that if I can find that out with a couple of phone calls, Why couldn't Superfarce - on behalf of a taxpayer who is actually paying towards the funding of this? They are useless - and unresponsive to the public that fund their existence.

Close the wasters down. They seem to contribute little to the roll out apart from a twatter feed full of inane PR drivel.

So far no reply from Superfarce, But I'm sure someone somewhere can tell them what sort of time frame we are looking at, I wonder who got our hardware?

Well i got this reply today from farce...

Good Morning

Thank you for your email. Exchange only lines are included in the roll out of Superfast Cymru. The solution used to provide fast fibre broadband may, however, vary from exchange to exchange. For example, a new cabinet may be installed to provide fibre to cabinet technology or a fibre may be provided to your premises directly, known as fibre to the premises. If you register on our website, www.superfast-cymru.com, we will issue monthly updates on the programme and also contact you by email when work begins in your area. If you have any other queries, or require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Kind Regards,

Martyn Rogers
Superfast Cymru Team

Well thanks for nothing all that information is on the website, but any specific information i ask for went completely ignored.

on another note, since this rollout started in the Dock my ADSL has gone 10x worse for dropping connection, yet openreach or talktalk refuse to believe anything is wrong.

it makes me laugh we cant even get a stable HSPDA+ signal round here or else id get rid of hardline broadband..

I have found that with Superfarce you have to be rather assertive in the wording of any communication with them, reminding them that there are specific points that you have raised that they have completely sidestepped. They seem overly fond of template emails apparently preferring to focus thier energies on pumping out Pr spam and half truths about the wonderful roll out (neglecting to mention the many unserved areas they are leaving all over Wales.

Typical of anything with Cardiff involved. a half assed job without any real enthusiasm.

Following last weeks email regarding the delay to PCP29, today was the last of the 5 days that Superfarce say they will respond within. Guess what? No Reply, not even a "we are still waiting for someone to get back to us".

Just goes to show how lowly they view those who fund their existence. I guess now its time to involve The Assembly member - not that she seems to be very clued up on this. I keep seeing stories about huge delays for those who get passed over the way we have been.

Superfarce really does sum it up.

I do not know why they even take queries!

a little off subject but, regarding LLU in Pembroke exchange, i was messing around and entered my details in Sky's website, and for the first time it advised me that while Sky Connect was available today, within the next 6 months they are expanding to our area and Sky Unlimited will be available.

I hope so because i want rid of TalkTalk's LLU service.

I know someone that works for Sky and at present he is on TalkTalk. He is unaware of any plans for LLU at the present, if that changes I will drop you a PM, I never understood why Saundersfoot was the Sole exchange in Pembrokeshire unbundled by Sky in 2011 - followed by Tenby more than a year later. I cant figure out how they decide the strategy, it looks a lot like throwing a dart at a map (so maybe there is hope for the monks on Caldey )

I was happy on daisy using TT tails but Vivaciti dropped them and put me back on Enta (annoyingly because I had ditched them) and I see little point in paying an activation fee to go back to a TT based service when I am agitating to get our delayed fibre cabinet completed.

SWPM really isnt a good exchange to be on - even Google cant get its location correct on the map - seems no one loves it lol

Had a response (finally) from Superfarce

I am sorry you have the impression that you are being ignored in your area. This is truly not the case with 14 cabinets already installed and work underway on another 15, which includes your cabinet. We may have another location for the cabinet that serves your property but the spine work and cabling also needs to be planned. Be assured that we will continue to work on your cab but I am not able to offer any dates as work is still very much in it's infancy stage.
Thanks for your email and again, I am sorry for the delay in coming back to you.

Next year sometime never....

The new location is a few feet from the old one. It's CLOSER to the Trunk route, I read this as "we are busy bringing patches of coverage to other areas while shouting about how we have brought it to all these communities." Looks like I am screwed for the near future. A dodgy and underperfomring line and a botched FTTC roll out. Isn't UK broadband wonderful?

Thats my main concern with this rollout, its like lets install 15 cabinets per area, (the easiest ones) and then state on the website pembrokeshire is covered etc, i really wish someone else had won this rollout.

PCP 24 is live today full 80meg down and 20meg up available here. Just ordered for the 23rd

It wouldn't make a difference who won the contract - the rollout would be no different. Whether they do 1 cab per area or all of them also makes no difference. As soon as 1 cab is done, they seem to class that area as enabled and have little inclination to go back and upgrade any cabs that are denied for whatever reason!

Not forgetting that the Haven waterway zone which was supposed to be a priority area was not started until after various areas around Newport and Swansea and north Wales that were not on Cardiff bays "priority list" were completed.

There are many aspects to the roll out that smell bad, in fact the first phase seemed to be more about politics than serving rural communities.

I don't buy the explanation, it seems more like a "go away" fudge than a serious attempt to answer a question. The new site of PCP29 is quite close to the original site, There are no planning issues, I don't believe that the move can entail a huge amount of delay if the will was there to actually get the job done.

I think The neglected parts of Pembroke are getting the big finger in the persuit of the lie about Fibre coverage.

Although I'm really grateful they're doing my CAB, there's still huge areas of Tenby (a lot of them the more upper class areas!) that haven't been announced and this is really going to cause upset.

I still haven't sound out why, out of the 12 CABs announced, 2 were turned down (1 of them, on a housing estate, after having been installed, had to be removed!). The other is on the Green under the viaduct completely out of the way. Yet the approved a brand new CAB outside a 500yr old-ish church where there's never been one before! Shows the craziness of the Pembs Coast National PArk planners!!

What is really frustrating for me is that my cab doesnt fall under national parks remit, its pure ol' PCC and they have said "go ahead", so now we are waiting for someone to carry out the works that should have been done & was scheduled to be done 3 months ago. The feeling is we will be a long time waiting.

Tenby has been quite lucky in the past, despite being a smaller exchange they got LLU long before Pembroke did, and they even have a choice of LLU operators.

Edited by deleted (Thu 11-Sep-14 19:15:06)

From a BT Engineer I spoke to months ago, he reckons it's because of the tourist influx - Tenby's population for most of the year now is well over 10,000 and 45-65,000 during July - Sept. Quite how that would affect an ISP's decision making as to whether to LLU an exchange I don't know as tourists hardly rent a phone line whilst they're here!

Just to add to my annoyance ... BT have today spammed my street with thier wonderful £5 per month Fibre optic broadband offer.

Do these muppets not know which postcodes they are NOT serving at this time?

Still no sign of any movement.... life in the slow lane goes on, with occasional pauses while the line has another hissy fit and spits out the connection.

Had a reply from my Assembly Member this week, She included a copy of correspondence from Cardiff bay dated 23rd of September, in which they state the following.

I have checked with our colleagues in BT on the Roll Out of cabinet 29 within the Superfast Cymru programme.The cabinet is within our plans however, at present there are issues with planning and siting the cabinet, until these are resolved I am unable to give your constituent a date of when work on deploying the cabinet will take place

Sounds reasonable, expect that in late August, I spoke with planning at Pembrokeshire County Council to see if there were issues with which my local Councillor could help. I was told that there was a reference number for this matter and that the "re siting" of this had been agreed and that there were no concerns or conditions attached to the location. He indicated that this seemed to have taken place in late July/early August, which would tie in with the problem preventing out cabinet being stood in mid June.

Someone somewhere isnt telling the truth, months have passed by and we still have no service while other areas locally are being enabled, and no-one can tell me if we are looking at weeks or months before we are remembered. I guess we are not as important as others on the borders of urban areas that were pushed to the first phase of this fiasco.

More drops in my adsl joke service this week. which just shows what a joke line rental is, they screw you over for as much as possible while avoiding doing anything about faults (apart from trying to con you with SFI charges)

Superfarce & Openjoke really does describe them!

You ever think about moving providers? I was suffering the same problem as you only perhaps worse in Tenby 2 weeks ago, rang PlusNet and next morning BT engineer turns up, swapped line (so my wife said as I wasn't there) and hey presto - job done.

Graph before
Graph now

The drop at 6.20ish yesterday was a Tenby-wide power cut.

Line drops have been a feature of service to this property during the more than 10 years on Broadband - with Pipex (521k & 2 Meg ) Enta (ADSLMax) and Vivaciti (Daisy LLU and Enta).
Ive had enginers visits, line card moves, E side changed, removed all phone wiring except the master, all to no avail. I think the issue is in the D side, but Openjoke seem unwilling to consider this, but after all this time - it is the only thing that hasn't changed

If the issue persists once fibre finally reaches me (If Ever) then hopefully it will prove or disprove my theory once and for all.

Cabinet 10 went live today

Meanwhile back at PCP29.... *Tumbleweed*

Oh I got a response from Cardiff bay today

This is a standard acknowledgement e mail which confirms that we have received your correspondence to Julie James dated 28/09/2014, your reference

When we reply to correspondence we aim to do so within 17 working days. In the case of your correspondence this means a target reply date of 28/10/2014

If they spin out responding to an email for that long - god only knows how long it will take to sort out a delayed cabinet!

In reply to a post by Colin_London:

Cabinet 10 went live today

And 11

CAB 10 was live Wednesday - my father in law placed his order about 1pm

Cabinet 29 is 3 months late now, and still the wasters at Superfarce cant or wont tell us when it is ever likely to happen.

Cabinet 1 is due to go live this month incase anyone is on the same as me

Oh and Cabinet 28 went live back in August (it serves a few houses in our street)

Edited by deleted (Sun 05-Oct-14 01:13:39)

After following this thread for a while, was puzzled why bt wouldn't jump on using subsidised kit in such a densely populated area as the green is.

Noticed this morning about 9am a lot of workmen on the lane where pcp29 is, seemed to be working half way down the lane on the opposite side to existing cabinet. To be clear this isn't the dead end road to the Chinese take away, but the walkway to the main road.

They appeared to be the unbranded workers who laid the conduit rather than the actual fibre.

Saw a few openretch vans around today, might be wishful thinking!

Fingers crossed!

Yes I had the same information from another source.

I was about to email Cardiff and ask them why they were telling my AM that planning consent was needed when Pembrokeshire County Council say it was granted unconditionally for a new location on 27th July - and I have the reference number - this was some 2 months before the reply to my AM so they cant say consent was a late development that they were unaware of.

I'll have a look in the morning.... and see what is happening..... if anything.

Maybe by xmas...

FTTC on demand will only be available on cabs that are already enabled only

lfor the avoidance of doubt and to deal with some of the misconceptions and franly pettty sarcastic remarks ti will try and give you a view on this

There are a number of triggers to determine aorund Exchanges / cabs- trigger 1 Exchange is either enabled or Not (Y/N) -- if N (then Nothing) if Y then each cab is determined whether it will enabled (god value fo rmoney/size./ Cost Erc (Y/N -- if yes is then built if no it is then left

once those cab that are being built are done the exchange is advises as being enabled -- this is consistent right across the uk

there are a number of reason why cabs get delayed / removed -- some of these include -- no access to site / ennorous conservaiton / objections/other planning permission in place - etc / Highways -- oither utilities / cost of power --
FYI an objection can either dely the cab indedifately (each deal normally around 6 months to 2 years (depending on the workstack which is scheduled months in advance) or remove it all together in some cases. You have to remember this is about premises and coverage and milestones -- so if one cab get removed in exchange X you find another onle somewhere else in Exchange Y (around the same cost and premises count) to replace it

Edited by deleted (Sat 11-Oct-14 15:28:15)

In reply to a post by Fastman2:

for the avoidance of doubt and to deal with some of the misconceptions and frankly petty sarcastic remarks I will try and give you a view on this

There are a number of triggers to determine around Exchanges / cabs- trigger 1 Exchange is either enabled or Not (Y/N) -- if N (then Nothing) if Y then each cab is determined whether it will enabled (god value for money/size./ Cost etc. (Y/N -- if yes is then built if no it is then left

once those cab that are being built are done the exchange is advised as being enabled -- this is consistent right across the UK

there are a number of reason why cabs get delayed / removed -- some of these include -- no access to site / enormous conservation / objections/other planning permission in place - etc. / Highways -- other utilities / cost of power --
FYI an objection can either delay the cab indefinitely (each deal normally around 6 months to 2 years (depending on the work stack which is scheduled months in advance) or remove it all together in some cases. You have to remember this is about premises and coverage and milestones -- so if one cab get removed in exchange X you find another one somewhere else in Exchange Y (around the same cost and premises count) to replace it

No laughing matter im afraid -- thee are number of communties who are not laughing because of all fo the above - angst at their PC or local authority is more the word i woudl use

Edited by deleted (Sat 11-Oct-14 17:23:07)

I was amused by your inability to run your post through a spell checker, so I did it for you.

What's no laughing matter is Openreach's reluctance to make plans available to it's customers., which I know you are well-aware of.

For the avoidance of doubt I will give you the view from the actual area that related to this particular thread and from someone who has been pretty active in this - It may help counter some of the sarcasm and petty trivialization from those apparently unaffected by the situation, and apparently lacking in much background knowledge of the area

This exchange is benefiting from the BDUK funded roll out. In Wales we have the misfortune of this being run from Cardiff Bay, the Cabinet in question (PCP29) was actually scheduled to be completed in June - along with the bulk of the roll out in Pembroke. The triggers you refer to as far as I know are related mostly to BT's commercial roll out and given that the Cabinet was included in the (BDUK) Roll Out they do not in any case have any bearing to the cabinet that we are talking about in this thread

The cabinet was postponed due to "ground issues" at the location originally chosen. and this is where the problem arose. Nothing happened, when Superfast Cymru were asked about progress by myself they responded that a new survey had been completed and was being considered. after a couple of weeks I asked my Assembly Member if she could obtain some indication of a likely window for installation.

Strangely, they responded to her that due to the issues at the original site a survey was needed. This led to a further exchange during which I challenged the different responses. They then claimed that planning was a problem, which led me to the local planners who advised me that the new location had actually been passed by them with no condition or issues in the last week of July. When I related this to my AM she kindly forwarded to me further correspondence from Cardiff Bay dated the last week in September that stated that planning consent was required for the new location.

Yesterday I verified with the Council that the details they had given me were correct and was about to have another crack at Cardiff Bay when we saw that work had finally commenced. The new site is approximately 6 feet from the original site - literally around the corner of a wall bordering the garden of some flats.

The remarks that you find sarcastic stem from encountering outright incompetence and misinformation being fed from a body administering a publicly funded project to an elected representative. We can see that Superfast Cymru have plenty of skill in regurgitating PR fluff from various sources that paint a flattering picture of what is looking to be a rather shambolic roll out that even my AM says seem to be devoid of any clear strategy and is rather patchy in nature.

It is further tempered by the curious state of affairs where areas declared to be a Priority are left to wait until well into the second year of a roll out, and find themselves behind the outskirts of urban locations (where BT had stopped spending money) including one area near Swansea that is represented by the Minister responsible at the time for the roll out, indeed comparing a map of the initial roll out with political colour was a very interesting exercise.

Given that before taking to this forum to highlight the problem I made myself aware that the issue was one of unsuitable ground, that no power issues exist, that there were no highway issues etc I don't think sarcasm is uncalled for - those who object may well be employed by Superfast Cymru - who should be working to improve their accuracy in answering queries from elected representatives and members of the public - or Openreach who have failed throughout the last 10 years (+) to remedy a fault that creates a random instability in my line.

Right now I am about to try to find out if and when the roll out will cover a village where a friend lives - again no information seems available, and yet the exchange that the village is connected to is being upgraded, but no one is willing/able to simply answer him if the village on the same STD code as an exchange being upgraded is going to be included - its not that hard a question surely? His long line is only just ADSL capable, so Fibre to his village cabinet would greatly benefit him and the businesses on the industrial estate that has sprung up alongside it.

Turns out the planners were on the ball and passed everything with apparent urgency a couple of months ago. It is Superfarce Wales who seem unaware of the detail of their own roll out... you couldn't make this stuff up!

Yep Sure enough, around the corner and 6 whole feet away from the original hole dug for the cabinet we have new cabinet sized (and shaped) hole complete with ducting for power and telecoms cables. We just have to hope for some decent drying weather now for concrete as we are now into the 11 month Welsh monsoon season

Finally we are seeing some progress. I can see why the planner I spoke to a few weeks ago seemed a little confused about the location as it isn't on a roadway proper, its on a footpath linking two roads.

With luck I will have decent speeds for Xmas along with a definitive answer about what section of line my Broadband problems lay in - if they continue then it has to be the D side - which BT have been reluctant to look at for 10 years+

roll out and what is coveredis determined by Superfast crymru penreach is working for them in this case - they dettermine the intervention area any any areas od proority

Edited by deleted (Sat 11-Oct-14 18:49:05)

It's nice for Openreach to have someone else to blame, they must get a nice warm feeling
I thought they were in partnership - so does the Govt.

The Superfast Cymru programme is a partnership between the Welsh Government and BT.

@warweezil Congrats fella - sounds like superfarce Wales finally got their ass in gear. I got a couple of mates waiting for that cab too!!

My CAB in Tenby has been put in this weeks too. Drove around town this morning and they're popping up everywhere. They took about 2 weeks to connect the first Fibre CAB to the PCP right next to it so it may be some time before Tenby goes lives

Edited by WelshWArrior (Sat 11-Oct-14 18:59:30)

Let them know its by the post box and almost opposite PCP29 - so behind the flats on the corner. if they want to watch for progress/activity There's a lot to be done yet but it is finally moving

Thought i'd take a walk that way tonight just to confirm my sighting, not checked on the forum to see replies... as you, saw ducting and said to the 'other half' that it looks cabinet size and im sure the ducting had earth wire in place ...proclaimed 'its probably for the fibre cabinet'.... she then pointed out the sign fixed to the safety barrier... the one that has BT infinity all over it....doh! Looking for clues I missed the biggest one of all lol. Think glad I dont have to crane my neck to check the old cab for progress and cab keep my eye on the road now!

Also was looking for cabling trenches, only saw one a foot long... but of course the clunking noise under my feet was four (I think) access panels all with the old bt tumpet logo on them...seems this cab is easier than most to site!

they are in partnership but the intervention area and what is covered is driven primarily by the LA -- and all quesions arouind the deployment will refer you back to the LA

Edited by deleted (Sat 11-Oct-14 23:46:17)

Questions raised with Superfast Cymru by both my Assembly Member and myself have met with PR doublespeak, so lacking any discernible answer or useful information that it would be worthy of any politician. I guess Sir Humphrey Appleby would be proud of them.

BT of course follows its usual attitude whereby it refuses to acknowledge the existence of ordinary mortals (except when raising SFI charges)

Our LA seemed as out of the loop as we were (apart from being used as a misleading excuse by Superfarce, PCC knew it was in the roll out, but once the date slipped they were also left in the dark.

Which reminds me, the pavement outside my fathers gate has subsided since it was dug up for the fibre cab in that street. I must call the council again tomorrow as it is taking an age to get sorted and he is quite unsteady on his feet. Its just one issue after another. lol

Well your wait is hopefully soon over - you at least have a hole! Just seen it myself.

Only another 6 months now before you get service

More progress this morning at pcp29. Fibre cabinet is now getting placed, lorry with cabinet guts has also just turned up...wont be long now until it starts taking orders I guess.

I wouldn't bank on that, been waiting for PCP14 to start accepting orders for ages now.

Mine was stood 2 months ago roughly, and still waiting. Keep an eye on roadworks.org, for example I saw a lot of BT work between my cab and the exchange, replacing ducting.

Seems more is scheduled still....

Noticed the new arrival on my way home tonight. Gonna be watching this closely.

WEll its nice to see someone getting something sorted, hope your on for XMAS Warweezil been watching you on this forum go back and forth for a few years now lol..

as for Llanion and EO lines looks like i will only find out what's happening when a cabinet is installed somewhere in the area, highly likely that its going to be this year now.

Saying that i replaced my modem, was using a BT 2wire then got a Billion 7800n nothing but constant drop outs every day every couple of hours, anyhoo i bought a N600 as wanted 5ghz band in the house and for the last week not a single drop out, and getting around 18MB down and a constant 1MB up, so i am happy for now, hopefully things will continue and before i know it we might get fibre earlier than later next year.

18 megs.. wow I wish .. I occasionally hit 8 before my flaky line (but there's nowt wrong according to openjoke) drops me back down to 6.75ish.

I noticed some markings on the road as I was heading for Asda after work the other night, I saw them while I was waiting to get onto the Criterion roundabout, could they be putting in a cab at the bottom of Tremeyrick St?

I guess the thing to do is to keep on at Superfarce Cymru, make them earn their keep rather than just spaffing out Press releases and feeling pleased with themselves. They seem to have little idea what is actually happening with the roll out - which leads me to question their whole existence.

The barriers have gone from around our now shiny shiny so now I guess its all down to the waiting game. Knowing my luck it will probably be 6 months before they hook it up lol

hi all. I was told today by superfast cymru that cabinet 1 which is not live needs to be moved. apparently they have found a new site and work will begin early December. This cabinet feeds hawkstone rd etc in Pembroke dock.

Strange. That means more delay for those unfortunate enough to be connected to that cab.

I am more fortunate, Western power have been digging at PCP29 and I am guessing that the pile of earth now standing alongside it is a sign that we might get service before xmas, just around 6 months late.

In reply to a post by statoman:

hi all. I was told today by superfast cymru that cabinet 1 which is not live needs to be moved. apparently they have found a new site and work will begin early December. This cabinet feeds hawkstone rd etc in Pembroke dock.

Still waiting here too! seems like they are making plenty of cockups which are hampering progress

7 days ago Western Power turned up at the end of the raod, Closed the footpath by the new cabinet and dug some holes. A week later, the mound of earth has gone but the path remains closed. Not sure what is happening now, I passed there just after 9 yesterday morning and there was no sign of any activity in the area.

Finally today the cab has a soft hum that can be heard up close and the checkers tell me that "Clean" I should expect in the range 69.3 - 80 Mbps or "Impacted" 58.8 - 80Mbps.

Tomorrow I will be getting a MAC from Vivaciti, apart from the fact that the Fibre packages they offer do not suit me, I lost all confidence in them with the move from Daisy to Enta.

Looks like Zen here I come.

It will be interesting to see if the disconnects stop on fibre or if they carry on which has to point to the pair between here and the cabinet.

Time to look up how to use our Fritzbox 7930 as a VDSL modem.

Ummm.

Our cabinet had the power on (fans running) for several weeks before it was "enabled".

Edited by RobertoS (Mon 08-Dec-14 23:25:17)

Same here in Tenby - lots of the cabs have had a hum for several weeks now.

If you go with Zen I believe they order Openreach to supply a VDSL modem on install.

In reply to a post by WelshWArrior:

Same here in Tenby - lots of the cabs have had a hum for several weeks now.

Until last weekend we had a silent cabinet and the fastest "available product" for my line as shown by This Line Checker was ADSL2+ in the range of 6-8Mbps.

The fact that since last night the BT Wholesale checker shows the estimates I quoted in my post (58.8 - 80 Mbps down clean/impacted - 17.7 and 20Mbps up ) suggests to me that it must be live - I will find out later anyhow... time to place an order...

Fingers crossed for you then fella - let me know how you get on ordering. I'm hoping mine is live before Chrimbo but not holding my breath - apparently all exchanges in Pembs are having their fibre fed from H'West so it's gonna be a lot of work . . . . . . .

lol well I am in north Pembs so hope it hasn't got to come all the way from Haverfordwest! Cardigan is already live so maybe it's coming from that direction...

Ordered today, its an engineer install and the earliest available date is PM Xmas eve.

Why do I have a bad feeling about this?

lol I know what you mean! All I can say is you lucky bu**er!

Mind you - you have been waiting a while

Mine is definitely not going to be until January sometime now as all the fibre to upgrade the Pembrokeshire exchanges (inc. the Dock) comes from H'West for some reason so got to wait til they've pulled it through to Tenby

Of Course! You should have known that anything round here would be Haverfordwest-centric. The south of the county is always second best, I haven't heard anything about the cab in Pembroke Dock that was mentioned here either, I hope they get sorted soon.

The annoying thing is the lack of real feedback about the roll out. Superfast Wales are useless. They told My A.M that the cabinet was subject to a new planning application some 2 months AFTER PCC had agreed a variation for the location of PCP29. All they seem good for is spewing out press releases that gloss over the real issues and delays that many are suffering. You would hope that a publicly funded body like Superfarce Wales could do better when approached by the public about matters for which it shares a responsibility.

Now I need to find out about PCP 20 that serves Waterston. I have friends there that have a really poor service,

Tomorrows the day... Probably a huge disappointment ... when I booked the install the guy i was talking to said... its the worst possible scenario... PM install.... so likely to get "lost" with any morning overruns..... Xmas eve... "hmm I dont have lots of time now... I'm going to bounce this job back"

We'll see....

Have you had an automated call reminding you about the appointment?

The times I had an engineer turn up matches the times I got the call. The no-shows coincide with getting no such call.

Really not looking good then

Well... On my way home Xmas eve lunch time I noticed a kellys van parked by PCP 29. I stopped and asked the guy if he was working on my line. He was actually doing 2 activations. As my place was on the way to his other call he did mine first... Well he was here not more than about 10 mins. Having corrected his mistaken belief that I was a plus net customer who did not need a modem, he threw the new faceplate on the box. Ran some sort of line test that ended with a voice confirmation that the test was OK, and was gone trekking me that the modem would connect shortly.

By 2 pm I was starting to smell a rat, my connection seemed to die at the router. Having checked all I could I put in a call to support. They could see no log in attempts on my line at all, with the line still showing ADSL installed but not connected. I was told BT still had some work to do on mapping the new service and that hopefully it would just come on by late afternoon. Well by 6 nothing was happening so I got back on the phone and more tests including us trying a pppoe connection from a laptop straight into lan1 port on tge hg612, with settings provided by the support guy which resulted in an error message saying that a connection could not be established to the PPP server and to check settings then contact administrator.

Having verified we were using the correct details this has they again went back to BT.resulted in them putting it out to BT as by now they said.... I should be able to connect. At 8 last night I called again resigned to the fact that once again BT had managed to make a Horlicks of things and sure enough we now have an engineer appointment for tomorrow morning, so essentially they have shafted my entire Xmas, I'm back in work on Saturday, tomorrow I was going to go out.

I just hope the engineer doesn't ask me if I had a good Xmas, I have half the lounge stacked against the wall so they can get at the socket. I'm not impressed and very angry at having my couple of days off wasted by some cowboy outfit. Now I know why he kept saying �you can hear that tested OK can't you?". I'm sure he knew there was an issue and chose to walk away. What realy grinds my gears is that on Monday my ISP took payment, but I am left with no access to either the old ADSL or new VDSL devices, added to that it's the end of the biling month for my phone so I have little allowance left.

NOT impressed.

Edited by deleted (Thu 25-Dec-14 17:03:41)

Decided to give my Fritzbox 7390 a go, found some settings for VCI/VPI and Vlan, popped them in and Bingo!! I cant access the Openjoke modem, so a bit of detective work with the tablet was called for, it was posting here earlier that got me to thinking about the Fritz, When I mentioned the Fritz yesterday support had suggested that I leave the openjoke modem in line until the line was set up and running properly, I now wonder if the openjoke unit is defective, it has all the lights on that it should have, but doesnt connect... cant figure why.

I have sync @79936 and an attenuation of 15db, one of the things I like about the Fritz is that it is so easy to configure, I got it because it was Fibre ready - I wish I had gone with my gut feeling and tried a manual set up sooner.

Now we need to see if the mysterious line drops stop.

For now I'm just happy to be on line - cancelled the engineer tomorrow so I can now go out and enjoy my day off before I go back to work on Saturday.

Strange. Overnight the modem cleared and reset the connection 3 times. Now my sync has dropped to 67xxx, I'm less happy - given that if the building next door was slimmer I would be able to see the cab from here so its not at all far, and initially I had a sync of 79xxx. Throughput is now 56173, that's a big drop from yesterday too.The bottom of the impacted range on the checker is 58.8.
Ive checked the Fritz setting but it is as I always leave it - "maintain permanent connection", the option to periodically reset is one I don't use.

I know its probably training time - but I still wonder about the drops I have had for more than 10 years on ADSL, the only copper left is the part Openjoke have been very reluctant to do anything about. As I have said time and again I'm sure the copper here is knackered, but as BT have a monopoly here I have little chance of getting a decent quality out of them.

Its... disappointing...

Edited by deleted (Fri 26-Dec-14 09:56:31)

The obvious thing....LAN 1 on modem to WAN port on pppoe router.

IAn

WAN1 is the only port in use on my 612 so it isnt exactly rocket science to get that right - tried using the Fritz LAN1/LAN1 as it is supposed to be able to be used that way but behind the 612 there was no access.

We tried all sorts of things while we were talking to support, the problem seems to be the HG612. We couldn't even get a PPPOE connection using a macbook thru the 612 as support said we should be able to (and walked us through it to be sure we were setting it the right way), but as soon as I swapped the 612 for the Fritz and put in the settings we were away. It may not be the recommended/supported unit but it works and for me that's the winner.

In reply to a post by warweezil:

I know its probably training time

There isn't a "training period" as such with FTTC.

Generally, DLM ignores you for the first day you are connected. It then monitors "properly" on the second day, and decides whether to intervene overnight. If it does intervene, you'll resync sometime between midnight and 8am with the new line profile.

DLM will then monitor every day, and make new decisions after each 24h period.

When it intervenes, the usual first level of intervention adds FEC and interleaving: FEC will reduce your sync speed by between 10% and 20%, and the interleaving will add 8ms to latency, though it usually measures around 10ms higher on round-trip ping times.

It sounds like DLM has intervened overnight between your 2nd and 3rd days.

If you have access to the statistics, DLM will be watching the ES count over 24 hours.

Fritz stats

Negotiated Connection Properties
Receive Direction Send Direction
Max. DSLAM throughput kbit/s 80000 20000
Min. DSLAM throughput kbit/s 128 128
Attainable data rate kbit/s 67776 31090
Current throughput kbit/s 67504 19992
Seamless rate adaptation off off

Latency 6 ms 8 ms
Impulse Noise Protection 3 4
G.INP off off

Signal-to-noise ratio dB 6 11
Bitswap on on
Line attenuation dB 15 21

Profile 17a
G.Vector off off

Carrier record A43 A43

Error Counter
Seconds With Not Remediable Errors (CRC)
Errors (ES) ManyErrors (SES) perMinute Last15 Minutes
FRITZ!Box 74 12 1 0
Central exchange 0 0 0 0

Hope you can read the stats I sorted them out to be easily readable but on previewing the post the forum seems to have screwed them all together which is rather frustrating.

I did notice a huge number of ES last night somewhere like 300 after only a couple of hours. seems to have settled now tho.

Id still like to get to the bottom of the initial problem, I'm assuming its a borked HG612.

Had another d/c in the night now at 71576/20000.

The Fritzbox seems to be working well.

Ooph - Those first stats are quite nasty, showing an INP setting for both downstream & upstream; DLM must have been annoyed at your line

The ES threshold depends on the setting; Plusnet seems to put people on the easiest going setting with the loosest thresholds. When they apply, you need the ES counter to go up by over 2,880 in 24 hours for DLM to intervene. It would need to go up by less than 288 over the same period for DLM to reduce intervention ... but DLM would need to see that good behaviour for a few days before relenting (sometimes a lot of days!)

The fact that DLM has relented once already may indeed suggest it was the HG612, and things are now going well. Just keep an eye on the changes to the ES counter.

Still waiting for some activity here, seems they are quoting March for some areas now, truly pathetic

Have they told you what the delay is now? If that date is from Superfarce Cymru I be a little wary, they don't seem to have a clue about where stuff is really at. I found that involving my A.M. seemed to get information flowing, albeit NOT from Superfarce.

Same here in Tenby. Most cabs have been in and have had their power hooked up for about 6 weeks now but nothing. They were mean't to be live by end of 2014 but now date has slipped to March 2015 and Superfarce have told me that they have faced 'Considerable difficulty' getting the fibre to Tenby but that they expect the 1st cabs to be live well before March.

Now we all know that Haverfordwest is the headend for all of Pembs but they've got it as far as Saunderfoot (which went live end of 2014) so I can't see a major challenge getting it the extra 3 miles!

Did see on roadworks.org last week that they were unblocking some ducts in Pentlepoir so maybe that was it!?!?!

Anyone noticed a new fibre cabinet installed outside of the exchange? i thought that it might be for the local area but there is a new cabinet outside the First & Last for that...

So after watching for 3 days, there is nothing inside the cabinet yet except for a massive trunking full of cable coming from the base, and 2 engineers working isde it for 3 days, I wonder if it is the main cabinet for Exchange Only lines?

is anyone aware of EOL solutions for the copper distance? i heard that they could install a main cabinet at the exchange and install small booster nodes closer to premises, but not sure if the tech is there yet?

Pretty sure that is indeed for the EO lines. They are doing the same in Tenby. They are putting a PCP right outside the exchange building and then the Fibre cab is going across the road from there.

In reply to a post by WelshWArrior:

Pretty sure that is indeed for the EO lines. They are doing the same in Tenby. They are putting a PCP right outside the exchange building and then the Fibre cab is going across the road from there.

Thank Christ for that some movement at long last

Some may have missed the work going on after 5 pm today with some CE guys standing a Fibre cabinet outside the "First & Last" pub car park on London Road.

Im guessing this would be for Waterloo and Llanion. Given that this is literally across the road from the exchange I'm guessing this would be for those on EO lines in those areas

God i hope so, although its a fair distance from Llanion so not sure what speeds we can expect unless they have a plan of EO lines?

You'll probably find that they'll put another CAB up in Llanion. Cab 31 which serves Llanion is due to be fibre enabled at some point this year so I bet they'll put another for the EO lines up there at the same time.

In reply to a post by WelshWArrior:

You'll probably find that they'll put another CAB up in Llanion. Cab 31 which serves Llanion is due to be fibre enabled at some point this year so I bet they'll put another for the EO lines up there at the same time.

scrub that looks like welsh water outside synchro

Edited by deleted (Thu 12-Mar-15 20:49:39)

Someone I know is trying to find out if PCP4 in Pembroke is likely to be upgraded. It would seem to be wholly domestic users on that one. No sing of any action yet.

It is on the Welsh plan - and maybe FTTP but plans have sometimes dropped to FTTC so depends on what actually gets built

Thanks. Id expect it to end up as FTTC, it seems to cover a decent sized residential are of the north of the town.

The really interesting one will be a friend In Waterston near Milford Haven, the village is 1.5 miles by road from PCP20 so I am wondering what (if anything) they will get - currently they struggle to keep 2 Mbps.

According to the checker my EO has now been moved and put on the new cab PCP37, so looking like things are now grinding along again

I am also showing PCP 37... hmmm

exchnages have been announced wherre cabs have gone live -- that consistent with both the commerical and BDUK programmes -- every cab in what ever programme commerical or BDUK will have been subject to commerial / value for money criteria (especially in BDUK areas where X coverage at greater than 24 m/bps for Y funding is the answer to the exam quesion --. so not every cab in evry exchnage wil be good value and there fore not every cb with eithe be good value or able to be stood (objections and local poliitics dont help either)

Edited by deleted (Fri 27-Mar-15 08:23:11)

Its a moot point now, Ive been on fibre since Xmas eve, however, my point was the lack of information that was both clear and consistent coming out of Superfarce Wales. I was being told one thing while my Assembly Member was being told something totally different, I was told "new survey done and under consideration" My A.M. was told "there needs to be a new survey because the original location turned out to have issues".

On another occasion they told my AM that there were planning issues, however the planners told me that the necessary variances for the location of the Fibre cabinet had been agreed weeks before my A.M. contacted Superfarce Wales and the local planners were at a loss to understand why Superfarce were telling anyone that there was a planning issue as this had been dealt with.

I was annoyed that a publicly funded body was displaying such ineptitude - or worse. I am now looking for a way to learn more about possible plans for PCP20 on Milford Haven exchange - which serves the Waterston area - but I dont think there is much point in asking Superfarce - all they seem able to do is repeat PR releases - "Neither use nor ornament" as my Great Aunt used to say.

Now i have a cabinet i am concerned about its location being right outside the exchange, as it puts me at least 1km away from the exchange, so unless they have some sort of new tech i am unaware of, my Fibre connection will be around the same speed i am getting now for ADSL! which is pointless.. this goes for the whole of Llanion too as no one is really closer than 600-700km (Straight Line) and vast majority are a lot further.

We are talking about Pembroke Dock cabinet 4, which is NOT a new cabinet and is around 1200m from the telephone exchange.

I think Starmax is referring to a new PCP cabinet 37 for the EO lines and not cab 4

I think he is referring to the cab that was recently stood on London road, outside the "First & Last" pub car park, around 80 feet or so from the exchange building (google maps show the exchange about half a mile west from its real location at the Waterloo roundabout.) I posted about it here when I saw the work going on to stand it on my way home one evening.

Cabinet 4 shows up when I search by postcode for properties at Whitehall Avenue, Pembroke SA714QP where a friend is currently on a full LLU line with ADSL. That was the cabinet I was referring to when I posted here as I was trying to find out if/when he is likely see an uplift to service - he is keen to have something faster than he has now.

Edited by deleted (Fri 27-Mar-15 22:00:08)

I am talking about the brand new cabinet 37 which has just been installed outside the exchange, and covers llanion, exchange only lines..

Starmax do you live in Llanion? as i am interested to know what areas they are trying to cover with Cab 37, there are more than one exchange only areas.

Edited by deleted (Fri 27-Mar-15 23:52:14)

In reply to a post by hazzatori:

I am talking about the brand new cabinet 37 which has just been installed outside the exchange, and covers llanion, exchange only lines..

Starmax do you live in Llanion? as i am interested to know what areas they are trying to cover with Cab 37, there are more than one exchange only areas.

I'm on London Rd

Ahh right, I thought the cabinet at Asda roundabout would cover London road, but then again London road is pretty long..

also this morn the checker is showing - Fibre Multicast Available.. so hopefully not long now.

Click Me

Edited by deleted (Mon 30-Mar-15 16:02:18)

Any day now.

Hopefully!

Fibre now available, just booked my upgrade, though the speeds quoted are disappointing:

http://i.imgur.com/3AkGpDN.jpg?1

Edited by deleted (Thu 02-Apr-15 15:11:58)

Im very pleased for you, although 6 months ago I would have killed for 20 megs lol.

You can do better than me, though max 32 down and 7 up, so next on the list is vectoring and g.fast lol..

Edited by deleted (Thu 02-Apr-15 19:20:32)

Anyone know how long it takes sky to update availability

Anyone know how long it takes sky to update availability

Hmm... I think I have seen all fibre in Pembs is linked back to H/West...Have sky installed their GEA link in that exchange??? do they require another link??

Ian

Not sure what that means lol..

Ian is correct - if Sky have LLU'd the Pembroke exchange then they'll have to upgrade their kit in the exchange too. Same here in Tenby - SKY users currently unable to order fibre until the work is done.

Milford is currently being done so fingers crossed they get to the other exchanges soon.

Not sure what that means

The LLU suppliers (talk talk, sky) need to order (and pay) for a GEA link (from opernreach I think).

This link cable enable the LLU suppliers to connect the fibre cabs to their exchange kit.

Ian

Does anyone know if I can find an ETA on cabinet 34 providing fibre to Rocky Park in Pembroke?

I've just moved there from Haverfordwest (where I had fibre) and I miss it a lot. Superfast Cymru tells me it's in my area but provides no further info.

There doesn't seem to be much happening around there now, I'm on PCP29 at The Green (across the road and down a little from Rocky Park) Finally got service in the days before Xmas, but Ive been waiting to hear about PCP4 that apparently serves Whitehall Ave/Drive at the bottom of Bush Hill - so across the road from you. I know someone up there who is chewing the carpet waiting for some speed

I wonder if the fact that 2 cabs serving the same end of a town have not been done will increase the chances of an early resolution?

The last new Cabinet works I spotted were at Pembroke Dock - a couple of weeks ago.

Edited by deleted (Tue 07-Apr-15 18:45:28)

FTTP, so not really able to predict

Guess I'll just have to be patient then. Don't really understand half the jargon in this thread I'm afraid - I just know I miss my 70mb connection.

Being charged only £6 less than fibre cost me for an 8mb connection is a bitter pill to swallow.

You could try dropping an email to Angela Burns, A.M. She did try to help when my cab was delayed, in one email to me she did say that the roll out seemed slow and doesn't appear to be logical in terms of geographical implementation. Superfarce Cymru may be more inclined to reveal a probable time-line to her.

Nothing ventured.........

Got my Fibre this morning, just lashed up via WAN port at the mo, only went for 38mb connection for the moment, reading 37.9 so quite happy with that, guy said i am the first on PCP37, he was off to connect somebody else after me. got a new TPLink VDSL router in the post, so will be glad to get rid of the extra box and get back to an all in one, didn't bother with the faceplate replacement and just used the existing filter and all working well.

Well I've been having speed problems with this since i have got it, keeps varying from 20-40mbps on the downstream, anyone else having fluctuating speeds lately?

I know someone in Tenby about 10 doors away from me that had a BT install this week. Total cock-up from beginning. First they didn't send modem. Then the BT engineer turned up at house (which wasn't expected!), installed new Master socket, went to cab and did patching. Next he turned back up, did a test and then left. Customer went to make a phone call some time later and noticed no dial tone whatsoever!

Back on phoen to BT, luckily engineer still in area so returned. Did whatever he did and left again. Customer now has bad noise on line so in process of waiting for BT to get back to him.

His speeds fluctuating badly just as your are too!!

Yes mine seemed clueless too, turned up without a modem (asked if i wanted one!) judging by the plus net forums it seems to be a problem with them and their suppliers, as i say no noise on the line solidly high sync rate, just the throughput that is bad, back on the BT modem hooked up to the WAN port on my new TPLink 9980, just as bad. i honestly shouldn't have bothered upgrading as my ADSL2 connection was rock solid!

Seems they are having major capacity problems with the fibre roll outs at present.

Yeah mine in Tenby has been playing up too on Plusnet. It was fine for 2 weeks sync'd solidly around 68Mbps-ish down and 17Mbps-ish up and last tues suddenly dropped connection and on resync, I'd lost 6 meg down and 7 meg up! Been losing .5meg down everyday since and Plusnet aren't bothered as it's within acceptable limits!

Anyone had any trouble last week?

My connection was dropping every 15 - 30 minutes problems with my modem syncing, lasted about 3 days, before it became less frequent until having solid connection again today?

seem to coincide with the first fibre connections going live on the new cabinet? was hoping it was sky installing a GEA link lol..

Engineer just been, problem resolved now seeing 50-60mbps throughput with no interleaving, turns out it was a faulty card in the cabinet

Still getting the throttling, and as a test reconnected to another gateway using my router (left openreach modem alone) and speed shoots back up to expected levels, it seems to be a problem with plusnet and their supplier which is throttling

So, I have had a week of hell, and its continuing, ever since the cabinet has been installed and gone live on london road, my connection has been dropping every 30 minutes staying down for 10-15 minutes and then i get about 20-30 minutes of up time..

So i ring Sky, they make me reset my router and change my microfilter (rolls eyes) for them to state its just line noise issue, yet they fixes do not work i have been given a 5 day Openreach timescale for fix, 2 days in nothing so far...

I also express my complaints over being missold my broadband,

I was happy with talktalk ADSL and awaiting Fibre (talktalk have GEA Link in pembroke exchange) but sky convinced me it was cheaper (which it is) but promised me as soon as my cabinet went fibre live i could have it.. i have also noticed since the cabinet was installed my ADSL2+ connection has gone from 19MB to 14MB max connection.

no one informed me about GEA Links, and Sky's care free attitude to installing them, I am tempted to take this through the ombudsman as a misselling as so I can get out of my contract and go elsewhere.

Not very happy right now with internet... I have an autistic boy who is major dependant on his ipad and a connection, he cannot grasp the internet not working properly and this week has been hell. not that Sky care less.

As in SA71 4RL

Since BT Wholesale is still not showing the cab as offering FTTC.

PCP 37
PCP 4 is going to be FTTP

They put a new CAB in outside the exchange for the EO lines. Is that the one you're connected to??

Aha was confused by subject lines, hence the asking

hahaha I can see how that happened - it is a bit confusing by the title!!

I think you may have pinned it down for me, Junction of Pembroke Road (locally called Top Road,) Ferry lane, Bush Hill and Buttermilk Lane.) For some reason I expected the cab to actually be in Pembroke, rather than between the 2 towns, I didn't think to look at the one on the corner all the way up there. I will have a look tomorrow when I pass it, If so then its rather sad for my friend, ironically he is closer to PCP29 (my cab) than PCP4, I am not confident that he will see an uplift from his current 6 meg ADSL2 performance any time soon.

Edited by deleted (Thu 23-Apr-15 19:15:50)

Bizarrely i appear to have fixed my latest speed problems by enabling 5Ghz wifi, i had an initial problem that was resolved with a locked card and high interleaving, but now i have 2.4ghz wifi only running at a max of 20mbps on the speed tests, whereas on 5ghz it will show the full speed down, and this is very strange as i have no signal channel issues on 2.4ghz but for some reason it will not run at full speed.

Very strange indeed.

Well I ordered fibre with sky today, so i take it they installed a link, I also suspect its what has been messing my ADSL about for the last week or so..

Openreach Engineer came tested the line and said all was fine, so something was going on. anyhoo ordered, speed estimate of between 22-33 lets hope its the higher end, but will welcome to 8-9mb upload.