IRBY EXCHANGE

Fibre Street Cabinet installed approx. 30.5.2014

Now Cabinet is there ... how long to Fibre active???????

could be week, month or year

Hi Tom! Which cabinet?

I've been wondering around hoping to see a cabinet, no luck so far!

PS, as of about an hour ago, Irby Exchange has changed from May 2014 to September 2014.

Here we go again, it's been like this every few months since March 2011.

Couldn't resist going out for a recce, it's on Bridgenorth Road, cabinet 14.

That's the first and only one so far on this exchange.

But, when I look up an address near to that cabinet it says "Not being deployed as part of the 66% Commercial Plan" but all other postcodes say they're part of the 66% plan on the Irby exchange.

Perhaps someone can comment on that.

Edited by Irby (Tue 03-Jun-14 17:33:33)

Oi!
There's no "e" in Bridgnorth, and you live near it .

Not sure what you're on about there to be honest!

It was light-hearted, and wrong. Sorry. I was thinking of Bridgnorth in Shropshire. "Bridgenorth" Road is a strange name for one somewhere on the Wirral, although there is a Bridgenorth in the Exeter area.

Edited by RobertoS (Tue 03-Jun-14 18:42:04)

There's also a Taj Mahal restaurant in London, nowhere near India

Touch�.

Strange choice for the first fibre cabinet. The link from the headend (Arrowebrook exchange in Upton) runs up Pensby Rd so I always assume done of the cabinets on Pensby Rd would be the first to go live.

Anything happened at cab 20 http://goo.gl/maps/NaOPy ?

H Dave!!

Been on the lookout for ages .. Bridgenorth ... near my house!!!

Is this the first cabinet for Whaley Lane????

I think I need to start a .... fibre4irby.co.uk campaign ... lol

Saw an oopenreach van on the Woodchurch estate ...

he drove off before I could pump him for info on the Irby exchange ... darn!!!

In reply to a post by Ribble:

Anything happened at cab 20 http://goo.gl/maps/NaOPy ?

Thanks, that was one of the cabinets I couldn't locate, haven't see it yet, will check it out later. Any reason why it should be checked out though?

I put this map together of cabinet locations, sad, I know, but potentially useful.


https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=zkQO2oDh_...

Edited by Irby (Thu 05-Jun-14 12:38:14)

Might be something new there

In reply to a post by Ribble:

Might be something new there

Will let you know, but I guess you probably already know

And predictions on cabinet 3?

Cheers.

In reply to a post by Saidin:

Is this the first cabinet for Whaley Lane????

I think many of the homes near the exchange are on EO lines, either they'll put a new cabinet on Whaley Lane, or perhaps deliver FTTP to those.

Today, tomorrow, sometime soon!

And yes, there is a new cabinet at 20!

Dave.

Can't see them doing FTTP in any Wirral exchange. They might add a new cabinet, if anything. They may not do a thing for EO lines.

New cabs springing up like daisies now! Great to see physical evidence of progress.

Not that that's been any help for Caldy exchange. All of the cabs have been in for ages. Seems to me they are having trouble bringing in the long distance fibre from the headend (which, like Irby is Arrowebrook in Upton).

Irby should be easier though as all the hard work was done on that when Heswall was done a few years ago so there will be spare fibres in the link from the headend that can be used.

Post deleted by Irby

Ground works started last Thursday or Friday, the cabinet is now stood as of today

Guess we could be looking at September at the earliest for go live?

I suspect it will be sooner than that unless there is some big issue.

Great to hear, though there are no guarantees of course, I'm just setting my personal expectations, got kind of used to waiting since March 2011 when our exchange was first slated for FTTC

Just need to choose a new ISP now.

Thanks for all the info guys, I know you do it out of the goodness of your hearts and it's appreciated.

I hope it will be soon too. The cabinets are not a good indication though. As I mentioned, there have been cabinets in place for months and months across West Kirby but none of them have any fibre to them.

Have just found this thread after searching web after more frustration and further delay in Fibre broadband at Irby Exchange.
I first looked at upgrading to Fibre broadband in Jan 2013 and saw that it was due for Irby in Dec 2013 - then it moved to May 2104, and has been pointed out in last few days this has now moved to Sept 2014 Having read earlier postings it seems that it has been a roving delay since 2011 - cannot understand how Open-Reach are allowed to get away with continuing delays not only at Irby Exchange but elsewhere in Wirral and rest of the UK.
Being a monopoly of the Optic Fibre rollout they seem to be overwhelmed, and it figures they will only looking after areas that are likely to have a bigger uptake so higher return to them. As end users we are expected to show interest with our providers, who I presume then indicate demand to OpenReach.
Surely a better way would be for OpenReach to canvass Phone Exchange districts to test possible demand uptake for Fibre, and use this as a means for rollout, it seems that the tail is wagging the dog.
I also see that on 12th June 2013 our Wirral West MP Esther McVey made the following statement after meeting BT representatives �If Wirral is to keep up and compete in the global internet market it really is paramount that BT deliver this project to Wirral West sooner rather than later and I will be keeping up the pressure on them to do just that�, added Esther.
I would suggest that we all contact her and request that she honours her pledge as this escalating delay is unacceptable .
PS I notice that yesterday they have started ground work to install new green box for Fibre at end of Whaley Lane but how long it will take to get it up and running - hmmm maybe Sept 2014 ? I wouldn't put money on it.

Just be thankful it's on its way

By the way, it was Saidin (Tom) (who started this thread) and me who trudged around the streets of Irby back in 2002 campaigning for good old ADSL!

And forget about politicians, we all know they're self serving expletive deleteds who just tell you what you want to hear.

Oh I remember your campaign - I had just moved to area a few years earlier - well done. There maybe some truth in your opinions over some Politician's - but with respect thats for another forum

OpenReach were swarming around 'my' cabinet a couple of days, one particular engineer assisted by another spent most of the day with the old cabinet open sorting wiring out.

What might he have been doing and is that a promising indication or completely normal activity for a very recently installed cabinet?

Only 2 reasons they would be working on both cabinets. To install the copper ties or to earth bond the cabinets if they are close together

In reply to a post by Ribble:

Only 2 reasons they would be working on both cabinets. To install the copper ties or to earth bond the cabinets if they are close together

Over a week now and two new Fibre cabinets installed in Whaley Lane & Pensby Road, Scottish Power have installed mains cable - but two large holes still left , power cables visible and gathering chip papers, not to mention large orange barriers obstructing traffic junction at one location and forcing pedestrians onto road at other - not encouraging

http://roadworks.org & http://travel.cheshireeast.gov.uk/network.aspx

I can see that BT are doing works.

Ropewalk Cottage, The Ropewalk, Parkgate, Neston CH64 6TJ
Works Start: 18 Jun
End: 24 Jun

Neston Road, Ness, Neston, Cheshire
Works Start: 03 Jul
End: 09 Jul
Location : FOOTWAY OUTSIDE GOLDSTRAW FARM TO OPPOSITE THE OLD SCHOOL HOUSE ON, NESTON ROAD
Description : Install 126m of 1 way poly duct in Footway

Hinderton Road, Neston, CH64
Works Start: 05 Jul
End: 10 Jul
Low impact, delays unlikely

Location : (PCP10), NGA RELATED WORKS, (PCP10 V2) 330412.50 377925.75, SIDE OF WOODRUFF HINDERTON LANE, 330416.25 377918.00, JUNCTI
Description : power
Current status: Advanced planning
Traffic lights, etc:
Queries should be addressed to BT quoting reference BC005WP00100500136954602

Edited by francisuk25 (Fri 20-Jun-14 03:40:06)

I think that is more to do with new fibre cabinets recently installed in Burton village, not really anywhere near Irby, it's further up the coast.

"not encouraging", what kind of progress are you hoping to see after just over a week's work?

In reply to a post by Irby:

"not encouraging", what kind of progress are you hoping to see after just over a week's work?

Well the holes filled in and footpath restored at least

That's the power going in for the Burton cabinet. Wirral Council doesn't use roadworks.org at all anyway.

Interestingly, Neston's fibre cabinets are fed directly from Bromborough exchange so nothing that goes on there will have anything to do with Irby's cabinets which are fed from Arrowebrook exchange.

In reply to a post by XboxAsap:

In reply to a post by Irby:

"not encouraging", what kind of progress are you hoping to see after just over a week's work?

Well the holes filled in and footpath restored at least

Just checked hole filled and footpath restored Whaley Lane - guess my comments worked lol

In reply to a post by Icaras:

Not that that's been any help for Caldy exchange. All of the cabs have been in for ages. Seems to me they are having trouble bringing in the long distance fibre from the headend (which, like Irby is Arrowebrook in Upton).

Irby should be easier though as all the hard work was done on that when Heswall was done a few years ago so there will be spare fibres in the link from the headend that can be used.

Is there any more info on this - Cabinets went in around West Kirby in mid-December. I saw a large thick black cable getting fed into one of the cabinets weeks ago (? the fibreoptic cable) but its all gone very quiet

The thick black thing is just a tube for the fibre. The contractors put them in and then Openreach blow the fibre through those tubes at a later date.

Most of Caldy's cabinets didn't have the tubes in place even, I don't know why. All of the cabinets in Irby do, but there's no fibre in those tubes yet. The fibre cabinets in Irby are all (or most of them) connected to their copper twins. So actually Irby is now further on than Caldy. I've no idea what the delay is for the Caldy exchange, I've got to assume it's something to do with the long distance fibre coming from the headend which is also Arrowebrook. It is easy to tell which headend is being used, only Arrowebrook is Huwaei (so you'll see Huawei cabinets), the other headends are ECI.

Hi, seems there's been a change in data. This is from the June PCP document for cabinet 3.

3 Huawei 100% 11.9 Phase 11a 31/12/2014 Part of BT's 66% Commercial Plan

Anything to be concerned about? It was showing up much sooner than end of year, not sure when it changed.

http://fttc-check.alc.im/

In reply to a post by Irby:

Hi, seems there's been a change in data. This is from the June PCP document for cabinet 3.

3 Huawei 100% 11.9 Phase 11a 31/12/2014 Part of BT's 66% Commercial Plan

Anything to be concerned about? It was showing up much sooner than end of year, not sure when it changed.

http://fttc-check.alc.im/

Which one is cabinet 3 again? I can't see it taking that long. I reckon it'll be on by the end of September.

Cabinet 3 is on Mill Hill road. See map here.
https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=zkQO2oDh_...

Yes I know it, the second one down on Mill Hill. You've missed a cabinet by the way. Have a look on Storeton Lane in the bushes on the left next to the telephone pole

Edited by deleted (Mon 30-Jun-14 23:00:36)

Thanks, had no idea there was one on Storeton Lane! I'm guessing that's either P11 or P18 as I haven't found them yet.

Anyway, map updated, ta

Nope it's an old SCP. 11 is on Fishers Lane and I don't think there is an 18. The one in your map on Roslin Rd is decommissioned.

Thanks, just been out on the bike and went to find the SCP on Storeton, found it, but it's completely and I mean completely covered in foliage! I had to push some of it out of the way to find it

Map edited, think I have them all now. But since the initial flurry of activity in early June, we don't seem to have had any more fibre cabinets installed, by my reckoning (could be wrong) there are only 7 out of a possible 20 (approximately) installed.

Tom, your cabinet on Bridgenorth is now showing as active and taking orders.

Hi Dave ... ACTIVE????

Where have you found this out???

I was looking at the Cabinet plan .... and mine 14 Bridgenorth Road was down as ....

"P14 Now has a twin cabinet. "Not being deployed as part of the 66% Commercial Plan"....

..... and saw this as bad news!!!!

But.... Just checked BT Infinity availability for my Telephone number ....

Got this .....

Great News! You can get fibre optic BT Infinity:

Yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ,,,,,,

Is this the first Cabinet to go active on the exchange????

Yes it's the first one.

Your cabinet was funded by BDUK, which means it was not part of the 66% BT Commercial plan.

Not sure if that's why yours is first or not, my cabinet was installed 6 days later, I'm tempted to assume that I'll be able to order next week, but life is never that simple

Hi guys ....

Cabinet is active ... !!!!!.

Just ordered BT Infinity2!!!

My ADSL speed is 16.8Mb ...

Expected Fibre .. 79-80Mb download ... 20Mb upload.

Install date 10th July ... between 08:00 to 13:00

Looks like all cabinets will be done soon ... fingers crossed!!!

Well that's 12 years of patient waiting over !!!!

My speed is 7mb on a good day, I work from home. 16.8mb is luxury!

Other cabinets have still got a long way to go yet.

In reply to a post by Saidin:

Hi guys ....

Cabinet is active ... !!!!!.

Just ordered BT Infinity2!!!

My ADSL speed is 16.8Mb ...

Expected Fibre .. 79-80Mb download ... 20Mb upload.

Install date 10th July ... between 08:00 to 13:00

Looks like all cabinets will be done soon ... fingers crossed!!!

Well that's 12 years of patient waiting over !!!!

May I ask which area you are for Irby Exchange and location of cabinet please

Hi Xbox' ....

It's cabinet P14 and it's on the corner of Bridgenorth Road and Ridgewood Drive.

I started this thread when I spotted it a few weeks back.

Apparently it was the first one seen ... after that they sprouted like daisies!!!

I thought it might not be ready until September!!!

Hi Dave ... After you and I and a few others running the ADSL ... broadband4irby campaign ... upgrade for the Exchange I never thought it would take 12 years of daily driving past the cabinet on Bridgenorth for a Fibre cabinet finally to appear !!!

Hi Dave ... if 16.8Mb is ...... luxury ....

What is ... 80Mb ... Zooooooooooooom .... :- )

Do yo mean the ones already installed, such as P3 or the 13 approx that haven't got an FTTC twin yet?

Hi Saidin,
Appreciate info - my Fibre Cabinet is at end of Whaley Lane - just down from Exchange - lets hope it will be up and running soon ?

It would appear that the cabinet we were talking about on Storeton Lane is the decommisioned PCP 18. So there were two or 3 cabinets on Storeton Lane at different times. Shame they got rid of so many cabinets in Irby as it has resulted in people being further away from the cabinets than they would have been.

Sparks Lane Axholme Road box being wired up today with Fibre Cable..

Engineer said should be online 10 days

Here's the current status, I might have missed one or two FTTC installs, but I think I have them all. 8 out of a total of 20 are now in but it seems that all other progress on installs has stalled. I expected the one in Irby village outside the Anchor (P7) to have been upgraded, being central village, but it seems cabinet 2 serves a lot of central village - might cabinet 7 and others now miss out? Is this the end game for Irby? I'm not asking for me, I seem to have been one of the lucky ones as my cabinet is stood.

https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=zkQO2oDh_...

I've got my doubts about P7. It serves a large area but doesn't have a huge amount of customers on it so I wouldn't really expect it to be done as part of the commercial roll-out. My feeling is it won't be enabled without BDUK but I have no insider information on that so it's just my opinion. I could be wrong.

Saying that though I REALLY don't understand BDUK for Merseyside. If you look at their website it says they are focusing on business users, how's that allowed? It is certainly not going to help people in Thursaston or Bidston is it? Not many business users there.

Yes, P7 is a strange one, it serves users as far away as the caravan park down at Thurstaston shore, it's miles away. I must admit, I wasn't that confident that 'my' cabinet P3 would get upgraded, given it's right on the edge of the village and semi rural.

There's also P17, just a hundred yards or so further down the road from P7 - again, not upgraded.

17 has more of a chance, denser housing.

New to this chat. Was wondering whether P7 would be my cabinet (Lyndhurst Road) because OpenReach vans were there very recently. No evidence that they have actually done anything but any action is better than nothing.

Yes, fairly sure that P7 serves Lyndhurst. Did you see the vans outside the Anchor pub, or elsewhere?

Yes, outside the pub. There were about 3 vans there one day and then another 1 just the other day. Never had a chance to chat with the guys, sadly, otherwise I would have tried to get some news. The engineers usually seem quite happy to complain about the state of the (aluminium) wires if nothing else!

Well, they were there for a reason I guess, here's hoping for you!

In reply to a post by Saidin:

Hi guys ....

Cabinet is active ... !!!!!.

Just ordered BT Infinity2!!!

My ADSL speed is 16.8Mb ...

Expected Fibre .. 79-80Mb download ... 20Mb upload.

Install date 10th July ... between 08:00 to 13:00

Looks like all cabinets will be done soon ... fingers crossed!!!

Well that's 12 years of patient waiting over !!!!

Thought we might have seen you on here by now extolling the virtues of FTTC!

How did it go?

Hi Irby,
Just checking your Map (BTW thanks for doing it ) P12 has a twinned FTTC cabinet so does it also needs a Gold Star putting on ?

Edited by deleted (Sun 13-Jul-14 19:47:58)

Thanks, map edited accordingly

Anyone hooked up yet? Tom seems to have dropped off the net, either that or he's downloading the Internet.

Talked to an OpenReach engineer yesterday who had come to fix my ordinary broadband (had to replace the line between the pole and cabinet - now working nicely at 10Mbps+). Sadly he seemed to know no more about the fibre installation in Irby than I do! C'est la vie.

Bit odd this - just checked OpenReach webpage Where & When for Super-fast Fibre BB & entered my postcode & adjoining one , and it came back AO Green icon - Accepting Orders , and yet on downloading Pdf AO , Irby Exchange is not listed , but it is on the CS Coming Soon Pdf.
Also checking BT website as to whether can I get fibre on my phone number, it indicates Fibre BB not available yet - very odd

Edited by deleted (Sat 19-Jul-14 17:02:29)

It looks like the BDUK cabinets have been somehow fast tracked and are now offering services. I don't see any non-BDUK FTTC installs offering FTTC services yet.

There are at least 2 BDUK cabinets and they're both live and near each other (see map in auto sig).

I've no idea when the non-BDUK cabinets will start accepting orders, maybe one of those in the know could comment

How do you know which ones the BDUK ones are? Have they got the sticker on?

Only because on the checker it says "part of the 66% plan or not".

I'm not that knowledgeable though so feel free to correct me

I'm not so sure you're correct on that assumption. I've not seen any evidence of any BDUK activity in the Wirral yet, I think this is all being done as part of BT's normal rollout.

Mind you, the Merseyside BDUK website is absolutely useless anyway and says something about the having to focus on businesses rather than residential customers. How is that even allowed? I can't make much sense of that website.

Edited by deleted (Mon 21-Jul-14 11:40:02)

I would help but need specifics on locations, but can say cabs 14, 17 & 19 look to be BDUK, the rest are commercial roll-out on Irby exchange

I think 20 was/is also BDUK according to information on the checker, you can no longer see that now as it's showing live and the 66% type stats aren't shown once they're live.

Edited by Irby (Mon 21-Jul-14 16:29:40)

All quiet on forum and activity at FTTC in Whaley Lane, guess School Holidays are taking effect with staff shortage etc .
Good news IRBY exchange is accepting orders for Fibre , but it depends on your location & phone number as to whether your FTTC is up and running.
Taken years for IRBY Exchange to be Fibre ready, hope its not more years before FTTC at end of Whaley Lane is sorted

Hi Everybody ...

Sorry about the delay.

Cabinet went active and I had BT Infinity2 installed on 10th July.

Operating on 5GHz wireless ...

Did test on Thinkbroadband speed test ,,, result link below ,,,,

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/results.html...

Don't know how to put it in my profile.

Speed 71.6 Mbps Download ,,, Burst 80.3 Mbps
Speed 18.3 Mbps Upload .... Burst 18.7 Mbps

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/button/14063...

Flying ......

Edited by deleted (Fri 25-Jul-14 22:53:27)

In reply to a post by XboxAsap:

All quiet on forum and activity at FTTC in Whaley Lane, guess School Holidays are taking effect with staff shortage etc .
Good news IRBY exchange is accepting orders for Fibre , but it depends on your location & phone number as to whether your FTTC is up and running.
Taken years for IRBY Exchange to be Fibre ready, hope its not more years before FTTC at end of Whaley Lane is sorted

Just be happy that as a Whaley Lane resident (or near it), you're already getting circa 20mbps anyway as you're so close to the exchange.

Well done, onlly 2 weeks to come back to the thread. You may want to see if you have 14 days of lag on your connection....

Ah sadly not getting 20 mbps with SKY ,
ThinkBB Test reveals Download 12.93 Upload 0.76 cant wait to get 71.6 DL & 18.3 Upload
I will be moving to BT when Fibre is available better for Gaming and of course free Sport

In reply to a post by Ribble:

I suspect it will be sooner than that unless there is some big issue.

Evening Mr Ribble

Do you happen to have any info on the progress of cabinets P3 and P2 (P2 is a friend's and P3 is my nearest).

Would appreciate it if you can, but totally understand otherwise!

Thanks.

Update

Barnsdale Avenue Thingwall
P10

wired up today by BT

In reply to a post by Thingwallfred:

Update

Barnsdale Avenue Thingwall
P10

wired up today by BT

Is this the FTTC cabinet ? And If you are living nearby have you checked in Fibre BB is available yet ?

Cabinet 16 now available to order from as of this morning.

Thanks

I know I am hijacking a bit but Gleggside in West Kirby (just off Black Horse Hill) - Anyone know when this is coming - I think it was down for May now notice it is available from 30/9

Can't wait though

Edited by deleted (Thu 07-Aug-14 22:00:40)

Just spoken with OpenReach chap working on P12 FTTC cabinet Pensby Road, he was making copper connection with existing phone cabinet - also he said they have not blown fibre cable thru ducting yet, didn't have local accent, when asked if they would be starting work on cabinet in Whaley Lane ? , asked where was Whaley Lane ? clearly not local as its just up the road . Seems that Openreach are moving towards Exchange from one area , not from the Irby Village end it seems .

Yes but I've explained why that is. This has absolutely nothing to do with the Irby exchange. The fibre is coming from the Arrowebrook exchange in Upton.

Yep, which strangely has resulted in the only cabinets to be operational are the ones furthest from Arrowebrook!

I think 'my' cabinet (P3) is one of the nearest to Arrowebrook, OpenReach have emailed me to say it's been pushed back to 31st December.

Edited by Irby (Wed 13-Aug-14 16:09:37)

Same thing happened with Heswall though. They took about a month to unblock the ducts coming from Arrowebrook to Heswall and put loads of new joint boxes up Arrowe Park Rd and Pensby Rd so you would expect the closest cabinet to go live but it didn't work like that.

They've always said they enable the ones that their algorithm works out will generate the most money first.

I think the housing near the enabled cabinets is slightly more dense that P3, see map in my sig for details. So that agrees with your algorithm comment.

PCP 3 isn't the closest to Arrowebrook as the fibre runs up Arrowe Park Rd and then Pensby Road so actually PCP 12 was the nearest to the existing fibre supplying Heswall from Arrowebrook. But that's all irrelevant anyway!

Well - as an LVCAL exchange user - I am praying that 30/9 doesn't slip again..
897m from exchange....

Should be a good speed when it eventually arrives....

Your distance from the exchange is largely irrelevant with FTTC, in fact, that's the whole point of FTTC. Think of it as bringing a small part of the exchange nearer your house

Edited by Irby (Wed 13-Aug-14 16:27:08)

Just need to start watching for cabinet activity then

Thanks

In reply to a post by Icaras:

PCP 3 isn't the closest to Arrowebrook as the fibre runs up Arrowe Park Rd and then Pensby Road so actually PCP 12 was the nearest to the existing fibre supplying Heswall from Arrowebrook. But that's all irrelevant anyway!

I didn't say the closest, but it's definitely on the Arrowebrook side of the village. I did hope at one time it would come up Mill Hill Road from Arrowebrook instead of its actual route

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Oi!
There's no "e" in Bridgnorth, and you live near it .

lol...this makes me chuckle, especially being in Bridgnorth.

Ok, basically, most old towns will have Bridgnorth listed as Bridgenorth, especially old roads (or the old dirt tracks at the time) such as I suspect this will be. Originally with the "e" was the correct spelling (The most Northern Bridge on the Severn at the time). However, the general belief locally is that map makers of the area incorrectly dropped the "e" about 150 years back and as they went to print, the error carried from edition to edition, to the point it has been left without the "e" today.

PS: Irvy is no where near Bridgnorth....nearly 2 counties apart

Mill Hill in some ways might have been more logical, as they knew they'd have to feed Heswall, Irby, West Kirby (Caldy exchange) and Hoylake from Arrowebrook. Possibly the ducts aren't big enough or don't go that way, who knows.

Something is delaying Caldy though and I reckon it is probably bringing in that long distance fibre from Arrowebrook, I can't think what else it could be.

Is it possible that Irby is actually feeding off Heswall (which in turn feeds off Arrowebrook)? It would explain why the only cabinets so far active are very near Heswall.

Yea but you're still thinking in terms of exchanges rather than headends. The Heswall exchange building has no NGA fibre going through it at all, and has no equipment in it relating to the fibre cabinets.

Your point is interesting though, they might be feeding the Irby cabinets from a fibre aggregation point somewhere in Heswall yes, it's certainly possible as the trunk cable from the headend in Arrowebrook will have several individual fibres in it so they can just use a spare. They won't have actually run whole new cable just for Irby (this is confirmed by us not seeing any work on Arrowe Park Rd. They've just used a spare fibre in the existing cable feeding Heswall.

Nothing new to report, so relax
All quiet since 5th August, anyone out there have any more info? Particularly cabinets 2 and 3 which have been installed since early June but are still not activated.

Thanks.

In reply to a post by Irby:

Nothing new to report, so relax
All quiet since 5th August, anyone out there have any more info? Particularly cabinets 2 and 3 which have been installed since early June but are still not activated.

Thanks.

Update - Just been for walk to shops in Pensby and spoke to chap working at FTTC 'Irby 6' says it should be commissioned by today or tomorrow at latest - he will then be working on Irby 4 further up the road soon after. Reckons he will be working on other FTTC boxes in area till Xmas to get them all connected for Fibre - told him I'll keep an eye open for him at box near me - he has a mug of tea with his name on it

Cabinet 6 is today showing as accepting orders.

Digging near the Anchor Inn today, looks like cabinet 7 is getting an FTTC cabinet.

God knows if it ever actually gets a feed....

In reply to a post by Irby:

Digging near the Anchor Inn today, looks like cabinet 7 is getting an FTTC cabinet.

God knows if it ever actually gets a feed....

Well they won't just be putting it there for a laugh so I'm sure it will in good time!
Incidentally, yes it's a long way to Thurstaston, but I don't think its the longest run from a cabinet on the Wirral. The worst is probably parts of Thornton Hough which are fed from a cabinet in Spital! They're lucky to get maybe 2-5Mb on FTTC, so kind of pointless.

I reckon the people down in Thurstaston could get maybe 6-8Mb on FTTC when it arrives for cabinet 7.

Cabinets are now live in Caldy also.

Edited by deleted (Sat 25-Oct-14 16:08:50)

In reply to a post by Icaras:

Well they won't just be putting it there for a laugh

It sometimes seems that way

been watching this thread with interest for what seems like ages now. i am served by the box by the anchor. current ADSL speed on a good day is 6 meg (live not far fro the cottage loaf).

I work from home and also play FPS games so infinity will be a seriously welcome addition to my life.

Main reason I am posting though rather than lurking is a conversation i overheard at the weekend which may explain the recent flurry of activity in the area. I was told that someone had threatened to sue BT over the large slippage on delivery dates. They had been originally informed that fibre would be in our area by last august and had based their business in the area based on that information. the slippage to dec 2014 (if we are lucky) had negatively impacted his business and he was seeking compensation from BT for the misinformation they had provided.

could be bolloc*s though but was an interesting thought

Nothing like the threat of Legal Action to focus the mind
TBH if this comment is true its not the fact that BT/Openreach may be liable to compensation, its the negative publicity any court action would generate. I have been in touch with our local MP and she is awaiting update from Openreach & BT I'll keep you all informed .

In reply to a post by RobbietheSeal:

I was told that someone had threatened to sue BT over the large slippage on delivery dates. They had been originally informed that fibre would be in our area by last august and had based their business in the area based on that information. the slippage to dec 2014 (if we are lucky) had negatively impacted his business and he was seeking compensation from BT for the misinformation they had provided.

I can't see a cause of action to sue.


An end user cannot contract directly with Openreach for FTTx - they would need to go through a communications provider such as BT Retail. However, it's Openreach that disseminate the best effort roll out dates. There means there's no possibility of an end user accepting an offer of service BT made generally or to a particular group of people, which would create a unilateral contract. As there is no contract, the business cannot sue for breach of contract.


The first requirement to show BT was negligent would be to establish it owed this business a duty of care to publish reliable information. Openreach would not necessarily have had any way of knowing this business could be a victim when they published the information - they might not even have known this business existed. If Openreach could not foresee this specific business would be a victim, they almost certainly owe it no duty of care in respect of the date, also any loss caused is likely to be too remote from any breach of duty of care to be recoverable.

It is debatable whether it is a fair, just and reasonable to impose a duty of care considering that the public interest is arguably better served by publication of 'best estimate' rollout data rather than Openreach publishing no information at all about their plans.


Even if a duty of care is owed and the company demonstrates that a breach of this duty caused it losses that BT could reasonably foresee, there does not appear to be any way for the company to recover for financial losses caused to the business via a negligence claim. The general position is that you cannot recover for pure economic loss in matters of tort such as negligence - you can only recover for economic loss that was a consequence of physical damage.

In certain circumstances, recovery for loss that is purely economic is possible, but this can only happen when the body making the statement assumed responsibility towards a specific body in the advice it gave and it was reasonable for that body to rely on the advice. I cannot see how BT assumed responsibility for the actions this company took by publishing a proposed ready for service date, so any losses appear to be irrecoverable pure economic loss.



I think any suggestion that a business is taking legal action that is likely to lead to a victory against BT is pure bluster.

I have had letter from our MP Esther McVey and she has been advised by BT that with regard to FTTC 9 in Whaley Lane there appears to be ducting problems and therefore it cannot be connected to Fibre network, as result new ducting will be required along footway, presumably towards phone exchange further along Whaley Lane.
I may be wrong but until this is done, connection of other FTTC's in the Irby Village etc , will not be able to connect to Irby phone exchange, if they use a daisy chain connection, unless there is another route for or Fibre BB ?

From what I've been told on here, Irby fibre is being delivered from the Arrowbrook exchange. Also, the few fibre enabled (and taking orders) cabinets are all on the south east side (check map in my signature), which suggest that they might be being fed from Heswall.

Just a hunch.

I thought that might be a possibility - think I might hire a mini JCB and do the ducting myself might be quicker.

In reply to a post by XboxAsap:

I have had letter from our MP Esther McVey and she has been advised by BT that with regard to FTTC 9 in Whaley Lane there appears to be ducting problems and therefore it cannot be connected to Fibre network, as result new ducting will be required along footway, presumably towards phone exchange further along Whaley Lane.
I may be wrong but until this is done, connection of other FTTC's in the Irby Village etc , will not be able to connect to Irby phone exchange, if they use a daisy chain connection, unless there is another route for or Fibre BB ?

Please re-read the thread. I can confirm 100% that the fibre cabinets in Irby ARE connected to Arrowebrook, not the exchange in Whaley Lane. Also, cabinets are NOT daisy chained.

In reply to a post by Irby:

From what I've been told on here, Irby fibre is being delivered from the Arrowbrook exchange. Also, the few fibre enabled (and taking orders) cabinets are all on the south east side (check map in my signature), which suggest that they might be being fed from Heswall.

Just a hunch.

How many times do we have to go through this? I'm telling you they are not fed from Heswall! They are all fed from Arrowebrook. Heswall cabinets are all
Connected to Arrowebrook also, as are the Caldy ones.

I'm pretty sure MrSaffron used to have a database that told which fibre headends are used for certain areas. Maybe if he could post here and also confirm they are connected to Arrowebrook you might believe me?

Edited by deleted (Wed 29-Oct-14 21:38:43)

Icaras - thank you for clarification regarding Irby FTTC's being connected to Arrowebrook exchange, therefore the situation regarding ducting is worse than I thought, god knows were the blockage is - I was told some months ago by an engineer that some digging would have to be done in Whaley Lane over blockage of Fibre cable to Irby Exchange. It looks like I'll be getting connected to Arrowebrook not Irby exchange just down the road, not sure what signal I will get but hope its what is advertised.
I appreciate that you sound/feel exasperated over this discussion , we do believe you but all contributors to this thread or do not have Fibre are equally exasperated & frustrated over how long it is taking, we have no way of making direct contact to Openreach, if we contact our ISP's all we can show is interest in having Fibre broadband and thats it.

It looks like I'll be getting connected to Arrowebrook not Irby exchange just down the road, not sure what signal I will get frown but hope its what is advertised.

The distance to the headend exchange is immaterial. Speeds are dictated by the distance from the end user to the FTTC cabinet and the "quality" of that line.

In reply to a post by XboxAsap:

Icaras - thank you for clarification regarding Irby FTTC's being connected to Arrowebrook exchange, therefore the situation regarding ducting is worse than I thought, god knows were the blockage is - I was told some months ago by an engineer that some digging would have to be done in Whaley Lane over blockage of Fibre cable to Irby Exchange. It looks like I'll be getting connected to Arrowebrook not Irby exchange just down the road, not sure what signal I will get but hope its what is advertised.
I appreciate that you sound/feel exasperated over this discussion , we do believe you but all contributors to this thread or do not have Fibre are equally exasperated & frustrated over how long it is taking, we have no way of making direct contact to Openreach, if we contact our ISP's all we can show is interest in having Fibre broadband and thats it.

To be honest a lot of engineers don't understand the situation about fibre headends. The majority would genuinely think that the fibre cabinets are connected to the exchange in Irby itself. They aren't told any different as they don't need to know.

But if you think about it a blockage on Whaley Lane WOULD be relevant to this particular cabinet anyway. The fibre was brought into the area along Pensby Rd from Upton so to get to the cabinet it would make sense to send it down Whaley Lane anyway.

Edited by deleted (Thu 30-Oct-14 07:53:59)

In reply to a post by Icaras:

In reply to a post by XboxAsap:

I have had letter from our MP Esther McVey and she has been advised by BT that with regard to FTTC 9 in Whaley Lane there appears to be ducting problems and therefore it cannot be connected to Fibre network, as result new ducting will be required along footway, presumably towards phone exchange further along Whaley Lane.
I may be wrong but until this is done, connection of other FTTC's in the Irby Village etc , will not be able to connect to Irby phone exchange, if they use a daisy chain connection, unless there is another route for or Fibre BB ?

Please re-read the thread. I can confirm 100% that the fibre cabinets in Irby ARE connected to Arrowebrook, not the exchange in Whaley Lane. Also, cabinets are NOT daisy chained.

In reply to a post by Irby:

From what I've been told on here, Irby fibre is being delivered from the Arrowbrook exchange. Also, the few fibre enabled (and taking orders) cabinets are all on the south east side (check map in my signature), which suggest that they might be being fed from Heswall.

Just a hunch.

How many times do we have to go through this? I'm telling you they are not fed from Heswall! They are all fed from Arrowebrook. Heswall cabinets are all
Connected to Arrowebrook also, as are the Caldy ones.

I'm pretty sure MrSaffron used to have a database that told which fibre headends are used for certain areas. Maybe if he could post here and also confirm they are connected to Arrowebrook you might believe me?

Calm down fella, it was obvious from my post that I wasn't stating I was some kind of authority on the matter. Look at the language I used.

Besides, some time back you said this:

"Yea but you're still thinking in terms of exchanges rather than headends. The Heswall exchange building has no NGA fibre going through it at all, and has no equipment in it relating to the fibre cabinets.

Your point is interesting though, they might be feeding the Irby cabinets from a fibre aggregation point somewhere in Heswall yes, it's certainly possible as the trunk cable from the headend in Arrowebrook will have several individual fibres in it so they can just use a spare. They won't have actually run whole new cable just for Irby (this is confirmed by us not seeing any work on Arrowe Park Rd. They've just used a spare fibre in the existing cable feeding Heswall."

Is it any wonder there's confusion by lay people like me!

I reckon the spine cable from Arrowbrook routes along Pensby road into Whaley lane, then north into Thingwall road. Probably 4 nodes covering the area, roughly covering cabinets to west, central and north Irby, east/south east and southern cabs.
I reckon one of those nodes will be close to the exchange

That makes sense. I'm getting a bit tired of obsessing over this, just wish it was all done!

There should be more than 4 nodes though. Usually there's a node per cabinet or if theres a couple really close they can run from one.

But yes it would make perfect sense to bring it up Whaley Lane.

@Irby I don't understand where you've quoted me talking about no NGA equipment in the Heswall exchange. What did you mean by that?

About your point re. spare fibres. Yes you're absolutely right there will be loads of spares in the main cable they brought up Arrowe Park Rd. A duct blockage on Whaley Lane would certainly explain why they haven't been able to enable certain other cabinets wouldn't it? If it then feeds up Thingwall Rd. I still don't get why cabinets such as P12 aren't live. What could be holding that up?

Edited by deleted (Fri 31-Oct-14 17:16:31)

Now that the new P7 cabinet is in place and all of the digging has been filled in and the road/footpaths mended presumably the cabinet has to be connected up/commissioned in some way. How long would this take normally before we can get access? Any chance of getting fibre before Christmas do you think? The Sky site still indicates fibre unavailable.

Another thing also occurs to me: I currently get about 10Mbps adsl speed anyway, but, due to contention I suspect, the "real" speed drops massively during the evenings (when everyone starts streaming video etc).

If a significant number of people move to fibre, will this contention actually decrease and make the move less attractive? Or will the move to fibre simply keep the evening bottleneck for all? After all, if I could get a reliable 10Mbps "real" speed all day, I probably would not need fibre.

For context, P3 was put in place on June 9th and is still not offering FTTC services. I believe this is due to a duct blockage somewhere near Whaley Lane that has to be cleared.

I am extremely doubtful that we'll see anything by Christmas, but we live in hope (I work from home, this is a big deal to me).

Some progress at Whaley Lane FTTC P9 this morning - two Openreach chaps making connection between FTTC and phone cabinet, they have no idea when Fibre BB will be ready in area , but its some progress

In reply to a post by tonka99:

Now that the new P7 cabinet is in place and all of the digging has been filled in and the road/footpaths mended presumably the cabinet has to be connected up/commissioned in some way. How long would this take normally before we can get access? Any chance of getting fibre before Christmas do you think? The Sky site still indicates fibre unavailable.

Another thing also occurs to me: I currently get about 10Mbps adsl speed anyway, but, due to contention I suspect, the "real" speed drops massively during the evenings (when everyone starts streaming video etc).

If a significant number of people move to fibre, will this contention actually decrease and make the move less attractive? Or will the move to fibre simply keep the evening bottleneck for all? After all, if I could get a reliable 10Mbps "real" speed all day, I probably would not need fibre.

No it won't make a difference as you're currently getting your broadband from the exchange in Irby whereas the fibre comes from the exchange in Arrowebrook (Upton). If you're on BT's network you shouldn't be seeing congestion at peak times, if that's occuring then you should report that as a fault. It is not normal nowadays.

Just today noticed there is digging at P1, looks like an FTTC install.

In addition to that, there is also now a cabinet in front of the exchange for exchange only lines. In fact this is currently being done for pretty much all Wirral exchanges. So you could add that to your Google Maps list. I'm pretty sure it has a number on the front of it but I can't for the life of me remember what it says. Possibly PCP 19?

Edited by deleted (Sun 23-Nov-14 16:03:29)

Ah, I thought that might happen. The same just happened up the road in Neston, right opposite the exchange is a new FTTC install.

Yes, Heswall too-cabinet 17. Bromborough also.

Edited by deleted (Tue 25-Nov-14 06:33:55)

I saw the new cab in Heswall but it didn't click with me it was an EO 'problem solver' until just now. I cycle past it about 20 times a week!

Just for info, the Caldy exchange is now active and taking orders - only a year late but its great news

In reply to a post by JC68:

Just for info, the Caldy exchange is now active and taking orders - only a year late but its great news

Great news for Caldy - but Irby exchange has been active and taking orders for over six months - the issue as I understand it is whether the FTTC has been enabled for your telephone area , this determines if you can order fibre broadband, sadly the one in Whaley lane still not enabled and I don't see it being before Xmas

Just had letter from my MP Esther McVey as she has been advised by BT that FTTC 9 in Whaley Lane requires installation of 150m of additional ducting, likely to be Spring 2015 before orders will be available on Fibre, but there could be further unforeseen delays.
I would say that this is likely to effect other FTTC's towards Irby Village area & beyond not being connected to Irby Exchange for Fibre.
Looks like my previous post comment over non connection to Fibre before Xmas have come true

Edited by deleted (Thu 04-Dec-14 13:35:02)

I'm going to place a bet now. We won't have FTTC on the affected cabinets until Jan 2016.

I regret you may be right on this as I was told of the blockage in ducting and requirement to install additional ducting in early June 2014, and now 6 months on nothing has been done.
Esther McVey has done the best she can in raising this issue with OpenReach & BT, some success with Caldy Exchange has been reported but I feel we all need to also raise concern with our respective ISP's over upgrade to Fibre BB, and hopefully OpenReach will see demand is there in our area, and get their finger out.

Does anyone remember when irby didnt have broadband and someone setup a broadband for irby petition? Maybe someone/ we could do the same, but fibre for irby petition instead? Just an idea

In reply to a post by Sqwirral:

Does anyone remember when irby didnt have broadband and someone setup a broadband for irby petition? Maybe someone/ we could do the same, but fibre for irby petition instead? Just an idea

Yes I think that was 'Irby' on this forum who burnt the shoe leather many years ago - TBH the FTTC cabinets are mostly in place its the laying of new ducting along Whaley Lane thats required - once this is done I would expect connect to Fibre should progress faster in Irby area - I would urge all to encourage you & your neighbours to petition Esther McVey our local MP , she contacted BT & Open reach etc over delays - the more that moan to her , gives her more ammunition IMHO

Yeah, that was me and 'Saidin'. We don't have the same mechanism to prove demand this time around, besides, as Xboxasap says, we're already on the roadmap. It will happen eventually, though sometimes I doubt it

I have just checked Open reach website and they have a more specific phone line/postcode checker for fibre BB delivery - this is the result I got ?

Exchange name: IRBY

Status: Exploring Solutions

We're keen to bring Superfast Fibre to your area and are exploring how best to achieve that. We may deliver it as part of our commercial programme, or by working in partnership with your local authority. At the moment you can't order Superfast Fibre.

Which cabinet are you on?

FTTC 9 at end of Whaley Lane junction with Thingwall Road East .

Interesting change of status, it's probably something to do with the ducting that needs to be done in that area. Cabinet 3 still shows as EA but cabinet not ready yet.

I watched a video on YouTube from the Government promoting Super Fast Broadband in UK . And found link below as a postcode checker for Projects - progress update in UK for Commercial Broadband in UK - click Merseyside & check your postcode - mine says due June 2015 seems to tally with my last post delayed till Spring 2015 .

https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=zwLLqmDnfnj...

1st half of 2016!!!!! Who do I complain to?? My wifi is dodgy at the best of times especially evenings!

In reply to a post by Misscaw:

1st half of 2016!!!!! Who do I complain to?? My wifi is dodgy at the best of times especially evenings!

Sadly you won't be able to complain to Open Reach as they do not deal with the end user (public) directly only ISP's .
I would suggest complaining to your ISP & MP to see what pressure they can bear on Open Reach . BTW what general do you live in Wirral ?

Edited by deleted (Sun 28-Dec-14 16:41:36)

Live in irby just off irby road.

Thanks- suggest you email our MP Esther McVey ( http://www.esthermcvey.com ) she has been very pro-active on this issue .

Yes, definitely drop Esther a message. I've also done just that.
The more of us that do it the better, there's a contact page on her website.

Thanks for your help, I'll do it first thing tomorrow

No reply received yet, I'm giving the benefit of the doubt with the Christmas holidays

Update
Just had letter from Esther McVey as she has had update from BT/Open Reach - no doubt delay due to Xmas etc, work is due to start on new ducting in Whaley Lane in February , with FTTC being in service Spring 2015 - subject to any unforeseen delays ?

I'm going to add on the 'OpenReach' factor and say that it will be December 2015 before we go live

In reply to a post by Irby:

I'm going to add on the 'OpenReach' factor and say that it will be December 2015 before we go live

OMG thats dreadful - but if that occurs an early Xmas present I guess ?? - lets hope they honour their promise

Ignore me, I'm just a little jaded after approximately 15 (will check) missed dates in 4 years.

Share your frustration "bro"

My letter just arrived, much more vague. She mentioned she's had discussions with senior management at OPenreach etc. But no dates, no mention of Whaley Lane in Feb.

Glad you got reply - I would not have expected here to refer to ducting issue in Whaley Lane as if I recall you live up near the Anchor PH, but by contacting her, as hopefully others have in Irby area will add more weight to level of frustration over continual delays in high speed connection in the area.

It's my understanding that the Whaley Lane duct is the common factor that is delaying FTTC for Irby.

But then again, I could be wrong. This is symptomatic of the entire experience of dealing with Openreach. You're left to scour forums, hope for crumbs of info from helpful 'insiders' etc.

It bugs me that I pay the same monthly line rental to BT as other towns do that have had FTTC for 3 years or more.

/cry baby face.

In reply to a post by Irby:

It's my understanding that the Whaley Lane duct is the common factor that is delaying FTTC for Irby.

But then again, I could be wrong. This is symptomatic of the entire experience of dealing with Openreach. You're left to scour forums, hope for crumbs of info from helpful 'insiders' etc.

It bugs me that I pay the same monthly line rental to BT as other towns do that have had FTTC for 3 years or more.

/cry baby face.

Yes I do believe the ducting in Whaley Lane is most likely an issue, but as I have pointed out OpenReach will only deal with service providers - the Government of the day ensured that BT was split & making its service arm for BB & phones infrastructure a separate entity in the interests of competition .
As it says on Openreach website
'We were created to give communications providers equal access to the wires and fibres that connect us all, and to maintain and improve this infrastructure, which underpins the entire UK communication industry."
So we have no way of influencing or getting info of any substance from them, other than thru our service providers by requesting High Speed BB, on forums, insiders or our MP .
How on earth can Openreach gauge interest in Superfast BB in an area to warrant investment & return, clearly the Government have set aside money, the EU & local Government for it, but the service providers are not asking us the end users if we would like Superfast BB, as far as I know , so its a chicken & egg situation .
I also have issues over having to pay one provider for Broadband & BT for phone, but I will not change until we get Superfast BB in Spring fingers x'd

2 engineers working on cabinet 10 a few hours ago.

Just worked out that this cabinet is already live for FTTC, map edited accordingly.

Edited by Irby (Tue 13-Jan-15 14:02:48)

Credit to Esther McVey, she's just written to me again without me writing to her first, with an update.

Cabinet 3 has ducts that are 'silted up' and require clearing, ETA for orders is Spring*. But these are OpenReach estimates, so, you know.

* whatever Spring means these days.

Drove along Greasby Road this afternoon and as I stopped at Traffic Lights - happened to see barriers on nearside pavement around recently tarmac trench - posters on barrier read - Bringing Fibre Broadband to Greasby - lets hope I see them in Whaley Lane in February - Bringing Fibre Broadband to Irby
Nice to hear Esther McVey is keeping up the pressure on Openreach/BT

I've updated the map, several cabinets now offering FTTC on the south east side of the exchange (Thingwall/Pensby) that I didn't know about.

Interesting observation at lunch time today in car , whilst at junction of Thingwall Road & Irby Road near Anchor PH , saw two chaps in Yellow High Viz. jackets one with BT & other Openreach on back , talking to group of people - maybe coincidence ? - thanks for updater on map - things are moving

Great news - this morning I see that contractors are working on installing new ducting in Whaley Lane - I was a bit concerned that OpenReach were going to miss February deadline .

At last! hopefully things will start moving, still not sure if that's the common factor limiting progress in the rest of the area or not, though.

In reply to a post by Irby:

At last! hopefully things will start moving, still not sure if that's the common factor limiting progress in the rest of the area or not, though.

Well neither of us have access to inside workings of BT/Openreach , but without the new ducting being in place access to Irby Exchange will not occur for the FTTC in Whaley Lane thats for sure - but whatever lets hope this issue will be resolved soon for all still waiting in Irby

In reply to a post by XboxAsap:

In reply to a post by Irby:

At last! hopefully things will start moving, still not sure if that's the common factor limiting progress in the rest of the area or not, though.

Well neither of us have access to inside workings of BT/Openreach , but without the new ducting being in place access to Irby Exchange will not occur for the FTTC in Whaley Lane thats for sure - but whatever lets hope this issue will be resolved soon for all still waiting in Irby

What do you mean access to Irby exchange will not occur? How's that relevant? Sorry, I don't understand your post at all.

In reply to a post by Irby:

At last! hopefully things will start moving, still not sure if that's the common factor limiting progress in the rest of the area or not, though.

It is. A lot of these type of problems are to do with the design of the ducting. For example, you may see two ducts that are near to each other, but that doesn't mean they are connected. The large cables to the cabinets would be deeper in the ground and not generally in the same ducts as the smaller cables going off to all of the distribution points. Longer distance fibre is often in manholes under the road rather than under the pavement. So as you can imagine if a crucial duct is blocked there may be no alternative route to that group of fibre cabinets. The duct has to be unblocked before those cabinets can go live.

Edited by deleted (Thu 26-Feb-15 17:54:47)

Icaras,
I have no idea why you take such a 'high almighty ' response to my posting. I have tried my best to keep the forum up to date as to what is happening . I clearly do not have the technical prowess that you exhibit in your postings on this forum, but having contacted my MP some months ago I have had regular updates on information that she has received from Openreach & BT over mine & others concern on this forum over the 'false dawn' promises over many years on the installation on fibre optic broadband in our area.
Just to clarify a letter dated 6th January I received from her had a copy of an update from a Director from BT in which he makes the following statement " The cabinet in Whaley Lane is physically in place and has had power connected. As per my previous updates in order to connect the fibre to the cabinet we need to install 152 metres of duct which requires excavation works in Whaley Lane. These are planned for February 2015 which should the cabinet "ready for service" in Spring 2015
They have started digging half way down Whaley Lane between the Exchange & are heading towards the cabinet at the end junction with Thingwall Road, and having spoken with the contractors they have said its so that the cabinet can be hooked up to the Exchange.
So with respect your comments they have been shot out of the water to a large degree. I am not prepared to enter into a tick for tack posting with you over this , I have tried to do my best by involving my MP to raise concerns over getting Fibre Optic broadband to Irby and I am pleased with her efforts , as the saying goes 'Rome wasn't built in a Day' but its hopefully getting completed soon

Edited by deleted (Thu 26-Feb-15 21:39:26)

But I've told you again and again those cabinets are connected directly to the Arrowebrook exchange. I'm not just making it up I DO know that for a fact! The contractors were kind of right, it is so they can be connected to the exchange, just not that one. You can think what you want and feel free to believe contractors that don't work for the company, but those cabinets ARE onnected to Arrowebrook. MrSaffron can confirm that the headend for Irby is Arrowebrook, he has a list of the headends. I'm not meaning to be rude to you and I hope I haven't been but it is incredibly frustrating to keep coming on here and see you posting that when I've tried to explain to you that you're wrong.

Please don't take offence to my postings to you the last thing I'd want is that, obviously I'm not in a position to explain how I'm so confident in my postings on this specific subject, you're just going to have to trust me Not that it bleedin matters too much anyway, who really cares where they are connected to, I just like information to be accurate that's all!

Edited by deleted (Thu 26-Feb-15 21:51:45)

Just to be crystal clear, you're saying that the Whaley Lane blockage, once cleared should see other cabinets in the area come on line (unless there's unforeseen other blockages nearer Irby for instance)?

I don't have access to any concrete information so that's just my opinion. But I do believe when the blockage is cleared it will enable them to reach the other cabinets with fibre yes.

Just wanted to add this as well-Irby, I had a look at your cabinet map and it is actually very revealing. You can figure out the duct routes from your map. They won't have a duct on Thingwall Road that runs from the little roundabout on the junction of Barnston Rd up to Whaley lane. Why would they? Think about where the Irby exchange is on Whaley Lane, there's no possible reason for them to have a duct route up that part of Thingwall Rd.

So the fibre cables from Arrowebrook MUST come from Pensby Road, up Whaley Lane and then left onto Thingwall Road. It has to take that route of you think about it. And your map shows that all of the cabinets past that point are still not live. But most of the cabinets BEFORE that point are live (most of the ones near Pensby Rd or Barnston Rd). So you can see that by unblocking that duct on Whaley Lane they'll be able to bring that fibre cable all the way from one end of Whaley Lane to the other and then turn left at Thingwall Road and splice onto all of the other fibre cabinets nearer Irby Village itself. Does that make sense?

You don't need access to any maps of the network to figure it out you can tell from your Google cabinet map!

Edited by deleted (Fri 27-Feb-15 11:27:16)

Yes that does make sense, visualising it helps lots, as you say seeing it on a map.

P1 and P4 are not enabled yet, I guess there could be any number of reasons why not.

Maybe, just maybe, we'll soon be enabled

Edited by Irby (Fri 27-Feb-15 11:50:57)

Update- Fibre Optic Cable being put thru new ducting in Whaley Lane

Yesterday morning saw groundworks at P17, so it looks like they're finally getting a fibre cabinet there.

Ah yes P17! Never actually come across anyone connected to it! Must be being enabled as part of BDUK as it can't have many customers on it.

Just went past, cabinet is stood. It looks huge, not sure if that's because of where it's placed (away from any walls/fences) or if it really is a size bigger than the usual ones.

Just been chatting to contractor working on underground connection box junction Whaley Lane/Thingwall Road - he is blowing yellow fibre strand thru cable tubing - his colleague is further up road towards Irby Village taking fibre further up towards the village , says that the job of connection of fibre is high priority.
Also confirmed that the fibre is coming to Irby Exchange from Arrowebrook Exchange , and then along Whaley Lane and up to Irby Village , says the fine yellow fibre strand will do the whole of area, the blockage in Whaley Lane was causing the hold up, now with new ducting things are moving.
Estimates three weeks for Fibre connection - I'd say a month from previous delays - Xmas has come early

Also saw him on the junction of Whaley and Thingwall, he looked a bit cold with his hood up.

I couldn't see anyone further up the road in Irby village though, maybe he'd finished by then.

In reply to a post by Irby:

Also saw him on the junction of Whaley and Thingwall, he looked a bit cold with his hood up.

I couldn't see anyone further up the road in Irby village though, maybe he'd finished by then.

He was also trying to stand on brackets to avoid paddling in a foot of water - would have thought a pump might be part of the equipment lol

In reply to a post by XboxAsap:

Just been chatting to contractor working on underground connection box junction Whaley Lane/Thingwall Road - he is blowing yellow fibre strand thru cable tubing - his colleague is further up road towards Irby Village taking fibre further up towards the village , says that the job of connection of fibre is high priority.
Also confirmed that the fibre is coming to Irby Exchange from Arrowebrook Exchange , and then along Whaley Lane and up to Irby Village , says the fine yellow fibre strand will do the whole of area, the blockage in Whaley Lane was causing the hold up, now with new ducting things are moving.
Estimates three weeks for Fibre connection - I'd say a month from previous delays - Xmas has come early

What did I tell you about where it was coming from? The contractor has basically validated everything I said including the route of the fibre. But yet you completely ignored my previous post where I explained myself and apologised to you.

It's pretty well publicised that BT aren't running the fibre from small or medium exchanges. At once point I think they were only going to have about 25 headends nationwide but it's ended up being higher than that.

In Wirral the headend situation works like this:

Wallasey headend supplies cabinets in just Wallasey
Claughton headend supplies cabinets in Claughton, Mountwood and Birkenhead
Arrowebrook headend supplies cabinets in Arrowebrook, Heswall, Hoylake, Caldy and Irby
Bromborough headend supplies cabinets in Bromborough, Eastham and Neston
Rock Ferry headend supplies cabinets in just Rock Ferry
Ellesmere Port headend supplies cabinets in Ellesmere Port, Hooton and Helsby

Edited by deleted (Sat 07-Mar-15 10:35:13)

think they were only going to have about 25 headends nationwide but it's ended up being higher than that.

There are hundreds of NGA head ends, your possibly thinking of 21CN/WBC nodes.

In reply to a post by Ribble:

think they were only going to have about 25 headends nationwide but it's ended up being higher than that.

There are hundreds of NGA head ends, your possibly thinking of 21CN/WBC nodes.

Yes, that's why I said it ended up being higher, a lot higher. I definitely saw a PowerPoint slide with the original plans and it was far less. Maybe I was too low with the 25 figure but it was far, far lower than its ended up being.

We have the number of exchanges that exist today because the limitation was how long a copper phone line could be for voice service. That distance could be extended by using thicker copper ... but the economics only work so far.

The new limitation becomes the distance the fibre can work within a passive distribution network.

Rough numbers would be 5-7km for copper and 20km for fibre.

The build pattern then becomes that larger urban areas get an exchange (or more), which can capture the nearby rural areas. The more distant rural areas need their own exchange (for copper) or head-end (for fibre) when they are beyond that distance limitation.

If linear coverage improves 3x-4x, then area coverage becomes 9x - 16x.

The end result, for fibre, would be a set of head-ends for large towns (or bigger) as today, but the rural head-ends would only need to be around a tenth of the density of the current exchanges/concentrators.

Cab 19 has been having some work done to it the last few weeks and a new cabinet has appeared by the old one. I can only guess this is the DSLAM getting ready to enable it for FTTC.

Pdhenin,

Thank you for update - hopefully we will connected to Fibre BB soon

Good News! Cabinet 19 located on Glenwood Drive Irby is now accepting orders I have just ordered mine..

In reply to a post by Pdhenin:

Good News! Cabinet 19 located on Glenwood Drive Irby is now accepting orders I have just ordered mine..

Well that was quick - still no connection on P9

I came here to post the same message. Map updated.

Seems logical that the first cabinet to go live after the initial batch would be fairly near Whaley Lane where the blockage was.

In reply to a post by Irby:

I came here to post the same message. Map updated.

Seems logical that the first cabinet to go live after the initial batch would be fairly near Whaley Lane where the blockage was.

Fair point - shame they forgot to make cabinet P9 in Whaley Lane live as well . I wonder if the fact that there is a higher concentration of dwellings in Glenwood Drive serviced by Cabinet P19 and thus greater uptake to Fibre has had a bearing ?

Yes. That does have a bearing. But I think you have me on ignore as you aren't replying to any of my poats anymore since you told me off.

In reply to a post by Icaras:

Yes. That does have a bearing. But I think you have me on ignore as you aren't replying to any of my poats anymore since you told me off.

Icaras
My apologies I have not been ignoring your posts or your apology , they were overlooked as I was away on business when you posted and I have neglected to reply.
It is not my place to tell anyone off, I may have been a bit sensitive over your posts , but more frustrated over the continuing delays in getting access to super fast broadband, I am pleased that the fact that cabinet P19 is now accepting orders, but it is added to my frustration that the cabinet that effects my access to this service has been ignored for the time being.
Again I have not knowingly disputed your comments over fibre cable direction, headends etc, but it was the blockage in Whaley Lane and requirement for new ducting that was my issue, this has been rectified and yet the cabinet P9 that is delaying my access to Superfast BB is still not live, maybe BT & Openreach have decided to leave it to the last , as punishment for daring to complain over delays and involving my MP.
We have both apologised to each other, let sleeping dogs lie and hoping we both will be connected to Superfast BB sooner than later

Edited by deleted (Thu 19-Mar-15 16:28:07)

Oh I don't live in Irby! I've had FTTC for years

Well what I can tell you is that there is some kind of algorithm they use to decide the order in which fibre cabinets and areas are enabled. But I've never been able to find out any more info about what the algorithm is based on. What the algorithm is supposed to chuck out though is a list of cabinets in order of profitability. They will then enable the ones that'll generate the most profit in the shortest time first.

But when an area has heavy delays which you have had I bet a lot of these algorithms will go out the window. Have you checked if cabinet 9 has been connected to the power network by Scottish Power? This can account for a lot of delays too. You should see a duct leading from the fibre cabinet that seems to terminate in a big square patch in the pavement. If you see that, then Scottish Power have done their thing.

The cabinet should be remotely turned on by Openreach about 2 weeks before accepting orders. You'll hear it humming when it is turned on. They then run tests on it for a couple of weeks and someone comes out and does some final tests on it. That part is all called the commissioning process, after that it is released to accept orders.

Yes I had a letter from my MP in early January with copy of letter from a Director from BT confirming that cabinet 9 has had power connected, also saying it should be 'ready for service' early spring - lets hope the algorithm looks favourably on cabinet 9 lol - thanks

In other news, cabinet 17 now accepting orders.

In reply to a post by Icaras:

Have you checked if cabinet 9 has been connected to the power network by Scottish Power? This can account for a lot of delays too. You should see a duct leading from the fibre cabinet that seems to terminate in a big square patch in the pavement. If you see that, then Scottish Power have done their thing.

See, this is the kind of information I need. I had no idea what to look for. Now I do.

In reply to a post by Irby:

In other news, cabinet 17 now accepting orders.

Well thats made more depressed - sorry

Well whilst taking the dog for a walk I checked Cabinet 9 - dead as a dodo - no humming - only good thing the dog cocked his leg & left his calling card
Irby if you don't mind me asking how are you finding out so quickly that cabinets are except orders ? Cabinet 17 was only installed early March and now AO , clearly now the blockage in Whaley Lane has been cleared its released the floods gates - your likely to get your cabinet near the Anchor Pub P7 on stream before cabinet P9 - BTW have you checked to see if its humming

If you look on my map page, you will notice that each cabinet location has a URL. Click on them and they take you to the appropriate DSL checker for that location, usually a nearby address.

I have those plugged into FollowThatPage and I also have an IFTT recipe that checks my mailbox for any messages from FollowThatPage and sends me an SMS.

I've only checked P3 and P2, not noticed any humming, but there always seems to be a car nearby making it difficult to hear anyway. I'm of the opinion that it will come when it comes, I've kind of got bored of the obsessing, which is why I automated all my checks.

One for sure, though they're different companies, I'll not be signing up for BT out of principle. I'm not happy at all that this area has been continually promised FTTC since as far back as March 2011 and I still don't have it!

I work from home, that's why it's so important to me.

Hi Irby,
Much appreciate your comments TBH I also have become somewhat obsessed with this as well , also working from home its important to me as well - very impressed with your automated checking system - what has really knocked me for six is the fact in early March Cabinet 17 was installed , and within less than 3 weeks is accepting orders, as pointed out by Icarus it must be paid for by BDUK, and yet with so little customer in that area.
He also has pointed out that Openreach/BT have an algorithm for activating FTTC cabinets, not doubt its based on customer/house dwellings in given area. Guess I'll have to suffer constant Youtube,Gaming & Upload & Download pain for a bit longer .
Interested in your comment about BT , I am considering moving to them form Sky for Broadband, one reason that Sky are renowned for throttling speed for Superfast incl. Gaming, I prefer to stay with BT owing to business phone line, most Superfast BB deals insist on you moving your phone to them as well - won't be long before best deals will include, Broadband,Television,Telephone & Mobile , they'll be adding Gas & Electric next

Bearing in mind, you're quite close to the exchange, compared with me. You're probably on double my speed at the moment.

In reply to a post by Irby:

Bearing in mind, you're quite close to the exchange, compared with me. You're probably on double my speed at the moment.

True enough - but its not stable a upload/download - Download at best 13.29 mb/s - worst 10 or less Upload at best 1.32 mb/s worst 0.4 - Ping is equally erratic which is not good for Gaming