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Can anyone advise on the status/likelihood for fibre broadband for my location?
The exchange, and most of the area, has been enabled for fibre for a while, but not my cab.
The exchange is in Northfield, Birmingham - CMPRI - Priory
According to the phone line checker, I am on Cabinet 18
Postcode is B31 5DB (a new road, on a new build development)
BT haven't been able to provide any information, other than it may be a commerical decision - which is strange with the amount of new homes being built in the area.
Also, can anyone tell me where that cabinet is?
Thanks in advance 
Edit: In case it helps (my postcode being new), a nearby postcode B315LF is shown to be on the same CAB.
Edited by B31 (Thu 19-Jun-14 15:07:24)
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http://goo.gl/maps/kkrbr
Dosnt seem to be included in any plans at present
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Cheers for checking, and for the location
So the CAB is about 0.4 to 0.5 miles away, not sure how much impact that has on fibre speeds (If it ever gets enabled).
The annoying thing is I'm very close to fibre - a property 200ft away from me - on the adjoining road - can get fibre, but from a different exchange.
It is the same for virgin media - their cables go past both ends of my road, but being on a new road they don't go past my house and the "cable my street" team inform me they are not actively extending their network, so I'm stuck on 1.9 Mbps ADSL. 
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Chances are when the cab was checked for the upgrade your estate didn't exist so it didn't meet the scope/capacity required for fibre.
Not sure why Virgin aren't keen either, a colleague at work has just moved into a new build in Cofton Hackett (Old Rover site, Longbridge) and they have services for Virgin available.
Current on Zen, getting around 5mb.
Exchange is Fibre enabled, street cab not economically viable to upgrade.
Could get V*rgin, but I'd rather not.
Edited by kebabselector (Thu 19-Jun-14 15:43:40)
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I'm in Kings Norton B38, Very busy for homes as you would know yourself yet no FTTC at all apart from Virgin's cable network which works very well here...
I would assume that Openreach will fill you in sometime towards the end of this year or by the end of next...
I know Priory is in the FTTP (Fibre to the Premises) roll-out and think (though not sure) there aiming to be finished with that by 2016.
Just had a look at your location and you might be served for fibre from Rubery as that is closer but that again is a case of waiting and hoping Openreach notice you and your neighbours struggling.
Though you might have a better chance of being served by Virgin as I have noticed they are starting to fill in the blank spots around South Birmingham.
Openreach will be reluctant to investing in a Virgin Media rich area..
I was also told by someone from a fibre vouchers scheme in Birmingham that Virgin had acquired funding for Birmingham South and where one of the main reasons Kings Norton exchange isn't seeing any quick plans for future fibre roll-out.
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Yeah I've seen the places up Cofton and they are ready for both AFAIK... The whole Virgin network up there has been redone... Brand new.
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Cheers all. I'll have to keep my fingers crossed...
Would be interesting if Virgin Media do extend their network a bit.
The area is a mix of old and new homes along the main roads, and derelict land in the middle (previously six tower blocks, demolished circa 10 years ago) surrounded by the odd few houses.
I think my developer dropped the ball on the broadband provision. The rest of the area is Kier Construction, I hope they are talking to BT etc.
Might write a few emails/letters.
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Might be worth contact MP for the area too, Just write everybody and getting your neighbours in on it too will help.
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Cheers.
Already contacted my MP (last year) but have sent a further email to see if there was any update (I think he was waiting for one CSP and Birmingham City Council to reply).
I've also emailed BCC property services myself but they came back with a weird response stating they have no leases on record... Either they didn't read the email properly or I got the wrong email address.
I've also emailed ofcom on a "monitoring form" and found an openreach email address on this site - http://www.exbtengineers.com/bt-complaints/
Now for more waiting...
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fair play to you, hope you get something slightly helpful back.
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Just had a call from a BT employee saying they've received my email (sent to the OR/HL Complaints Team)
They will see what they can find out and drop me an email later in the week.
Fingers crossed for some good news, or at least make sure the planners know the new development exists
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Good to hear and have you heard anything else of Virgin Media?
I can give you an email for their executives offices if your not getting much response from them.
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Nothing recent from VM. They've always been quite negative and straightforward "we aren't extending our infrastructure"
Yeah, the contact details would be useful, cheers.
Not sure about our road status though - not sure if it has been adopted by the council yet. Site office left about a year ago, street lights all in, road fully tarmac'd (pavement a bit messy though)...
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Just sent a PM mate and mention that the path ways are still to be tarmaced as this means they won't have as much responsibility when / if they put in trunking and cabling
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So the BT executive team got back in touch, they've confirmed they are aware of the new developments, which is a good start, but there are currently no plans to fibre up my cabinet.
All they can advise is filling in the register interest forms at http://superfast-openreach.co.uk/expression-gen.aspx and http://www.bt.com
Or approach the council re the government funding - although I believe BCC have allocated it to two city centre areas (Digbeth and JQ?)
BT ADSL customer getting 1.9 Mbps on a new road / new build development
CAB not FTTC enabled, not part of the 66% commercial plan. Not rural - no BDUK funding
No virgin media (available on the next road)
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The last I heard was Birmingham has no funding now, They mentioned that my exchange (Kings Norton) would not be enabled and that Virgin Media had been assigned most of the funding for South Birmingham and when I mentioned Priory they said they believe this was done for students from the uni in selly oak.
I have noticed Virgin adding a lot of properties new and old to their network here, (The ones that are on the edge of coverage and missed properties during the original roll-out of cable.
Your best bet is to do what Virgin said yesterday, and personally its a better service anyway compared to what I've seen and been seeing on this forum and around the web.
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Some very good news today.
Virgin Media have added the road into their 2014 in-fill project.
Fingers crossed it all works out, but looking good so far!
Cheers for all your help and info.
BT ADSL customer getting 1.9 Mbps on a new road / new build development
CAB not FTTC enabled, not part of the 66% commercial plan. Not rural - no BDUK funding
(Virgin Media nearby)
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I'm glad to hear that and very pleased I could of been helpful.
Let us know how things go.
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Arrrggghhhh
Seems the council don't want virgin to dig up the road.
Even though it is already patchy in parts (e.g. severn trent water)
We have contacted the council who have advised that due to the footpath being recently re surfaced we are not allowed to dig it up and lay our ducting for 12 months
Due to this we are unable to provide services to your property at this minute in time.
BT ADSL customer getting 1.9 Mbps on a new road / new build development
CAB not FTTC enabled, not part of the 66% commercial plan. Not rural - no BDUK funding
(Virgin Media nearby)
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Have you tried contact BCC yourself and has the pavement been resurfaced as mentioned?
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Yeah, I plan to email the council.
As far as I'm aware, the pavement has been surfaced once (final surface) but then dug up and patched by severn trent water.
It already looks a bit untidy.
I'd prefer decent broadband rather than perfect pavements!
BT ADSL customer getting 1.9 Mbps on a new road / new build development
CAB not FTTC enabled, not part of the 66% commercial plan. Not rural - no BDUK funding
(Virgin Media nearby)
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Ha ha - Severn Trent........... someone might be looking after their old firm 
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Well take pictures of pavement and send it to them and also rally the neighbourhood (petition)
"if its not one, its the other.. tut tut tut"
wouldn't mind the council only care that its done properly and if its not up to councils standards Virgin have to do it again or resurface pavement.
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So I've shared the news with the neighbours (a note about BT, VMs plans and the council's refusal to allow VM to cable the street)
I've also emailed our MP; he is very concerned about the council's decision, given the broadband issues in the area, and has written to the council.
A waiting game now...
BT ADSL customer getting 1.9 Mbps on a new road / new build development
CAB not FTTC enabled, not part of the 66% commercial plan. Not rural - no BDUK funding
(Virgin Media nearby)
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Well the MP seems to care... Which MP did you go to..
Hopefully gets sorted in a month or so...
Just a joke that your having to wait so long for something that could of been under way now or even done.
Whats your postcode, if you don't mind.
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The MP is Richard Burden.
Also copied in the ward councillors, but I think they're busy dealing with garden recycling issues...
Yeah, you'd think a new house on a new road would get new broadband technologies, not a rusty GPO cab half a mile away.
Certainly will be checking broadband options if (when) I move house again!
Postcode is B31 5DB.
BT ADSL customer getting 1.9 Mbps on a new road / new build development
CAB not FTTC enabled, not part of the 66% commercial plan. Not rural - no BDUK funding
(Virgin Media nearby)
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Well even the new technologies being rolled out are pretty rubbish.
Its always been the same, do you know the Dickens Heath estate by Shirley, Solihull...
When that was being built they started by hooking all the properties up to the Earlswood Exchange but then realised so far in that they wouldn't be able to fit everyone on so then they run the 3/4's off Shirleys exchange.
The lines where so long that most connections synced at just under 1mb and many other less than that and at night it got worse.
Those on the Earlswood exchange where sort of lucky with around 3mb being the worst sync, and max was 5mb on edge of the estate but then congestion killed the exchange.
It was so bad that they rushed the rollout of FTTC there and EVEN wired the Shirley FTTC cabs to the Earlswood exchange lines so they could take the stress off the low market exchange.
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Nothing stopping developers rolling out better connectivity as part of the build phase. Just most bother with spending on show homes not broadband
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The author of the above post is a thinkbroadband staff member. It may not constitute an official statement on behalf of thinkbroadband.
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No Virgin, No BT Fibre - I thought those two won their court case against Birmingham Council's plan to install fibre as they already covered the city.
Or was that just for Business Customers?
Current on Zen, getting 4876 down - 744 up
Exchange is Fibre enabled, street cab not economically viable to upgrade.
Could get V*rgin, but I'd rather not.
Edited by kebabselector (Wed 30-Jul-14 09:50:26)
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if cabv i existing down the road that assumes developer made a concious decision to request voice services only -- who is the devleoper and is the devloper on site -- may be worth see if you can get the developer to Fund the cab enablment (there are a number of developers already doing this
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The cabinet that B31 is on now is far from his property so FTTC would be useless,
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Virgin has said they would do it but council has come up with some rubbish about virgin are not allowed to do any works in the pavements for 12 months as they not long been laid, Though they have already been ripped up by STW, National Grid, WPD....
IMO they just want Virgin to pay through the nose for the work permission and Virgin aren't having it.
BT finished their FTTC rollout on B31's exchange last year and only have plans to rollout FTTP now, Also as the lines for the new builds have been dragged all the way to a cabinet far down the road FTTC might be near useless anyway and not exactly a good selling point for Openreach as Virgin is also in 100% properties in the area bar these new builds in question.
Virgin will do it eventually, just got to moan at the council.
Also elsewhere in Birmingham Virgin are very busy filling in blank spots and adding premises onto its network as it got some funding for South Birmingham, and they don't seem to be too shy about spending it either.
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Another twist in the tale...
It seems a mistake has been made somewhere...
The footpath has not been adopted yet, so the council can't approve the project - they don't own the land.
VM could seek permision from the developers, but they would most likely to require a full width pavement re-instatement which would be too costly for VM.
The council are unlikely to adopt a road that contains a "scar" down the middle.
Alternatively, the developers could speed up the adoption, however I've been informed that councils tend to stop any works being carried out during the guarantee period, which would probably mean another 12 months wait.
VM are going to contact the developers to see what the options are/status is.
I've also updated our MP so he knows the latest news.
BT ADSL customer getting 1.9 Mbps on a new road / new build development
CAB not FTTC enabled, not part of the 66% commercial plan. Not rural - no BDUK funding
(Virgin Media nearby)
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The developer is Linden Homes (Galliford Try)
They left site over 12m ago.
BT ADSL customer getting 1.9 Mbps on a new road / new build development
CAB not FTTC enabled, not part of the 66% commercial plan. Not rural - no BDUK funding
(Virgin Media nearby)
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Just gets better and better doesn't it, Hopefully the developer will allow virgin to do its work without any/major charges and then if they don't like what's been done they can harass Virgin for compensation or re-paving to be done....
Which will very unlikely happen, but at the same time Virgin don't mess around anymore when it comes to cutting tarmac and the filling in.
Workers get sacked if they screw up a lot now at Virgin... or so my friend who works for them says and also when i had a repull in my old house done and then 2 weeks later they where chopping the pavement and the guys told me that the employee who screwed up got virgin fined by BCC and they got laid off... Permanently...
Fingers Crossed for you bud...
PS. Whats 3/4G like where you are?
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is there a managing agent involved in the development
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Fastman2, there is no management agent as far as I'm aware.
Mlmclaren,
EE 4G Mifi seems to get up to 17 Mbps (normally 3 bars, very occassionally 4, out of 5).
I'm upgrading the tariff to "double speed", so will have to see what happens!
However last two times I've used it for remote working it has been so slow, worse than the BT connection! Screen redraws take ages!
A neighbour has a 4G Vodafone and gets 40Mbps I believe.
BT ADSL customer getting 1.9 Mbps on a new road / new build development
CAB not FTTC enabled, not part of the 66% commercial plan. Not rural - no BDUK funding
(Virgin Media nearby)
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Ok, Lets us know and what about 3 4G/ 3G in your area?
Also how much do you use your broadband every month "usage"
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4G info is above!
BT usage is circa 16-20 GB (a lot of netflix)
EE 4G usage about 2GB (currently 3GB limit, changing to 15 GB package).
BT ADSL customer getting 1.9 Mbps on a new road / new build development
CAB not FTTC enabled, not part of the 66% commercial plan. Not rural - no BDUK funding
(Virgin Media nearby)
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I've sent Galliford Try customer services (Linden Homes' parent company) an email tonight, giving them an overview of the broadband issues, and asking them to see if there is anything they can do to improve things.
So between that, Virgin Media's help, and the local MP's involvement...
fingers crossed!
BT ADSL customer getting 1.9 Mbps on a new road / new build development
CAB not FTTC enabled, not part of the 66% commercial plan. Not rural - no BDUK funding
(Virgin Media nearby)
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A neighbour has a 4G Vodafone and gets 40Mbps I believe.
Vodafone has under 300,000 4G users, but EE has 4.5 million. It could be that nobody else is using that Vodafone mast for 4G today.
EE started at around 40Mbps in many areas, and has slowed down under load, although things are looking up recently.
James - plusnet unlimited fibre - 2 Jun 14 - 470m - Sync 55/9.4 (BT was 51/9.8)
15 years broadband (1999 ntl:cable trial) - Asus RT-AC68U with HG612 - PN BQM - PN speed - old BT speed
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4G info is above!
BT usage is circa 16-20 GB (a lot of netflix)
EE 4G usage about 2GB (currently 3GB limit, changing to 15 GB package).
Ok well if looks starts to run out, you could probably get a 3G or 4G plan to suit you and get at least 10mbps from that.... It would certainly be better than your current ADSL and would probably work out cheaper,
though that would depend on whether your require a landline phone connection and also do you require good latency for online gaming.
if interested and require some more info, don't hesitate to ask!
Also I hope you get a promising response from the developers.
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A neighbour has a 4G Vodafone and gets 40Mbps I believe.
Vodafone has under 300,000 4G users, but EE has 4.5 million. It could be that nobody else is using that Vodafone mast for 4G today.
EE started at around 40Mbps in many areas, and has slowed down under load, although things are looking up recently.
All is going to vary really but anything better than B31's pooh ADSL.
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I've had an update from the developers, via our MP. A long way to go, but they are willing to assist where they can.
The developers never owned the land - the council own the footpaths, but haven't adopted them and haven't got them on their maintenance scheme.
The council's specification for the scheme did not require the provision of superfast broadband, so the order to Openreach never included this request.
The developers have offered to assist in the following ways:
- liaising with Openreach to understand and attempt to resolve the bandwidth issues
- liaising with BT/Virgin Media to understand their intentions with regards to superfast broadband in the locality and how this can be accommodated
- liaising with BCC to derive a possible solution for superfast broadband enabling within the highway.
Fingers remain crossed...
BT ADSL customer getting 1.9 Mbps on a new road / new build development
CAB not FTTC enabled, not part of the 66% commercial plan. Not rural - no BDUK funding
(Virgin Media nearby)
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So, not much has changed since my last post...
Still got slow BT broadband. No sign of fibre. Virgin media can't in-fill at present.
The developers need to do the final finish to the roads and pavements around the estate (our pavements were already finished) before the road can be put on Amey maintenance (technically not an adoption as the council always owned the land). They said they'd do that in April...
The developers and the council have agreed NOT to have a guarantee period, due to the length of time that has already past.
Hopefully once the road is on Amey's list, VM can look into the project again.
Meanwhile I sold my EE MiFi and got a 4G phone with a reasonable data allowance - not great for netflix, but a good option for fast browsing and remote access for working at home.
BT ADSL customer getting 1.9 Mbps on a new road / new build development
CAB not FTTC enabled, not part of the 66% commercial plan. Not rural - no BDUK funding
(Virgin Media nearby)
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Hi, Been a while..
Yes, not much changes in Birmingham, Kings Norton exchange is also still no closer to being enabled with fibre apart from one cabinet and that looks like it's going to be adopted by Wythall exchange under the Coventry, Solihull and Worcestershire BDUK project as it is over the Birmingham borders.
It's sad that Virgin are unable to do anything either... they seem to have done a lot of work in recently months in Brum with adding premises here and there but it sounds like some issues between council and developers that's preventing anything further happening.
Surprised Openreach have not thought to enable your BT cab for fibre though I remember you saying it was some distance away, but anything better than a meg or two I suppose.
I moved from Brum in October down to the South East and now have FTTC due to appalling Virgin network locally..
Plusnet Unlimited 21CN 3700/768 @ 4.2Km > TP-Link TD-W8968v3
Plusnet Fibre Extra 65000/20000 @ 450m > HG612 > Asus RT-AC87U
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BT said it wasn't commercially viable. There's only a couple of roads that can't get VM, mine being one of them.
Keir have worked with VM for their new builds, but Galliford Try didn't...
BT ADSL customer getting 1.9 Mbps on a new road / new build development
CAB not FTTC enabled, not part of the 66% commercial plan. Not rural - no BDUK funding
(Virgin Media nearby)
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Post deleted by B31
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The reality is that availability in larger new build developments requires developers to co-operate with and potentially make a financial contribution to the service providers. Without this co-operation and contributions, the low margins on consumer broadband may well mean the service providers cannot justify the investment needed to bring superfast broadband to the development.
Until such a time as purchasers will not pay the asking price for new build properties that lack superfast broadband, some developers will take the view that it's not worth the money and effort needed to make superfast broadband available.
Worse still, there are some developers who work with a niche provider to ensure that provider is the only affordable supplier of superfast broadband in the development, locking purchasers to that monopoly provider whilst destroying the economic case for Openreach or Virgin Media to deploy their infrastructure.
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So, not much has changed since my last post...
Still got slow BT broadband. No sign of fibre. Virgin media can't in-fill at present.
The developers need to do the final finish to the roads and pavements around the estate (our pavements were already finished) before the road can be put on Amey maintenance (technically not an adoption as the council always owned the land). They said they'd do that in April...
Still waiting for the developers to sort out the final finishes and provide the paperwork for the council.
I wonder which April they were referring to...
Virgin Media could do an in-fill, but can't do anything until the road status is sorted.
BT ADSL customer getting 1.9 Mbps on a new road / new build development
CAB not FTTC enabled, not part of the 66% commercial plan. Not rural - no BDUK funding
(Virgin Media nearby)
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openreach could have done ain infill if community / developer had asked
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openreach could have done ain infill if community / developer had asked
I think the developer may have just ordered voice services...
Presumably if the community wanted openreach to do an infill, Openreach would want a big chunk of money?
The current CAB is 0.5 miles away and the exchange is 2km away. That's a lot of cable however they do it.
BT ADSL customer getting 1.9 Mbps on a new road / new build development
CAB not FTTC enabled, not part of the 66% commercial plan. Not rural - no BDUK funding
(Virgin Media nearby)
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Been a while (again)
Probably around two and a half years since the developers left the site, I believe the road has been handed over to Amey now (kind of adopted - the Council already owned the land and worked in partnership with the developer, with a MoU).
Fingers crossed VM will be doing an in-fill, early days, so far so good.
Had a lot of contact with our MP and his colleagues over the past year, looking into all the not-spots in his constituency.
Think BT's position hasn't changed - but then with half a mile to the CAB, FTTC wouldn't be great.
BT ADSL customer getting 1.7 Mbps (0.6 Mbps up) on a new road / new build development
CAB not FTTC enabled, not part of the 66% commercial plan. Not a BDUK area.
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So the latest is - a neighbouring road has had a VM in-fill.
Our road - still waiting for the Council to approve VM's request to dig.
No sign of BT FTTC or FTTP
BT ADSL customer getting 3.8 Mbps (0.7 Mbps up) on a new road / new build development
(It was around 1.6 to 1.9 Mbps when I moved in)
CAB not FTTC enabled, not part of the 66% commercial plan. Not a BDUK area. Hoping the council will let VM in-fill.
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And back to square one
The council say VM can provide a service to us as long as they do a full width pavement resurface.
Which is absolutely ridiculous given the fact the road has quite a few patches already - from various works (water, drop kerb fixes, etc)
And also ridiculous because another road on the estate has had VM provided - leaving loads of channels across the road from one side to the other.
BT ADSL customer getting 3.8 Mbps (0.7 Mbps up) on a new road / new build development
(It was around 1.6 to 1.9 Mbps when I moved in)
CAB not FTTC enabled, not part of the 66% commercial plan. Not a BDUK area. Hoping the council will let VM in-fill.
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openreach could have done an infill if community / developer had asked
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Well, 4.5 years on, there's no sign of FTTC or FTTP from openreach.
Fingers crossed however, VM should be bringing their network to our estate very soon.
BT ADSL customer getting 4.2 Mbps (0.7 Mbps up) on a new road / new build development
(Was circa 1.6 Mbps for the first 4 years)
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