Yardley Gobion exchange, what next?

Hi all,

So I've been patiently (yeah right...) keeping up with the superfastnorthamptonshire , watching what's been going on with may particular exchange (Yardley Gobion (SMYG)) and out of the 5 cabinets that it's connected to, only 2 are being enabled in the 'first phase'. Cabinet 4 (the one I'm connected to in Potterspury) and cabinet 2 in Yardley Gobion itself. The work on Cabinet 4 appeared to complete 3 or so weeks ago and cabinet 2 last week. So what would be the process and expected wait now? As far as I can tell (checking Samknows regularly) the exchange isn't fibre enabled yet so, I guess that is the next stage. Then blowing the fibre down to the cabs?!
Since living where I am, over the last 2.5 years I've watched my ADSL sync rate fall from 11.2Mb/s to 9.7Mb/s and even a change from Coms to Xilo recently hasn't rectified that. So I'm about ready for a move to a 21st century broadband service!

Any advice and/ or information would be greatly received.

Cheers,

PAul

Don't rely on SamKnows for exchange info, best is to track the cabinets you are interested in using https://www.btwholesale.com/includes/adsl/main.html

Cabinets can LOOK all done, but still be a few months away as the other work e.g. blocked ducts a few miles away may be impacting on its go live date. Also for smaller exchanges the fibre may run NOT to the exchange but a larger parent exchange 10 miles away.

Out of interest, what would qualify as a 'smaller' exchange? Mine supplies 1200 premises'.

I've been checking the BT site practically hourly so that one's covered too!

As far as I can tell, the cabinet(s) aren't powered up as they're silent. Number 4 is definitely connected to a power line though as I've seen the manifold in the ground. I'll guess they'll power it up when they connect it to the fibre.
I've also been checking Roadworks.org and there is no mention of works in the area, to lay or unblock ducting, all the way out to a year today. It's frustrating that only parts of the big picture information are available!

Paul

As a guide my cabinet took four months from standing and looking all done to going live, did spot various works heading back to the exchange in that time period.

1,200 premises is pretty small given 5,500 exchanges cover some 27,000,000 telephone lines. Guessing that you will actually have the fibre served from Wolverton.

BTW really only need to check availability weekly

Interesting. So Wolverton is in Buckinghamshire and my cabinet is in Northamptonshire. So who would foot the bill for the ducting work etc?
This is the deployment map for the initiative for reference.

Wolverton is fibre enabled and has been for sometime I suspect.

With regards to checking the BT site, only checking weekly goes against every grain of my obsessive being!

Paul

In reply to a post by youngsyp:

With regards to checking the BT site, only checking weekly goes against every grain of my obsessive being!

Paul

Setup a page watcher and you'll never need to check again, you'll get an email when anything changes.

Making your exchange a fibre head end might be more expensive than the ducting to the other exchange. Depends on what existing ducting is available in the area, but not unusual for 8 to 10 exchange worth of cabinets to be served by one master exchange.

Who pays - well your project will pay to link your cabinet or enable exchange based on the gap model that is in place for the contract.

The maps tell you nothing about where the hand over node will be, if they wanted it could be 20km away

Yes, that's an interesting one. As mentioned, at this stage, there is no planned work to lay any ducting between any exchange and my cabinet. So it's another case of wait and see.

Interestingly, Paulerspury exchange (EMPAULE), just up the road, has been fibre enabled and that serves just 500 odd properties. Even though Towcester (EMTOWCE), that serves 5000 properties, is around 4 miles away, straight up the A5.

If anything, I'd have thought serving 'our' cabinets from Paulerspury would be more cost effective and physically easier due to proximity and location. But who knows, that could be way off the mark.

Paul

Hi,

Curiosity is getting the better of me again... Would anyone with insider knowledge be able to shed some light on whether the exchange is due to be enabled or not? And when please?

Thanks in advance,

Paul

Your first post has the current state of play, i.e. some cabinets as for the when down to the project to release that information.

OK thanks. I was hoping they'd be some more info, not in the public eye. I guess I'll just have to wait some more. It's fairly easy to see that patience isn't my strong suit!

Paul

Just out on a constitutional on this fine morning and happened to notice two of ORs finest working on the PCP next to the recently installed fibre cab so thought I'd ask them a few questions.
They were both very nice chaps and happy to chat but, they didn't have any more info on or above what I already knew. One of them remarked that he was surprised to see the fibre cab there, that the cabling between it and the PCP wasn't present and that the exchange would be the smallest to be enabled. Of course the latter's not quite accurate as the Paulerspury exchange is smaller and has been enabled. The other chap thought the PCP would need changing as it was quite full. Must admit that I'm surprised they could find anything in that mess but, I guess they're used to it!
There is another small development planned in the village so I suspect he could be right about a new, larger PCP being needed. It'll be interesting to see how that happens.

So ultimately, no more info and the wait continues.

Paul

Just checked the OR site on a whim and the status has gone from Exploring Solutions (ES) to Coming Soon (CS). Another step forward...

As my ADSL connection seems to have lowered in sync rate since moving to Xilo, the wait is getting a little more difficult to bear!

Paul

Hmmm, I just checked the OR 'Where and When' site and my status has changed again to '?' "Superfast Fibre is in your area but we can�t tell by your postcode if you can get it right now. Please contact your communications provider, who can check using your phone number."

So another step forward. I've checked the BT Checker (address) for my cab and cab 2 but, no further information yet.

Paul

An update?

http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange/SMYG

Ties in with OR's site that states December 2014 on the 'Coming Soon' ssheet.

Paul

Just noticed an update on roadworks.org. Looks like OR are to replace/ renew my PCP and re-shell the other one, fed from my exchange, with a fibre twin. Works are due to start at the beginning of November. So looks like they're working towards the Dec 2014 estimate.
I guess I should expect an ADSL outage if that's the case?!

Paul

I guess I should expect an ADSL outage if that's the case?!

Should not expect an outage

Walking my son to pre-school today and a BT enginneer had his head in the old cabinet..
Like a young boy seeing father christmas I wandered over with silly grin and asked a few questions... when when when...

He said all the underground work had been doe and that a final link between the two cabinets had to be made and then they would be live offering Fibre.
I asked about how long and he reckoned within the month...

Fingers crossed...


Tone

Well we're almost in July and still no fibre.

BT Site still says coming soon.

Existing broadband is very poor, falls over almost daily and is pretty unreliable, but the problem with IOS devices they start doing backups as soon as we plug them in to mains for charging and at 444kbps upload its a long process!

Is there any way to actually find out how long this upgrade would take?

Cheers

Tone

Interestingly, my page watch on the wholesale adsl checker was set off last week. They are putting WBC in on the 30th June...

BT Site still says coming soon

You need to check with superfastnorthamptonshire rather than BT since the FTTC upgrades to cabinets 2 & 4 are being funded by BDUK rather than as commercial ventures by BT. Where BDUK funding is paying for upgrades the local BDUK site is usually responsible for releasing information rather than BT.

Fibre is now available to order on cab 4!

Thank you for your replies - just saw this and will be on the phone to Zen at 0900!!


Awesome - thanks

Tone

Just seen you can order Sky Fibre now - but if you try and order a non-fibre product from Sky it still says not available, which suggests sky still haven't LLUed the exchange.

I guess that means that the fttc cabs are actually connected to a different exchange - but I wonder what Sky are doing with the phone side for lines going to Yardley? WLR?

Edited by Adrianuk (Sat 27-Jun-15 15:51:16)

In reply to a post by Adrianuk:

Just seen you can order Sky Fibre now - but if you try and order a non-fibre product from Sky it still says not available, which suggests sky still haven't LLUed the exchange.

I guess that means that the fttc cabs are actually connected to a different exchange - but I wonder what Sky are doing with the phone side for lines going to Yardley? WLR?

Will have to be, they don't really have a choice.

Just thought I'd wrap this up from my end. Noticed the other day that availability page had updated to the below:

High Low High Low
FTTC Range A (Clean) 80 64 20 20 -- Available
FTTC Range B (Impacted) 79.6 52.9 20 12.2 -- Available

WBC ADSL 2+ Up to 2.5 -- 1 to 4 31-Jul-15
WBC ADSL 2+ Annex M Up to 2.5 Up to 0.5 1 to 4 31-Jul-15
ADSL Max Up to 2 -- 1 to 3.5 Available
Fixed Rate 1 -- -- Available

Shame I moved house 2 weeks ago! Looks like I would have had the full beans too.

So it's back to waiting for the cab where I currently live to be enabled.

Paul

Edited by deleted (Wed 01-Jul-15 13:04:15)