This speed is killing my business...
Why did you move there, then?
OK, perhaps that isn't such a kind welcome, but I bet you won't do that again in a hurry, will you?
Why would it be so different, I have done a little digging and we use the same exchange.
If only you did the digging before you moved, eh?
An upgrade to fibre doesn't happen at the exchange level. It happens at the level of every individual street cabinet ... and some cabinets are not financially viable for the upgrade, even if some other cabinets in the exchange are viable. New developments were regularly left out of the plans.
Most locations that have been upgraded, or are due to get upgraded, will have been selected for an FTTC upgrade - which means the fibre only goes as far as the cabinet. Some locations, but very few, were chosen for an upgrade to FTTP rather than FTTC - which means fibre to the property; unfortunately, most of those areas have been delayed hugely.
Government-subsidised projects are now happening in every county, coming back and adding fibre capability to some (not all) of the areas which proved unviable originally. The phase 1 projects are due to cover 90% of each county by late 2015, and phase 2 projects will target 95% by some point in 2017. That still leaves over a million homes without coverage though.
I lived in a house with 40mbps broadband
As you mentioned that the previous house had 40Mbps, I assume that by "fibre" you mean your phone line , not Virgin, and an upgrade to an FTTC service. This would have entailed a new green box being installed next to your cabinet (likely to be within 50m of the cabinet, and no more than 100m away); it being fed with both fibre from the exchange (or a nearby exchange) and power from a suitable source; and it being connected to the cabinet with cables with at least 100 copper pairs.
For that house, the fibre didn't have to be installed in the street - it only had to be installed to the cabinet.
Which cabinet? Use
this checker (BT Wholesale's address checker); put in the postcode of the old house (only the postcode); hit submit; select the address of the old house from the drop-down. The top line of the result should tell you which exchange & cabinet the old house was connected to, and give you a speed estimate.
Repeat that using your current postcode, then select your address. The result should tell you what cabinet you are connected to; if you are lucky it will also include a speed estimate for fibre and an availability date.
You can also try putting details into the Openreach
Where & When site, which might give some details about plans.
If neither of those help, you'll have to find your local county BDUK project to get information from them.
This page lists a few.
Without knowing more details about the exchange & cabinets, it is hard to give you any more details.
I assume these are fibre cables (thick black cables)
Seeing "thick black cables" laid in your street isn't necessarily an indication of fibre being installed. The tubing that gets installed is normally thick & black but with a broad yellow stripe.
If your area is due FTTP, then this would be a good sign. If your area is due FTTC, then you want to see fibre being installed to your cabinet, which isn't necessarily in your street.
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