Fibre cable laid but how long...

Hi everyone,

I am new to the forum so be kind

On Sunday September 21st fibre cables were laid in my street. I assume these are fibre cables (thick black cables), I just wanted to know if anyone would know roughly how long it takes from cables be laid to consumers able to subscribe to get fibre?

I lived in a house with 40mbps broadband and used it for my business and now I am 5mbps and I am slowly losing my hair....

Hope someone can shed a little light on timeframes as I can not find anything on web.

Thanks,

Ben

That was probably just the tubing. The fibre goes in after, once all the tubing is in place.
There are other elements required also . Could be as little as a few weeks or if there are complications could be months/years/never.

Thanks for both replies! I live on a new housing area and our home is quite new. I lived 1 street away on the same house area in a home built in 2003, this house had fibre. One street away!! Why would it be so different, I have done a little digging and we use the same exchange.

This speed is killing my business...

Because the service is fibre to the cabinet and each cabinet only serves a few hundred properties. Not all cabinets are fibre enabled.

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?

In reply to a post by benedwards:

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.

depending on where it is, it coudl be main spine and not even going to your specific cab - especially if your cab is in a new build area -- who is the developer and what exchange is it

Edited by deleted (Thu 02-Oct-14 10:26:25)

Hi WWWombat,

Thank you for the information you have provided.

My old house is served by cab 49:

Featured Products

Downstream Line Rate(Mbps)

Upstream Line Rate(Mbps)

Downstream Range(Mbps)

Availability Date

High Low High Low
FTTC Range A (Clean) 74.3 56.1 20 17.3 -- Available
FTTC Range B (Impacted) 65.6 37.8 20 11.9 -- Available

WBC ADSL 2+ Up to 4 -- 3 to 7 Available
WBC ADSL 2+ Annex M Up to 4 Up to 0.5 3 to 7 Available
ADSL Max Up to 3.5 -- 2.5 to 6.5 Available
WBC Fixed Rate 1 -- -- Available
Fixed Rate 1 -- -- Available
Other Offerings
Fibre Multicast -- -- -- Available
Copper Multicast -- -- -- Availab


My current house is Cab 56:

Featured Products

Downstream Line Rate(Mbps)

Upstream Line Rate(Mbps)

Downstream Range(Mbps)

Availability Date

WBC ADSL 2+ Up to 3 -- 2.5 to 6.5 Available
WBC ADSL 2+ Annex M Up to 3 Up to 0.5 2.5 to 6.5 Available
ADSL Max Up to 3 -- 2 to 5.5 Available
WBC Fixed Rate 1 -- -- Available
Fixed Rate 1 -- -- Available
Other Offerings
Copper Multicast -- -- -- Available

I couldn't see anything about fibre there!

I go on openreach everyday and it always states:

Exchange Name: WARWICK

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. Check out our FAQ for more information.

Thanks for letting me know about the black cables - the more knowledge I have the better.

From what you see (the above copy & paste) do you see if fibre will be here anytime soon?

Thank you again.

According to the Coventry, Solihull, Warwichshire Superfast Broadband website, the Warwick exchange is on the list for next year but that's all the info there is.

In reply to a post by simon194:

According to the Coventry, Solihull, Warwichshire Superfast Broadband website, the Warwick exchange is on the list for next year but that's all the info there is.

Hey!

Yes I have spoken to them quite a few times and my area is not covered by them. I believe they are helping rural areas, my area according to their map is not going to covered by CWS Broadband. Thank you anyway

No need to talk to them

http://www.cswbroadband.org.uk/where-when/rolling-12... gives their 12 month plan and the cabinets affected. Not just rural, but any area that meets the project criteria.

Work for Warwick area is planned for Jan 2015 and later. Though suspect your cabinet is not included due to looking like it serves a small area and thus represents poor value for money. A case of now waiting to see how far the public money that there is to spend will spread. It might be 2015, it might be 2017 or even 2018

Edited by MrSaffron (Thu 02-Oct-14 11:14:29)

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

No need to talk to them

http://www.cswbroadband.org.uk/where-when/rolling-12... gives their 12 month plan and the cabinets affected. Not just rural, but any area that meets the project criteria.

Work for Warwick area is planned for Jan 2015 and later. Though suspect your cabinet is not included due to looking like it serves a small area and thus represents poor value for money. A case of now waiting to see how far the public money that there is to spend will spread. It might be 2015, it might be 2017 or even 2018

Thanks for this! Yes will give them a shout. Many thanks to all who contributed! Have a great day

In reply to a post by benedwards:

Yes I have spoken to them quite a few times and my area is not covered by them. I believe they are helping rural areas, my area according to their map is not going to covered by CWS Broadband. Thank you anyway

There appears to be 7 postcodes served by cab 56. However, every single one of these postcodes have 50% or more of their properties served by cab 49 or, in one case, cab 57.

The map produced by CSW appears to show your area as covered, because the area covered by cab 49 overlaps with that for 56 ... and cab 49 was done commercially back in 2010. There is also a tiny overlap with cab 57, which was upgraded in 2013.

CSW know that this kind of overlap can happen, as they are one of the projects that explains things well in their FAQ; I'd have expected them to be able to tell you individually of this problem, and what they expect to happen to your cab.

Unfortunately, MrS is right - the cabinet looks rather small, and unlikely to be high on the list for upgrade.

It might be worth going back to CSW, and pointing out that while their map shows the area is commercially covered, it isn't completely true: cab 56 has been left out of the commercial coverage.

In reply to a post by WWWombat:

In reply to a post by benedwards:

Yes I have spoken to them quite a few times and my area is not covered by them. I believe they are helping rural areas, my area according to their map is not going to covered by CWS Broadband. Thank you anyway

There appears to be 7 postcodes served by cab 56. However, every single one of these postcodes have 50% or more of their properties served by cab 49 or, in one case, cab 57.

The map produced by CSW appears to show your area as covered, because the area covered by cab 49 overlaps with that for 56 ... and cab 49 was done commercially back in 2010. There is also a tiny overlap with cab 57, which was upgraded in 2013.

CSW know that this kind of overlap can happen, as they are one of the projects that explains things well in their FAQ; I'd have expected them to be able to tell you individually of this problem, and what they expect to happen to your cab.

Unfortunately, MrS is right - the cabinet looks rather small, and unlikely to be high on the list for upgrade.

It might be worth going back to CSW, and pointing out that while their map shows the area is commercially covered, it isn't completely true: cab 56 has been left out of the commercial coverage.

Hi WWWombat,

Thank you so much for this info. I will email them armed with this info and see what they write back. Once I have something I will post here.

Many thanks again,

Ben.

Take a look at
http://www.cswbroadband.org.uk/whats-happening/lates...
dated Tuesday.

It shows that they've been re-evaluating all the covered postcodes ready for phase 2: This time, postcodes get turned white when they haven't been covered 100%, so those postcodes covered by 56 ought to now be white.

Hi WWWombat,

Thank you again for your posts.

I had a look at this on Tuesday morning but need to re-read it now armed with the knowledge you have provided.

Many thanks again for all of your efforts!

Cheers,

Ben.

Hi again!

I had have a look at the map and for my area it says:

NGA Grey - One Provider

Do you know what State Aid Classification means?

Thanks

It means that the area is already covered by one NGA supplier, or is included in their plans over the next couple of years. If it were black, it would be two or more suppliers.

It also means that CWS is not allowed to spend money on the area, as NGA broadband is already supplied. They are only allowed to provide state aid for white areas with zero suppliers.

Unfortunately, what it really means is this ... that CWS has been *told* the area is covered by the supplier, and has no contradictory evidence.

Judging from the latest news, CWS has been going through an OMR for phase 2 - an open market review, where all suppliers tell them where they supply service, and what their plans are. This OMR is followed by a public consultation where the public - you - get to tell CWS where the suppliers are wrong.

In your case, BT are likely to have told them about cab's 49 coverage, but perhaps didn't report that the coverage isn't 100%.

This is your chance to report to CWS the fact that they are wrong. If you don't do it, then CWS will not be able to fund an upgrade.

The only way to be sure is to report to CWS that their map is wrong; you have no NGA coverage, and report those cabinet details.

In reply to a post by WWWombat:

It means that the area is already covered by one NGA supplier, or is included in their plans over the next couple of years. If it were black, it would be two or more suppliers.

It also means that CWS is not allowed to spend money on the area, as NGA broadband is already supplied. They are only allowed to provide state aid for white areas with zero suppliers.

Unfortunately, what it really means is this ... that CWS has been *told* the area is covered by the supplier, and has no contradictory evidence.

Judging from the latest news, CWS has been going through an OMR for phase 2 - an open market review, where all suppliers tell them where they supply service, and what their plans are. This OMR is followed by a public consultation where the public - you - get to tell CWS where the suppliers are wrong.

In your case, BT are likely to have told them about cab's 49 coverage, but perhaps didn't report that the coverage isn't 100%.

This is your chance to report to CWS the fact that they are wrong. If you don't do it, then CWS will not be able to fund an upgrade.

The only way to be sure is to report to CWS that their map is wrong; you have no NGA coverage, and report those cabinet details.

Wow,

Thank you again for all of your help. I have lived here to two months now and have prior to this I had been search the web for answers. I had called my ISP and tried to call Openreach too to get answers but you have nailed it. I will draft an email to CWS and let them know.

Again thank you so much for the help, I might just get somewhere with this!

Kinds regards,

Ben.

Hi folks,

I have an update on this. I received an email which states this:

--Start

The postings on the link were very good and pretty much set out how things are.

One of the main problems we face is that the data we are given is detailed by postcode, but telecoms infrastructure clearly does not follow postcodes. In fact, as the surveys progress we are finding that we have some postcodes that are served by a number of cabinets, and some cabinets that serve properties in more than one postcode. When you factor in the fact that some properties may be served by exchanges or cabinets that are several miles away you can see the difficulties.


The reason for this state of affairs is that when the original copper telecoms systems were developed it was often the big houses that had telephones first, and these were connected back to an exchange (which would have been manned by real people!) As more properties were built, cabinets were introduced at strategic points to enable better management of the network, and over recent years as more developments have been built so more cabinets have been installed. At the most extreme end of things we have a property in Stratford that is connected to the Rugby exchange, and in many cases two neighbouring properties may be served by different cabinets, with one of them being a considerable distance away.


All of this makes it very hard to be sure what the real position is in a given area, and almost impossible speeds any property is likely to achieve until the cabinet is upgraded. In your case, you would appear from our maps to fall between a grey area and a white area.


Under EU rules, known as State Aid, We are not be able to spend money in any area that is marked as grey. Therefore, we are trying to ensure that these are defined as tightly as possible. If there is even one property within a postcode that will not achieve superfast speeds then it has been classified as white for the purpose of the consultation.



Consider a postcode where 89 out of 100 homes or businesses have been connected to the NGA network, on the latest map this would be shown as No provider because there are still 11 homes or businesses to be connected.



By mapping partial postcodes as white we retain the option to invest in these areas if intervention is required to ensure the availability of superfast broadband.



We are currently tendering for a partner to extend the rollout using the second block of funding. The Government has announced additional funds of £3.68m to take superfast broadband coverage up to 95% (our current project will achieve 91%), and Warwickshire County Council has approved this match funding for this to cover Warwickshire. We have also been offered an additional £6m from BDUK and have recently made a submission through the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership European Structural Investment Funds Strategy for a total of £7.85m to use as match funding, and project partners are also contributing to the mix Additionally, we continue to actively seek additional funds to enable us to take the fibre network as far as possible.



CSW Broadband will be procuring a partner to take the network forward, but are a long way from being able to say which areas will benefit. We will therefore not know which areas will be covered by the additional funding until the procurement is complete and modelling work has been carried out, which will be around spring next year. The additional funding will have to be spent by 2017, so the rollout will take place at the same time as the existing project.



The team is still actively working towards the EU 2020 targets of 100% coverage at a minimum of 30Mbps � which is higher than the current superfast speed of 24Mbps and so will be quite a challenge!!



Hope this helps in terms of what�s happening, even if it�s not really the answer you were hoping for.


--End


Thanks to all who posted, I have found all this information very interesting. Now it is just a case of me being patient, even though it is driving me mad! Uploading Photoshop files for clients to view reminds me of early 2000 problems - sigh.... More coffee is needed... Just a thought, I can deliver my designs to clients by car - would be much quicker. Yes I have gone mad. Thanks

Hi MrSaffron,

Did you see my last post and what CSW replied back?

Thanks!

Ben.

Hi Ben,

That's the long & informative explanation behind my original postings - CSW are one of the BDUK projects that seem to both understand this well *and* explain it well to their residents *and* (as is obvious from the steps they take) understand what to do to make sure there are steps they can take moving forwards.

I live nowhere near, but I usually enjoy reading their newsletters.

In reply to a post by WWWombat:

Hi Ben,

That's the long & informative explanation behind my original postings - CSW are one of the BDUK projects that seem to both understand this well *and* explain it well to their residents *and* (as is obvious from the steps they take) understand what to do to make sure there are steps they can take moving forwards.

I live nowhere near, but I usually enjoy reading their newsletters.

Hey WWWombat,

Thanks for your post.

Yes CSW newsletter are great and it is wonderful to see many small communites get connect! Just hope I am able to get fibre soon.

Thanks again.

Hey folks,

Apologies for bringing up this old post but I am still without fibre and was reading other threads on here. Does anyone think it would be possible to speak to someone at openreach and ask them if I could get my house connect to a different cab?

Would it be worth me asking?

Thanks again for any help,

Ben

Hi,
you are after a network re-arrangement. Unfortunately to that hardly( take never) ever happens if the line you are on is working fine at the moment. Even if its faulty they would fix your line via its existing PCP rather than connect to another.
Sorry

In reply to a post by gregormac:

Hi,
you are after a network re-arrangement. Unfortunately to that hardly( take never) ever happens if the line you are on is working fine at the moment. Even if its faulty they would fix your line via its existing PCP rather than connect to another.
Sorry

Yes that is what I thought! It was worth asking anyway!

Cheers

In reply to a post by WWWombat:

In reply to a post by benedwards:

Yes I have spoken to them quite a few times and my area is not covered by them. I believe they are helping rural areas, my area according to their map is not going to covered by CWS Broadband. Thank you anyway

There appears to be 7 postcodes served by cab 56. However, every single one of these postcodes have 50% or more of their properties served by cab 49 or, in one case, cab 57.

The map produced by CSW appears to show your area as covered, because the area covered by cab 49 overlaps with that for 56 ... and cab 49 was done commercially back in 2010. There is also a tiny overlap with cab 57, which was upgraded in 2013.

CSW know that this kind of overlap can happen, as they are one of the projects that explains things well in their FAQ; I'd have expected them to be able to tell you individually of this problem, and what they expect to happen to your cab.

Unfortunately, MrS is right - the cabinet looks rather small, and unlikely to be high on the list for upgrade.

It might be worth going back to CSW, and pointing out that while their map shows the area is commercially covered, it isn't completely true: cab 56 has been left out of the commercial coverage.

Hi, I'm connected to cab 56 and am struggling with the slow connection too. I have noticed that 100% of the properties in both CV34 6TN and CV34 6HY are connected to this cabinet. Could this be any extra leverage?

In reply to a post by rs1:

I have noticed that 100% of the properties in both CV34 6TN and CV34 6HY are connected to this cabinet. Could this be any extra leverage?

It certainly means there are whole postcodes which must be coloured white - unless VM happens to cover them.

Being white, CSW should include them in the scope of their project, though that doesn't guarantee you will get an upgrade.

If this is a change from their previous records, they might not be at liberty to make changes to the phase 1 contract, and can only add you into the phase 2 contract.

It is certainly worth asking CSW