Cabinet information query

Dear all,

Thanks for taking the time to read this and hopefully help out! I appreciate that there are a few of these posts in the forum already. We are due to move house shortly. In the area we are moving to, it looks like nearly all the cabinets are fibre enabled apart from ours (typical) and just a couple of others. The exchange is Ranmoor and the cabinet that our street is connected to is 8.

Research so far reveals that there is definitely a fibre cabinet in place, but this appears to have been there for many months without any further progress.

As we will need to sign up to a broadband contract, I'm wondering whether anybody has any suggestions/information as to when it will be activated. If it is going to be a long time then I will just sign up with a standard broadband package...

I'd be very grateful for any information that anybody can provide.

Two cabinets it might be as there is P8 and PE8

S10 3LZ on Exchange RANMOOR is served by Cabinet 8 has a placeholder date of 30th June 2015, so might be very soon, or might be delayed again.

PE8 has no expected dates attached to it.

Best people in place to answer the question are those working for the BDUK project covering South Yorkshire.

NOTE: Many providers will let you upgrade to fibre within the contract term, so pick your ADSL2+ provider based on who you will most likely order fibre from and check what their terms will be if you upgrade in say 3 months time.

Many thanks for the reply. Obviously I'm not exactly sure how these things work, but we are quite close to cabinet 8, and quite a long way from cabinet PE8 (it's on the other side of the exchange I think) so hopefuly we are connected to 8. I've been watching the 30th June date with anticipation, but worried it may just pass by. We will see.

I'll try to contact South Yorkshire Broadband and see if I can find out from them.

If you look at S10 3PU on roadworks.org there is some pavement resurfacing going on in July no mention of BT but might be tied up with work on connecting the old and new cabinets and or power.

Ok I will keep my eye on the area! I've emailed South Yorkshire Broadband, so I'll post back here if I get a response in case anybody else is on this cabinet.
Many thanks again.

So I had a reply from "Superfast South Yorkshire" as follows:

"The cabinet at S10 3LZ (Ranmoor 8) is part of the commercial roll out and upon various checks (screen image can be found below) the cabinet is scheduled to become fibre enabled from the end of the month.

The Superfast South Yorkshire programme is separate from any commercial activity and exists to plug the gap where the commercial market either has not or does not intent to invest in superfast broadband.

If you have any further queries regarding deployment we advise that you speak to your internet service provider and/or Openreach, as commercial areas are not part of the Superfast South Yorkshire remit."

I will obviously wait for the end of the month, though I don't hold my breath. Is it possible to contact Openreach or can they only be contacted via ISPs?
Thanks

Edited by deleted (Wed 24-Jun-15 09:52:58)

Dates like 30-June-15 are the ones most likely to end up moving...they are called placeholder dates where a cab is still in the commercial programme but something is delaying it.

So it will happen but when cannot be sure.

Have chased in the past, but response times are slowing down now to the point its not worth asking, i.e. two months for answers.

Further update on this. So the fibre activation date was pushed back to March 2016 (not surprised). But interestingly I just went on Codelook and the postcode for the fibre cabinet (8) has changed. It has moved about 100m down the road. I find this odd as there is already a cabinet (albeit without power) at the previous postcode. Does that mean they have hit difficulties and had to plan to relocate the cabinet?

No idea what codelook does but the existing copper cab is at https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.3739099,-1.5406922...

So its fibre twin will be within 50 to 100m of that location.

Ok, will wait and see where the functioning cabinet eventually appears!

Codelook is very inaccurate with cabinet locations, some it gets close to where they are but most are out by a few 100 meters.

Ahh ok! Thanks. There is at least a fibre cabinet in place, I just wish they would find some power and switch it on!

I personally think they've abandoned the cabinet (I'm also connected to 8/SLRN). They've claimed to have been working on it since the start of 2012, however I've seen absolutely no progress for the past year and a half, when the fibre cabinet was installed. I contacted Openreach's enquiry email last october (I believe), to which I received a response stating "Expected completion date at the moment is 24/04/2015".

You'll be lucky if they have it done by next March.

Then again, I'm not even going to benefit from it a great deal (estimates of ~15-25mbps).

Edited by thebigdolphin1 (Sat 15-Aug-15 21:52:13)

That's not what I wanted to hear! I stand to benefit quite a lot (estimated speed >60) which is why I'm so keen to hear more! Presumably they've hit a problem - perhaps power, as it is definitely not powered on at the moment. How did you contact Openreach? I couldn't find an email address for them...

They had an email address to contact and enquire about their services about a year ago, but they unfortunately cancelled the service and de-activated the email address as they kept receiving too many requests.
I believe the cabinet could also be linked to a power source but not switched on due to another issue (although power probably is the issue). I also see no plans within the next 12 months listed on roadworks.org in the surrounding area, which is a shame. If it indeed isn't connected to a power source, it's going to be many months (possibly years) until that gets solved, unfortunately.

The reason I believe they've abandoned the project for our fibre cabinet is that there are some leaves and cobwebs in the door of it that have been there for a good 8 months, at least.

Openreach have a fibre query email.

1.Visit FAQ on Openreach's 'Where and When' sight here
2.Scroll down to the bottom and click on 'I can�t find the answer about Superfast Fibre I�m looking for in your FAQs'
3.Fill out the form and they will respond to you.

It would appear they've disabled contacting them - it just displays a blank page, with no form to fill in.

yep openreach had enough of peoples sent complaints and bemoaned often asked too many times of when will the cabinet go live and why it kept pushed the dates delaying more and more. So, they disabled it.

Edited by adslmax (Mon 17-Aug-15 06:39:00)

In reply to a post by adslmax:

yep openreach had enough of peoples sent complaints and bemoaned often asked too many times of when will the cabinet go live and why it kept pushed the dates delaying more and more. So, they disabled it.

That form still shows up, just change the https:// to http:// and it will show.

http://www.superfast-openreach.co.uk/faq/contact-us-...

Paul

Thanks for that. Email sent - will let you all know what response I get.

In reply to a post by Trebby:

Thanks for that. Email sent - will let you all know what response I get.

Hope it all goes well for you.

I seem to get fobbed off month after month for our already completed FTTP install that started back in end of 2011 which is still down as part of the 66% Commercial FTTP Project, I was told start of July is when I would be able to order, then end of July (all work was finally completed according to all the engineers we had last month to fix a broken/snapped fibre cable) and now I have been told end of August, and I bet I then get told end September, even though there is a fibre cable coming out of the fibre manifold up our pole.

So our Fibre DP hardware is live, but I still get told that we cannot order due to its not ready, makes me laugh really.

Paul

Thinking about it, you probably will be waiting at least another 6 months. The last time I walked past the fibre cabinet, I remember there being only a dug out section in the road connecting the fibre cabinet to the PCP. So I think they've yet to connect the actual fibre and power lines. As well as that, the PCP is one of them ancient GPO ones (small and tatty), which I believe they replace with a more modern outer shell due to internal spacing issues. Also, a rather large quantity of households connected to the cabinet, including myself, probably won't benefit from the fibre connection as they're situated over a mile away, meaning it may not be a feasible option for Openreach to continue working on it - then again, I'm sure SFSY would've continued the project if it wasn't.

..so it's probably not going to happen anytime soon. Please update me if any of that has changed, I haven't walked past the area in months.

Edited by thebigdolphin1 (Mon 17-Aug-15 22:44:37)

It doesn't sound like great news does it. The cabinet is indeed one of the very old ones - do they need to replace this prior to fibre? It's just frustrating, because even the houses at the end of our garden can get fibre! But I do understand it isn't that straightforward.

I emailed Openreach - very generic response saying they hope to have it ready by the end of April 16 "all being well". Doesn't mention what the delay is. I don't think I've ever seen any Openreach engineers near the cabinet. Unfortunately I can't see Virgin Media coming this way either - I don't think their network comes anywhere near us?

Would be grateful for any updates in the future if anybody hears anything - likewise I will let others know if I get anything more out of Openreach.

When I mailed them a year back, they gave me a generic response too, giving me a placeholder date. Try replying to their response asking for an actual estimated date and not a placeholder - they gave me an actual date, not just a month (albeit incorrect).

EDIT: I've just sent an enquiry email to them requesting the current details on it, I'll get back to you (providing they respond).

Edited by thebigdolphin1 (Fri 21-Aug-15 20:21:05)

Well, I've received absolutely no new or useful information from the Openreach enquiry:

We are continuing to build our network to cover many more areas all the time. We believe this is the fastest rollout of this type anywhere in the world.

We appreciate that this is frustrating, however, we are bringing fibre into your area so please keep an eye on our website from the end of April 2016 for an update. It�s where we publish the very latest fibre coverage information and we update it weekly. This is when we would estimate that you should be able to place your order, all being well.

I would like to reassure you of our ambition to bring superfast broadband to as much of the UK as rapidly as possible. We are pushing ahead to complete one of the most ambitious and largest rollouts of fibre broadband anywhere in the world. Our £3bn investment coupled with the government�s BDUK programme means fibre currently passes 80% of homes and businesses in the UK. We are working in partnership with the majority of councils across the UK to increase the fibre broadband footprint to over 95% by 2017.

I hope this can help you understand that we have a real commitment to delivering superfast broadband to the people and businesses of Britain.

I am sorry that we have not yet provided you with this service.

So we'll just have to wait for another year or so and hope.

Edited by thebigdolphin1 (Mon 24-Aug-15 13:36:01)

Hey, just thought I'd let you know that they seem to be working on upgrading our cabinet now, so "by 31-Mar-16" is very likely.

I found this listed on roadworks.org:

12-14 Jan
Erect/Renew 1 PCP cabinet and base (600mm x 300mm x 1000mm),Install 1m of 1 way poly duct in Footway...

Edited by thebigdolphin1 (Mon 04-Jan-16 20:44:52)

Interesting! Good spot! Sounds very promising indeed (and about time...)

So is this replacing the very old telephone cabinet then? Presumably this is required before linking it to the fibre cabinet?

Yeah, the PCP is the smaller old cabinet with the number 8 marked on it. I presume they'll be upgrading it with a larger one (like this).
I believe they do this because there isn't enough space inside to install the cables linking it to the fibre cabinet (especially with 450+ premises connected!).

Edited by thebigdolphin1 (Mon 04-Jan-16 22:40:17)

Excellent, and about time! Thanks for the update.

Do you know if they ended up replacing the PCP or postpone it due to the (mildly) icy roads? I rarely go down the road often, so I haven't seen it.

Sorry for delay. Definitely a new PCP replacing the very old cabinet. I've not yet had chance to walk past to see if there is a humming noise at the fibre cabinet to suggest it has power.

No humming noise yet...

That's not good to hear. Openreach's new website also says its still in the connecting stage, so they might yet have to connect it to the power. I couldn't have thought there are any other fibre/broadband ducts that need to be worked on as they did all of that in 2013.

It can take around 4 Months to go from the connection stage to the live stage.
Also they have to do loads of testing after the connection stage, so you might hear the fans once they have started testing the connection.

Paul

We've been on the 'connection' stage for around 3 years now though.

In reply to a post by thebigdolphin1:

We've been on the 'connection' stage for around 3 years now though.

That could be due to either having power or cabling issues, or had some other issues resulting in being put on hold.

Paul

Just a further update, there's a new Openreach roadworks listing almost directly on top of the location where the fibre cabinet is positioned:

Description: remedial notice to clear defect...
Date: 31 May - 2 Jun

Not sure if it actually has anything to do with fibre though, as there's no real mention in the description. It could just be some work for a nearby telephone pole.

Edit: Can't see any telegraph poles or or BT manholes nearby where the listing is, so I would presume this is fibre related.

Edited by thebigdolphin1 (Tue 24-May-16 15:41:04)

Interesting! I live nearby so will let you know if any physical changes.

Otherwise no obvious progress since January. Still no metal lock on the cabinet so I assume it is not powered yet.

I think the metal lock is removed after the power is connected, regardless of whether the cabinet is activated or not - at least, I hope so. If not, they might be denied any further roadworks to link up necessary power cables (which is likely if power is the issue) as the local roads were only just resurfaced last year.

More stuff on the roadworks website today. 11th to 15th June. Looks like they are maybe connecting something between the two cabinets (they lie on either side of Carsick View)

Thanks for the update.

I'm 99% sure that the newly listed roadworks (and potentially the old one) are fibre-related. I recall reading somewhere that usually if a cabinet is abandoned in the 'connect' stage (on the Openreach "where and when" page) it's due to an issue with connecting the DSLAM (fibre) cabinet to the old PCP where the lines of properties are connected to.

Edit: Also seen a listing for "Install 130m of 1 way poly duct in footway and 8m in Carriageway" at the top of Pitchford lane.Typically this is used to carry and insulate the fibre cables, and the description suggests that it's going to cross a section of the road and continue down the footpath to the cabinet.

Edited by thebigdolphin1 (Thu 26-May-16 16:07:17)

Yes - there are quite a few roadworks listed now - between start and 17th of June. It looks promising! About time for there to be some good news about our cabinet!

It appears that the listing to "Install 130m Of 1 Way Poly Duct In Footway And 8m In Carriageway" has been removed from roadworks.org, which means they've either completed the task (which is unlikely as it was scheduled for the 1st to the 3rd of June), or they've had to delay or cancel it.

Edit: Now all of the other roadwork listings (aside from the small one today) have disappeared too. Well this can't be good news.

Edited by thebigdolphin1 (Tue 31-May-16 15:10:42)

Doesn't sound good does it. I wonder if anybody in the forum has sufficient insider knowledge to look into the delay - the cabinet has been delayed for years without any real update from openreach.

Well I'd assume the reason for retracting all the new roadwork listings would be because they've found a greater fault at the cabinet (with today's roadworks where they're supposed to fix a defect).

Since you live nearby to the cabinet, did you happen to see anyone working on the cabinet in the last couple of days (for the "clear defect" listing)?

I've not been around during the day, but no obvious change to the cabinet or anywhere around it unfortunately.

Sorry if this is a silly question but this thread looked like it was answering a query I had too. Looking on the Net I've found some cabinet comparisons, with the Original being just a rectangular box and with the FTTC enabled cabinets to be taller with venting,
However, I know where my cab is and the number on it matches correctly, but I could have sworn it's the old original type with no venting at all. It looks more cast iron than sheet metal.
Am I mistaken?

The PCP has the number on it and the FTTC twin has the vents. I don't know if an AIO has both a number and vents though.

In reply to a post by BatBoy:

The PCP has the number on it and the FTTC twin has the vents. I don't know if an AIO has both a number and vents though.

I'll have to double check, but the cabinet close to me with the correct number stands alone without vents to my knowledge. Even a recent Google Streetmap confirms that, but I'll have to double check properly to be sure. I wondered if any of the cabinets go through retrofitting.

Have you seen this page? It has most of the BT cabinets listed along with an image.
http://www.robertos.me.uk/html/street_cabinets_etc.html

Edited by thebigdolphin1 (Fri 03-Jun-16 22:17:08)

In reply to a post by Vorlon:

I'll have to double check, but the cabinet close to me with the correct number stands alone without vents to my knowledge. Even a recent Google Streetmap confirms that, but I'll have to double check properly to be sure. I wondered if any of the cabinets go through retrofitting.

They often get "re-shelled" (literally the whole of the outside of the cabinet, but not alterations to anything existing inside it already) when they get a fibre twin. This is usually to accommodate the extra "verticals" needed for the links to the fibre twin, which are simply added beside the existing verticals; but sometimes because the existing "shell" is in bad condition.

I don't think I've ever heard of an all-in-one cabinet directly (i.e. at the same location) replacing an existing PCP, either reading these forums or in real life.

Edited by deleted (Fri 03-Jun-16 23:55:20)

If you go to Page 5 of this document, there appears to be a photo of an AIO Cabinet, given its location with photos and descriptions of other solutions-

https://www.southdowns.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/201...

---

The only obvious internal differences I have noted, without doing a rigorous comparison, is that the Filter/Links plugged in to the Back-Plane in the right-hand side, are coloured Orange, rather than White seen in conventional FTTCs.

The other difference is that in the local FTTC, all of the sockets in each of the loaded Back-Plane groups are occupied, except for the 25th (Brown sockets/fifth row, right-hand end) compared to the obvious gaps in the photo.

Externally, it looks similar to the Huawei 288 near my front-door, with some uncertainty as to its top, whether peaked like that Huawei or flat.

The two upper, narrow, vents in the left-hand door appear to be different wrt to the Huawei, the latter middle one being distinctly larger.

The vents in the R-H door appear to be similar to the local Huawei.

Dosn't look like an AIO to me

Agreed!

It does looks very similar to an FTTC; but as the photo is specifically in the part of the document covering other less usual Broadband devices, particularly pole-mounted; and is apparently directly related to the adjacent text line-

"Exchange only lines and secondary connection points � Copper rearrangement, All-in-One
cabinets" ...

Of course, it could be that BT has used an FTTC photo on a generic basis.

Perhaps someone has a photo of a known AIO cabinet; or can provide a link to one; or even a good description of one.

Given the apparent similarity to an FTTC, could these be used directly?

----------

The only other attempt at an illustration of an AIO that I have found, is more of a concept drawing - and not very good at that, the labelling being for three items that would also appear in a normal FTTC, eg "Fibre Spool" - and the one possible difference being a rectangular dashed-outline attached and apparently hinged to the inside of the R-H door, labelled-
"
------------------
| Frame for !
|holding MDF|
! |
...
! |
! |
------------------
"
Within the lower part of that label enclosure, there is a sketch of a U-section bar, its open side facing horizontally in to the back-plane area, with probably a hinge at the end of that bar in line almost with the R-H door main hinges; and a short U-shaped bracket, possibly for giving a closing fixing or clip to the inner side of the R-H door.

--------------------

Again I hope someone will produce or link to a photo, good sketc etc, of a known AIO Cabinet.

Edited by deleted (Sat 04-Jun-16 10:46:10)

Nor me. Onesies look like this: image

The relative size of the door-holes makes it look like a standard Huawei 288 to me.

However, the perspective of the open door on the RHS looks wrong - it looks like the door is far too wide to fit in the hole!

Other pictures:

http://www.bt-ngb.com/news/2015/08/nottinghamshire-b...

http://www.rishisunak.com/campaigns/better-broadband...

Edit:
Another one...
https://twitter.com/SFNYorkshire/status/717719171665...

Edited by deleted (Sat 04-Jun-16 10:59:24)

Thanks, WWWombat.

Interesting to compare the R-H sides of all of them.

I wonder if anyone can now describe the various contents, which I suspect are small Distribution Frames, to terminate effectively the directly-connected E-side and D-side wiring.

---------

The third, Twitter one, looks as though it can handle only 96 circuits, although apparently wider than my local Huawei 288.

Although apparently covered, the Aysgarth one also seems to be 96 circuits.

Difficult to tell directly with the Warsop one, probably 96 as well; but the photo does show the wider cabinet width.

You see from the larger view that there are 64 filters plugged in, with space for another 64 .

Thanks again!

I had not noted the different grouping, of 36 sockets, with the last four Filter/Links omitted in that AIO.

Compared with the 25 sockets with only the 25th Filter/Link omitted in the Huawei FTTC.

I live and learn!

----------

Have you or anyone else any idea why those omissions take place?

Seems wasteful, unless it is to have some in reserve to cover failures - but that would appear to require wiring changes in the PCP, if it is a conventional FTTC-PCP installation.

They are in groups of 32 to match the ports per card I guess

It depends on the linecard in the DSLAMs, and the number of cables between the linecards and the filter/connectors. The omission is because the rows of filter/connectors are only wired from one of the connectors on the linecard.

Each of the big connectors on Huawei linecards can hold a maximum of 32 lines.

The DSLAM in the AIO is a 4 card MA5616, with 32 lines per card, and one connector per card. 32 lines over the one cable = 32 filters grouped together.

The DSLAM in the 288 cabinet is a 6 card MA5603, with 48 lines per card, and two connectors per card. That puts 24 lines on the cable out of each connector = 24 filters grouped together.

Thanks for those details.

Do you know why there is a need for those AIO Cabinets?

From the Broadband aspect, it would appear that a simple intercept of the EO lines at the Exchange, would allow the normal range of FTTC cabinets to be used, the exchange part of the intercepted EO line corresponding to the E-side at a PCP; and the external part of the intercepted EO line corresponding to the D-side at a PCP.

Have a simplified PCP "within" the Exchange, with conventional Links to and from a normal FTTC cabinet.

Thus standard parts being used throughout compared to the illustrated AIO cabinets with their apparent Distribution Frame substitutions taking up space.

Edited by deleted (Sun 05-Jun-16 18:29:12)

My impression was that the original design for EO upgrades meant a new, standalone, PCP and separate FTTC cabinet.

The all in one cabinet is rather newer, and seems to have gone into service initially to deal with long lines - where those lines are already on a standard cabinet. Northern Ireland seemed to get the first ones, and the problem to solve there wasn't EO lines - it was long lines on PCPs.

However, there's no reason why they can't be used as an EO solution outside the exchange. In fact, I think the Aysgarth one linked above (on the politician's website) is outside the exchange.

Inside, the DSLAM is identical to the smaller Huawei cabs.

Your suggestion might work where the EO's FTTC cab was next to the exchange but hardly practical in cases such as ours. 75+ EO lines 2km from the exchange with the new AIO placed close to the end users.

Thanks for that example.

I had generally thought of the EO lines tending to be widespread as they got further away from the exchange, hence no PCP, rather than there being clusters as in your case

Good news! The previous roadworks have been re-listed, although pushed back by a few weeks further to late June. I'd expect these to not be cancelled this time.

Excellent, fingers crossed this time!

In reply to a post by eckiedoo:

I had generally thought of the EO lines tending to be widespread as they got further away from the exchange, hence no PCP, rather than there being clusters as in your case

Our development of 75 homes was built in the late 1980s and formerly a brownfield site, light industrial and lock-up garages, so perhaps BT considered it easier/cheaper to go EO rather than expand one of the local cabs. I have a feeling that there are many similar clusters of long EO lines in the Bermondsey area where there's been a fair bit of construction over the years on former dockland and PCPs are few and far between.

Thanks, MCM.

Collectively, gaining a better idea of the problems of EO lines and AIO cabinets.

In reply to a post by MCM:

Our development of 75 homes was built in the late 1980s and formerly a brownfield site, light industrial and lock-up garages, so perhaps BT considered it easier/cheaper to go EO rather than expand one of the local cabs.

Wouldn't that be down to the developer and what they were prepared to pay?

In 1986 or 87 when construction started I expect developers simply took what BT offered unlike today with its demands for faster internet access.

I didn't know suppliers only offered the cheapest option in the 80's.

Do we even know what the arrangements were in the 1980s. I certainly don't, do you? I was involved in the construction of a number of university student residences and never recall having been asked by BT to pay anything other than normal connection charges.

Alright, I've finally received a human response from Openreach after many months of being ignored. This is what their response reads:

We are expecting, all being well, that you should be able to order fibre broadband 24th October 2016 or it might take longer time.

We apologise not able to advise you the actual time because this project is still under the process.

Your date may have slipped because , we often find unforeseen challenges and complexities that we simply couldn�t plan for. These may need either more time to work around or a different solution altogether. Our published dates in most cases are accurate however, because of the above, unfortunately they can move. We strive to share as much information as we possibly can to help you to make your choices as much as possible.
I am sorry there has been a delay but each cabinet will involve different amounts of work to fully enable and make it ready for orders.

Rest assured we are doing everything we can to deliver service as soon as we can
Please check our website nearer the date for further updates.

Bear in mind, however, the last time I received a genuine expected date from them it was also the 24th (albeit of April, 2015), so watch out - that date may just be another incremental "placeholder" date similar to the other ones they publicly announce.


Again, please register your interest for virgin media if you haven't already - I've attempted to get many nearby homes to also do so, so it may be a possibility. Thanks!

I'll keep you updated on any future roadworks or emails I receive regarding out BT cabinet.

Edited by thebigdolphin1 (Wed 24-Aug-16 19:23:08)

Hi there,

Thanks for the info! I've signed up to both the BT and Virgin Media 'register your interest' sites, for what it's worth.

We will see if the latest BT response is accurate!

Thanks

As far as the 24th of October activation date goes, it seems very likely -- This just popped up on roadworks.org:

Date: 4 Oct - 17 Oct
Location: OPPOSITE PITCHFORD LANE TO OUTSIDE HALLAMSHIRE GOLF CLUB, REDMIRES ROAD...
Description: Laying duct in footway and carriageway...

Hmm maybe. I'm taking it with a healthy dose of scepticism this time, given how many times they have scheduled and cancelled these works. It also concerns me slightly that these works (as they currently stand) don't lay the fibre as far as the cabinet.

We will see, hopefully you are correct!

Well it mentions "laying duct in footway", so I presume that means down from Sandygate road (where theres already going to be loads of fibre cables passing) to the cabinet. If not, I'm sure they installed the main local ducts prior to erecting the cabinet.

What isn't good news is that there's around 10 EO cabinets being put up nearby, which the engineers may be busy with (they prioritise BDUK work).

If they are installing ducting on 4-17 October I wouldn't expect activation to be for another month or two at best. 24 October would be pushing it!

Well, there goes all my hopes.

Have you any idea why the upgrade to the cabinet may have been delayed from 2012? I've always assumed blocked ducts were the issue, but if they haven't even installed them then it couldn't have been the cause. Takeup certainly wont be the issue as there's over 500 connected premises with less than 8Mbps.

New duct is often required to bypass blocked or congested ducts.
Many cabinets have been put on hold for lengthy periods if actual civils are significant, presumably until BDUK coverage is at/near completion and they need to get delayed cabinets running.

Well, you were right. The expected happened.

It's back on...

Yeah, they appear to have re-listed it earlier today. Still not a good sign that they're uncertain though.

Edited by thebigdolphin1 (Tue 27-Sep-16 22:43:17)

They've either completed it or delayed it for another year. I wonder which...

Hey! I've received a more detailed response from Openreach regarding out cabinet:

The project is still ongoing and we have estimated date of completion as End of November 2016, which is subject to change depending on the progress of the project.
The work is pending with Line Plant Approval/ Civils Team, and we are expecting the work to be completed by the End of November 2016.

In reply to a post by thebigdolphin1:

Hey! I've received a more detailed response from Openreach regarding out cabinet:

The project is still ongoing and we have estimated date of completion as End of November 2016, which is subject to change depending on the progress of the project.
The work is pending with Line Plant Approval/ Civils Team, and we are expecting the work to be completed by the End of November 2016.

Nice, lets hope its done by then

Paul

Thanks for the update!

I'm curious, how accurate is 'code look' when it comes to due dates for cabinets to go live?

Mine says live by October 2016 lol. Stuck on March 31st 2017 on bt wholesale though

In reply to a post by cjdavid:

I'm curious, how accurate is 'code look' when it comes to due dates for cabinets to go live?

Mine says live by October 2016 lol. Stuck on March 31st 2017 on bt wholesale though

Codelook cabinet data seemingly updates on a quarterly basis, presumably BT publish some sort of database at the end of each quarter.

Last update to the BT WBC data was 9th September.

My cabinet shows as 'being connected' on codelook, but the Openreach site shows it as accepting orders (although we're still waiting on the LTL migration).

Just a small additional update since not much has been happening recently, if I check S10 3LZ on the Virgin Media website, it would appear that they're currently working on rolling out their services to the area.

S103LZ
Great news! We�re on our way�
We�re excited to tell you that work has already begun on expanding our network to your community. We�re expecting to be able to connect this area to Virgin Media services very soon, so please register to find out more

I don't seem to be as lucky however, as I'm getting a slightly different message (but still more promising than what Openreach have told me).

Edited by thebigdolphin1 (Tue 06-Dec-16 22:30:49)

In reply to a post by thebigdolphin1:

Just a small additional update since not much has been happening recently, if I check S10 3LZ on the Virgin Media website, it would appear that they're currently working on rolling out their services to the area.

S103LZ
Great news! We�re on our way�
We�re excited to tell you that work has already begun on expanding our network to your community. We�re expecting to be able to connect this area to Virgin Media services very soon, so please register to find out more

I don't seem to be as lucky however, as I'm getting a slightly different message (but still more promising than what Openreach have told me).

Before I start, I would like to say sorry for the long post, so put the kettle on.

I got that from VM a few years back when I entered my address into their checker, I also registered to find out more, I even got a phone call from them stating they are starting to do my area, I explained that our area is a conservation area and asked them if that would be an issue, where I was told no.

Now a month goes past and I hear or see nothing happening so I phone them to be told they are in our area but need to send out a surveyor to decide where to place their cabinets which could take a few weeks and that they would get back to me on the result.

Another month goes past and nothing so I phone once again to be told exactly the same thing as the month before.

And this goes on for at least 7 to 8 months, at this point I had had enough and demanded to speak to their manager, but due to not getting a good enough reason for the delay I had it escalated a few levels until I spoke to guy high up which explained it to me that due to our area being consecration area they wouldn't be allowed to place the cabinets down our road which is required for their service, I told the guy that I explained that a number of times when I was on the phone to one of his team members.

I followed on to ask him what can be done to get this resolved, sadly he said nothing.
At this point I was rather annoyed this due to the last several months being told everything is fine and that it will be done soon, I then asked do they have a possible date, where he said nothing in the next 10 or so years.

This didn't help much, so I said the him, so basically your team lied to me for the last several months, why couldn't they just be honest and say this at the start.

In my eyes both companies are as bad as each other at misleading the public, they are both a bunch of liars.

But at least BT have they own underground network already in place and didn't require cabinets down each road like VM does.

This is why BT have less of a issue with conservation areas than which VM does.

Also parts of my area were lucky due to we ended up getting our FTTP go live, but my local MP and myself really had to work hard and I mean really hard to get this done, it did take 4 nearly 5 years to get done.

I am rather glad that we stuck with BT due to a few friends round the corner from me that do have VM, have had nothing but issues with the stability and speed and have been told by VM that it will be resolved within the next few years.

I think this issue with VM that they are having is due to where our areas currently got at the time very bad ADSL speeds and there was no sign of fibre being installed they all jumped on the VM train and got VM which I was told was fine at first but over time got worse and worst.

I assume this was as more and more people moved over to VM and VM wasn't ready for that many people and their infrastructure couldn't and still cannot handle that many people.

I know a few people was lucky and got FTTC completed in their areas, but the people still on VM near me are still having issues.

Basically BT back in 2011 - 2012 was rolling out FTTC and FTTP on our exchange and for some reason stopped in mid install for some unknown reason, its only now 4 to 5 years later they are now coming back t finish of some of them as part of LEP as well as the commercial project, I can see that their is still over 12K lines still waiting to be finished due to some being partly done.

So as you can see both companies are as bad as each other.

Paul

the issue is 2 fold
Commercial FTTP cost fortune so most of it got Stopped
the resource the move to do the BDUK contracts so pust to get majority of commercial programme completed
FTTP now via connectorised block fundamental different costs - so some fttp being now resolved and delivered

In reply to a post by Fastman2:

the issue is 2 fold
Commercial FTTP cost fortune so most of it got Stopped
the resource the move to do the BDUK contracts so pust to get majority of commercial programme completed
FTTP now via connectorised block fundamental different costs - so some fttp being now resolved and delivered

Well funny you say that, the 12K lines that are still waiting are and was part of the FTTP Commercial Project, so that is possibly the reason now.

I know at one point we were put on hold for the BDUK projects due to their contractual deadlines, that's fine, but over that time they did forget about our exchange.

This was confirmed to me (cant say who by), but most of those 12K lines already had all the FTTP hardware in place like us, the only difference was already a line on our hardware that already had FTTP.
So that was the only reason in my mind why we ended up getting FTTP when I contacted Gavin Patterson and Michael Rake with this information.

But if BT are to go down the new connector types lets hope they finish off the rest.

I know the remaining on my cabinet that was down for FTTP back in 2011 - 2012 that most already have the hardware is being downgraded to FTTC at first and then optionally G.FAST later on.

So maybe the ones without the FTTP hardware in place will have the G.FAST on the cabinet when its done and the ones with the FTTP hardware in place will get the G.FAST in the chamber by their phone poles.

But all this is assumption at the moment.

Paul

Oh I'm well aware that Virgin Media is far from being trustworthy and reliable, but at least it's a second chance at something being done. I honestly wouldn't mind if the connection was unstable, at least I wouldn't be constantly stuck with 3Mbps all the time. Openreach seem to be showing no interest at all in upgrading our local cabinet.

Unfortunately, it appears that VM have no plans to upgrade my postcode, yet they're showing interest in the block of postcodes located behind my address - possibly because I'm on a main road, or that it's only a single-sided street.

Is there any way to contact VM about their rollout process and any local plans, or have I got to wait for them to contact me first (from the cable my street registration)?

Alright? It's been a while since anything has happened. I've checked on roadworks today, and there appears to be a new listing stating "CLEAR BLOCKAGES" for the next week. It's nearby to the cabinet, although in a bit of a weird location if the works are related - if it is, it's likely that they will route the cables down the footpath rather than the road (presumably as it's easier or less expensive?), but that still seems a bit of a weird move.

I haven't been able to find any additional information out as of yet, but I will continue to e-mail various people regarding our cabinet in hopes of an update or progress. What I do know is that the majority of BDUK cabinets on our exchange have been completed, so it shouldn't be long until we're at the top of the priority list again.

As for the Virgin Media rollout I previously mentioned, it would appear that our area is no longer in the same set of plans it originally was, and that we're just a potential future project.

Edited by thebigdolphin1 (Mon 30-Jan-17 19:46:54)

Interesting.

I'm pretty certain the eventual route will be down that footpath - that was definitely the original plan. A few notices went up previously to that effect.

Not sure how the duct blockages fit in with that, as I don't think they have laid the duct there yet.

Now that a second listing has appeared, it implies that the blockage may be beneath the actual road between the two manhole covers. Will be interesting to see how this plays out, but I still don't think we'll be connected any time soon.

I passed the area around an hour ago while I was travelling on the bus, and saw them doing various works. They were removing some thin yellow tubing (a couple hundred meters of it) from the B.T. manhole outside of the golf club.

Unfortunately, I was in too much of a rush to stop and ask what it is they were doing and if they knew any additional information on the scheduled works of our cabinet.

More works listed. Still in the right place but difficult to know if they are related to fibre.

I am starting to doubt that it is fibre related. The duct which they were installing/removing/fixing was yellow, where as (from what I recall) fibre ducting is black with yellow stripes. It's also in a bit of an odd location for it to be related to our cabinet, so I'm not sure really.

Openreach/BT seem to be doing some peculiar works around our area - a few roadworks listings mention ducting/cabinet work on pre-existing and already upgraded fibre cabinets.

In reply to a post by thebigdolphin1:

I am starting to doubt that it is fibre related. The duct which they were installing/removing/fixing was yellow

If it was yellow, it was a rod, (either from a continuous drum in the back of a van or shorter lengths screwed together) used to push through duct.

If you've ever seen the phrase 'test rod & rope', this is a what is entailed to install a draw rope.

Ah, that could've been it then, especially considering the roadworks was for clearing blockages. Although they just had (what looked like) a hundred metres of it out on the footway, with the other half down the manhole. It wasn't on any kind of a reel or drum, though, and appeared to be one continuous tube (I didn't see any joints).

Edited by thebigdolphin1 (Fri 03-Feb-17 18:14:45)

Sounds very like the yellow duct clearing, as while often seen on a drum it can be spotted laid out as described too

Have you any idea why they would be clearing blocked ducts? Does it sound like it could be related to the installation of fibre to our cabinet, or is this something they might do for other reasons?

Fibre most likely, or could be because need to put more copper into the ground, or a third party wants to install something in the duct via the PIA scheme (most unlikely but a remote possibility)

Fibre is what I'm hoping, but it's in a bit of an odd location if it is related to our cabinet (there are no other existing or planned cabinets nearby). I've drawn a diagram showing the location of these ducting works, the cabinet(s) and the previous roadwork listings.

http://i.imgur.com/NNQMh58.jpg

Yellow route: Old footpath
Red route: Previous ducting roadworks listings (which were cancelled)
Magenta arrow: Exchange direction (about 1km away)
Roadworks icon: Recent duct blockage clearance works (also had work done on the opposite side of the road)

Is it possible that they may plan on installing fibre cables down an old, steep footpath rather than down the main footpath besides the road? I would've thought that there are already underground ducts which exist in the main footpath, but they cancelled all the previous scheduled works on it last year. Is it possible that they might not be able to install any cables under the main footpath as it has been recently resurfaced less than 2 years ago?

Sorry for all these questions, I'm just eager to know what they might be doing and when I will be able to order a fibre service.

Edited by thebigdolphin1 (Fri 03-Feb-17 22:54:00)

Councils often have rules about messing with recently resurfaced paths/roads.

The location near golf club would make total sense for an additional cabinet to serve a number of postcodes, that would otherwise not get superfast when their existing cabinet was enabled

Well, the duct work was on both sides of the road so I assume they're just unblocking a route, not actually installing any fibre cabinets nearby. Looking at your maps section of this site, I can't see why it would be useful to install an additional cabinet nearby there as it's literally 100m from the actual cabinet and wouldn't offer much of a speed increase.

Because that close cabinet does not serve properties in a nice circle around it, and I can see postcodes connected to cabinet 8 which is not live, but there are hints of going live by March 2017. The postcode S10 4LD is at around 1km from cabinet 8 and in the zone where other project that are aiming for high superfast coverage levels have added an infill cabinet.

Might be wrong, and not the long language I use has caveats, but have seen this scenario take place elsewhere.

I actually live in the postcode S104LD, so I'm well aware that the cabinet serves properties a large distance away. I just meant, the location you suggested (outside the golf club) is almost next to the actual cabinet in question.

Unfortunately, there appears to be no BDUK scheme for the long distance lines - their solution was to actually transfer some nearby EO lines to cabinet 8, despite having an estimated speed of <10mbps. Bit odd as there's over 250 properties (last time I counted) which won't ever receive more than 25Mbps, most of which won't get over 15.

Good news! A new roadworks listing pretty much confirms that it's related to the installation of fibre to our cabinet, although it doesn't have a useful description. Looks like they may already have installed ducting down the footpath labeled as "Tom Ln".

Edited by thebigdolphin1 (Mon 06-Feb-17 11:55:31)

Fingers crossed. I'll keep my eyes open for anybody to ask.

The other red-coloured listing at the top of the footpath has been removed - hopefully not because the works application was denied.

Did you notice any work on the area being done the past week? I noticed that roadworks.org listed a couple Openreach work applications multiple times, which then just disappeared during the dates they were specified to take place - unfortunately, there's no way to see if they went through or were cancelled/denied.

If they didn't manage to do anything, I would imagine that we're going to be left behind for another 6-12 months before they re-attempt the same work, as they usually have the past few years.

Afraid not - pretty certain nothing was done.

Still one roadworks notification pending. The description keeps changing - not sure what to make of that, but not given up hope yet...

Seems like they've added it earlier this morning. I see some notice of a section 58 in the description, which could be why the previous works did not go through.

Let's hope they proceed with this one.

if there is a section 58 on the road they wont be doing anything anytime soon

Well it's certainly prevented them from bringing the fibre cables down the originally intended footpath, however the current roadworks listing mentions a "section 58 reinstatement" applies - not exactly sure what that means, but I assume it means they have permission.

No prizes for guessing what's happened. Hopefully it's just being relisted for a later date, but I they'll have to call it a day at some point.

A quick google suggests "section 58" could be a dealbreaker.

This sections allows councils to ban roadworks for a 3-5 year period because major roadwork have just been done. Presumably it is meant to protect a nice pristine surface.

When they are going to do this, the council sends out a 3-month notice, so that utilities can hussle with any outstanding work before the ban starts.

There are exemptions (including new connections), but it isn't obvious what applies to upgrading broadband.

Work appears to have been granted after all. How much this affects our cabinet I don't know...

The section 58 thing is particularly irritating - our cabinet had been due for upgrade years before the recent resurfacing works. It will be very annoying if the upgrade works are now delayed for years because they kept postponing the upgrade beyond the resurfacing.

I'm hoping that this will be the last set of roadworks required, possibly with the exception of the electrical supply, although I wouldn't imagine that it's a huge issue.

I have a feeling that they've already installed cable ducts under the Tom Ln footpath down to our cabinet, so it should just be a matter of routing fibre cables to our cabinet once these blockages are removed.

I didn't see it, but apparently BT were doing some works today. Certainly on the road in front of the golf course. Also seen measuring the distance down the little lane, and between the two cabinets. Sounds like some progress at last...

Well at least we know that it's related to our cabinet now - I was worried that it may be fibre cabling for any nearby SFSY works which may be going on (I know they're planning on putting up a new cab near my postcode).

I'd imagine that the fibre cables will be routed and installed next week (assuming that ducts are already in the footpath), and then it's all down to the power connection, which may be a while if the section 58 gets in the way (but I think I've read that they're exempt from it).

Cheers for the update, I appreciate it.

Edited by thebigdolphin1 (Tue 28-Feb-17 19:26:37)

"Measuring distances" sounds like the kind of thing they need to do to figure out where a blockage is, before digging.

Well that'd match up with the current ongoing work listed on roadworks. Any ideas on how long it might take them to move onto the cabling stage after all blockages have been cleared?

Anything from a day to a year.

It all depends on the availability of the relevant teams required to do the work.

The silver lock has been fitted in last couple of days. Still no humming noise to suggest it is powered up.

Likely to go live soon

From what I've seen on this forum, that'd indicate that it's due live within a week. That being said, I'm sure there's many who've been waiting a year with a silver lock installed.

I think it's used by the power connection company to allow them temporary access to it, although I'm not sure on that. It could be possible that fibre cables have already been installed to the cabinet by now, as they may not have required a roadworks listing/permit.
(Edit: seems like it's for contractors to test the cabinet based off what I've read online. Could also be possible that a power connection was installed years back along with the cabinet)

Anyway, thanks for the update. This can only be good news.

Edited by thebigdolphin1 (Fri 10-Mar-17 11:41:25)

Are you sure there's no humming noise? I can only find one instance of the silver lock being installed before being powered, and it has yet to progress past the connect stage 6 months later.

Edited by thebigdolphin1 (Fri 10-Mar-17 15:49:25)

In reply to a post by Trebby:

The silver lock has been fitted in last couple of days. Still no humming noise to suggest it is powered up.

I have not gone up to any FTTC cabinets to hear it hum, I think what people are referring to is the actual fans in the cabinet making a noise.

Though I might be wrong.

Paul

Correct, and it's fairly quiet. You need your ear close to the vents. Whereas VM master cabinets in my area you can hear yards away.

I think what else makes it difficult to hear is that some of the new FTTC turns off the fans when not required, so if the cabinet is cool inside the fans will either be running very slowly or even stopped and they only turn on when it starts to warm up inside.

This was done to reduce power requirements and also wear and tear on the fans, which does make sense.

This was told to me by friendly BT Engineers and BT Staff members that I have spoken to over the last couple of years.

So whether that is true or not, but that's what I was told.

Paul

Definitely no fans active inside the cabinet. I'm hoping it's what you've said about being temperature activated, but today seemed a pretty warm day (possibly warm enough to heat the internals?) - although maybe that's just in contrast with the weather we've been experiencing.

It's starting to worry me now as the silver locks been there for practically a week now, yet every mention of it on these forums has gone live within 2-5 days. Our cabinet isn't even on the activate stage yet.

Do you know if electricity wiring works for the cabinet are usually listed on roadworks.org? I've been checking for the past 2 years and have never seen any nearby electrical listings, although it could've been done much longer before (cab has stood since 2013).

Edited by thebigdolphin1 (Wed 15-Mar-17 22:03:24)

In reply to a post by thebigdolphin1:

Definitely no fans active inside the cabinet. I'm hoping it's what you've said about being temperature activated, but today seemed a pretty warm day (possibly warm enough to heat the internals?) - although maybe that's just in contrast with the weather we've been experiencing.

I would think that the fans are temperature controlled, it would make sense for it to be for when it looses power and has to use the battery backup.

In reply to a post by thebigdolphin1:

It's starting to worry me now as the silver locks been there for practically a week now, yet every mention of it on these forums has gone live within 2-5 days. Our cabinet isn't even on the activate stage yet.

Maybe the lock is on there due to all the fibre hardware is in there and just the power is still waiting to be done and the padlock is just there to protect the fibre hardware.

In reply to a post by thebigdolphin1:

Do you know if electricity wiring works for the cabinet are usually listed on roadworks.org? I've been checking for the past 2 years and have never seen any nearby electrical listings, although it could've been done much longer before (cab has stood since 2013).

Erm, they are normally shown on roadworks, I have seen in locations electrical work around a cabinet in the past, so i don't see why that would change now.

Paul

Could they install the internal fibre hardware prior to the actual fibre cables being run up to the cabinet, or would they have to wait until that is completed? As far as I'm aware, they may have not even got that far yet as they were only clearing ducts a few weeks back, and I haven't seen anyone blowing fibre down them (I pass the area around 12-2pm every day, which seems to be when they are most active with works).

I don't really know what order they do stuff, as for their working times, I have seen them working on our Splitter Node as early as 8am.

Paul

Alright, cheers for that Paul!

I'll have to hope that it's only power that's remaining, otherwise I'll probably be waiting a while. I assume they know what they're doing, and won't take 4+ years like Openreach.

Every time I've ever put my ear to an active fibre cabinet I've heard the fans. I'm sure you're right and they are temperature controlled, and speed up when hot. I'm pretty sure they always spin though. I've heard them spinning away with 6 inches of snow on the ground and outside temps below 0.

I don't know the power consumption of the fibre hardware, but they may still get hot regardless of outside temperatures when under load. It's also possible that it's a newer feature on more recent fibre cabinets, whereas older hardware may not have had the ability to connect the cooling fans to the control board.

Edited by thebigdolphin1 (Thu 16-Mar-17 17:45:45)

UPDATE!

Our cabinet is now showing as the ACTIVATE state, indicating that only a few tests remain - should be live within a week or two (or even tomorrow)!

Edited by thebigdolphin1 (Thu 16-Mar-17 17:55:21)

Keep checking it every hour.

A friend of mine had a cab go from connect, to accepting orders in 2 days. No activate stage at all shown on the checker. No engineers seen at the cab (outside of hos house and was over a weekend) from Saturday to when it was still on connect, to Monday morning when it changed to accepting orders

Once it goes live, hopefully TalkTalk don't take a month to show as available, otherwise it'll likely run out of capacity before I can even place my order.

Edited by thebigdolphin1 (Thu 16-Mar-17 18:03:45)

You wanna hope the have cable links ready at the headend then!

I don't think there are that many properties connected to 8, unless there are a lot in Lodge Moor? Certainly nearer the cabinet, where I am, there aren't very many - there are several other cabinets nearby serving nearby streets. Sounds like we are finally near activation!

The last time I counted a year back (using address and postcode data), there were about 500. SFSY has recently also moved a bunch of EO lines near me to the cabinet (bit weird as we're only expected to receive 15Mbps, and they're even further away) - probably 100 to 150 more.

Overview of connected postcodes, provided by CodeLook - not all postcodes are completely supplied by this cabinet.

More than half of the connected properties will currently be receiving ADSL speeds below 5Mbps, so I would imagine almost everyone connected will be wanting to upgrade. Not to mention that a lot of people who live here have a good amount of money, so upgrade cost won't be a big deal to most households.

Edited by thebigdolphin1 (Thu 16-Mar-17 18:31:17)

Still not available to order, but just to confirm the fans are definitely now active. Humming away...

Thanks for the update. Hopefully it'll be live between now and Friday - that seems to be the typical period shown with other people's cabinets on these forums.

Finally activated!

YES! Thanks for letting me know, for some reason my automated checker hasn't informed me yet. Now I've gotta hope for some decent speeds.

Have you been connected to the fibre service yet? My activation day was yesterday, my original ADSL service was disconnected and my router is unable to connect to any kind of broadband service.

I've contacted my ISP but they've said I could be weeks without internet access if it's a complex one-off fault with my line.

I'm trying to find out if this an issue with every fibre line on the cabinet, or a personal line issue. Hopefully it's not my distance that's preventing a VDSL sync.

Thanks

Is the router VDSL compatible?

Yep, TalkTalk DSL-3782, and I've tried every possible step there could be to fix it but there seems to be no broadband signal. Hopefully the engineer just forgot to link my line up at the cabinet, but most issues like this that I find on the forums took a month with no internet access to resolve.

My neighbours internet has also been down the past week due to another unrelated fault (some issue on their property I believe) so I can't borrow their connection either.

Edited by thebigdolphin1 (Wed 05-Apr-17 12:57:34)

Thanks for confirming. Does the telephone line work?

Yep, dial tone, calling, everything with the phone works correctly with no audible noise issues.

Also to confirm, I've tried multiple cables and filters, tried resetting the router, tried turning it off for an hour, tried forcing ADSL/VDSL in the modem settings.

Hmm, it sounds like your line is active but the broadband side hasn't. Report a broadband fault to TalkTalk ASAP. It should only be a quick fix at the cabinet.

Edited by deleted (Wed 05-Apr-17 13:10:33)

I called them up this morning and they said they'd get back to me after they diagnose the fault. I'll call them at the end of the day to see if there's any progress, but I'm hoping this isn't going to become an extended issue.

Could it possibly be an indication that the quality of my line is too bad to sync with VDSL? I'm on a ~1.2km line to the cabinet, and there's a possibility that quite a bit of it will use aluminium cabling as the area was built in the 60/70's (although my ADSL stats would say otherwise).

Thanks for the help by the way, I really appreciate it.

If you've purchased a VDSL service, they should provide it. 1.2 km isn't that long, my line is estimated at 900 m. Please could you post the result for your address, (phone number won't work as you're on TalkTalk) from this page? Make sure your crop out your address.

Edited by deleted (Wed 05-Apr-17 13:22:06)

http://imgur.com/a/ofQJU

Cabinet 8 on the Sheffield Ranmoor (SLRN) exchange

Edited by thebigdolphin1 (Wed 05-Apr-17 13:19:46)

Thanks. As shown, your line is short enough. So, that's not causing the issue. Unfortunately, it's just a waiting game now.

Alright, thanks for your help. I'm just hoping it's a simple jumper issue in the cabinet, not some issue with my line. Appreciate it.

Not a problem, that's what we're here for. I hope it gets fixed soon and totally understand how frustrating it is! Trust me, I was without ADSL for weeks, a few years ago!

Edited by deleted (Wed 05-Apr-17 13:27:22)

Sorry to hear that.

Any idea on how accurate the dslchecker estimates are? Should I expect more than the upper 22Mbps or less? It used to show an estimated 30Mbps a year back, but the estimate slowly decreased over time.

I would expect more. When my line was working at optimum speed before it got banded, it was syncing at 13 Mbps higher downstream and 1.1 Mbps higher upstream than the high of its estimate! The estimate would've decreased due to crosstalk.

Edited by deleted (Wed 05-Apr-17 13:38:44)

Without knowing where the poster is stating 'I would expect more' is a bit too confident.

If poster is west of Worcester Road while 22 Mbps might be possible, I'd be expecting nearer the 10 Mbps mark.

Between Worcester Road and Crimicar Lane a couple more meg, so unlikely to be an issue with line length and modem not syncing at all due to that, but I'd not recommend suggesting speeds above 22 Mbps are likely until a user has actually seen them, and even then wait a few days for DLM to react to the line conditions.

Interesting.

We had fibre activated on Friday. Suddenly dropped connection yesterday sometime (before 2pm) and wouldn't reconnect. Spoke to bt who have raised a fault. They said to anticipate 3 days until it's fixed....

Perhaps my line has been successfully transitioned to the cabinet, and the fault is with the DSLAM then. My connection went at 16:10 though.

I believe the line travels as shown in this image (http://imgur.com/a/JBkvx) based off the dslchecker estimates and BT manhole covers, but I'm not too certain.

I calculated 1.2km from the map, and 1.3km from previous ADSL2+ stats.

Just voicing a note of caution to avoid you getting upset if speeds don't come out at faster than 22 Mbps

Fair enough, I've just noticed that estimate particularly around here are a lot lower than what can be achieved.

True, should've said that expect more, but don't go mad if you get less.

Often but not always

Just got home, broadband connection is now working using VDSL!

Haha wow, what speeds are you getting?

Just got home and seen my connection has now been fixed, synced at 24116kbps! Much better than I expected!

Thanks for everyone's help with this, I really appreciate it.

24116 / 2000! (TalkTalk so 2Mb cap)

I'm amazed!

Woo, what cabinet type are you connected to? Your line will be running in fastpath mode, so if you're on a Huawei cabinet, you'll get G.INP which will boost your speed even further!

Edited by deleted (Wed 05-Apr-17 15:31:26)

Yeah, it's a Huawei 288 DSLAM. That might explain why the speed is slightly faster than expected.

Thanks for your help with this anyway, I really do appreciate it!

Ah, in fact I've just remembered that if your line is in a fastpath state it doesn't increase speed, it only increases error protection. However, if it's in an interleaved state, it would increase the speed.

Not a problem, I'm glad everything's fixed.

Edited by deleted (Wed 05-Apr-17 15:47:44)