Irby Exchange Pt III

Cabinet 12 has just gone live and is accepting orders

I had a check on the P7 cabinet today - still no sign of power or humming. Anyone know if there is still an outstanding issue with its location or whether nothing has been done because it is at the bottom of the demand list? I would be surprised if it was the latter, since most of the village businesses must link into it.

OpenReach are at this cabinet at the moment, looks like they're pulling cables.

Cabinet 4 now active.

In reply to a post by Irby:

Cabinet 4 now active.

Pleased to see progress being made - since my cabinet 9 became active speeds have now settled, and had rewire in dwelling that was required, OOKLa tests getting 74mb DL & 18mb UL on average from BT Infinity 2 so very pleased . Hope Openreach get all cabinets in our area ASAP

Cabinet 1 now showing FTTC speed expectations.

Cabinet 7 (The Anchor Inn) now showing FTTC speeds.

Looking forward to having fibre, hope cabinet 3 goes live sometime soon? A lot of cabinets have gone live over the last couple of weeks! Better late than never hay😬

Given that the fibre has found its way to the Anchor and also cabinet 17 started taking orders from 20th March, I'm starting to think they got the fibre there by some other route!

Looks like cabinet 3 will probably be the very last cabinet to be upgraded, ironic that it's also the cabinet offering the slowest ADSL speeds.

You are probably spot on with cabinet 3 being the last one to go live? Only 3 more cabinets to go, whats the chances of them going live sometime this year?

I think cabinet 3 must be the farthest from the exchange, I get about 7mb here

And what will happen to this forum when all cabinets have fibre?

In reply to a post by Sqwirral:

And what will happen to this forum when all cabinets have fibre?

There's always something new and improved; which we will be last to get

Nope, different route wasn't used.

It's purely manpower. Stacks of cabinets are currently being put in outside exchanges in the Wirral for Exchange Only lines at the moment. There's only so many contractors and Openreach staff to go round. It's all very time consuming.

Still waiting the long wait for cabinet 8, all around it have been done.

Cabinet 8 is now saying:

http://www.dslchecker.bt.com/pls/adsl/ADSLChecker.Ad...

FTTC is currently not available on this cabinet due to following reasons:- Cabinet to be enabled between Apr-16 and Mar-17. Date to be confirmed once the survey is complete..

Worrying.

Strange, wonder what the hell is going on there? Maybe the cabinet is being worked on?

In reply to a post by Irby:

Cabinet 8 is now saying:

http://www.dslchecker.bt.com/pls/adsl/ADSLChecker.Ad...

FTTC is currently not available on this cabinet due to following reasons:- Cabinet to be enabled between Apr-16 and Mar-17. Date to be confirmed once the survey is complete..

Worrying.

I know, I thought once they got the new cabinet installed in Glenwood Drive it would be a month or two, sound more like years!!!

It won't be years! The rollout is starting to slow down now in Wirral. It's mostly just new cabinets being put in outside exchanges now (EO lines), there's still a few other cabinets that need to be done and a solution needs to be sorted for Brimstage and parts of Thornton Hough. I know nothing of this though so there could already be ideas floating around.

My point is though once the bulk of these EO cabinets get put in it should free up some more people over the next 3 months or so.

In reply to a post by Icaras:

It won't be years! The rollout is starting to slow down now in Wirral. It's mostly just new cabinets being put in outside exchanges now (EO lines), there's still a few other cabinets that need to be done and a solution needs to be sorted for Brimstage and parts of Thornton Hough. I know nothing of this though so there could already be ideas floating around.

My point is though once the bulk of these EO cabinets get put in it should free up some more people over the next 3 months or so.

Respectfully. I've been hearing this and other 'comforting' sounds from BT's CEO, their OpenReach area manager and my MP for years. Right now I'm sitting on 25 date shifts. Twenty Five.

I'll believe it when I see it.


I hope you can understand my cynicism.

Respectfully. I've been hearing this and other 'comforting' sounds from BT's CEO, their OpenReach area manager and my MP for years. Right now I'm sitting on 25 date shifts. Twenty Five.

I'll believe it when I see it.

Unfortunately, being part of their commercial rollout, BT owe you nothing, it could even be, unlikely I know, that they are delaying enabling the cab to spite you because of your continual moaning and pestering. OTOH, it may be exactly as Icarus suggests.

Remember that there are many, many users who see no prospect of faster broadband in the foreseeable future and others that to get better broadband have had to put their hands in their collective pockets and contribute to the costs, be it an alt net or a community gap funded FTTC cab.

Hang on a minute. firstly I don't think BT owe me anything. But I do expect to get the same value for my monthly *no choice* phone bill as millions of others.

Secondly, I take exception to you saying I'm moaning and pestering, I've littered my posts with wry humour, but most importantly tried very hard to make a difference. Just as me and Saidin did in 2002. I'd much rather not have written to my MP and crafted thoughful letters to OpenReach (which were always replied to in a similarly polite way). I've got other things to do.

I'm not on the inside like others on this forum, but I've done the best with what I've got.

If that's moaning, I'm really not sure what I'm doing here.

Wry humour comes in many forms and is not often identifiable so what you may perceive as having a go at someone, may just be how you interpret someone's attempt at humour.

Whatever. Study this thread and look at the kind of stuff I'm posting, giving heads up on new cabinets becoming available to order, etc. updating the map. Informing people as best I can.

That's what I'm saying, I'm not moaning. I am [censored] frustrated, but not a moaner, I'm trying to turn the frustration into something positive by actually doing something.

Just like hundreds of others have done via these very boards.

Easy to have a pop at someone, though.

I didn't say your cabinet will be completed in the next three months. I just said looking at what's going on in the area it seems likely that more staff will be freed up in about 3 months or so to complete the remaining cabinets.

I don't think you're moaning at all, btw.

Edited by deleted (Wed 19-Aug-15 13:43:01)

Yeah I know, though it was a 'comforting' message

Like I've said in this thread and the other, it will be here when it's here, even if I get to 30 or more setbacks!

Are you saying I have taken a pop at you? Or do you wish to report someone for a personal attack?

That is the implication from the line "Easy to have a pop at someone, though."

My post was purely saying humour online does not always convey itself fully and thus is often missed and people may see it as moaning.

No.

I was accused of moaning and pestering. Which is rich, considering that all I've ever tried to do is help.

You are perhaps the one not understanding written humour. Apologies if you felt I needed to post a smiley after my comment.

I'm not buying your attempt at sincerity one bit.

Sincerity? More a problem of your reading into a post something that was never intended but then again if that's what you want to think that's your choice. <joke>Perhaps you should consider writing to your MP. </joke>

You should perhaps also consider yourself lucky that BT are upgrading your cab, even if delayed, whereas there are many thousands who would welcome their cab being on an upgrade plan (commercial or BDUK) or their EO line being moved to a cab. There are many in the bigger cities where there is no BDUK funding who would happily swap places with you for the prospect of obtaining an FTTC connection soon, albeit delayed.

I can understand Daves frustration, you would think that given the monopoly BT have over the rollout they would at least be forced to deal with the customers who are getting the least from their current setup.

Why not, rather than cherry picking the easier cabinets and leaving the others hanging don't they start with the cabinets that are giving the worst speeds and work backwards, not stopping until that complete exchange is dealt with.

That way people who have previously been getting the worst performance for their money over the years actually feel like they are winning for once.

Perhaps you have something useful to add to this thread, instead of the poor attempts at mockery?

I can definitely understand his frustration too but there are cabinets with far longer lines from them than cabinet 8! I've mentioned some in my previous posts. If you're saying OR should prioritise people who have slow speeds then those people should come before IRB PCP8!

Totally agree, wish BT would just get on with it and finish the job, surely they must look and see 3 more cabinets in irby and think we might aswell enable these before moving on!?

No attempt at mockery here but perhaps a touch of realism.

I well understand your frustration however you need to remember that there are many users who are in a far worse position than yourself. Whilst I appreciate that you are primarily interested in seeing your connection improve, and why not I would undoubtedly do the same if BT had said they were going to install FTTC and then did nothing, spare a thought for those living in areas where BT has nothing planned and for whom BDUK funding is something that others enjoy. Examples include those in the larger cities where there is currently no BDUK funding and on low capacity cabs or long EO lines..

I know all this, I can't do anything about the rest of the country.

You're not helping.

In reply to a post by Sqwirral:

Totally agree, wish BT would just get on with it and finish the job, surely they must look and see 3 more cabinets in irby and think we might aswell enable these before moving on!?

I wasn't actually talking about my cabinet, It would seem fairer if they prioritised the outlying cabinets first so Daves cabinet would have been one of them.

They should also ensure every cabinet on the exchange is done before moving on it doesn't seem right that some people get much better service for the same money, not if it drags on for months/years.

It isn't an outlying cabinet though.

I don't agree that all cabinets should be done before moving on. They are simultaneously enabling cabinets across a whole area not just town by town. Some cabinets will take a lot longer to enable than others.

No he isn't the furthest away but he would have been done by now if they had started from the edge and worked their way back, I can understand there might be the odd delay while they sort out power etc but really.

I understand why BT will choose certain exchanges over others, start with some of the biggest etc, etc. and I'm sure OR have enough staff to do more than one exchange at a time but they should ensure that all cabinets are up and running on each exchange they choose before heading off and kicking any that might be a little more difficult into the long grass.

Interesting idea that would have probably meant that no-one in Conwy was destined to get superfast broadband from the Superfast Cymru project, since still lots of smaller cabinets in the south of Wales.

Exchange areas are not split into perfectly arranged cabinet areas, some areas have a higher density of cabinets that have a smaller number of premises which immediately equals a higher cost per premise passed.

Off the top of my head cannot think of an English city where every cab is enabled, but plenty of smaller areas where that is the case.

That's just no realistic. It's so much more complicated than that, additionally the cabinets are usually not connected to the local exchange. So a cabinet that you might think would be an outlying one actually isn't. The demand for cabinet 8 won't be very high, it's bound to be low priority as the speeds there will already be pretty good.

There's so many things to be taken into account when they decide which cabinets to upgrade and when.

I undrstand some cabinets take longer to enable but shouldnt they have priority? have places like heswall still got cabinets without fibre?

Walk 200 yards down the road from heathbank and its an enabled area, just feel a bit hard done by when friends in irby say have'nt you got fibre yet! (cue violin)

Some of the delays are down to third parties e.g. waiting on permission to dig up a road, or delays getting suitable power connected, or once connected fails earthing tests.

All of the original cabinets in Heswall are enabled but don't forget that has been ongoing since 2011. There have also been 3 cabinets added for exchange only lines. I'm not sure if all three are enabled.

Feels like they have been saying Irby will get fibre since 2011? Oh well if there are delays let's hope they are resolved sometime soon? #thisyear

Nope Irby was always much, much later.

4 years much later! Better late than never hay?

In reply to a post by Icaras:

That's just no realistic. It's so much more complicated than that, additionally the cabinets are usually not connected to the local exchange. So a cabinet that you might think would be an outlying one actually isn't. The demand for cabinet 8 won't be very high, it's bound to be low priority as the speeds there will already be pretty good.

There's so many things to be taken into account when they decide which cabinets to upgrade and when.

Maybe the problem here is actually OR and their complete lack of details, you cannot even ring them to ask what is going on. If they gave some indication of what, when and where any problems are at least we may understand.

It seems even some of the people on here who actually work within the industry are in the dark.

I still cannot get the bad taste out of my mouth when I think that OR have taken my money (one way or another) and then are pushing mine and other cabinets into the long grass because it may be a bit difficult or cost a bit extra to sort out, We all knew about the problems with the ducting in Whaley Lane, I'm sure OR knew before us and could have sorted it much more quickly than they did if they had too, with the monopoly that have been handed they should be pushed much harder to get this roll out completed.

Couldn't agree more, would be nice to have a time scale? If BT knew how many people would join fibre I'm sure they would speed the process up some how?

p7 (anchor) now accepting orders.

my activation date is 4 Sept

In reply to a post by RobbietheSeal:

p7 (anchor) now accepting orders.

my activation date is 4 Sept

Nice to hear

Seen a openreach van on manor road probably nothing, Anyone got any updates? How's the lucky ppl with fibre doing? Down/up speeds

In reply to a post by Sqwirral:

Seen a openreach van on manor road probably nothing, Anyone got any updates? How's the lucky ppl with fibre doing? Down/up speeds

Good speed on Infinity 2 - average 74 D/L 18 U/L Ping 30 ish - not sure what 'ppl' means - XboxOne games much better response - sadly not making most of it lol

Ppl= people. I'm looking forward to them sort of down/upload speed's sometime this century! Ha

Did anyone notice the united utilities sign next to cabinet 2? Hopefully they are connecting electricty to it! Hopefully!?!

In reply to a post by Sqwirral:

Did anyone notice the united utilities sign next to cabinet 2? Hopefully they are connecting electricty to it! Hopefully!?!

United Utilities is a water company!!! Do you pay bills?!

Oops My bad! thought they did all three gas, water, elecy. Wife deals with the bills

Scottish Power own the electricity network in that area.

I'm gonna try and keep this thread going by posting once a month or untill all of irby's cabinets have all been enabled (mission statement) lol. Plus I will be emailing our local mp margaret greenwood to see if she can shed some light on the matter? basically tell them to hurry the hell up haha. Cheers

Which cabs still need enabling?

Cabinets 2,3,8. Mine is cabinet 3 probably the slowest cabinet in the whole of irby?

In reply to a post by Icaras:

Which cabs still need enabling?

Cabinet 8 is still waiting but I think I saw a date of between March and Oct 17 for the work to be carried out. No idea why the delay, the new cabinet is in situ waiting for the hook up but no signs or information from Openreach what the delays are due to.

Got an email from OpenReach today, they're still saying "by January at the latest" for cabinet 3. I politely pointed out that I've been given many many "by the latest" assurances before, but this time they seem quietly confident.

We will see!

In reply to a post by Irby:

Got an email from OpenReach today, they're still saying "by January at the latest" for cabinet 3. I politely pointed out that I've been given many many "by the latest" assurances before, but this time they seem quietly confident.

We will see!

According to Openreach Cabinet 2 and 3 are still down as being connected up and has a place holder date of 4 Months and are at stage 6 of 8 of the upgrade so not long to go maybe.

Cabinet 8 is still down as being reviewed.

Now whether this date is correct or just a default generic date length (aimed around a perfect upgrade where nothing goes wrong) is another thing.

Paul

Where did you see the 'stage 6 of 8' info?

In reply to a post by Irby:

Where did you see the 'stage 6 of 8' info?

Ahhh, on their where and when page, I won't say how to get or see the info, only that its there but just not displayed, basically I think its there for their external desktop apps to do the lookup.

Basically my desktop app that took 20 mins to write, sees all information (that they send to the browser, no personal information is there, mostly status info), I started seeing the new information a few days ago when my app broke and I had to figure our why and fix it.

Basically I can see information like (I have restructured some info for ease of reading):
[Exchange]
Name: Liverpool Irby
Status: Accepting Orders
Location: 53.3531494, -3.0981791

[Cabinet]
Number: 3
Status: Enabled Area
Due by: 4 Months
Stage: Connect (3) <-- This value goes down to 1 I think, when its ready.

RolloutStage: 6 (goes up-to 8 which means ready)

Basically my app just acts an a browser, but only does the request part and ignores any images or stylesheet files etc, so its faster than my browser.
I originally wrote this app due to Edge, and IE kept having issues and crashing and I basically wanted to check my own line for fibre availability, but I check others now and then.

That's all I am saying, every time I say how I am reading it, they break my app LOL.
And the last change they did broke the cookie side on Edge browser where it just spins the cogs the first time on the page when searching.

Paul

Amazing news, fingers crossed it does happen in january! will be a late christmas present if all works out.

Cheers paul for the info much appreciated, thats all openreach need to do give the customers a time frame.

In reply to a post by Sqwirral:

Amazing news, fingers crossed it does happen in january! will be a late christmas present if all works out.

Cheers paul for the info much appreciated, thats all openreach need to do give the customers a time frame.

Well they can't due to issues happen causing the date to get pushed back, that's why I said these was default place holder dates.

What has started getting me interested in this now is that Openreach has not removed the dueby date from its info, so now I will have no information on the dates.

See this is why I wished I kept quiet now

Paul

I wouldn't get too excited just yet. I keep a log, and the date for Irby as a whole, (including cabinet 3) has shifted twenty three times (23) since 2011

Oops spelling mistake, it should read:

Openreach has now removed the dueby date from its info

My bad

Paul

I don't suppose anyone has any news on the cabinets still waiting to be upgraded do they, there doesn't seem to be anyway to get info on why there is such a delay or when they are likely to be sorted.

The remaining 3 cabinets seem to still be part of the Commercial FTTC Project as far as I can see.
I have the following that I have extracted from the BT Openreach Where and when page:

Cabinet 2 - Stage 6 of 8 (8 being live)
'-> Could be 4 to 6 Months (estimated date) if nothing goes wrong.

Cabinet 3 - Stage 6 of 8 (8 being live)
'-> Could be 4 to 6 Months (estimated date) if nothing goes wrong.

Cabinet 8 - Stage 1 of 8 (8 being live)
'-> Might not of started work on it yet, so no way to estimate a date.

Stage 6 seems to be down as connecting up the last time I checked, BTOR has removed the dueby date from this hidden info, so I don't really know now.
So if all goes to plan and no issues and the engineers are available cabinets 2 and 3 should be done in 4 to 6 months (rough estimate) and cabinet 8 being still at stage 1 seems that it could be another 12 to 18 Months (also a rough estimate)

Paul

Big surprise on the checker today, Cabinet 8 has gone from "will be enabled sometime between April 2016 and March 2017" to being enabled. Congratulations.

http://www.dslchecker.bt.com/pls/adsl/ADSLChecker.Ad...

Meanwhile, cabinet 2 and 3, no change

In reply to a post by Irby:

Big surprise on the checker today, Cabinet 8 has gone from "will be enabled sometime between April 2016 and March 2017" to being enabled. Congratulations.

http://www.dslchecker.bt.com/pls/adsl/ADSLChecker.Ad...

Are we sure this isn't a mistake? I cannot order fibre via Plusnet or Sky as it is showing as unavailable although the BT checker says it is ok.

If I use the website that Plusnet say they use to check it isn't showing as available.

Https://www.dslchecker.bt.com/Adele/adslchecker.welcome


Meanwhile, cabinet 2 and 3, no change

I was just going by what the checker said, it could be a mistake (it probably is since you're unable to order - who knows with this [censored] shower).

Either that or BT is holding back while they sign up all their customers. I do pass the cabinet everyday and haven't seen any sign of work going on there over the last few months. Strange that one website says it is available and another one that the providers use say it isn't.

Still showing as available on the checker website on here but not on the other one that Plusnet and the other suppliers use. It is now not available to order via BT either so it does look like a cockup by BT.

Well at least it was a bit exciting for a while.

In reply to a post by Smithy99:

Either that or BT is holding back while they sign up all their customers. I do pass the cabinet everyday and haven't seen any sign of work going on there over the last few months. Strange that one website says it is available and another one that the providers use say it isn't.

Nope that doesn't and can't happen. The Openreach system is built so that if one provider can order then they all can. When these thing happen where the cabinet goes live briefly then gets pulled from the checker it's usually a good sign I find.

In reply to a post by Icaras:

In reply to a post by Smithy99:

Either that or BT is holding back while they sign up all their customers. I do pass the cabinet everyday and haven't seen any sign of work going on there over the last few months. Strange that one website says it is available and another one that the providers use say it isn't.

Nope that doesn't and can't happen. The Openreach system is built so that if one provider can order then they all can. When these thing happen where the cabinet goes live briefly then gets pulled from the checker it's usually a good sign I find.

The problem here is that one of their websites says it is available and another one says it isn't, there must be something wrong somewhere.

Yes but you said that Openreach are allowing BT first access to the cabinet. That's not how the system works. The systems in Openreach are built from scratch so that absolutely cannot happen. So just rule that out completely.

I think the Openreach system did make the cabinet live briefly. BT's site picked this up and it went live on their site. Maybe Plusnet, Sky etc are using scripts that scrape the Openreach database less regularly? But that's down to them.

Edited by deleted (Sat 05-Mar-16 16:39:04)

It was a bit of a tounge in cheek comment to be fair but it is good to know that this cannot happen.

This is the site I was directed to by Plusnet who said all the suppliers use to check availability
https://www.dslchecker.bt.com/adsl/ADSLChecker.Telep...

This shows its not available.

This is the one that shows it is available
http://www.dslchecker.bt.com/pls/adsl/ADSLChecker.Ad...

Not sure why they need two sites or why they would show different results for the same cabinet.

Stranger and stranger, now both the websites are saying it is available but I am unable to order on Sky or Plusnet but CAN order via BT,

Something is really screwy here

Most likely BT scrapes the information from the checkers more regularly than plusnet or Sky's systems do.

In reply to a post by lee111s:

Most likely BT scrapes the information from the checkers more regularly than plusnet or Sky's systems do.

No, I don't think that's it, BT now say I cannot get it again although both the above websites say it is available. Plus nets best guess is that it is enables but there are no spare lines in the cabinet which I don't think is right either.

So over the last week ro two it has gone from not available in numerous occasions to available via BT on a few occasions but not with any other supplier and back to not available again.

Who knows exactly but I think it is a glitch on the system and that the cabinet is still waiting to be upgraded.

I pass this cabinet most days and have now noticed a silver openreach lock between the doors of the fibre cabinet (the same as all other live cabinets in the area - it was not there a few weeks ago)

Hopefully you will be able to order soon!

The silver lock usually means that all the work is done and the cabinet should be live to place orders very soon.

In reply to a post by lee111s:

The silver lock usually means that all the work is done and the cabinet should be live to place orders very soon.

That's right, the lock is pretty much the last thing to get done. The final step is to make the cabinet live, remotely.

In reply to a post by Icaras:

In reply to a post by lee111s:

The silver lock usually means that all the work is done and the cabinet should be live to place orders very soon.

That's right, the lock is pretty much the last thing to get done. The final step is to make the cabinet live, remotely.

I will keep checking online and fingers crossed it will allow me to order one day.

BT website says that fibre is now available. (Wasn't this morning)

Plusnet say it is not
Sky say it is not

Fingers crossed Plusnet will catch up with BT soon

In reply to a post by Smithy99:

BT website says that fibre is now available. (Wasn't this morning)

Plusnet say it is not
Sky say it is not

Fingers crossed Plusnet will catch up with BT soon

This is getting beyond a joke now,

BT site says I cannot get it again
Sky say I cannot get it
Plusnet say I cannot get it

BT have sent me an e-mail saying it is now available in my area.

Both Openreach sites above say it is available, talk about your left hand not knowing what your right hand is doing!!!

The checkers have been known to show avaialbility then take it away again quickly when the cabinet is now live. Give a couple of days and if still no joy contact Andrew here on the forums.

In reply to a post by lee111s:

The checkers have been known to show avaialbility then take it away again quickly when the cabinet is now live. Give a couple of days and if still no joy contact Andrew here on the forums.

This has been going on for over two weeks now.

It's still ongoing, unable to order even though the Openreach checker say it is available

Well it's been about a month now since the dslchecker sites have said that fibre is available at cabinet 8 but still I am unable to order from any supplier including BT themselves.

They say that despite the checkers saying it is available they cannot place an order on their system.

Well surprise surprise, still no change, all the Openreach sites say it's available but no supplier can place an order, including BT.

In reply to a post by Smithy99:

Well surprise surprise, still no change, all the Openreach sites say it's available but no supplier can place an order, including BT.

Another week on and still unable to order using any supplier. I wonder how long this will continue to drag on for.

If it helps, I haven't even got to your stage yet.

In reply to a post by Irby:

If it helps, I haven't even got to your stage yet.

Lol, not sure what's worse, thinking you can get it and then being constantly told you cannot or being like you with no hope.

By the time it's enabled, the fibre cabinet will need replacing due to old age.
It will have been there 2 years in June.

In reply to a post by Irby:

By the time it's enabled, the fibre cabinet will need replacing due to old age.
It will have been there 2 years in June.

Do you know the reason for the delay? Is it a power issue or something else?

I wrote to Openreach a few days ago and asked for specific information, they as usual replied with their usual rubbish. This time it will be by September.

Yeah, of course, September. Right.

No reasons given.

I complained about the completely useless email I received, and to their credit, Openreach tried again and provided some actual information.

Long story short, cabinets 2 and 3 are connected to the mains, fibre isn't connected yet due to blocked ducts. They're bringing in some specialist equipment in an attempt to clear the ducts, if that fails, they'll need more time to dig roads/pavements.

So, the headline date stays at September, but if the duct clearing works, we might see service by end of June.

I remain, as always, highly sceptical.

Sceptical? Why?

You've been given some pretty specific information there. Do you really think Openreach don't want to get the cabinet working? Of course they do!

Are you serious? Are you aware of how many times I've been promised <insert month> at the latest?

I'm sceptical because they have form for it. Simple.

In reply to a post by Icaras:

Sceptical? Why?

You've been given some pretty specific information there. Do you really think Openreach don't want to get the cabinet working? Of course they do!

I would be too if they had given multiple completion dates only to move them time after time.

26 times. Twenty Six times.

That's how many times the dates have shifted for Irby, that's a combination of Irby as a whole and my cabinet.

But I shouldn't be sceptical, oh no.

It's a complicated business though.

All this talk of you complaining to someone etc, don't you think they want it live also? There's obviously some serious issues that they are having trouble resolving. As soon as the cabinet is live, money starts coming in from it to Openreach. They want that to happen as much as you do.

Whatever. I'm not just going to sit here and do nothing, perhaps you would.

Anyone else reading this thread think I'm wrong to be sceptical?

What are you going to do? Offer your help to unblock the ducts?

Do one

But there's nothing you can do!

I know it's frustrating but you don't know anything about how it all works. If it was easy to unblock the duct then they would have done. Maybe they're having problems with the council that they're struggling to overcome, there could even be something else in the way of the duct.

Edited by deleted (Sat 09-Apr-16 13:56:22)

Very mature. I for one, now hope it never gets activated. Have a lovely weekend

How much exactly have you invested in FTTC at this cab compared to BT? If not entirely BT funded then those others who have contributed such as BDUK or perhaps a local community have good reason to complain otherwise you need to accept that your position is little different from those many many thousand other users who have no access to FTTC or cable and are also waiting/hoping even praying for a faster connection.

BT will be as anxious as anyone to start to see a return on their considerable investment and will be making every effort to complete the work. Remember that they can at any time until the work is complete decide to remove the FTTC cab and walk away on the grounds that it is too expensive and no longer considered to be commercially viable.

I hear you. I'm human, I'm annoyed.

I imagine that those throwing mud at me are sat at home stroking their FTTC connection

It's good that you responded to my mature comment with one of your own

In reply to a post by MCM:

How much exactly have you invested in FTTC at this cab compared to BT?

Customer A: pays his monthly line rental to BT for n years
Customer B: pays her monthly line rental to BT for n years

But, customer A has FTTC.

Starting to get it yet?

And yes, of course I know that if OpenReach could enable my cabinet tomorrow, THEY WOULD! But I also know that as long as they're being incentivised by BDUK projects, the chances of that happening are less.

Have I annoyed you lot for daring to complain about not having something the majority of the rest of you have been enjoying for months, probably years or something?

In reply to a post by Irby:

I hear you. I'm human, I'm annoyed.

I imagine that those throwing mud at me are sat at home stroking their FTTC connection

I agree with Irby, it's not nice being charged the same as everyone else but getting an inferior product. I bet you would all complain if you only received half the amount of gas or electric for your £££ compared to your neighbour.

It may be a blocked duct or something else but are we really saying that this couldn't be sorted any quicker than they have? The have cherry picked the easy cabinets and pushed the others further and further back, whilst that may be a good business decision you cannot blame customers getting upset and frustrated about it.

Oh and just to make the point that BT are sometimes clueless, my cabinet 8 still shows as available but no suppliers can place an order for it, including BT. That has been going on 6 weeks or more.

Starting to get it yet?

You clearly don't and appear to have no understanding of how business operates. What I find somewhat annoying is your seemingly continual moaning month after month, but then why shouldn't you complain about delays in your getting access to new equipment installed by BT at their expense. I hope you will get access in due course but remember it isn't a "right"

Note I and my neighbours have chosen to community fund an AIO FTTC cab to enable our long EO lines to benefit from FTTC, BT having concluded that to do so was commercially unviable. Perhaps I should be moaning about our local authority who twice raised objections and prevented BT from completing the work by some months.

Right, my last post here, honestly.

What particularly annoyed me very recently on this forum was firstly the suggestion that I have no cause to be sceptical (26 missed dates, but yes, this 27th will *really * be the one). Then someone had a go for 'complaining' and you "can't do anything!".

Made me think of this:

Sat in the airport departure lounge, flight goes delayed, unknown number of hours.

What's the point in asking for information? Because they obviously want to fix the plane quickly. What are you going to do? Fix the plane yourself?

I was about to tap out a few more examples of this. But hey, what's the point, like is usual on forums people become entrenched in their position.

I haven't exactly sat on my [censored] over the years, during the 2002 campaigns, I was only one of 3 people in my village who got off our [censored] to do something.

Remember folks, next time something happens that you want to complain about or ask information about, don't bother, unless you're going to fix that burst water main, fix that plane, mend those train tracks. No point.

I think that the issue here (at least for me) is that they're publically subsidised to provide this service and it's not months late (which I can deal with) but 3-4 years late. It's actually atrocious.

I disagree with Irby, I think that BT does owe us a Fibre connection; we live in a suburban area and pay exactly the same as other customers but yet get an inferior service. We paid for this connection as taxpayers and we continue to pay for it through extortionate line rental. I think it's unfortunate that you had to pay for your cabinet; I don't think that anyone should have to pay.

So about the whole 'you don't get how business operates', I'm sure he does, but since this is subsidised by us, we should have the right to complain about it when it's been a complete failure for 3+ years. I don't think it's too much to ask for to get this in our area, like we were promised years ago. We have the right to complain since this is our money. I don't think it matters whether BT makes a loss on this cabinet, they're obliged to provide us with fibre and they missed the deadline by years.

Fibre is availiable to 90% of homes in the UK (according to the BBC) so really don't think it's too much to ask for a decent internet connection in a suburban area. I think it's abhorrent the way that BT hasn't been transparent with the locals at all and hence people have had to get involved, such as myself, Irby and Sqwirral. Nobody should have had to do anthing and it should have been done years ago but no, nothing has been done.

Edited by deleted (Sun 10-Apr-16 15:11:20)

Openreach are obliged to provide a pair of copper cables that are suitable for phone calls. That's it.

In reply to a post by lee111s:

Openreach are obliged to provide a pair of copper cables that are suitable for phone calls. That's it.

That maybe so but its not right that they supply other customers on the same exchange much more than that for the same amount of money.

OR are about as close to a monopoly as you can get and they show it with the way they operate, after all what can we really do as the end user.

Let's not forget, they were handed all this when BT was originally privatised.

In reply to a post by Smithy99:

In reply to a post by lee111s:

Openreach are obliged to provide a pair of copper cables that are suitable for phone calls. That's it.

That maybe so but its not right that they supply other customers on the same exchange much more than that for the same amount of money.

OR are about as close to a monopoly as you can get and they show it with the way they operate, after all what can we really do as the end user.

Let's not forget, they were handed all this when BT was originally privatised.

They weren't handed it. The people who bought the shares paid for it!

But also bear in mind that these last few cabinets in areas are the ones remaining for good reason usually. These are the tricky ones that couldn't be done with the rest of them. There's usually serious problems to be overcome, mostly blocked ducts.

I would also add that certain cabinets have to be prioritised. If you think of cabinet 8, there's no way that's at the top of anyone's list! Most people (maybe all?) connected to it would be getting more than 10Mb already. I can't remember the other cabinets that haven't been completed but they are all pretty central and fairly near to the exchange. They have to prioritise cabinets further away from the exchanges and there's only limited manpower. Thousands have been recruited in the last couple of years but a company cannot just keep taking on new staff indefinitely.

Edited by deleted (Sun 10-Apr-16 18:15:39)

We paid for this connection as taxpayers

What part of your connection did taxpayers pay for or are you saying that your line has been or is being upgraded for FTTC and that it is in part being funded by BDUK otherwise any upgrade will be as a result of a commercial decision made by BT and involve no taxpayer subsidy.

since this is subsidised by us,

Again may I ask, what part of your broadband is being subsidised by "us"?

Let's not forget, they were handed all this when BT was originally privatised.

You appear to be rewriting history. BT as a private company with shareholders and answerable to those same shareholders received nothing for "free". The government of the day received a considerable sum of money for the shares when the company was privatised.

In reply to a post by lee111s:

Openreach are obliged to provide a pair of copper cables that are suitable for phone calls. That's it.

That's it by law. However, morally the are obliged to provide it to everyone equally, that's fair. That's the British way, it may be different elsewhere in Europe.

In reply to a post by MCM:

Let's not forget, they were handed all this when BT was originally privatised.

You appear to be rewriting history. BT as a private company with shareholders and answerable to those same shareholders received nothing for "free".

They received the General Post Office telecommunications network for £1.

In reply to a post by BatBoy:

In reply to a post by MCM:

Let's not forget, they were handed all this when BT was originally privatised.

You appear to be rewriting history. BT as a private company with shareholders and answerable to those same shareholders received nothing for "free".

They received the General Post Office telecommunications network for £1.

That is correct, although I couldn't remember the exact price details it was bought for a token gesture and nowhere near what it would have cost to put in place. So I don't think I was far off or rewriting history.

As for the assertion that the further out cabinets are prioritised first, you couldn't be more wrong, in fact Irbys cabinet is one if, if not the furthest away and receives a very poor speed compared to the others and that one is still a long way from being done.

That's the British way

Something for nothing certainly seems to be the view of some in this thread including it would appear yourself. Which other private UK company do you consider should also provide benefits for free to its customers? Tesco's, Sainsbury's, Virgin, T-Mobile?

As in British Telecom

In reply to a post by BatBoy:

As in British Telecom

A non-sensical and illogical reply, a bit like others of yours recently such as your assertions about G.INP. Why precisely should BT provide something for nothing where it has little or no prospect of seeing a commercial return on its investment. BT is NOT a charity rather it is company answerable to its shareholders and as such required or expected to make a return on its investments..

Stop trying to derail the thread. First you bring up other companies like Tesco and now you're harping on about G.INP. Stick to the point.

In reply to a post by Smithy99:

In reply to a post by BatBoy:

In reply to a post by MCM:

... nested quotes trimmed ...

You appear to be rewriting history. BT as a private company with shareholders and answerable to those same shareholders received nothing for "free".

They received the General Post Office telecommunications network for £1.

That is correct, although I couldn't remember the exact price details it was bought for a token gesture and nowhere near what it would have cost to put in place. So I don't think I was far off or rewriting history.

As for the assertion that the further out cabinets are prioritised first, you couldn't be more wrong, in fact Irbys cabinet is one if, if not the furthest away and receives a very poor speed compared to the others and that one is still a long way from being done.

You misunderstand. At this stage the further out cabinets are prioritised, that's not always been the case. Nor should it have been, an algorithm has been used for the commercial cabinets to try and work out which cabinets will have the best takeup. You're not looking at the big picture, you're solely looking at what's happened in Irby which, granted, is all you really can do. But maybe you should listen a bit more to people who have a wider view of what's going on.

What cabinet are we talking about here anyway? Because to be honest I can't really think of any cabinet that is far from the exchange, in comparison to other areas. When I talk about other cabinets being prioritised I'm not talking about other cabinets in Irby necessarily.

Edited by deleted (Mon 11-Apr-16 11:53:23)

In reply to a post by Icaras:

In reply to a post by Smithy99:

In reply to a post by BatBoy:

... nested quotes trimmed ...

They received the General Post Office telecommunications network for £1.

That is correct, although I couldn't remember the exact price details it was bought for a token gesture and nowhere near what it would have cost to put in place. So I don't think I was far off or rewriting history.

As for the assertion that the further out cabinets are prioritised first, you couldn't be more wrong, in fact Irbys cabinet is one if, if not the furthest away and receives a very poor speed compared to the others and that one is still a long way from being done.

You misunderstand. At this stage the further out cabinets are prioritised, that's not always been the case. Nor should it have been, an algorithm has been used for the commercial cabinets to try and work out which cabinets will have the best takeup. You're not looking at the big picture, you're solely looking at what's happened in Irby which, granted, is all you really can do. But maybe you should listen a bit more to people who have a wider view of what's going on.

What cabinet are we talking about here anyway? Because to be honest I can't really think of any cabinet that is far from the exchange, in comparison to other areas. When I talk about other cabinets being prioritised I'm not talking about other cabinets in Irby necessarily.

I can only go on the Irby exchange as that is the only one I have any information on.

I cannot remember the cabinet number, but it is in Mill Lane and looking at the google map of the area with the exchange in the middle is is just about the furthest out.

There are cabinets closer to the exchange than mine (cabinet 8) that were done much sooner too, in fact they seem to have done all the surrounding ones.

Cabinet 8 does actually show accepting orders, although it has been like this for nearly 2 months but no supplier can actually place an order for it so I'm not totally convinced that this is the case.

In reply to a post by Smithy99:

In reply to a post by Icaras:

In reply to a post by Smithy99:

... nested quotes trimmed ...

That is correct, although I couldn't remember the exact price details it was bought for a token gesture and nowhere near what it would have cost to put in place. So I don't think I was far off or rewriting history.

As for the assertion that the further out cabinets are prioritised first, you couldn't be more wrong, in fact Irbys cabinet is one if, if not the furthest away and receives a very poor speed compared to the others and that one is still a long way from being done.

You misunderstand. At this stage the further out cabinets are prioritised, that's not always been the case. Nor should it have been, an algorithm has been used for the commercial cabinets to try and work out which cabinets will have the best takeup. You're not looking at the big picture, you're solely looking at what's happened in Irby which, granted, is all you really can do. But maybe you should listen a bit more to people who have a wider view of what's going on.

What cabinet are we talking about here anyway? Because to be honest I can't really think of any cabinet that is far from the exchange, in comparison to other areas. When I talk about other cabinets being prioritised I'm not talking about other cabinets in Irby necessarily.

I can only go on the Irby exchange as that is the only one I have any information on.

I cannot remember the cabinet number, but it is in Mill Lane and looking at the google map of the area with the exchange in the middle is is just about the furthest out.

There are cabinets closer to the exchange than mine (cabinet 8) that were done much sooner too, in fact they seem to have done all the surrounding ones.

Cabinet 8 does actually show accepting orders, although it has been like this for nearly 2 months but no supplier can actually place an order for it so I'm not totally convinced that this is the case.

Ah I give up! Completely missing the point again.

I did say in my post that I understand Irby is the only area that you personally can look at.

What you need to understand is that no one in the company will be worrying about how many cabinets in a certain exchange area are accepting orders. It will be managed on a county level, and a regional level. They'll be prioritising resources based on how many cabinets in the North West still aren't live.

Irby is quite a small exchange area, most people could get more than 10Mb already. None of the cabinets there will be a priority as far as the north west of England goes, they just won't be.

Mill Lane? The only Mill Lane I can think of is in Thingwall and doesn't have a cabinet on it.

I believe cabinet 8 has quite a few live connection already , so I suspect whatever is preventing an order being submitted is particular to your line and not the cabinet

so I suspect whatever is preventing an order being submitted is particular to your line and not the cabinet

"DACS me up before you go - go"

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

so I suspect whatever is preventing an order being submitted is particular to your line and not the cabinet

"DACS me up before you go - go"

I have never had a problem with having DACS on the line, when I had a fault a couple of years ago I was speaking to the engineer and he confirmed that there was nothing like this installed.

Of course, things might have changed since then, is there anyway I can find out?

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

so I suspect whatever is preventing an order being submitted is particular to your line and not the cabinet

"DACS me up before you go - go"

Think about it! How can he have DACS? He's got working ADSL on the line.

In reply to a post by Icaras:

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

so I suspect whatever is preventing an order being submitted is particular to your line and not the cabinet

"DACS me up before you go - go"

Think about it! How can he have DACS? He's got working ADSL on the line.

That's true.

So what could be stopping me from upgrading to fibre if as above there are others on my cabinet able to get it? Who do I contact to try ang get this looked into? Plusnet? They are my line and ADSL supplier.

Yes exactly, your ISP should be your first port of call.

Think about it! How can he have DACS? He's got working ADSL on the line.

It was an attempt at humour for Ribble.

OK so quick update, someone's informed me that there are Openreach engineers working on it today at the Anchor in the village and by the library. They confirmed that they were working on unblocking ducts and also said that the cabinet could be live by the weekend if they don't run into problems, they're not only cleaning ducts but splicing fibre too.

Looks like something's being done then, finally.

In reply to a post by lee111s:

Yes exactly, your ISP should be your first port of call.

Ok I am still unable to order fibre, my ISP says it is not available but the DSL checker sites say my cabinet is accepting orders.

This is the message that comes up when I put my details in "homeandwork.openreach.co.uk"

Your cabinet is enabled for Superfast fibre however you're not able to order fibre just yet. This might be because the length of the line is too long to get Superfast speeds. We're actively looking at other options. If you'd like us to let you know if fibre becomes available, register your details.


Any ideas?

Are you over 2.5km from the cabinet? I doubt it though.

Also, stop checking every day! It's obvious that this isn't going to change, we have all told you there is something stopping YOU ordering. I wonder if it's some kind of database problem relating to your line, in the past Andrew has been able to research this for people.

You do need an answer as to why you personally can't order FTTC but honestly there's no point checking all the time, it really isn't achieving anything.

Edited by deleted (Sat 16-Apr-16 09:12:37)

In reply to a post by Smithy99:

This is the message that comes up when I put my details in "homeandwork.openreach.co.uk"

Your cabinet is enabled for Superfast fibre however you're not able to order fibre just yet. This might be because the length of the line is too long to get Superfast speeds.

This sounds like a clue.

What does www.dslchecker.bt.com say?

Edited by deleted (Sat 16-Apr-16 09:15:06)

In reply to a post by Icaras:

Are you over 2.5km from the cabinet? I doubt it though.

Also, stop checking every day! It's obvious that this isn't going to change, we have all told you there is something stopping YOU ordering. I wonder if it's some kind of database problem relating to your line, in the past Andrew has been able to research this for people.

You do need an answer as to why you personally can't order FTTC but honestly there's no point checking all the time, it really isn't achieving anything.

I was told to keep checking by my ISP and by people on here although not daily, lol.

As an update, I HAVE finally been able to order fibre, after an hour on the phone go Plusnet who then contacted provisioning who apparently contacted Openreach it turns out that some of my line details were wrong on their system causing it to keep kicking it to unavailable.

I have been told that I should get about 73.5mb as I'm getting around 16mb now that's an improvement.

Just glad that all the delay didn't mean there was no spare capacity at the cabinet.

So thanks to all who have read, helped etc and good luck to all on the Irby exchange still waiting. I hope the last couple won't be too far from completion.

Also thanks to Plusnet who managed to eventually get to the bottom of it.

That's lucky

Great news

Database issue, thought so.

As I said, I wasn't really confident to say it was due to you being too far from the cabinet as I don't know of any lines off Irby exchange that are very far from the cabinet. The cabinet by The Anchor has the longest lines and even those aren't terrible compared to some places.

Anyway, good news.

I can't remember the other cabinets that haven't been completed but they are all pretty central and fairly near to the exchange. They have to prioritise cabinets further away from the exchanges and there's only limited manpower. Thousands have been recruited in the last couple of years but a company cannot just keep taking on new staff indefinitely.

I think your local knowledge isn't as good as I thought

Cabinets 2 and 3 are the most remote from the exchange out of all cabinets in Irby. Historically they have provided the slowest speed out of all 19 cabinets.

cab locations

This is doubly frustrating, the cabinets that were upgraded first in Irby were either BDUK (in I think 2 or 3 cases) or ones already receiving good ADSL service, >15mbbs in many cases.

And before anyone starts, yes I know that's just how it is. I know that OpenReach haven't done it just to annoy me/us. Yes I know there will be a valid reason blah blah.

Anyway, the OpenReach guys who I chatted with on Friday are gone now, they told me they were a kind of tactical unit who are deployed to problem exchanges, they had about 6 blokes and they are able to clear ducts, blow fibre and splice it. He told me if they don't have any problems the remaining cabinets will be 'lit' by the weekend. He also told me that otherwise, it would be at least another 2 months.

On Saturday, the OR had gone, but there were Kelly Communications vans in the village and working near the cabinets, I have no idea what they are doing.

That's it. I'll be back when I see something worth reporting back on, I know from PMs there are quite a few users who don't post on the forums, which isn't surprising really.

I'll keep them informed also

Pip pip!

Cabinet 3 as of this morning. Engineer says fibre will be connected in the next hour or so.
open cabinet

In reply to a post by Irby:

Cabinet 3 as of this morning. Engineer says fibre will be connected in the next hour or so.
open cabinet

Just drove past some engineers in Irby village that looked to be splicing cables coming from cabinet 3's direction towards the exchange, fingers crossed Dave.

Any Idea when we will be able to order?

Afraid not, just keep an eye on the various checkers and have your favourite ISP on speed dial for when it goes enabled.

I have an IFTT alert set up so I'll get an SMS when the page changes to enabled.

In reply to a post by Smithy99:

In reply to a post by Irby:

Cabinet 3 as of this morning. Engineer says fibre will be connected in the next hour or so.
open cabinet

Just drove past some engineers in Irby village that looked to be splicing cables coming from cabinet 3's direction towards the exchange, fingers crossed Dave.

Do bear in mind as mentioned in the last thread, the fibre IS NOT coming from the Irby exchange. The cabinets are connected directly to the Arrowebrook exchange in Upton Village.

In reply to a post by Irby:

I can't remember the other cabinets that haven't been completed but they are all pretty central and fairly near to the exchange. They have to prioritise cabinets further away from the exchanges and there's only limited manpower. Thousands have been recruited in the last couple of years but a company cannot just keep taking on new staff indefinitely.

I think your local knowledge isn't as good as I thought

Cabinets 2 and 3 are the most remote from the exchange out of all cabinets in Irby. Historically they have provided the slowest speed out of all 19 cabinets.

cab locations

This is doubly frustrating, the cabinets that were upgraded first in Irby were either BDUK (in I think 2 or 3 cases) or ones already receiving good ADSL service, >15mbbs in many cases.

And before anyone starts, yes I know that's just how it is. I know that OpenReach haven't done it just to annoy me/us. Yes I know there will be a valid reason blah blah.

Anyway, the OpenReach guys who I chatted with on Friday are gone now, they told me they were a kind of tactical unit who are deployed to problem exchanges, they had about 6 blokes and they are able to clear ducts, blow fibre and splice it. He told me if they don't have any problems the remaining cabinets will be 'lit' by the weekend. He also told me that otherwise, it would be at least another 2 months.

On Saturday, the OR had gone, but there were Kelly Communications vans in the village and working near the cabinets, I have no idea what they are doing.

That's it. I'll be back when I see something worth reporting back on, I know from PMs there are quite a few users who don't post on the forums, which isn't surprising really.

I'll keep them informed also

Pip pip!

My local knowledge is the best you will find on here I'm afraid!
I know where the cabinets are but you're right I can't remember the cabinet number of every single cabinet. Even if I can picture them in my head! So I probably thought you were talking about other cabinets. My general point though is that Irby exchange covers quite a small exchange area, the cabinets don't have very long D-side lengths compared to other exchanges nearby.

Edited by deleted (Wed 20-Apr-16 18:15:23)

I do realise that they are coming from Upton but I would imagine that that is somewhere passing by Arrowpark way which is the direction the were heading with the cable, From Irby village that is down Thingwall road passing Whaley Lane which is where the exchange is.

Hence my comment "towards the exchange"

Yes the cabinets in the village go via Whaley Lane to Pensby Rd where they link onto the fibre cables feeding Heswall from Arrowebrook that were originally pulled through in 2011.

In reply to a post by Icaras:

Yes the cabinets in the village go via Whaley Lane to Pensby Rd where they link onto the fibre cables feeding Heswall from Arrowebrook that were originally pulled through in 2011.

That might also explain why I also saw them right outside the Pensby Hotel doing the same sort of splicing.

In reply to a post by Smithy99:

In reply to a post by Icaras:

Yes the cabinets in the village go via Whaley Lane to Pensby Rd where they link onto the fibre cables feeding Heswall from Arrowebrook that were originally pulled through in 2011.

That might also explain why I also saw them right outside the Pensby Hotel doing the same sort of splicing.

Definitely would. I remember back in 2011 when the fibre went in back to Arrowebrook, quite a lot of digging was involved along Pensby Road and Arrowe Park Road.

It annoys me that I have to pick a post to reply to on this forum instead of just adding a new post. But anyway, latest update:

Engineers are at cabinet 2 now, cabinet 2 is completed, it has power and fibre. The engineers are there to put a fibre extension to cabinet 3, that *should* be completed today. He said that if they finish today and all the physical work is completed, he'll put a piece of yellow sticky tape on the cabinet, so look out for that.

I like the sound of these guys! These sound like friendly Openreach engineers, good to hear.

I get the impression they're used to dealing with frustrated yet enthusiastic would be customers

Good News! The Yellow tape is on the cabinet

Now, all we have to do is wait a few weeks for it to come up as activated

In reply to a post by Lambert:

Good News! The Yellow tape is on the cabinet

Now, all we have to do is wait a few weeks for it to come up as activated

Now what will we have to moan about???

Let's start a new thread to see how long it will be until we get FTTH...

woot

In reply to a post by Irby:

woot

Haha! That guy is great, probably one of the Liverpool engineers I'd guess. So it sounds like all the last remaining blockages have been cleared and it's all sorted. Wait for the silver lock to go on next.

I'm curious about the silver lock thing and I know this is what happens. But why do they connect it all up and leave it apparently unprotected only to return some time later to put a lock on?

I imagine it's already locked to a degree, is the silver lock just better?

It's a higher security lock to prevent tampering with live equipment, as it should not be powered up until the cabinet is commissioned and then the lock is fitted

Exactly that. At the moment any Openreach engineer could open it. After the lock goes on only the people with that key can, and the key will be restricted to those who need it.

I see, makes sense!

Generally speaking then, how long will this take?

Once everyone is connected up then it will go through commissioning checks usually within a week or so. This is usually when the high security lock is fitted. If the checks pass then it should go live a few days later. If they don't then it could be just a few more weeks or months.

Good news, according to Plusnet I have been connected to fibre, I didn't realise because I thought the old router would stop working. Swapped the router over to the new one they sent out and it all seems to be working ok. The only thing is...... My speeds are the same as before, 16mb down and 1mb up, I know there is a period of DLM but did expect the speed to start off higher than that and slowly work its way up until it reached its max stable rate.

If I didn't know any better I would say I'm still on standard ADSL. Am I expecting too much?

Can you get any stats out of your router?

In reply to a post by Smithy99:

Good news, according to Plusnet I have been connected to fibre, I didn't realise because I thought the old router would stop working. Swapped the router over to the new one they sent out and it all seems to be working ok. The only thing is...... My speeds are the same as before, 16mb down and 1mb up, I know there is a period of DLM but did expect the speed to start off higher than that and slowly work its way up until it reached its max stable rate.

If I didn't know any better I would say I'm still on standard ADSL. Am I expecting too much?

I think your initial thought is correct. I bet you're still on ADSL at the moment. You're also correct about how DLM works on FTTC. It usually tries to negotiate the best speed from the off.

Edited by deleted (Sat 23-Apr-16 11:40:23)

In reply to a post by BatBoy:

Can you get any stats out of your router?

I can, what do you need?
state: Connected
Connection time: 0 days, 06:01:21
Downstream: 18.54 Mbps
Upstream: 1.059 Mbps

Cannot find any SNR etc, maybe the fibre router doesn't show it.

Anything that would indicate ADSL or VDSL. Attenuation would do as well.

Event log?


Which router is this?

In reply to a post by BatBoy:

Anything that would indicate ADSL or VDSL. Attenuation would do as well.

Event log?


Which router is this?

This is a Plusnet Hub one router.

The event log seems to suggest it's still ADS! This is the log from its first startup this morning and it shows WAN as ADSL

( 196.890000) NTP synchronization start
08:47:52, 23 Apr. ( 195.390000) WAN operating mode is ADSL
08:47:51, 23 Apr. ( 193.970000) PPP IPCP Send Configuration ACK
08:47:51, 23 Apr. ( 193.970000) PPP IPCP Receive Configuration Request
08:47:51, 23 Apr. ( 193.660000) PPP IPCP Receive Configuration ACK
08:47:51, 23 Apr. ( 193.640000) PPP IPCP Send Configuration Request
08:47:51, 23 Apr. ( 193.640000) PPP IPCP Receive Configuration NAK
08:47:51, 23 Apr. ( 193.560000) PPP IPCP Send Configuration Request
08:47:49, 23 Apr. ( 191.800000) PPPoA is up -&#8203; VPI: 0, VCI: 38 Down Rate=18981Kbps, Up Rate=1084Kbps; SNR Margin Down=3.3dB, Up=7.4dB
08:47:49, 23 Apr. ( 191.790000) CHAP authentication successful
08:47:48, 23 Apr. ( 190.960000) CHAP Receive Challenge
08:47:48, 23 Apr. ( 190.960000) Starting CHAP authentication with peer
08:47:48, 23 Apr. ( 190.960000) PPP LCP Receive Configuration ACK
08:47:48, 23 Apr. ( 190.940000) PPP LCP Send Configuration ACK
08:47:48, 23 Apr. ( 190.940000) PPP LCP Send Configuration Request
08:47:48, 23 Apr. ( 190.940000) PPP LCP Receive Configuration Request

Is there a "Troubleshooting" "Helpdesk" tab on the web interface, like on the HH5A ?

But yes, you're on ADSL not FTTC.

In reply to a post by BatBoy:

Is there a "Troubleshooting" "Helpdesk" tab on the web interface, like on the HH5A ?

But yes, you're on ADSL not FTTC.

Yes there is, I'm just live chatting to them now

In reply to a post by BatBoy:

Is there a "Troubleshooting" "Helpdesk" tab on the web interface, like on the HH5A ?

But yes, you're on ADSL not FTTC.

Ok gets better, Plusnet cannot find the order on the system for the upgrade, even though they see the new contract and the new router order.. It might still have something to do with the incorrect data OR are showing for my line.

New order places, fingers crossed again. I suppose I should be thankful that the ADSL is still working.

Silver lock is now fitted to cabinet 3. Hopefully should be accepting orders in the next few days.

I thought I noticed that, but convinced myself I was seeing things!

Just walked past and the cabinet (3) is definitely powered up and you can just hear it humming away.

Can we make orders yet?

Check http://www.dslchecker.bt.com

Cabinet 3 is now showing FTTC speed estimations for nearby addresses.

Not sure what the bit about jumpers means. Presumably just niggles.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/hbur07xybq559er/Photo%2028...

In reply to a post by Irby:

Not sure what the bit about jumpers means. Presumably just niggles.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/hbur07xybq559er/Photo%2028...

Speeds look good, you have been waiting long enough, congratulations.

Hi all

New on here but have been watching for a while, desperate for something better than my Heathbank Ave 3Mb/s connection....
I see on dsl checker that cabinet 3 is showing FTTC estimated speeds, but it is also saying availability date from 30th September 2016- please someone tell me this is wrong!!

Jym

It's just a prospectice date. As the silver lock is now on it, expect it to be accepting orders very soon.

Fat lady isn't singing just yet, Tony

In reply to a post by Irby:

Not sure what the bit about jumpers means. Presumably just niggles.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/hbur07xybq559er/Photo%2028...

This has been discussed before. A jumper in this context means the wires to and from the copper cabinet and the fibre cabinet.

They would be "left in" if the line previously had FTTC and the line had been ceased. If a line has never had FTTC service it couldn't have left in jumpers as there were never any FTTC jumpers to leave in.

So does this mean that they would have to go in and fit them then? I thought that the physical work on the cabinet was done

In reply to a post by Lambert:

So does this mean that they would have to go in and fit them then? I thought that the physical work on the cabinet was done

When someone orders FTTC an engineer has to visit the cab to allocate the port to your line.

Thank you for your words of reassurance (and hope!)- fingers crossed Cab 3 starts taking orders in the coming week or two

I tried to order with Zen last night, I wasn't hopeful but thought it was worth a phone call, as I expected not possible just yet even though the wording on http://www.homeandwork.openreach.co.uk/when-can-i-ge... says

We�re performing our final quality and safety checks in your area. We�ll let service providers know that Superfast connections are available in your area. ]Call your service provider to see if you can place your fibre order now

Has anyone tried to order via BT? maybe, just maybe they have more up to date status on the cabinet and can put an order through.

I've waited so long that I'm happy for a little longer to go via my preferred ISP.

Now accepting orders.

If anyone else orders via Zen, at first they will say it's not available, ask them to check the tags on your line, then you'll be able to order.
10 working days /drums fingers

In reply to a post by Irby:

If anyone else orders via Zen, at first they will say it's not available, ask them to check the tags on your line, then you'll be able to order.
10 working days /drums fingers

I hope you are having better luck than I am with Plusnet, first order wasn't passed on to Openreach so a new order was placed with completion date of the 3/5/16 that came and went, apparently that was only a provisional date so now it's the 9/5/16. Let's see what happens tomorrow.....

Looking forward to seeing and hearing about your FTTC speed boost tomorrow

In reply to a post by Irby:

Looking forward to seeing and hearing about your FTTC speed boost tomorrow

So am I but its gone 5pm now and still no sign of it.

Ok looks like something happened about an hour or so, the router rebooted and stats are 55mb down and 15mb up, speed tests still showing 15mb download but hopefully that will change.

I expect around 73mb once DLM has finished.

Finally woohoo

Spoke to Plusnet who have upped the speed profile on the line, a power cycle later and now getting just over 55mb download and 15+mb up.

Hopefully it will increase up to around 73mb when DLM finishes.

DLM will not increase your sync speed, FTTC starts at the highest speed and goes down from there as more connections go live and crosstalk kicks in. Do you have any detailed modem stats to check if your sync speed is correct?

Mine is now up and running, at long last, need to pinch myself!
http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/5328820379