So I'm curious as to why you mentioned cab 9.

As I mentioned there can be many reasons for the installation of FTTC to be delayed, there's a fair bit more than putting the cabinet in position. In our case Lambeth keep objecting to BT doing the necessary work to install the fibre cable, all else is, I am told, completed. Lambeth fall back each time on section 58 in the New Roads and Street Works Act 1991. This for a back street in London that hasn't been resurfaced or had other work done to it since before the Act was passed!

I mentioned Cab 9 because that's what the BT Openreach Superfast Broadband Google Map pointer points to, even though this is nowhere near my address, whereas Cab 6, which I am definitely connected to, is just around the corner.
See diagram:
https://goo.gl/photos/EequU7aHPqM6mdTe8

The pointers don't target the cabinet, but the area it serves

Yeah I think it's dropped in the middle of the postcode you search for.

If you take our example (still not connected)

Although the initial announcement was to be done by early 2014 that was never going to be achievable.

They put a new cabinet on the ground in Autumn 2014.

BT took the decision to bypass the existing exchanges and cable us directly back to the "big" exchange in Stafford, however the cable run still passes through those existing exchange buildings ! That meant two villages had to be enabled before us so the ducts were unblocked upgraded etc. Then they would start putting the fibre cable on the last leg to our village which involved more duct unblocking and updating.

So fast forward to December 2015 and after no communication about dates other than a rolling 3 month delay every time I asked, the other cabinets that were originally served by our old exchange have gone live.

However with ours it seems that they forgot about putting power to the cabinet, so although we have a fibre cable there, they can't complete as there is no power.

Now the issue is a Wayleave to enable them to dig up someone's front drive to get the power to the cabinet, and that person isn't in the country ! They won't go around this 10ft of land so we are in a bit of limbo until the paperwork is signed.

The only way I have found of moving anything along or getting any sort of useful information is to ask difficult questions of our local BDUK project, and when they gave up, as they had no answers, I got a contact within BT who was able to give a much more focused picture of what was going on.

The map pointer seems to be dropped roughly in the middle of the area served by the exchange, rather than the postcode area

Edited by deleted (Tue 01-Mar-16 20:35:43)

In reply to a post by zort70:

They put a new cabinet on the ground in Autumn 2014.

pfff, just 2014? Ours was due in 2010 and they've still done nothing. It's been 3/6 months away ever since.

Latest update says: "We're installing the new fibre cabinet and laying the fibre cables to serve your home or business. You can't order a fibre service today but typically it'll be available to your premises within the next five months."


This is more [censored], because planning permission expired years ago (it only lasts 3 years).

Update 19/9/2016: For the past 4 or 5 months, the status has been showing as "We're connecting power to the new fibre cabinet and joining the new fibre lines to the existing copper network. You can't order a fibre service today but typically it'll be available to your premises within the next four months." according to the Openreach site

There is certainly no sign of any external progress in joining fibre to copper - the cabinets are on opposite sides of the road and no tunnelling has taken place.

The btwholesale ADSL checker is still showing availability by 31 March 2017, 4 years later than originally indicated.

Which is usually more accurate - the BTOpenreach site or the BTWholesale site?

In reply to a post by althetog:

"In May 2013, the expected availability of superfast broadband at my cabinet was quoted as 30 September 2013"

Latest info:
"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.."

Update 22/12/2016:

7 or 8 months on, the status is still saying "We're connecting power to the new fibre cabinet and joining the new fibre lines to the existing copper network. You can't order a fibre service today but typically it'll be available to your premises within the next four months.", but, hey! Some real progress to report!!!

Civil engineers have just connected the new and old cabinets by running a cable under Long Lane, and reckon the BT guys will be doing their bit in the next few days/weeks.

Could this sudden burst of activity be the result of my recent letter to the local MP?

Well, well,well...Fibre Broadband arrives at last! Almost 4 years after the Openreach site gave 30 September 2013 as the date for the expected availability of superfast broadband at my cabinet, it now seems to be enabled.