OpenReach are Special

Not in a good way.

Residents connected to Bedford (SMBF) 49T, ~100 people, have consistently been left in the dark and frustrated. This is due to the complete inadequacy of OpenReach/BT to provide, sensible, information regarding the upgrade to superfast/fibre

A little history:
Circa 2010 Exchange was enabled for fibre - dates for FTTC constantly moved back since
March 2013 - FTTC cabinet erected
August 2014 - Informed by OpenReach that the FTTC cabinet construction was a mistake
March 2015 - Batteries changed in the FTTC cabinet
August 2015 - coeff 96 fibre installed in cable chamber at 49T
August 2015 - cabinet 44T enabled for FTTP, under BDUK even though 70% connected to cabinet can get VM. Installation to houses connected to 44T happening from 49T!!
January 2016 - OpenReach 'When can i get fibre' updated to show 'In Scope'
January 2016 - 40 residents sign up to 'No one left behind'
April 2016 - OpenReach cannot provide any update on 'No one left behind'
May 2015 - OpenReach 'When can i get fibre' updated to 'Connect'.
Just been told that this last update is 'erroneous'!!!

Can anyone here get information as to what is actually happening? Or let me know who/how I can obtain the information?

Thanks
Satpal

Where abouts in Bedford is the PCP.
Also who told you the last update was erroneous by the way ?

In reply to a post by Pgre:

Where abouts in Bedford is the PCP.

It's on the Abbey Fields estate in Elstow.
This is the PCP: https://goo.gl/maps/wcgM6mVta6A2
It's an old TPON cabinet, however the connnections are all in the cable chamber to the left on the pavement. Which also houses the aggregation node, coeff 96 I saw them install it.
This is the location of the FTTC cabinet: https://goo.gl/maps/Kxb7ScZRV752 you can't actually see it the picture is too old.
As use can see this is located diagonally opposite the old pcp.
This view https://goo.gl/maps/4r2CprigN7C2 shows the new and old cabinet along with the bigger cable chamber.

In reply to a post by Pgre:

Also who told you the last update was erroneous by the way ?

We were told by Bedford council's BDUK contact.

Thanks
Satpal

In reply to a post by schander:

Not in a good way.

Residents connected to Bedford (SMBF) 49T, ~100 people, have consistently been left in the dark and frustrated. This is due to the complete inadequacy of OpenReach/BT to provide, sensible, information regarding the upgrade to superfast/fibre

A little history:
Circa 2010 Exchange was enabled for fibre - dates for FTTC constantly moved back since
March 2013 - FTTC cabinet erected
August 2014 - Informed by OpenReach that the FTTC cabinet construction was a mistake
March 2015 - Batteries changed in the FTTC cabinet
August 2015 - coeff 96 fibre installed in cable chamber at 49T
August 2015 - cabinet 44T enabled for FTTP, under BDUK even though 70% connected to cabinet can get VM. Installation to houses connected to 44T happening from 49T!!
January 2016 - OpenReach 'When can i get fibre' updated to show 'In Scope'
January 2016 - 40 residents sign up to 'No one left behind'
April 2016 - OpenReach cannot provide any update on 'No one left behind'
May 2015 - OpenReach 'When can i get fibre' updated to 'Connect'.
Just been told that this last update is 'erroneous'!!!

Can anyone here get information as to what is actually happening? Or let me know who/how I can obtain the information?

Thanks
Satpal

Our estate in crawley was the same with BT continuously putting the date back from 2010 and always saying that next month would be the date it would go live

Well 6 years on, we do now have fibre and at the full speed despite their website saying we would only get a speed of 15 mbps

The reality is BT wouldn't have a clue' there business is all PR based and if it were not for their past history of providing the phone infrastructure and the vast profits they make by not only the public but also isp's being tied up in to this web of madness they would have gone bust years ago

We just have thank god that they are not part of any other types of business where life could be at risk although I�m sure other members of this forum would say I�m wrong on that and that there business model runs deep

Hope you get things sorted this year

as for contacting anyone at BT and iv'e spoken to them all over the years at the top level i would say don't waste your time as you will get nowhere

Basically it was put on hold soon after the cab was stood . this cab and a number of others have been taken off hold, but as it appears to have been a bulk decision I wouldn't expect any movement any time soon.

Thanks for the update. Just out of interest where did you get the information from?
Also does this mean that the OpenReach website is infact wrong.

In reply to a post by Ribble:

Basically it was put on hold soon after the cab was stood . this cab and a number of others have been taken off hold, but as it appears to have been a bulk decision I wouldn't expect any movement any time soon.

Would you happen to know if the "No one left behind" is still a viable option?

Thanks
Satpal

Don't know what that is

In reply to a post by Ribble:

Don't know what that is

It's where Openreach give an estimate as to how much it would cost residents to roll out superfast. About 40 houses signed up to this.Actually it might have been called 'Never say no', I think it''s now called:
https://www.homeandwork.openreach.co.uk/OurNetwork/C...

Thanks
Satpal

Could pursue it in case they decide to cancel it

In reply to a post by Ribble:

Could pursue it in case they decide to cancel it

We are pursuing this - however last i heard was they couldn't give us an answer due to commercial reasons!!!!

I simply don't understand how OpenReach could cancel?? This would be unbelievable!!
Given that they are supplying houses connected to SMBF 44T (70% of which can access VM) with FTTP from the cable chamber infront of 49T and that the fibre optic goes in ducting that is infront of about 30% of the houses connected to 49T. So they would be only supplying people over 200m from the aggregation node (49T) and not less than 200m. I know that the fibre optic cables they have could be used to supply ~3000 houses

I simply cannot believe that an organisation such as this functions in such a incompetent way. I have never seen/heard of a company that is like this.

Very Vexed
Satpal

There ia a contract between OR and the BDUK authority which includes this cab at present. My guess is that for whatever reason the cost to connect was much higher than anticipated. This could be civils to connect fibre or a higher cost for power. Now that this stage of BDUK is coming to a close they may have funding left over to complete unfinished cabs. Dosnt mean that they won't take another look and decide to spend elsewhere though

Ribble,
Really appreciate you taking time to respond.

In reply to a post by Ribble:

There ia a contract between OR and the BDUK authority which includes this cab at present. My guess is that for whatever reason the cost to connect was much higher than anticipated. This could be civils to connect fibre or a higher cost for power.

This cost thing really confuses me, simply due to the fact that:
* They erected a brand new FTTC cabinet, equipped it, supplied power, replaced the batteries. Stood for 3 years.
* Then they pulled fibre optic cables to the cable chamber infront of the old TPON cab (smbf 49T) Aug '15 - created an aggregation node
* Proceed to supply FTTP to houses connected to smbf 44T from the aggregation node @49T. This was under BDUK Phase I funding, which had, as far I can ascertain half the funding per house than BDUK II
I simply don't understand the logic for saying it would cost more. I guess no-one will give me that information either as it will be classed a 'Commercially confidential'

In reply to a post by Ribble:

Now that this stage of BDUK is coming to a close they may have funding left over to complete unfinished cabs. Dosnt mean that they won't take another look and decide to spend elsewhere though

Does that mean that they are doing this under BDUK 'I' or 'II', as I know that the cab wasn't considered for 'I' as it was under BT's NGA plan at the time.

Thanks Again
Satpal

I'd have though if its currently TPON wouldn't they also have to overlay copper too.. which may mean new copper back to the exchange potentially.. and more dosh needed! Depends what the infrastructure is around there I guess.

But that sucks.. and I feel for you.
Having good broadband is really a necessity for many.

I was walking down that way not to long ago, and as I am a sad geek I often keep my eyes out for how far FTTC/P etc has got around Bedford.

We managed to get funding from the developers to put in an AIO cab (I am assuming at this point) although I'd love them just to got FTTP or possibly FTTPrn as theres around 63 homes on the development. We have FTTC but distance is an issue so below 24Mb speeds. (And of course compared to some thats great, but less than 50m away the developments all get FTTP, they apparently forgot this development, which was left without any phone lines at all for about 5-6months!)

Have you tried speaking to VM ? (since they already have a footprint there)
Or someone like Gigaclear etc. If you have enough people behind it and they are willing to pay then you may stand a chance of them building out their networks there.

Also have you got our MP involved ? If not its worth a try, he helped add some weight in our case.

Hope you get some progress soon though.

In reply to a post by Pgre:

I'd have though if its currently TPON wouldn't they also have to overlay copper too.. which may mean new copper back to the exchange potentially.. and more dosh needed! Depends what the infrastructure is around there I guess.

The overlay has been done as I have adsl broadband at 2meg. If i understand it correctly they haven't enabled the FTTC cabinet as they need to lay copper back to exchange, E-Side?, plus the FTTC cab is about 35m from the where all the old copper connections are.

In reply to a post by Pgre:

But that sucks.. and I feel for you.
Having good broadband is really a necessity for many.

I work in IT and really need it to work from home.

In reply to a post by Pgre:

I was walking down that way not to long ago, and as I am a sad geek I often keep my eyes out for how far FTTC/P etc has got around Bedford.

We managed to get funding from the developers to put in an AIO cab (I am assuming at this point) although I'd love them just to got FTTP or possibly FTTPrn as theres around 63 homes on the development. We have FTTC but distance is an issue so below 24Mb speeds. (And of course compared to some thats great, but less than 50m away the developments all get FTTP, they apparently forgot this development, which was left without any phone lines at all for about 5-6months!)

Have you tried speaking to VM ? (since they already have a footprint there)
Or someone like Gigaclear etc. If you have enough people behind it and they are willing to pay then you may stand a chance of them building out their networks there.

We are on the VM back fill list don't hold out much hope though TBH.
Spoke with GigaClear/Hypertopic and due to the incompentance of OpenReach/BT saying that FTTC was schedule they said weren't interested.

In reply to a post by Pgre:

Also have you got our MP involved ? If not its worth a try, he helped add some weight in our case.

Our MP is Nadine Dorris!!!, she's be about as useful as a chocolate fire gaurd. Last time I emailed her, her office sent back a boiler plate letter! about what the government is doing re broadband.
Might try again...

In reply to a post by Pgre:

Hope you get some progress soon though.

Thanks
Satpal

Edited by deleted (Thu 12-May-16 13:08:07)

Your right, this is a commercial program cab not BDUK. I've noted a number of these taken off hold, again probably due to the BDUK contracts finishing. Can only hope actual work commences soon enough. Some gave cabs stood 4+ years doing nothing when a little effort would have had them up and running earning revenue.

Hey Ribble

Any new news for my FTTP rollout?
Just in case for forgot the information I post it below:
Exchange: Ilford Central (LNILC)
PCP Cabinet: 24

Like I have already said before we have had all the hardware (FibreDP, Manifold) and the fibre cables linking them since December 2011.

So I was wondering if you had any new info.

Thanks

Paul

Wouldn't mind any information on cab 88 Wallsend if you could be so kind? Been marked "field survey" for a few months now, paint markings for power and new cab location down for about 6 weeks, it's actually almost all washed off now