Exchange Only to Cabinet?

Hi
- Old office block being converted to ~30 flats.
- Office block was Exchange Only, as confirmed by the various checkers using its full address and original postcode.
- All other existing buildings (flats/houses/offices) on the same road are connected to the same fibre enabled cabinet (#4) as confirmed by the BT checker. It's about 300m away from the road (exchange is 900m away). Speeds for these other homes seem to be 70-80Mb per the BT checker.

I had previously assumed the converted flats would also be Exchange Only as it seems extremely rare to reroute existing phone lines. I was therefore gearing myself up for relatively low speed ADSL.

However, a new postcode has been issued for the converted flats. When this is used on the BT full address checker, it lists all of the flats (eg Flat 1, Flat 2 etc) and says they are connected to Cabinet 4, but FTTC is not listed. Openreach search also says Cabinet 4 and something about line possibly too long (it looks like it has the location wrong so I doubt it is actually too long and maybe connected to the fact the flats are almost, but not yet finished...so no phone numbers yet either).

So should I:
1. Assume the new postcode checks are a false positive and the converted flats will be Exchange only like the old office block.
2. Assume the checkers are right and the converted flats will actually be connected to the fibre enabled cabinet.

In other words, do I get my hopes up?

I'm moving to a new build in a couple of months and the checker says for my address that it is connected to a fibre enabled cabinet but it shows no fibre availability. The two show houses 10 metres away are both showing fibre is available.

I'm pretty sure it's the norm until a line is physically installed.

Thanks simon - that is good to know.

I still wonder though about the fact that the office block was exchange only, yet if the converted flats (same structure as the old office block) are now going through cabinet 4, then that means rerouting cables from a cabinet 300m away. And that cabinet already serves hundreds of existing properties.

Nearly everything I have read says EO being moved to a cabinet is extremely rare, and in this instance there are only about 30 flats. Although maybe that means they have enough spare lines near the block and it is not actually a complex rerouting?

As EO lines can't have fibre then they are probably pre-empting things and connecting in to cab 4 in preparation

In reply to a post by Melford:

Nearly everything I have read says EO being moved to a cabinet is extremely rare, and in this instance there are only about 30 flats. Although maybe that means they have enough spare lines near the block and it is not actually a complex rerouting?

Such network rearrangements are no longer as rare as you might think. It remains very unlikely that network rearrangement will just happen. However, as the BDUK projects move into their second stages, the 'low hanging fruit' is long gone and it might now be cost-effective to help those who were excluded from superfast broadband because of distance from an existing cabinet or being on an exchange only line. This work might involve network rearrangement, a fill-in cabinet and/or an area of FTTP depending on the existing infrastructure, the specific barriers to superfast coverage and the location and number of premises involved.

In this case, it might well be nothing to do with BDUK. The developer might be contributing towards the costs of FTTC provision knowing that the flats will be more valuable and easier to sell with superfast broadband.

Copper rearrangement is now quite a common thing, especially those on EO lines

In reply to a post by mugwumpx:

As EO lines can't have fibre then they are probably pre-empting things and connecting in to cab 4 in preparation

Erm yes they can.
Address 369 BLACKBURN ROAD, HIGHER WHEELTON, CHORLEY, PR6 8HP on Exchange BLACKBURN
and
Address 21 HARVEY ROAD, ILFORD, IG1 2NJ on Exchange ILFORD CENTRAL

We have 14 of them on our exchange.

FTTP doesn't require a PCP Cabinet, neither does it require a Fibre Cabinet for it to provide fibre.

Now FTTC does.

Paul

Uh uh Paul.

FTTP is completely independent of the EO copper. The EO line does not have FTTP. It's purely the use of the word "fibre" in what you quote that is incorrect. It should say FTTC.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Uh uh Paul.

FTTP is completely independent of the EO copper. The EO line does not have FTTP. It's purely the use of the word "fibre" in what you quote that is incorrect. It should say FTTC.

You could say the same for lines that can get FTTP who's copper lines are connected to a PCP Cabinet.

But yeah, I was referring to the wording of fibre should of been quoted as FTTC.
I was also referring to, just because you might be on an EO Line doesn't mean you cannot get fibre.

You and I know this, but new users might not.

Paul

Ah - good to know that rearrangements are more common now.
These flats are in London (NW7) so I do not think BDUK would apply and when I contacted the developer (independent) he did not indicate anything special had been done - just saying that it was connected to the normal network.