For a BT engineer

Does BT provide additional training to jumper an AIO cab for a VDSL connection over and above what you already know from dealing day to day jumpering regular PCPs? I ask because my FTTC provision failed on Friday morning and the message recorded on the job suggests that the engineer, having possibly for the first time been faced with jumpering an AIO cab, simply gave up. I appreciate that AIO cabs are rare, especially so in inner London, but I really expected more from Openreach.

There's nothing like losing ones ADSL broadband on Friday 30 September and then to be told the situation will be reviewed on 10 October. Tempers might just get a little frayed if this isn't resolved before then.

Edit: Is it possible that a different key is required to obtain access to an AIO cab and that not all BT engineers have such a key?

Edited by deleted (Sun 02-Oct-16 19:10:55)

The FTTC installation engineer doesn't need to know anything about the FTTC cabinet, or jumpering it. They don't touch it. Unless it's close enough to lean on when ringing their control.

Having seen pics on line of the inside of an all AIO and seen inside the one in my village, it shouldn't be that difficult for a engineer to work out.

The jumper blocks are just like a normal PCP - the VDSL green and blue blocks are in the centre and then the "copper" green and blue blocks on the right - but I think this is the other way round to a normal PCP. Its pretty obvious though, the underground cables can be seen going to the RHS blocks and the VDSL tie pairs to the centre blocks.

He only needs to open the RHS door for the jumper blocks, the LHS with the VDSL equipment has separate and different locks.

My AIO cabinet got fitted with a silver lock when it was commissioned, just like a "normal" FTTC cabinet. It has since been replaced with the older style black central lock. Whether this has to do with the key being more common I don't know, but Zarjaz will no doubt tell us.

Of course normally, the engineers don't open the FTTC cabs at all.

In reply to a post by sidef:

Of course normally, the engineers don't open the FTTC cabs at all.

A completely different set of engineers.

Sent you a PM !!!!!

no the AIO has 2 sides a copper side and a VDS slide its exactty the Same as there are 2 racks in the copper side one copper and one to connect to the VDSl side - he does not ever need to get the VDSl Side in the same way an engineer should never need to get to the DSLAM

he does not ever need to get the VDSl Side in the same way an engineer should never need to get to the DSLAM

That is how I thought it was. I'm still mystified as to why I have no broadband since my switchover on Friday morning. I only added my comment regarding keys as a possible reason for what I believe was an inability to access the cab.

What particularly annoys me is that BT Retail, for it is BT Retail to whom I am attempting to move, made no attempt to inform me that there was a problem other than "Oops there seems to be a problem" now replaced by a singularly uninformative and unhelpful "!We�re sorry for the delay" on the BT order tracking site.

I don't appear to have received a PM from you today.

Yeah, we have the stupid "We�re sorry for the delay" on our open order that we placed on "Fri 12 AUG" due to build issues that we had at our splitter node.

This work has since been completed, but due to our install being handed back to the planning team we have to wait for them to say yes you can now do the install, even though there is no reason for the delay now.

The guy next door had his external work done the other day.

Makes you wonder if they really know what they are doing, its like one excuse after another.

And the dates BT FTTH give you for the engineer visits are all lies that never happen, just hoping it happens next week (the engineer visits that is).

Paul

Edited by PaulKirby (Mon 03-Oct-16 00:30:14)

In reply to a post by MCM:

I'm still mystified as to why I have no broadband since my switchover on Friday morning.

ADSL broadband?

If your ADSL stopped syncing on Friday, rather than just failing to make a PPP connection, then perhaps your line has been physically amended to route through the filters that block DSL on the E-side, so it blocks DSL on the D-side instead.

Saying that, I wonder if it is possible for the AIO cab to get wrongly wired, with the cables between the VDSL DSLAM and the copper racks being wired backwards. That would leave the AIO DSLAM trying to talk to a modem at the exchange, with the filter isolating that shenanigans from the D-side. That would leave the CPE in blissful silence, but the voice line working.

We had the same at our last address when upgrading to VDSL. The phone line dropped first thing in the morning then came back about midday without ADSL. VDSL connection failed due to a capacity issue and it was 6 weeks before we had any kind of internet access restored.

Suffice to say I am not looking forward to the switchover at the new address (which should be possible some time in the next year if BDUK pull their finger out).

First an update. BT Retail's MyBT now informs me that I will be connected on Wednesday. I still think the problem was the lock as on checking the cab again this morning it appears that the lock at the front of the cabinet has to be unlocked before either door, that to the PCP and that to the DSLAM, can be opened. I was told in a phone call from a BT person who saw my post (thank you Patrick) that he had not previously seen a similar engineer's report and that lack of access looked to be the problem.

Neither door appears to have been opened. I suspected there might be a problem, it's not as if we haven't had quite a few in getting this community funded cab up and running, so I placed a telltale on the cab on Thursday evening so I could see if anyone visited it. The telltale hasn't been touched or moved but will do so once either door is opened.

As for my having no broadband. Well that's not strictly true. I was previously using Plusnet and that was terminated when the phone switched to BT and authentication failed. However a little later I realised that I still syncing (ADSL2+) and thought I would give the generic BT logon a go and that worked. If I had been on a Sky or a TT service I would have had no broadband and as far as BT Retail are concerned I have none however BT Wholesale continue to provide a service.

Yes, for an AIO cabinet, the central silver/black lock has to be undone first, to allow access to the RHS door with the VDSL and copper jumper blocks. There are also 2 smaller tri-head locks on the RHS (and 2 on the LHS door but with different heads), but on our cabinet the engineers seem to leave those (RHS tri locks) undone and rely on the central black lock.

Thank you. Much as I thought, a key is required.

I wonder if all BT engineers responsible for junpering VDSL connections at a PCP have such a key? Perhaps not since it is only AIO cabs that appear to need one for jumpering.

Someone has visited the cab since my earlier post as the telltale was missing on my return home a few minutes ago. I must pop out and place another one there to see if there are further visits before I get connected..

Thanks BT and those who have helped us over the years to get us our community funded AIO. Connected this morning, and yes, it appears that a lack of the necessary key was the reason for my not being connected last Friday. Second connection on the cab with a third having failed this morning due to problems with their D side.

Maximum data rate: 35082 / 105896
Data rate: 20.00 Kbps / 79.99 Kbps

I had thought I might have seen less given the additional D side added when breaking in to the EO cable and routing it via the AIO cab. Will undoubtedly drop as others on the development move over to VDSL but hopefully not too much given there's some headroom.

Done a speed test with postcode at http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest

Spotting the 'impossible' speed tests is a monthly task to assist in tracking the roll-outs and various special trials etc

In reply to a post by MCM:

Thanks BT and those who have helped us over the years to get us our community funded AIO. Connected this morning, and yes, it appears that a lack of the necessary key was the reason for my not being connected last Friday. Second connection on the cab with a third having failed this morning due to problems with their D side.

Maximum data rate: 35082 / 105896
Data rate: 20.00 Kbps / 79.99 Kbps

I had thought I might have seen less given the additional D side added when breaking in to the EO cable and routing it via the AIO cab. Will undoubtedly drop as others on the development move over to VDSL but hopefully not too much given there's some headroom.

Nice, and grats, we are still waiting for the engineer two visits, two neighbours had their external work this and last week, seems our records haven't been updated after they did the fix, so no engineer visit for us, just shows how screwed up their system is

Paul

Andrew,

Here's one I did when first connected Thinkbroadband Speedtest

In reply to a post by MCM:

Andrew,

Here's one I did when first connected Thinkbroadband Speedtest

That's a nice flat line

Paul

BT's records seem to be in a bit of a mess. For example the engineer jumpering my connection told me that the location of our cab still doesn't show on their maps and that the engineers are told the road name and have to locate it themselves. Fortunately the road is relatively short and the cab fairly prominent on the pavement although can be obscured at times by parked vehicles.

I hope the long running saga of your FTTP connection ends soon. Frustrating as it must be to see neighbours being connected it looks as though your long wait is nearly over and that you should be enjoying a decent connection speed soon.

It is isn't it. I have to say I'm pretty pleased with it so far.

BTW and somewhat off topic, having moved from a static IP to a dynamic IP, can you or anyone else looking at this thread recommend a cheap dynamic DNS service? I need to set up access to my Synology NAS farm. The family are going to be hitting it quite soon. And yes farm is perhaps the best word to describe the eight linked boxes (4 Synology, 4 Netgear with 39 hard drives).

In reply to a post by MCM:

I hope the long running saga of your FTTP connection ends soon. Frustrating as it must be to see neighbours being connected it looks as though your long wait is nearly over and that you should be enjoying a decent connection speed soon.

You would think and hope that, but I am having a bad feeling about it.

Well when we was able to order FTTP back 12th August, the engineers came out very fast due to lack of jobs to do at the time (i.e. 15th August), they did find a build issue at our splitter node, which nobody was aware of until then, so everything was halted.

Last week they re-spliced every fibre in our splitter node, then a couple of days later they did one neighbour and a week later (i.e. Monday 3rd) they did the other.

When they did two of my neighbours external work I asked about our install and I was told that they are aware of our external work and that it will be done some time this week, then yesterday I got a phone call from openreach stating they cannot do our FTTP install due to build issues at our splitter node.

Now this build issue openreach was talking about on the phone was the job that had them re-splice every fibre to the correct trays which has been completed and was done 27th September.

So to me they have updated the other two records to say the work has been done and to continue with the install, however ours hasn't been updated, so they cannot continue.

So now I am now with an open order with an allocated fibre strand.

Paul

In reply to a post by MCM:

It is isn't it. I have to say I'm pretty pleased with it so far.

I am currently very jealous of that along with your 8ms latency

This is our current ADSL2+ one

In reply to a post by MCM:

BTW and somewhat off topic, having moved from a static IP to a dynamic IP, can you or anyone else looking at this thread recommend a cheap dynamic DNS service? I need to set up access to my Synology NAS farm. The family are going to be hitting it quite soon. And yes farm is perhaps the best word to describe the eight linked boxes (4 Synology, 4 Netgear with 39 hard drives).

Nice, was there a difference in prices between home and business connections for that speed ?

I couldn't see any for FTTP 300 / 20 in their business section, only the 80 to them 1G or 10G.
Due to the business version can have static IP blocks for a few extra squid.

Its a shame you cannot pay the extra few squid pm to get a static ip, I would pay it.

Paul

Edited by PaulKirby (Wed 05-Oct-16 13:28:06)

I haven't properly compared BTR with BTB. I went BT Retail which I think may have been a mistake. I was attracted by the 12 month contract, 12 month price and the offers. So far have heard nothing about the Reward cards or Quidco (will chase both now my order is complete) and only after I had ordered did I find it could have got a decent unadvertised monthly price if I had stayed with my previous ISP which would have meant retaining my static IP.

I'd love to have the option to pay for a static IP and will most likely move to an ISP offering static IPs once this contract is up in a year's time. Meanwhile I'll have to learn to live with a dynamic IP address.

Yeap code has spotted it so will get added to the coverage data when the next full trawl is done.

And there was me thinking mine was flat

Glad you got sorted in the end !
I mentioned your key issue to a nice Open-reach chap who's doing the copper routing for our new AIO cab yesterday and he said that the one we had was a standard universal one. So would be interested to see how yours is different.

I am hoping in the next few weeks that it will be powered and then the network rearrangement work will be plain sailing.

It looks like the copper at the moment now routes into the new AIO and only once the cab is powered and testes would they then pull the copper connections from the old PCP and joint them to bypass the old one.

It may be useful for the future to now know that "testes" isn't caught by the censor. .

In reply to a post by MCM:

I haven't properly compared BTR with BTB. I went BT Retail which I think may have been a mistake. I was attracted by the 12 month contract, 12 month price and the offers. So far have heard nothing about the Reward cards or Quidco (will chase both now my order is complete) and only after I had ordered did I find it could have got a decent unadvertised monthly price if I had stayed with my previous ISP which would have meant retaining my static IP.

I'd love to have the option to pay for a static IP and will most likely move to an ISP offering static IPs once this contract is up in a year's time. Meanwhile I'll have to learn to live with a dynamic IP address.

Yeah, I would of liked to compare the two for 300/20, I know there is a lot of extra stuff on the business side for the 80Mb option.

As for offers I wasn't given any due to I ordered our FTTP over the phone, it would of been nice to order via their site but for some reason it only displayed up to infinity option 2 and not a mention of 3 or 4, it did say that I could get the 300Mb option.

I did try again 10 or so mins later and it just failed to display any fibre packages but still said I can get 300Mbps, so I phoned and was told there is an issue on the site, so I got no discount i.e clubcard etc nothing.

So I get shafted on the offers and now by openreach by not updating my records (i.e. removing the marker on my record) so another long wait I guess.

And getting in contact with my case hander at BT is impossible and its only them openreach will deal with to-do with our info.

Yeah, I really want a Static IP due to our server requires it to use some stuff, granted some stuff had to be hacked and recompiled to allow for other means to work with a dynamic ip.

Sadly to get a static ip would mean to get a business connection, but like I said I couldn't see the 300Mbps option, I could go with Zen Business Plus (I think) but that's twice the price of BT, I am not that willing to part an extra $50 pm just for a Static IP.

Also we are very limited to who we can go with due to it being FTTP, so BT have us by the balls here and they know it.

I might try and bring up the issue with my case handler to-do with the static ip issue, £10 pm extra would be fine.

Paul

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

It may be useful for the future to now know that "testes" isn't caught by the censor. .

Because it might be painful I guess

Paul

In reply to a post by Pgre:

Glad you got sorted in the end !
I mentioned your key issue to a nice Open-reach chap who's doing the copper routing for our new AIO cab yesterday and he said that the one we had was a standard universal one. So would be interested to see how yours is different.

I am hoping in the next few weeks that it will be powered and then the network rearrangement work will be plain sailing.

It looks like the copper at the moment now routes into the new AIO and only once the cab is powered and testes would they then pull the copper connections from the old PCP and joint them to bypass the old one.

The initial locks while the cabinet is being installed are generic. Once a cab is comminssioned, a different silver lock is fitted with a unique key as far as I know.

I know nothing about whether the keys are different, all I know is that the planned upgrade last Friday failed because the BT engineer did not have a key. This could be because not all engineers have keys to FTTC cabinets or because each cabinet's key is unique. The guy who jumpered my connection this morning told me that he was given a key last Friday, however he wasn't the guy who failed to connect me that day..

39 Hdd's.....does your house need any heating....try https://www.duckdns.org/ for a freeby.

Ian

39 Hdd's.....does your house need any heating

Not much. Some of the boxes are only on for short periods to backup systems with the four Synology boxes (23 HDDs) running 2pm-3am. I tend only to have the one PC running 24/7 however that's got quite a few somewhat elderly drives plus an SSD. I should probably swap out its drives for one or two higher capacity but lower consumption drives.

Thanks for the duckdns.org link.

MM

Early this morning, I saw one of BT's private contractors working on one of the black cabinets and the green one too.

He confirmed the work involved was fibre broadband. But since this is the first job...what exactly would he be doing. He wasn't installing the fibre cables though?

Rather curious what the first step to fibre is involved.

Thanks

Edited by deleted (Tue 11-Oct-16 23:22:09)

The black cabinets as far as I know is for TFL, like for the cameras, traffic lights etc.

We had one of our black cabinets worked on a while ago.

Is your black cabinet like this one ?

If so its owned by TFL and is for the cameras.

Paul

In reply to a post by PaulKirby:

The black cabinets as far as I know is for TFL, like for the cameras, traffic lights etc.

We had one of our black cabinets worked on a while ago.

Is your black cabinet like this one ?

If so its owned by TFL and is for the cameras.

Paul

Hi Paul,

Nope, that doesn't look anything like my cabinet. All the black cabinets in my area are black and numbered. And mine is 28. Plus I know where the cabinet is for the TFL and it's far away. From where I live

Rather curious what the first step to fibre is involved

A site survey usually

Luckily they finished that survey now, and it's on the connect box on the open reach site

In reply to a post by cjdavid:

All the black cabinets in my area are black and numbered.

BT's cabinets tend to be green, not black. Exceptions happen when required for conservation areas, so it depends where "my area" is.

Aren't all black cabinets black?