FTTC on EO only lines

Hello folks; I'm trying to get someone in Central London onto a decent connection, but besides dedicated ethernet installs or BT EFM, there seems to be no chance of FTTC. It's one of the (seemingly) many EO lines, and the checker (here) only says:
Exchange status: Fibre enabled
Cabinet number: -
Technology: Pending - EO Line

I believe the current regs don't allow FTTC DSLAMs in the exchanges so they're stuck, but does anyone have any idea if BT are actually actively addressing this at all? It's just frustrating - despite being barely a few minutes walk from Tottenham Court Road, they're stuck on ADSL2+ or other far more expensive options.

Thank you!

There were a fair few EO lines near us which were upgraded as part of the Northumberland BDUK project.

Two cabinets were installed near the exchange and all EO lines were moved over to these.

I don't know whether BT are doing these network rearrangements commercially though, or whether they are BDUK only.

Commercially cannot think of any, the ones that have happened in London are usually via the Community Fibre scheme.

The same thing of adding an all in one, or PCP/VDSL2 pair of cabinets is done in urban areas. So its possible but usually higher costs.

I believe they are doing some as part of BTs superfast extension programme in London, particulary around Bermondsy. Dont know if there are any plans for the OPs exchange area though.

there are some as pert of London extension programme in Bermondsey but they 4/5 km from exchange

Imost EO lines will be short in no docks exchanges as exchange are tends to be quite defined (iwrth the odd exzception)

Thank you all! From the rest of the research I've managed to do, seems you're right - it'll most likely be a few years before FTTC and/or something better are widely available around central London. I'm going to take a look at Relish as well, though I don't expect it to be a LOT better; I've got hopes that the upload might be more than ~1.5Mbps at least though.

If your neighbours feel the same, look into a community funded partnership.

How successful community funded projects have been in inner London? I have read of one.

For me (3Mb/s download, Rotherhithe) the problem is, I don't know most of my neighbours in the same, small building and no one in the neighbouring ones. Setting up a community project involving hundreds of flats, a quarter of which are council estates, a significant portion of people being tenants moving in and out etc. does just not seem possible. Getting anyone commit funds to something that happens in 18 months or so, is next to impossible, and if I understand this right, in London money would need to come from residents' pockets as BDUK funding is not available.

Community projects require a community to begin with, and in many London post codes it just does not exist. Which leaves EO part of London in a limbo as Openreach will not do anything without a community project or public funding, and neither is a realistic alternative.

I'm not sure about others but Relish is at least where I live ridiculously slow on peak times. Generally, when I would like to download an episode of my favourite tv series around 9pm, Relish gives 0,2Mb/s - 1,5Mb/s. Early morning it is a completely different story and a decent speed.

If this is endemic and not just related to me, Relish isn't really a viable alternative. 3Mb/s ADSL is slower than what I had 15 years ago but at least it is consistent.

In reply to a post by hvis42:

Community projects require a community to begin with, and in many London post codes it just does not exist.

There's nothing like an emotional common cause for build a community though...

In reply to a post by Fastman2:

there are some as pert of London extension programme in Bermondsey but they 4/5 km from exchange

Imost EO lines will be short in no docks exchanges as exchange are tends to be quite defined (iwrth the odd exzception)

BT are also finishing off some of the partly installed commercial installs in the London area, our FTTP that was originally started back in Dec 2011 which was put on hold due to build issues, we think BT had forgotten about it but after a letter from my local MP and a nice email from me to the chairman's office at BT, it was finished off last month still as part of the commercial upgrade and not part of the LEP.

Sadly this was only for the lines on our phone pole.

There is however 3 cabinets on our exchange being upgraded to FTTC that is part of LEP, and one of those (I think) is an all in one cabinet for a block of EO Lines not far from our exchange.

Paul

How successful community funded projects have been in inner London?

Here in SW9 just down from the Oval we have a community funded AIO cab for our former 75+ 2km+ EO lines on the Vauxhall exchange (which is in Kennington). Cab placed just outside our development and all of us are able to get 80+Mbps down if wanted. My current max rate is reported as 103,477 Kbps and I'm one of the furthest from the cab.

So overall, a very successful exercise, quite expensive, but oh so much better than our previous slow lane ADSL connections.

Out of curiousity, how much did the community have to raise?

Interesting.

Did you have a single development with an existing residents' association or management company, or did you manage to build a community of diverse homes of different kind of ownership for the cause?

In our case, we would need to build the community around mostly tenanted flats, council estates and terraced houses, who just happen to share the more or less same geographical location but not very much else.

As someone already asked, what was the ballpark cost of the project?

Did you have a single development with an existing residents' association or management company

It is a development of 75 freehold houses and leasehold flats dating from 1989-90. We collectively own the freehold with each property owner, both freehold and leasehold, owning one share in the company. All owners pay an annual service charge with that for the leaseholds naturally being more as it includes buildings insurance and has a reserve fund for external and communal areas decoration and carpeting. The network rearrangement and AIO cab was funded from the general site services reserve to which all 75 properties contribute.

Hey sergiup

First of all, welcome to the forum!

We're actively bringing 1Gb speeds to folks all over central London so it's possible that Hyperoptic can save the day

Please PM your details, and the address of the premises, and we'll do our best to give you some fibre power.

Best wishes

Karis

Edited by Hyperoptic_CS (Thu 24-Nov-16 17:18:09)

Please see my PM.