Am I going to get FTTC? No one wants to say...

FTTC is coming to my village very soon. I'm 1.3km from the cabinet and in a paler shaded area on the council project map, which translates as 'faster' rather than 'superfast' broadband. The darker 'superfast' area is within a radius of 1.25km from the cab. Everything suggests I might get 10-15Mbps, and that's OK with me.

Two weeks ago a neighbour saw an Openreach engineer with a clipboard making notes outside our houses. He said he was investigating the viability of FTTP connections. When I heard about this I questioned the OR postcode checker and sure enough, 'you are in our plans for FTTP'. I put in houses one by one getting nearer the cabinet and found a boundary 1km from it, inside which properties had the message 'connecting soon.'

I contacted the council project, who said they knew nothing of projected FTTP. I contacted OR, who didn't respond at all. So can anyone venture a guess as to what happens when the cabinet goes live? Is the OR message on the checker likely to change once they have an idea of the signal strength? Or once they have decided which houses will be eligible for FTTC is that final? Presumably unless the OR message for my house changes to 'accepting orders' I won't be able to approach an ISP, even though the lower speed I might get will be adequate as far as I'm concerned? Or have I misunderstood the way the process works? Any thoughts welcomed!

If they decide to supply FTTP where you are that would be perfect. Very rarely though do they mix FTTP and FTTC for addresses on the same cabinet.

So I would say little chance of FTTC unless they decide FTTP is not viable for your area. In which case a nearer cabinet might be provided. Are there a lot of houses involved?

If you do get FTTP, even if you have to wait a bit, that is far better of course.

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

So I would say little chance of FTTC unless they decide FTTP is not viable for your area. In which case a nearer cabinet might be provided. Are there a lot of houses involved?

If you do get FTTP, even if you have to wait a bit, that is far better of course.

There are about three addresses further away than me, and we would all get more than 8Mbps from the FTTC cabinet, so I'm unsure why they would go to the expense of FTTP unless there are political reasons - targets, quotas etc. If they really mean to only supply FTTC to houses within 1km of the cab that would mean around 40 waiting for FTTP.

Yes FTTP would be very nice, but two more years of 2Mb ADSL wouldn't! Is it normal for a community to be uncertain as to who will be getting what until after the cabinet goes live?

so whats yours exchange and cab then --

If your wiring is via a cabinet that goes live you will likely gain the option to order VDSL2 at the lower speeds due to distance, but with targets to get to, sometimes infill happens to add FTTP option and thus tick a premise as superfast. This costs more but campaigners are fighting hard for more FTTP in your exact scenario

sourds like a errounous comment from a engineer !!

Yet the Openreach checker shows FTTP in plan? Perhaps not

In reply to a post by Fastman2:

so whats yours exchange and cab then --

Henley in Arden, cabinet 4

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

If your wiring is via a cabinet that goes live you will likely gain the option to order VDSL2 at the lower speeds due to distance, but with targets to get to, sometimes infill happens to add FTTP option and thus tick a premise as superfast. This costs more but campaigners are fighting hard for more FTTP in your exact scenario

Do you mean I may get reduced speed FTTC now and be offered FTTP in the future? That would definitely be my ideal scenario!

How would that work though, regarding the Openreach site? If I don't have a message saying 'available' but only 'in our plans for FTTP' when the cab is live, surely I won't be able to order?

Edited by deleted (Sat 04-Feb-17 19:06:07)

The openreach site is lacking some of the nuances on the mixed C & P areas, so the BT Wholesale checker is a better guide in those cases once the service is live

In reply to a post by bergulon:

Do you mean I may get reduced speed FTTC now and be offered FTTP in the future? That would definitely be my ideal scenario!

How would that work though, regarding the Openreach site? If I don't have a message saying 'available' but only 'in our plans for FTTP' when the cab is live, surely I won't be able to order?

If you're definitely connected to the PCP that's getting fibre then the fact you are in a FTTP plan should not stop you ordering FTTC. There's no technical reason that would stop it.

That exact scenario happened in the next town over from me. They have a Facebook group where local residents were discussing the wait for the new FTTC cab to go live as it was delayed due to power issues.

They were all reporting their OpenReach "When and Where" fibre page results discussing the dates shown and the progress the cabinet was making. A few of the residents were complaining they were only "in scope" when everyone else was showing "connecting your cabinet (we are connecting the fibre/power to your cabinet etc)". From 1 of the screenshots posted I pointed out they were in scope for FTTP and I wrongly advised them they probably wouldn't get FTTC when the cabinet went live and they would need to wait for FTTP. It was similar to your scenario where the outer 2 streets were marked for FTTP.

When the FTTC cabinet went active they were all able to order, including the properties marked for FTTP. The work on the FTTP install started about a month later, but is still not complete.

In reply to a post by j0hn83:

A few of the residents were complaining they were only "in scope" when everyone else was showing "connecting your cabinet (we are connecting the fibre/power to your cabinet etc)".

When the FTTC cabinet went active they were all able to order, including the properties marked for FTTP. The work on the FTTP install started about a month later, but is still not complete.

Thanks, that does seem like the same scenario. Do you know if their status changed to 'accepting orders' on the When and Where page when the cab went live, or did it stay as 'in scope for FTTP'?

Just use the BT Wholsale DSL checker

In reply to a post by lee111s:

Just use the BT Wholsale DSL checker

When I was waiting for fibre I wrote my own remote application hard coded for my needs, it wasn't perfect but it worked.

I had it check both the BTOR Where and when page and the BTW DSL Checker every few of hours and email me when there was any changes like the rollout stages on the Where and when page.

It also hooked into the Roadwork information for the area between me and my exchange, to when a BT Job popped up it emailed me

The best bet is to check both and compare the results.

Paul