Question About GEA FTTC 18/2

Hi,

I live in an area with terrible standard broadband (under 2mbs) and although the cabinet is Fibre enabled there were only limited spaces which have long since sold out.

I note that this WBC FTTC 18x2 Sim Availability is showing as YES on the BT website, however would I be able to get this if there was no space for normal fibre broadband.

I.e does this solve the issue of capacity or does it require a port(?) that I wouldn't be able to get?

20MB connection (or even a 10mb) would be a dream at the moment.

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Downstream Line Rate(Mbps)


Upstream Line Rate(Mbps)


Downstream Handback Threshold(Mbps)


WBC FTTC Availability Date


WBC SOGEA Availability Date


WBC FTTC 18x2 Provide Availability


WBC FTTC 18x2 Sim Availability


Left in Jumper




High

Low

High

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VDSL Range A (Clean) 51.1 37.5 11.6 7.3 34.8 Waiting list -- -- Yes --
VDSL Range B (Impacted) 40 25.6 9.7 5 20 Waiting list -- -- Yes --

Still needs a port in the cab

so how long have you lived there and when was the cab enabled and did you not try and purchase a fibre service when the cab went live

I have lived in the property a year now.

Fibre was made available in my area at the same time, but by the time I got the BT line activated all the spaces had gone

really not sure what to do now as no plans to increase the capacity from what openreach keep fobbing me off with and although virgin cable is everywhere in our area there are no plans to bring it to our estate a few roads down.

If no plans to add more capacity are absolutely confirmed (as opposed to no one is sure of time scale) then it would be the first cabinet to be officially stated as such and is big news given the complaints from campaigners that cabinets are not installed with 100% capacity from day 1 - so would be interested in hearing more about the no plans aspect.

whats the exchange and cab as that doesn't seem right

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

If no plans to add more capacity are absolutely confirmed (as opposed to no one is sure of time scale) then it would be the first cabinet to be officially stated as such and is big news given the complaints from campaigners that cabinets are not installed with 100% capacity from day 1 - so would be interested in hearing more about the no plans aspect.

Could be there's no room for a second FTTC cab?

Would be unusual.

I suspect it's the monkeys that OR have run their queries mailbox don't really have a clue and give a generic "no plans" response, as opposed to them knowing anything about any plans that may exist.

I have about 15 different replies from openreach but this is a general example.

Post code is G663qt if you want to see the exchange etc

Dear Adam,

Thank you for contacting us again.

I can see that there is no incremental project in place as of now in your area.

As much as we would like to fulfil the commitment of providing fibre to whole of UK, we cannot comment on any fixed timeline for your cabinet upgrade.

To track the progress of the future projects please keep an eye on the website http://www.homeandwork.openreach.co.uk/OurNetwork/Su...

Our website will also be updated as soon as orders are ready to be accepted.

Kind regards,

Amrita
Fibre Enquiries Team

Yeah pretty generic.

By them saying "we cannot fix a timeline" does not mean it won't ever happen. I think even if it were planned for th next 6 months, they likely still wouldn't say incase it was delayed.

I assume cab 6?

If so, that was a BDUK scheme cabinet, so it may be worth getting in touch with them, as the cabinet "passes" 424 properties, but 384 is the largest number of ports available on any one cab.

Do you know where the cabinet is? I assume it's one of the larger Huawei cabinets...if so, do you know if it's been extended with the HD upgrade?

Thanks, apologies I am not fully up on the terminology yet. Would you be able to advise who I should be contacting, and what is meant when you say 'passes' 424 properties.

I know where the cabinet is all I can say is that's it's large green cabinet. When I googled the huawie cabinet I see one that looks smaller than the one if that's helps?

How would I tell about a hd upgrade.


Really appreciate the help thanks!!

Some cabinets. Then there's the newer AIO (All In One) cabinets that look a bit like the Huawei 128 with another half-cabinet on the side. Those have the phone lines and fibre gear in the one box, instead of the earlier dedicated ones.

Basically there is (or was when the tender survey was done) 424 properties connected to that cab.

Some may have access to Virgin, so you'd needto find out from the BDUK scheme how many properties were "white" meaning no superfast bb.

The scheme should ensure all houses in an area can get sfbb, and thus should commision a cab large enough to accept orders for everyone.

Could you take a picture of the cab and post it up? We'll be able to see if it's had the HD extension done. If it hasn't, there's a chance it will do. A lot greater chance than a second cabinet.

I went to the location where the openreach website shows the cabinet but there were a good few possibilities of which one it might be so not sure which one it is? The loacation also seems to be an openreach depot with a good few vans outside etc.

Cabinet 1
Cabinet 2
Cabinet 3

1 is a Huawei 128
2 is a (brand new?) phone cabinet, number 25
3 I'm not sure about. May even be Virgin Media. Does it make a humming noise? Is there a long number on the other end? Because if there is then I'm right.

FTTC cabinets do not as a rule have a number on them. Only their associated PCP (phone cabinet) has a number.

It's the first one, smaller Huawei holding 96 or 128 ports.

There's a capacity addon available for that cab so hopefully they'll look to doing that in the not too distant future.

OR definitely do add capacity, there's 2 cabs near to me that have had a second fibre cab added this month.

I might have not taken a photo of the right one as it didn't say cabinet 6 on it?

Cabinet P6 FTTC Available from 3rd February 2016 Phase BDUK Scot Government 15b 424 Huawei G66 3BA

If it's on this scheme and I can't get fibre did someone say I should get in contact with someone? If so who could you advise to contact?

Probably re-shelled. Loads round here have been done, and a couple have now had second fibre cabs as mentioned. Possibly the reshelling is to allow for additional space for more tie pairs to the fibre cab?

Was is very close to the cabinet with 25 on it? If so that's probably not yours.

Yeah right next to it. I'll have another look when I'm next down that way.