FTTC on the BIRTLEY exchange

Is anybody here able to provide any 'inside information' on the progress of BIRTLEY Cab 3? It was originally planned for February 2014 but has been delayed since. It started its fibre journey earlier the year when I saw Openreach laying ducts from the exchange to the cabinet.

According to streetworks the DSLAM is supposed to be installed over the next week. Cab 18 is also getting built next week, but that is getting power installed at the same time. Unfortunately no power installation is listed for Cab 3, only DSLAM installation.

Emailed Openreach almost two weeks ago and asked politely if they could provide an update on the cabinet. I was directed to a high-level complaints team and am still waiting for a response.

Also a little disheartened at where the cabinet is situated. The nearest housing estate is about half a mile away, but can't do anything about that.

Thank you.

Thought I'd update this if anybody stumbles upon it / general information on Openreach's track record. The week went by in which Openreach had stated on my council's roadworks website that they'd be installing the DSLAM. Decided to have a walk down to see it and surprise! No cabinet. The white marking where I assume the concrete plinth is to be placed is still there from months ago.

The wait continues.

Hi Mortician,

Looks like you are in a similar boat to what I was a couple of years ago the difference being is that my line terminated at the exchange which meant there was no box for the DSLAM to be sat next to. Openreach eventually installed 3 new boxes and separate DSLAMS and split the trunk line feeding the street.

If your line terminates at a cabinet and you know where it is located all I can advise is that you keep an eye on the progress. It took about 4 months between the white lines appearing and the cabinet being ready to take orders.

As someone who worked for an ISP all I can advise is be patient and watch out for the usual Openreach fiber sticker to appear on the DSLAM.

This happens all the time, it took them 3 to 4 times over 2 years to upgrade a chamber down my road.
The first few times went past and nothing was done, then the 4th time it was done.

Maybe there was no contractors available to do the work.

Paul

An update for any interested parties.

A couple of weeks ago, and to my surprise after almost a month of silence after sending my initial email, I got a telephone call from a very nice lady at Openreach who was handling the case. She stated that she had no news available for me at the time, with Cab 3 still being under review (clearly the OR tracker, which currently says 'Build' and progressed all the way from the 'Design' stage months ago, is very wrong). She stated that she'd contact the project manager and get back to me with an update.

A week ago I had a voicemail informing me she still had no update but that the news was still the same (not good, that is). Today, I get another voicemail telling me the bad news that the cabinet has finally been removed from the commercial programme because it is not viable (expense of power installation).

I suppose I am a bit peeved that the reason has remained the same for over 3.5 years and Openreach have only just removed it from the rollout within the past week. It perhaps would've been useful for them to have done this years ago so that the cabinet would've had some chance of being migrated over to a BDUK project.

It is a bit confusing that they laid hundreds of metres of ducting just a few months ago, with the roadworks terminating about five metres from Cab 3 (it surely can't be for any other reason), and then abandon the project completely.

The next step of this disheartening journey is to await a new response from the local council after hearing this news, hoping the Cab can be transferred over to their rollout.

Thought I’d update this. In January the Openreach tracker surprisingly said they were upgrading our area to FTTP. Since then contractors have installed new poles, put CBTs on all the DPs, excavated to clear blockages, and done some hundreds of metres of “spine cabling works” that I assume were related.

Almost two weeks ago contractors were in the street for three days, spending about 3 hrs a day, doing works in the underground box, putting up CBTs on the poles that previously didn’t have one, and adding a black oval-shaped enclosure on one of the poles.

It seems the work, in the street at least, is complete. About a mile away along the spine route to the exchange, some roadworks have showed up, planned for two weeks time, saying BT are to build a precast chamber and associated ducting.

For reference first I saw of any works was in early January when some engineers were surveying the area for new poles. Hopefully not much longer.

I emailed Openreach and got a reply back saying they expect to go live in July. A few days later, probably a coincidence, an OR engineer showed up and went up and down the street with a clipboard for around 3-4 hours.

Pleasant surprise when I check today and they're now accepting orders. So glad to be soon saying goodbye to this ancient 4 Meg line...

Congrats I hope you have a pain free fttp install

Installed (not without some bumps).

Speedtest

Only about 200 times faster. Not bad.

Not bad at all