FTTC Availability

I currently have slow broadband - max 2.5Mbps, now less than 1Mbps. The slow speed issue has been escalated to Openreach, but I have been trying to establish whether FTTC is available. My exchange is Portishead SSPOR, and I'm on Cabinet 5, which has had FTTC since 2010.
My ISP, TalkTalk, says the fibre connection would be too slow to offer a service.
The BT checker suggests I could get an FTTC connection at 3-5Mbps
A chat agent with BT on the internet insisted I can get 'about' 60Mbps, and apologised for the BT checker being wrong.
So, who to believe?
The BT agent also suggested that FTTP would be available to me soon, but could not elaborate on what 'soon' meant.
Any informed opinions would be gratefully received. Or am I asking how long a piece of string is?

If you can get 60Mbit FTTC, Openreach surely wouldn't be planning FTTP. They roll out one or the other.

You need to find out where cabinet 5 actually is, and from that estimate how long your line to it must be.

Post a screenshot with results from the DSL checker preferably with a phone number. One person is clearly contradicting the other.

The DSL checker downstream line results are:
VDSL Range B 8.3 - 2.7
FTTP 330
WBC ADSL2+ up to 2.5
ADSL Max up to 2

This suggests that Infinity 2 at 60Mbps is a BT pipedream.
I would still be interested to know a timescale for FTTP though...

In reply to a post by Tertius:

The DSL checker downstream line results are:
VDSL Range B 8.3 - 2.7
FTTP 330
WBC ADSL2+ up to 2.5
ADSL Max up to 2

This suggests that Infinity 2 at 60Mbps is a BT pipedream.
I would still be interested to know a timescale for FTTP though...

To get the above FTTC estimate verified, can you find your nearest PCP/FTTC cab and determine the approx distance (NOT as the crow flies) to your property? The BT DSL checker has been known to occasionally give the wrong info.

To help you find your PCP enter your postcode & address here
https://windows.mouselike.org/be/index.asp?DoAction=...

Wrt FTTP, I presume the BT checker as showing 'FTTP On Demand' rather than 'WBC FTTP' for your property?

Edited by deleted (Sun 01-Oct-17 14:04:24)

Put your address into the Openreach When and where checker. If FTTP is planned, it will say so there.

FTTP is indeed 'on demand', and the Openreach file says 'FTTC & FOD Now' (Sep 17)

Linear distance to cabinet 5 is 0.8 of a mile, but the area is criss crossed by poles and cables, so I have no idea what the actual distance is.

What is the A and B range, you published the B range, which sounds like it would be better than what you have now, so if willing to pay the extra for the speed improvement then the answer is ignore what TalkTalk are saying and consider another provider who is not trying to protect their average speed.

If the checker was saying 2 to 4 Mbps for the FTTC range I'd be wary of switching but with the B top figure of 8 Mbps it seems likely you will get better than now, and even if its just 3 to 4 Mbps that would be a lot more useable than now.

Are any of your neighbours on FTTC and if so, what speeds are they getting?

A range is 8.3 - 4.6.
I haven't spoken to the neighbours. Most are elderly and not into hi speed internet, although I suspect that my immediate neighbour may have a higher speed, so I need to chat to him.
I agree that FTTC may well be worth a punt with BT. It surely can't be worse, but I'll see what Openreach come up with on my ADSL complaint first.

BT Consumer won't sell you Infinity 1 with those ranges, but a Faster Broadband which is same technically but generally without all the nice offers...

So look at others such as Sky, PlusNet, Vodafone.

1 month contracts should appear more widely soon so taking a risk becomes less of an issue.

Just been for a wander. Half my cul de sac are, like me, on PCP 5. The other half are on PCP 18. I now realise that 18 is only half as far away as 5. I appreciate that is only half the story, and of no help to me, but it just adds to that 3rd rate citizen feeling.

Looks like I'll be changing ISP soon then, and still get less than 10Mbps. I stayed in a B&B near Lands End last week. Middle of nowhere, and miles from anywhere, but 30Mbps. Slightly envious.

What does the Openreach site say?

The Openreach site says FTTC may be available, and has probably said that since 2010.
Had a look at all the house numbers on the DSL checker:
1-7 PCP 18, and VDSL up to 20Mbps
8-20 PCP 5, and VDSL varying between up to 3Mbps and up to 5Mbps. Mine is in this bunch, and has gone down from 'up to 8Mbps' a few days ago to join the 'up to 5Mbps' team.
Some of the properties at 21 and higher are PCP 5 poor relations, but a few are PCP 18, at up to 40Mbps.
Most of the properties are over 30 years old, but I suspect that the high speed PCP 18 ones are individual new builds

Have now had a visit from a very helpful Openreach engineer. The line length from cab 5 to me is 1500m, but there is another cab (5/2) in between, which is a 600m line length from me. At first he was hoping that 5/2 was actually cab 18, which has FFTC. Unfortunately, cab 5/2 is not 18 in disguise, has no fibre, and is just an extension from 5.
Nevertheless, he found a better connection was available at 5/2 than the one I was on, and that change has boosted the signal at the modem to 3.8 Mbps. I only get 2.6 Mbps after the router, but that is a huge improvement from 0.7.
Now that the copper connection has been improved I will push TalkTalk to offer me a fibre option. If they won�t, I�ll try BT. Even 5-8 Mbps FTTC would be worth the swap.

Cabs with a / in the name are always a pillar or sub cabinet.

One or two have been converted into full cabinets with fibre twins but relies on the economics and where the BDUK roll-out is in terms of helping the edge cases

Thanks Andrew, I just wish they had thought this through when the fibre was put in in 2010.
In both geographic and line terms, it is more or less a straight line from Cab 5 to the far end of our road (confirmed by the Openreach engineer). Cab 5 is at the far end of the chain, cab 5/2 is at the end of our minor road nearest to cab 5, and I am in the middle of our road . Cab 18 is midway between 5 & 5/2 and is on the same straight road.
The houses nearest the cabs are on 18 and can get 40Mbps fibre, the middle bunch (me) are on 5 and get poor ADSL, and the furthest houses from the cabs are on 18 and get 20Mbps fibre.
I know I can�t change that arrangement, but it defies common sense.
Anyhow, my ADSL is now better than it was, so I�m grateful for small mercies.

To close this thread:
TalkTalk wouldn�t offer me a FTTC service, so I went with Plusnet.
The new service was connected yesterday and is giving over 5mbs up, and about 1Mbps down. Not brilliant, but as expected, and double the ADSL speed.
For simplicity I am currently connected via the Plusnet router, but will re-instate my Draytek modem and Apple router later today.