Superfast Cymru

Has anyone else noticed changes to the results on the https://beta.gov.wales/go-superfast/can-i-get-it site?
Since around the beginning of 2016 it's had the village of Llanbedr DC as being in line for FTTP with the dates changing every few months to be put back. About a week ago it started giving differing results depending on which property was being checked in the postcodes (LL15 1UT is my postcode) and changing from FTTP to FTTC and back depending the individual property being checked and the day I was checking on. It now seems to give a generic result along the lines of 'The Superfast Cymru roll-out ends on 31st December 2017. Please check back after this date for an update on the status of your premises.' for everyone and I was wondering if everyone else was in the same boat now.

Interestingly the https://www.homeandbusiness.openreach.co.uk/fibre-br... site tells me I should be able to receive a fibre service between now and December when I enter my phone number and a can't order today but should be able to do so within 12 months message on my postcode, but again no longer specifies whether this is FTTC or FTTP so no real help there either.

I can see work still seems to be going on in my area so have my fingers crossed something will be available soon but having already waited 4 or 5 years I'm not getting my hopes up!

All depends on what is actually going on in an area, alas the phone number and address sides of the Openreach system do not always update in sync.

Additionally some areas previously done as full FTTP have seen mixtures of FTTC and FTTP delivered.

As for the roll-out ending on 31st December, if they (BT) have not met contract targets then penalties can be enacted, but as with other projects across the UK there is always a few areas that stretch on e.g. not allowed to close a road to do a key bit of work

Yes, I was using it as it (did) give more detailed information than the main openreach one (outside of Wales), as you say it's gone from giving a date out to generic you're in scope for FTTP message.

I get the same results for a post code and phone number search.

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

Additionally some areas previously done as full FTTP have seen mixtures of FTTC and FTTP delivered.

Agreed, lower parts of my road and side roads can now get FTTC (via LNILC p24) whereas people on my phone pole (also on same cabinet) and hardware can get both FTTC and FTTP.

I think that was done due to FTTC being cheaper to install, not too sure what will happen to the now redundant FTTP hardware the bottom of my road, maybe it will be used later on, who knows.

Paul

Yes I am getting the same message before that we had a completion date of December, for FTTP.

The Superfast Cymru roll-out ends on 31st December 2017. Please check back after this date for an update on the status of your premises. Not all premises in Wales will be completed under this project. Other checkers may give varying results however this is the latest position under Superfast Cymru.

checking multiple premises on varying postcodes I notice that some get the message
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The Superfast Cymru roll-out ends on 31st December 2017. According to current data, you are unlikely to receive superfast broadband under this project. Other checkers may give varying results however this is the latest position under Superfast Cymru.
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which possibly makes our message a bit more optimistic?


The response to my query from Openreach I got a couple of days ago was
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Thanks for contacting us about fibre in your area. I've had a look at this and can see the cabinet 10 which serves you, isn't currently fibre enabled. However, your area is a part of a government scheme to install Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) and Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) which will provide an even faster connection directly from the exchange to your property.

As I'm sure you can appreciate; installing fibre is a technical complex civil engineering project. Therefore any dates we give you are only estimates and are subject to change

When we plan fibre jobs we have to take into account all aspects of the work required and give realistic timescales, however these are provisional dates only and are barring no unforeseen issues along the way.



My advice to you is to keep checking our website for updates. When FTTP is available and orders can be accepted, this information will be given via this link:

https://www.homeandbusiness.openreach.co.uk/fibre-br...

Our website will also give the details of CPs who offer FTTP/C products to their customers.
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So, basically just have to sit and wait, should be used to that by now

Thanks, definitely used to waiting, though not always patiently

There is some hope as we have new poles and chambers in place and I have seen them working on the roads between our village and the exchange, presumably laying the fibre. Most of that was done a few years back. Recently the only thing I have seen going on is work at the cabinet, that could be unrelated though.

Update

There have been contractors installing fibre etc to the poles the past few days just hoping they stay on it until it's completed.

We had a similar experience last year - we're not too far from you, between Wrexham and Ruthin. The checker continually put the date back, then suddenly released it. Works must have taken a couple of years. We ended up with FTTP, I think because the village is too scattered, although one nearby community got a new cabinet and FTTC with it.
It's really frustrating as good information is hard to come by. Have a chat with an engineer if you see one - they seem to be willing to talk about progress.
One thing that's really annoying with FTTP is the lack of ISPs which support it. In rural areas it's either BT or Zen. BT's initial pricing is quite predatory and so they seem to have hovered-up most of the business. We've gone with Zen and although their prices are higher than BT's initially (although remarkably similar in Year 2), their support is excellent - can't fault it.

Things seem to be moving on a bit, DSLAM cabinet was installed a few weeks ago with power supplied and on the postcode/address checker on the OpenReach site it's moved onto the Activate stage. Spent the best part of the last 2 years being told we were in line for FTTP but assume that the DSLAM cabinet means that FTTC is the more likely provided solution? Fingers crossed I'll have more than 3-4 Mbs soon, though I suppose I wouldn't be surprised to see to see everything slip back to 'We are exploring solutions', after 4-5 years of varying dates etc. I've come to understand that Openreach/Superfast Cyrmu information doesn't overly tally with reality! The actual existence of the DSLAM cabinet is nice though

Well, after 4-5 years of waiting I've finally been able to order Superfast. They delivered FTTC and I should get between 32 and 44 mbs with a minimum of 28 so around 7-11 times faster than I'm getting at the moment! FTTP on demand seems to be available as well but it doesn't seem easy to find info around pricing. Happy with FTTC for now

In reply to a post by jamescompton:

Well, after 4-5 years of waiting I've finally been able to order Superfast. They delivered FTTC and I should get between 32 and 44 mbs with a minimum of 28 so around 7-11 times faster than I'm getting at the moment! FTTP on demand seems to be available as well but it doesn't seem easy to find info around pricing. Happy with FTTC for now

Glad to hear you have Fibre at last. For FTTP on demand costs have a look at this post

That's great I would be happy with that speed also.

A lot of work has been done here but it's still ongoing, I have my doubts whether it will be finished by the end of the month but it's still possible.

Thanks for the link, I think I might have misunderstood exactly what was meant by FTTP on demand! Though to be fair, the openreach and superfast cymru site spent the most part of the last 2 years saying FTTP was going to be delivered in the next couple of months

Fingers crossed! I'm supposed to be moved over on the 3rd of January, installed the new smart hub today and realise I should really replace the 7 year old + single band network card before then! Just hoping I get close to the speeds given on the BT site...

In reply to a post by jamescompton:

Thanks for the link, I think I might have misunderstood exactly what was meant by FTTP on demand! Though to be fair, the openreach and superfast cymru site spent the most part of the last 2 years saying FTTP was going to be delivered in the next couple of months

I would think that after February 2018 it maybe worth looking at, as the min contract will be 12 months and not 36 and you may see a few more ISP's offering it !

In reply to a post by CJT:

I would think that after February 2018 it maybe worth looking at, as the min contract will be 12 months and not 36 and you may see a few more ISP's offering it !

I wouldn't bet on it. After the change it is much more of a product for CPs to consume in the background in order to uplift a number of customers at once. It is most definitely not going to become more mainstream at retail level.

It's true the contract is dropping to 12 months and the rental cost is dropping however all the subsidy from that is getting front loaded into the install charge. There will be some truly enormous install charges being raised.

The best use of the product will be for a CP or a consortium of them to select areas where they can cover the most premises per £ of build cost and purchase from Openreach to then sell to all their customers. They will not be selling FoD to an individual home in all likelihood. Again the installation cost will be immense, even on routine installs, as there's no subsidy from higher ongoing costs or longer contract length.

The total cost of FoD on the new terms will be about the same as now, just packed into 12 months not 36. So that's £2.4k of rental on the last 24 months along with £600 in lower rental from the first 12 months on top of the previous install costs, being very approximate.

I fully imagine providers that do this will also withdraw FTTC and ADSL from those premises so that they can only buy FTTP. If a consortium of CPs do this it will leave few options for those in the areas to stay on cheap and nasty copper services. There are really only 4 CPs taking service directly from Openreach at scale. BT Wholesale, Sky, TalkTalk, Vodafone. It's in everyone's interest pretty much for this to happen.

Edited by deleted (Sun 31-Dec-17 13:07:23)

Well, finally gone live today and look to be around 50 down and 10 up which will do me just fine for the time being, I'll put a reminder in my calendar to start complaining about the lack of FTTP in a years time

Sounds good to me

Work still ongoing here....will post back when it's finally completed.