Openreach' Fibre First? It's all Fibre To The Premise now..

�. or so says the Morrison Utility Services contractor.

Christmas must be coming. As I posted about here, despite being relatively well provided for by FTTC (we get 64Mbps, the furthest property from the PCP is forecast at least 35Mbps under "Impacted Low" on the DSL Checker), we've had a roadworks scheduled for the past two weeks around the whole area served by our PCP and VDSL2 twin for duct clearing for "PON installation".

Despite limited appearances during the scheduled works period which has now finished (they left a pile of materials around for the 10 days, dug one chamber, and connected together two existing chambers inside a small side road), the contractors have turned up in greater force this week. They've paint-marked blue B|T marks in about 10 places across the whole cabinet footprint (which, see map, is certainly not going to be a main spine link) and have started digging and refilling about 18"-24" square holes at each location. I guess the | between the B and the T is where they believe there's a blockage.

See map of works/cabinets/footprints here: Google Map. Green shaded area is PCP12s footprint and where the works are being undertaken.

Despite suggestions on the first thread that they were likely doing this for some other purpose, having spoken to two of the contractors separately today, they've said they're installing FTTP to our roads. One said the others were doing the duct clearing, and he was installing the fibre.... he mentioned he was going to install a 12 port DP initially near the middle of the road in my street's case. I'm guessing the connectorised version talked about here. I asked if it was because someone had ordered FoD, and he said no... it's a general rollout. When I spoke to the second person a bit further on he said everything's going fibre to the premise now, and again confirmed that's what they're rolling out. Even one of the Irish guys doing some of the digging asked what I think (of them rolling out fibre) as I walked past and peered into their hole!

I remain a little sceptical that I'll be able to benefit, but after the discussions today am ever-more optimistic that this is a sign of Openreach's recently declared "Fibre First" policy - despite very little chat about it since the announcement in February.

I can understand this would make sence has the tide really turned within Openreach; the small business park adjacent to us (served by a different PCP, but ours and their PCPs are literally 1m apart) is in desparate need of any fibre broadband solution, and I believe they are indeed getting FTTP despite the DSL Checker still saying "Exploring Solutions" (Turgis Green PCP11). In fact there are a number of fibres and what looks like a fibre DP within the chamber in front of the two PCPs and the Morrison utility guys who had it open today said they'd just installed said fibre but still needed to joint it. So when providing fibre to the business park, roll it out wider too.

I'm even wondering if at some point they plan to "steal" our VDSL2 cabinet to expand the nearby PCP5, which has a far wider footprint as you can see on the map, and is scheduled for expansion by early 2019 according to Codelook. With only a few 12 port DPs being deployed initally, perhaps not... and is there yet a process for migrating everyone currently provided FTTC by a cabinet to FTTP so they can remove our links to the cabinet and redeploy it? I also don't know if they could do this leaving the cabinet where it is... I've not measured the distance, but would say it's touch and go whether PCP5 is over the max distance from the PCP12's VDSL cabinet... but perhaps something else they've considered? Due to the wider footprint, in estates built at least 10 years earlier, it would no doubt be a lot more expensive to deliver FTTP to them.

GFast would probably be quite pointless here vs FTTP as there's at least 50m to any properties, and the average are probably in the 200-400m range; and in the large numbers of relatively recent, undergroud-ducted estates across the country, I'd imagine it were a similar story.

Photos:

Pavement Markings B|T

PCPs 11, 12 and 12's VDSL2 Twin

Footway boxes already joined (in a side road)

New duct overlay being installed

PCP5(hidden in the hedge)

PCP 5's existing VDSL2 twin

Lots of chambers(on the main spine into Bramley, adjacent to PCP5 and running along Sherfield Road from W to E). And where the ducts are being cleared certainly isn't such a main spine!

Have you considered that this work might just be for premises connected to cabinet 11

e.g. RG26 5EG where some premises are showing as FTTP on the way

The grey cabinet with a slight 11 on it is unusual if an Openreach PCP since it has some vents

I know where you are roughly ... are you sure the fibre DP isn�t being put in to serve just those in that business park ?

Its rare for Openreach to roll out full fibre to areas already enjoying good FTTC speeds, though its not unheard of. It could be construction for a leased line or as Mr S says, FTTP to an area not currently getting superfast (>15 Mbps) speeds.

Premises on cab 11 are down for FTTP is people care to look at the Openreach checker

Incorrect as part of this �Fibre first� roll out throughout the UK, Openreach are targeting areas served with cable (of which usually have good FTTC speeds from Openreach) as part of a commercial FTTP roll out.

You�ll see this ramping up massively in the coming weeks/months.

The existing FTTC is very unlikely to be reused for another cabinet, this is because it would require all FTTC users to move to ADSL or FTTP and Openreach wouldn�t move them to FTTP free of charge, this would require them to upgrade via this provider - that�s only if their provider offers FTTP and has the required equipment in the headend exchange.

This may all change but not anytime soon, not until more providers take up FTTP service and it becomes more widely available.

Obviously that was my initial assumption; I thought until they actually started work that it may have just been work for Cab 11 and they'd got the roadworks schedule wrong... because after all, it's hard enough to get FTTP anywhere, and a wholly un-Openreach thing to overlay a good FTTC area with FTTP, especially in a village, way off the usual trial and priority areas.

But seeing where they have started and have marked for duct clearing they're not in cabinet 11 areas if you take a look at my map. RG26 5EG appears to be the only postcode on cabinet 11, and that's just the business park. The areas undergoing works are either wholly cabinet 12, or for a couple of postcodes there are one or two properties also on cabinet 5 (and still due a reasonable speed).

Also what the guys said when I spoke to them... they seemed quite joyous and upbeat about rolling out FTTP, and doing so quickly, it felt as if perhaps they'd just undergone some induction into a new programme they are part of, and they were the people bringing this wonderous thing to our door.

I get the same sense from unknown101's post, that Fibre First is now a BIG THING in OR (and I'm guessing from the language unknown101 works for OR or closely with them).... and that quite possibly there really has been a significant U turn or step change from all of our ingrained expectations of OR behaviour based on the last however many years.

And that really was part of my point in posting, to ascertain if this is indeed Fibre First in action, as since the initial announcement I've not noticed any discussion about it. And if it is, and similar reports start coming in as it sounds like they might, perhaps it's time for a little celebration that the behomoth has rolled over and a brighter, faster, future is finally in sight.

And after all the hassle I had at my last address, having to organise an eventually successful campaign to get FTTC to our new-build estate and several others around it, it would be fantastic to witness such a massive change literally on my doorstep.


Re cabinet 11, yes it does look a little unusual but I'm certain it is the PCP.

In reply to a post by unknown101:

Incorrect as part of this �Fibre first� roll out throughout the UK, Openreach are targeting areas served with cable (of which usually have good FTTC speeds from Openreach) as part of a commercial FTTP roll out.

You�ll see this ramping up massively in the coming weeks/months.

Thanks unknown101... no VM cable here, but I presume that's not the only criteria, and I take from your reply that there is indeed now a huge programme gathering momentum within OR. Which is great news for many.

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

I know where you are roughly ... are you sure the fibre DP isn�t being put in to serve just those in that business park ?

Yes, for the reasons in some of my other replies such as the routes being duct-cleared. The (small) business park's cabling must run from the PCP at its central entrance, the around 100m in either direction of its length. That's what the BT pavement chambers also imply, and you can see some of the route onStreet View here where they've obviously installed new ducting between the 2nd and 3rd chambers from the cabinet. In a southerly direction the run of chambers is easy to see.

The cable route to any of the offices surely wouldn't run around the new-build estates bendy roads (which didn't exist when the business park was built), and then through someone's garden - that would be the only explanation if the work was solely for the business park.

What the Morrisons guys I spoke to said also makes me sure this isn't (just for) the business park - without quizzing them too much, they seemed clear enough that they were putting fibre in the residential roads.

I know it's all too much for most of us to believe, me included....!

I would have thought Openreach's mass commercial FTTP deployment would begin in major towns/cities first before moving to rural areas which already have good FTTC speeds, since ROI will be greater in heavily populated areas - � la CityFibre/Vodafone FTTP partnership. I'm pretty sure the bean counters at Openreach have to be satisfied that they're not spending all that money for nothing

Edited by deleted (Thu 07-Jun-18 00:41:48)

Yes and no.... if it's a whole change in the way Openreach work, then yes you'd expect there to be an element of targeting the big cities whose centres have often been overlooked (or left out, hoping to benefit from more lucrative leased line options)� I have a client in the centre of Liverpool in exactly that situation.

But it also sounds like a culture change, which would mean taking pragmatic cost effective options at every opportunity, wherever they may be; so if you're deploying FTTP to one location (as they appear to have been going to do to PCP11), does the cost per property passed reduce and remain below a commercial threshold by expanding the footprint to a larger area at the same time. If so, then do that too.

Flat-dense areas aside, the 1980's and later urban areas of many towns and villages (such as mine) must have similar population densities to the suburbs of large cities... and with a fibre trunk and spine network already as good as "everywhere", Openreach have a major advantage over the likes of CityFibre, as they can expand from so many more branches than anyone else, without needing any more costly core infrastructure investment. CityFibre need to concentrate their investment for ROI, Openreach can pick off low-hanging fruit nationwide.

OK they need a few duct clearances, but doing that in housing estates is no doubt a huge degree cheaper than digging up city centre roads for new ducting. Or likewise cheaper than cabling across miles of Welsh or Scottish countryside. And whilst they may be targeting certain areas, I'm assuming OR and their suppliers are ramping up on crews (or have them available to redeploy as the FTTC rollout tails off) across the country, so not all are going to be shipped off to the 8 or so listed cities each day.

I may still be wrong, or odd pockets of rural upgrades may not be considered "mass" enough to warrant any reporting, but I remain optimistic that a corner has been turned.

Fair enough. Sorry if I'm coming across as pessimistic but I've seen plenty of posters on TBB get their hopes up wrt FTTP deployment based on only what they've seen outside and then get their hopes dashed when they find out otherwise.

Nevertheless there's always a chance you've hit the jackpot so try to find out directly from Openreach if they really are deploying FTTP to your street/premises. Obviously Openreach don't normally deal with Jo Public directly, but sometimes they can be very helpful over the phone so worth giving them a bell. Not sure if this email <[email protected]> still works but a few years ago Openreach were answering FTTC/P queries on this address.

Also worth keeping an eye out for Openreach dedicated fibre teams in your area and politely asking them for more info. They are often seen working next to these lorries...at least that was what i saw frequently on my street when they were installing FTTPoD to my home.

Good luck!

Edited by deleted (Thu 07-Jun-18 07:46:11)

Some SEP FTTP and some FTTP On demand. Not part of fibre 1st that I can see ATM

Huge programme?

2.5 million over the next couple of years -to date that programme has largely been business or Exchange Only based.

Commercial overlay of FTTC to date has been G.fast based, and nothing stopping them doing FTTP if they want.

So might be great news for some, but with over 29 million premises, it is less than a 1 in 10 chance

Enough people have seen FoD and infill FTTP work and get excited that I am sticking to my wait and see

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/8062-fibre-first...

Has a break down, actually only a potential 1.7 million for the scenario of the poster, but in the example of the original poster it gets worse since for example the areas of Birmingham talked about don't have FTTC, and other cities usually have areas like this too.

The infill, FoD or new premises are sorry to say the most likely explanation. If there was a sea change with the 2.5 m becoming 10 million then we'd have had a lot of shouting about it as would have implications on stock market

Yet in my area I've seen OR overlay FTTP with .......................FTTP!

At some locations they've provided the infrastructure for the new 1-stage install (i.e. CBT) when there is already the older type manifold (2-stage with CSP) present, even when there is known spare capacity (including upstream) available at said manifold.

Last November I posted this image of a CBT and older 12-port manifold on the same pole, but at one of the locations I've seen recently they've installed a new pole just for the CBT!

That doesn't seem to be a general policy though because they're still making new connections via the older style 2-stage method. ISTM that it's probably a case of crossed wires (no pun intended), or should I just say the all too often situation of the BT/OR left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing.

Edited by Rastus (Thu 07-Jun-18 11:17:26)

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

Enough people have seen FoD and infill FTTP work and get excited that I am sticking to my wait and see

Agreed, I have seen FTTP actually being installed to then after all the DP's in the chambers and Manifolds installed on the top of the poles, FTTP is never activated.

Which they then install FTTC and offer FTTPoD even though the FTTP manifold is on the pole outside their houses.

It might be down to the lack of infrastructure being in place to handle all the possible FTTP traffic with the minimum of 100Mbps with Ultrafast packages so "maybe" as a stop gap they installed FTTC and once the infrastructure is all in place they will enable the FTTP.

And when you speak to BT, they say there is no FTTP in the area.

So things change all the time.

Paul

In reply to a post by baby_frogmella:

Fair enough. Sorry if I'm coming across as pessimistic but I've seen plenty of posters on TBB get their hopes up wrt FTTP deployment based on only what they've seen outside and then get their hopes dashed when they find out otherwise.

Nevertheless there's always a chance you've hit the jackpot so try to find out directly from Openreach if they really are deploying FTTP to your street/premises. Obviously Openreach don't normally deal with Jo Public directly, but sometimes they can be very helpful over the phone so worth giving them a bell. Not sure if this email <[email protected]> still works but a few years ago Openreach were answering FTTC/P queries on this address.

Also worth keeping an eye out for Openreach dedicated fibre teams in your area and politely asking them for more info. They are often seen working next to these lorries...at least that was what i saw frequently on my street when they were installing FTTPoD to my home.

Good luck!

Thanks... yes I've been through this before and do actually have some internal OR contacts from the successful campaign for FTTC we ran at my last property. This time OR seem to have outsourced the whole caboodle to Morrisons Utilities though, even the fibre engineer is from them and not OR. Don't really want to approach OR though, as a) it doesn't really matter... whilst I would step up to an FTTP product if I could, my FTTC is ok enough for the near 1TB of Peppa Pig we've streamed this month (!); and b) if it were a mistake they're continuing with, I don't want them to stop! So I'll play the watch, wait and see game!

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

Enough people have seen FoD and infill FTTP work and get excited that I am sticking to my wait and see

Fair enough, though I'm remaining optimistic....

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

Commercial overlay of FTTC to date has been G.fast based, and nothing stopping them doing FTTP if they want.

So might be great news for some, but with over 29 million premises, it is less than a 1 in 10 chance

I read into the announcement that FTTP might take more of a front seat over G.Fast. I guess they each have their own benefits in different scenarios, to my mind FTTP fits the ducted newish-build detached and-semi housing estate scenario much better than a G.Fast pod where the majority are hundreds of meters from the PCP, and even more so now competitors re starting to steal a march. Yes the numbers are still lowish, but 10% is better than 1%, and a 25%+ announcement at that stage would hardly have been credible given the progress to date.

In reply to a post by Rastus:

... or should I just say the all too often situation of the BT/OR left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing.

I do agree with that, and did wonder if this was a mistake - eg/ someone doing the planning had misinterpreted what was already delivered or the footprint of each cabinet. As why would OR overlay good FTTC with FTTP.... it's not in their nature... or rather, it wasn't in their nature....

But what gives me confidence that this is a true FTTP delivery is:
- the limited cabinet footprint radius and DSLchecker forecast speeds of those furthest from it - all well into the "superfast" definition;
- the "spider" of duct clearance work to all branches of the cabinet's footprint;
- the statements of those doing the work.

The only tiny niggle is that roadworks.org mentions Turgis Green 11 in all of the many entries; but the reality is that PCP11 only serves a very small number of properties and they're all in the business park. There's zero reason to unblock any of the ducts being unblocked to serve any of PCP11's properties, or act as any kind of spine to it.

The engineer doing the fibre terminations was out today and I passed him several times... first by the aggregation node; then at the entrance to the business park where I believe there's a splitter; and then at the exchange. So the business park looks like it should have FTTP available very soon. Note he wasn't your typical Openreach man in a large Openreach (fibre) van... this is Morrisons Utilities man in a pretty ropey ex-Portsmouth Water van!

Progress wasn't so good for the duo doing duct clearance work... especially when they attempted the "blockage" right outside my house. As you can see...

Blocked Duct ?!

... not so much a blockage in the duct, but no duct! Someone, probably 20 years ago when the development was done, cut a nice section out the duct and installed an electric cable joint in its place. Suffice to say, that's gone back to Openreach, and they suspect they'll have to come back for a duct overlay... so about 20m of pavement to dig. You can see why the costs of these things mount up.

As for the chambers either side, the upstream one looks quite good... the downstream one looks more, quite literally downstream.... wet and with a lovely layer of silt. It looks like that's the one the fibre DP is meant to be going in!

Upstream Chamber (with rope installed from the previous chamber)
Downstream Chamber (with their rod in place towards the "blockage")

Oh and here's a little video of how to clear a duct... or not. Love the materials recycling at the end...

In reply to a post by olicuk:

There's zero reason to unblock any of the ducts being unblocked to serve any of PCP11's properties, or act as any kind of spine to it.

True; although ducts *should* be maintained as a matter of course. Once they have a contractor working in the area, I suppose they could just be doing some additional duct maintenance or fixing known problems.

In reply to a post by olicuk:

Oh and here's a little video of how to clear a duct... or not. Love the materials recycling at the end...

I presume their horses were tied up just off-camera!

In reply to a post by olicuk:

I read into the announcement that FTTP might take more of a front seat over G.Fast. I guess they each have their own benefits in different scenarios, to my mind FTTP fits the ducted newish-build detached and-semi housing estate scenario much better than a G.Fast pod where the majority are hundreds of meters from the PCP, and even more so now competitors re starting to steal a march. Yes the numbers are still lowish, but 10% is better than 1%, and a 25%+ announcement at that stage would hardly have been credible given the progress to date.

Not impossible but I wouldn't bet on it.

The cabinet here has a bunch of premises too far away to take advantage of G.fast, is fully ducted to all premises, has some MDUS, has some newer build that's getting FTTP that will involve the PON running through this one, has Virgin Media, and has this.

From left to right as viewed a Huawei 288, a G.fast pod, the PCP, a stand-off shell for extra tie-pairs, and a Huawei 384.

The Openreach plan remains mostly G.fast. It would be impossible to hit the target of 12-13 million premises at >100Mb by 2020 without the bulk being G.fast. The target remains 9-10 million G.fast, 3 million FTTP.

I don't know how a duct could reasonably be maintained .

In reply to a post by Rastus:

I presume their horses were tied up just off-camera!

A high pressure hose at the same time the CSE is sweeping out the joint box

In reply to a post by candlerb:

True; although ducts *should* be maintained as a matter of course. Once they have a contractor working in the area, I suppose they could just be doing some additional duct maintenance or fixing known problems.

Hahaha... well it looks like this one has been opened for the first time in 20 years. Certainly nothing would have made it through before. Apparently they came earlier in the year and test rodded 2.5km of ducts in the local area, in order to submit the quote for doing the enablement.

So the duct clearing duo came back late morning with some choice Irish language as they'd been told to open back up again the hole they had dug and refilled yesterday. Then an hour or so later the fibre pair appeared with a 300m reel of connectorised fibre with an 8 port DP (actually CBT, Connectorised Block Terminal) at the end (though they thought it was going to be 12 port), and pulled it through the ducts, including through the open air hole, back the 250m or so to the chamber where the splitter node is (at the mil-camp end of Campbell Road). Apparently 10 DPs are going in under this work, and 3 splitter nodes have gone in.

They had a few problems, especially where the other duct clearing in our road had gone on, on a sharp bend, so much so they handed me their walkie talkie and asked me to shout stop when they'd managed to pull all the fibre though! The pre-installed connectorised DP sits in the middle of the disposable cable reel containing the length of fibre, so once the cable pull was completed, they just fitted and tightened an expanding metal beam and support pole into the chamber (no drilling needed), removed the DP from the reel, and clipped it to the pole. The chamber was closed and off they went to splice the other end into the splitter. Amazingly quick.

The groundworkers returned as the fibre guys finished, to fill the hole back in again... it seems they were almost going to bung all the soil back in without repairing the duct, but after pointing out that the duct would be needed both to bring the second, third and fourth DPs in once the first was full, and to even get fibre from the DP to my house or many of my neighbours, they trekked off and got some half-duct to create a tunnel. Hopefully they'll manage to pull cables through it in the future without redigging, but I won't hold my breath!

Oh, and then before they left they dug another hole in the tarmac and refilled it. A fake blocked duct as it's called in the trade apparently!

That wasn't the only concerning thing however; and I have returned to the conclusion that this work has been instigated by a data error or oversight rather than part of Fibre First. One of the fibre guys today implied this was all being installed under government funding and the SEP programme, and having looked in more detail at the Hampshire Superfast Broadband website they do indeed show (somewhat inconclusively though) that parts of this area are getting Wave 2 intervention. For properties on the RG26 5XB postcode (the "odds"), who are incidentally on the duct run before properties on the RG26 5XP postcode (the "evens"), and therefore closer to the cabinet as the primary cable makes most of its way on the 5XB postcode side of the road, crossing periodically at junction boxes to the 5XP side) this states:

Our records indicate that the cabinet which serves this address has been upgraded by BT Openreach under their commercial investment programme.
You may therefore be able to access fibre broadband already and we suggest that you check the speeds available to you by visiting the BT Openreach website.
�.
Our records indicate that once the upgrade has been completed, some properties will be too far away from the upgraded infrastructure to access superfast services. Hampshire County Council is awaiting further information from Government about how to address this issue.

It's pretty clear that records HCC have been given are wrong... despite being all good on the DSLchecker website where the properties can get from an "Impacted Low" of 40Mbps up to a high of 80Mbps. There is only one thick multipair copper cable running into the road, and at each pavement box it breaks out and gets ever smaller. The biggest bundle then crosses the road outside my house (top of this picture) in preparation for a fork in the road. So it's all from one cabinet, and joint quality and the matter of a few metres aside, everyone should get a similar service.

It'll be interesting to see if all postcodes on PCP12 get a status of FTTP available when the work is completed, or only those on certain postcodes. And also to see what the Hampshire SEP make of it, as it looks like Openreach could have pulled a fast one.

Photos:
- 300m connectorised FTTP fibre (8pt DP version)
- and again
- and the product label + QR code

PS. The QR code leads to http://www.corning.com/bt-openreach/emea/en.html

- quick-fit pole to mount the DP to

- reopened "blocked" duct

- Fibre and pull rope for another across the missing duct space!!!

Edited by deleted (Fri 08-Jun-18 22:29:47)

Nice images, this was the >> drum reel << that they used on our FTTP install I was told it had 98 (I think) strands due to that was all they had on the back of the large van.

Paul

Thanks

That drum reel of yours almost needs a drum roll!! 98 strands, you can get a lot of data over that, though to use them all would cost you a pretty penny!

Just watched the installation video on the Corning site.... http://players.brightcove.net/3875446796001/default_...

Guessing today's engineer hadn't, as he cut the reel apart to get to the conectorised block terminal.... but seeing the video, there's a little pocket that opens and out it pulls!

Yeah I am starting to see those new conectorised blocks down my side roads.

That 98 (I think) cable is connected between our Splitter Node (bottom of my road) and daisy chained through 3 or 4 DP's then to mine and they only enabled our DP lol so at most 12 to14 will be used.

Paul

So around the 11th July, about a month after the duct clearing and fibres went in, native FTTP became available - for some, of course not for me! So certainly quick from start to finish, as good as any FTTC delivery, but not all-inclusive. It's taken until now for me to post, as I wanted to work out exactly which properties (according to the DSL checker) can order it, and what FTTC service they already could get. I've now managed to script and check the footprints of PCPs 11 and 12, as well as 4 and 5 nearby.

It appears PCP11 only serves 16 properties, nos 1-16 out of the 29 units in the Campbell Court business park. Most of these now show FTTP natively available, though a few (sandwiched between units which do) still don't appear to have an FTTx option. Hopefully a data error, but more likely their copper DP didn't get given a fibre twin in this messed up rollout I'd guess.

The other 13 properties in the business park, and 179 residential properties are shown as served from PCP12 - and these have consequently had FTTC available since 2013.

In terms of FTTC speed available, at the lowest end three of the residential properties (in the same 50m-long close of 2 and 3-bed terraced and semi-detached houses as each other) show a max VDSL speed of 34.4Mbps - though the other properties they're terraced to show speeds of 69.4Mbps (in one case) and otherwise 73.3Mbps or more - so any issue with the 3 is likely fixable.

The full distribution is:
No. Properties - Forecast A (Clean) Max VDSL Speed
102 - 80 Mbps
48 - 77.3 Mbps
21 - 73.5 Mbps
9 - 69.4 Mbps
10 - 64.7 Mbps
5 - 59.2 Mbps
1 - 48.9 Mbps
3 - 34.4 Mbps

FTTP has been made available to 47 of the residential properties on PCP12, in 4 distinct locations. The following map shows these:

- Map of PCP11 and 12 FTTP and non-FTTP properties

Of these 47 that now have the native FTTP option, only the three mentioned above have a forecast A-range max VDSL speed of less than 69.4Mbps, the other 44 all being at that speed or above.


So what's gone on here and why? I can't for example believe at least 4 people in the area have ordered FoD, and had it implemented at the same time! Looking at maps and address search results on the local BDUK site (Hampshire Superfast Broadband) and from comments the road crews made, it now looks like misplaced BDUK intervention.

The fibre "engineer" doing the install suggested that the first fibre DPs (CBTs) were being delivered centrally in each road, and anyone in the road would then be able to order; of course that is not so, and was somewhat unbelievable as it would create a spaghetti rather than managed network were it the case. Rather, as I understand from other threads is normal procedure, the fibre DPs only serve the same premises as the existing copper DP in the same location - no clever network re-engineering.

Would like people's thoughts on it. Whilst I'm disappointed not to have a native FTTP option other than FoD myself as yet, I seem to have benefitted somewhere along the line, as during the physical works my attainable and sync rates jumped from 64Mbps to 74Mbps - I'm therefore not struggling for speed! But I am concerned at:

- the potential mis-spending of BDUK money where it's not needed due to, presumably, poor data from Openreach - who should have checks in place against this at implementation time.

- the 2-tier neighbourhood it creates, where random properties are gifted the FTTP option, and others have the hassle (and limited supplier options and potential cost) of FTTPoD. With no VM or competition, I can't see Openreach furthering the rollout here until near the end of their up-to-2033-or-so FTTP programme, despite the ease at which fibre DPs could be provided to the whole community given the limted footprint.

I'm planning to contact the Hampshire Superfast team and Openreach also for comment.

Instead of speculating wildly, why don't you arrange a meeting with the Openreach planners & their bean counters and then they can tell you the reasoning behind the FTTP rollout in your area?

In reply to a post by baby_frogmella:

Instead of speculating wildly, why don't you arrange a meeting with the Openreach planners & their bean counters and then they can tell you the reasoning behind the FTTP rollout in your area?

Let me give them a call tomorrow.... oh, hang on, I don't have their numbers!

As I said, I'll contact the local BDUK group, whom my wild speculation considers have likely been given poor data by Openreach, and hence will be unnecessarily contributing to Openreach coffers at the expense of superfast for others in the county. Or I could, with my "small business", apply for a gigabit voucher through Cerberus, and knowing it should need a 4 port 300m CBT to the local splitter node to get FTTP to me and my neighbours on the same copper DP, to be fed through recently cleared ducts so the cost would I'd hope come in under the 3k voucher, give even more govt money to Openreach. Hmmmm...

I hope you�re aware that once FoD goes live it shows up as native FTTP (WBC FTTP) on the DSL checker for the property concerned? (proof here) Not only that, but under the current FoD scheme, all other premises served by the same FTTP splitter as the ordering property will also show up as getting WBC FTTP - even though they might not have paid a penny. See what I�m getting at?

I suspect in time there will be more �complaints� like yours as more FoD gets installed and shows up random small pockets of WBC FTTP and people are left wondering why neighbouring streets from the same FTTC cab are showing up WBC FTTP on the DSL checker and their property is not.

I�m still waiting for one or more people on my street to complain on TBB why Openreach have decided to install �native� FTTP to just one property on our street

Edited by deleted (Wed 01-Aug-18 07:23:45)

As I suspected, some of that "native" FTTP you have highlighted on your map is almost certainly down to a recent FTTPoD installation. Probably by someone living at St John Close RG26 5XF, or close to it. I bet his/her neighbours are over the moon

Random property:

https://s22.postimg.cc/6oefctacx/DSL_checker.jpg

Thanks for your two replies. However, as you said, FoD and native FTTP look alike, and there's nothing I see to imply this is FoD. If it were a single grouping of properties supplied by one copper DP, then yes I'd agree with you, but in this case there are 47 (residential) properties outside of the business park that have been enabled, in at least 4 separate locations (though some locations back on to each other, I know from looking into the pavement chambers as they routed the fibre, that they are fed from different directions/roads; and the locations of the duct clearances also support this statement).

Here again is the map I've produced here showing the FTTP enabled properties:
Map Link

And a subset of data from DSLchecker which shows all of the properties on the two PCPs 11 and 12:
Export Link

Coupled with the (low resolution) maps and per-property responses on the Hampshire Superfast Broadband website, I remain convinced that this is misplaced BDUK intervention (apart from the properties in the business park on PCP11).

Not only that, but under the current FoD scheme, all other premises served by the same FTTP splitter as the ordering property will also show up as getting WBC FTTP

Not the case.
It is only those who share a DP who will be enabled.
If it was those who shared a splitter then it would be a lot more properties.

In reply to a post by j0hn83:

Not only that, but under the current FoD scheme, all other premises served by the same FTTP splitter as the ordering property will also show up as getting WBC FTTP

Not the case.
It is only those who share a DP who will be enabled.
If it was those who shared a splitter then it would be a lot more properties.

Sorry, you are correct. I should have stated a Distribution Point (DP) which is the final branch off point rather than a splitter which is further up the chain and serves more premises.