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Hi everyone
I am considering changing my ISP from one FTTC provider to another - I already have FTTC.
The problem is that some time back I found out that my local cabinet was full and not accepting new connections.
Can anyone tell me how to find out if that's still the case, I've been looking it up, going on the BT DSL checker and Samknows but can't seem to find the correct information.
I think I'm right in thinking that if I change suppliers it should be a simple case of moving from one place to another, BUT I am a bit paranoid of problems and possibly losing my access to FTTC and having to move back to ADSL. That would be an absolute disaster for my business that I run from the same line so, if there's a chance of that happening I'd rather grit my teeth and put up with current ISP issues than change.
What does everyone thing. Can that happen, that you can lose your connection? Is there a way of finding out if the cabinet is still full?
Thanks in advance! 
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The BT Wholesale checker should be the best guide as to whether capacity is available, but it is a dynamic affair.
If the cab is actually full then no order should be possible.
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The author of the above post is a thinkbroadband staff member. It may not constitute an official statement on behalf of thinkbroadband.
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Thank you for your reply.
Is the the checker you mean? https://www.dslchecker.bt.com
I've looked on the BT Wholesale site but I can't seem to find anything on there. (It's late, I could be missing something obvious!)
Ah I see. So if they haven't increased capacity, I won't be able to even change from one supplier to another even though it's not a 'new' connection?
Thanks.
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There have been several cases reported on these forums of people ordering an FTTC > FTTC migration, and finding they end up back on ADSL2+.
Openreach have a queuing system, used by a few ISPs. That means that as soon as a port on an FTTC cabinet becomes available it is allocated to the highest request on the list.
The fact you see your cabinet as being "available" immediately before placing your order doesn't mean it will be available by the time you complete the order process with your new ISP.
Quite how the timing fails I don't know, but if there is one port free and one or two people on the same phone cabinet order FTTC in that few minutes you might find the setting up of the queue happens after OR have accepted your order for processing and confirmed it to your new ISP and from them to you.
Given that Openreach also break down an ISP's order into several internal orders your cease of service from your current ISP takes place and is then followed by the order from your new ISP to connect FTTC. But that order is lower down the queue for a port and the top one gets your port.
Disaster for you.
A completely dysfunctional system  .
My broadband basic info/help site - www.robertos.me.uk. Domains, site and mail hosting - Tsohost.
Connection - Three 4G, tbb tests normally 35-45Mpbs down, 65Mbps off-peak, 9-24 up.
==================================================
"Democracy means simply the bludgeoning of the people by the people for the people." Oscar Wilde |
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Is the the checker you mean? https://www.dslchecker.bt.com
Yes - it says "Waiting list" if the cabinet is full(*). If it's showing as capacity available, and does continuously for a couple of weeks, you may be OK.
How did you find out originally that the cabinet was full?
Have you seen any activity which might imply that extra capacity has been added - e.g. roadworks around the cabinet, or an extension pod bolted onto the side?
(*) unless they have changed the site. Does anyone have an example of a cabinet which *is* showing "Waiting list" at the moment?
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Telephone Number xxxxxxxxxx on Exchange PETERHEAD is served by Cabinet 9
Featured Products
Downstream Line Rate(Mbps)
Upstream Line Rate(Mbps)
Downstream Handback Threshold(Mbps)
WBC FTTC Availability Date
WBC SOGEA Availability Date
Left in Jumper
High
Low
High
Low
VDSL Range A (Clean)
80
78.3
20
19
73.2
Waiting list
Waiting list
--
VDSL Range B (Impacted)
80
76.8
20
19
70.7
Waiting list
Waiting list
--
Featured Products
Downstream Line Rate(Mbps)
Upstream Line Rate(Mbps)
Downstream Range(Mbps)
WBC FTTP Availability Date
FTTP on Demand
330
30
--
Available
--
--
ADSL Products
Downstream Line Rate(Mbps)
Upstream Line Rate(Mbps)
Downstream Range(Mbps)
Availability Date
Left in Jumper
WBC ADSL 2+
Up to 14
--
8 to 18
Available
--
--
ADSL Max
Up to 7
--
6.5 to 8
Available
--
--
WBC Fixed Rate
2
--
--
Available
--
--
Fixed Rate
2
--
--
Available
--
--
Observed Speeds
VDSL
Other Offerings
Availability Date
VDSL Multicast
--
--
--
Available
--
--
ADSL Multicast
--
--
--
Available
--
--
Premise environment
Status
Bridge Tap
U
VRI
N
NTEFaceplate
N
Last Test Date
19-05-2017
Sorry about the formatting
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Openreach would not fall people back to ADSL/ADSL2+ that has been a choice made by the retailer. Remember Openreach does run any exchange based DSLAM
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The author of the above post is a thinkbroadband staff member. It may not constitute an official statement on behalf of thinkbroadband.
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Thanks. So if the OP *doesn't* see "Waiting List" that should mean there is at least one port available.
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Yes, I agree. But there is little that can happen other than the retailer trigger that as a stopgap. Unless the customer chooses to go fully mobile and demand compensation.
My broadband basic info/help site - www.robertos.me.uk. Domains, site and mail hosting - Tsohost.
Connection - Three 4G, tbb tests normally 35-45Mpbs down, 65Mbps off-peak, 9-24 up.
==================================================
"Democracy means simply the bludgeoning of the people by the people for the people." Oscar Wilde |
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�Should� being the operative word. I wonder if it updates in real time, or at intervals from Openreach. Taking us back anyway to what I posted earlier.
My broadband basic info/help site - www.robertos.me.uk. Domains, site and mail hosting - Tsohost.
Connection - Three 4G, tbb tests normally 35-45Mpbs down, 65Mbps off-peak, 9-24 up.
==================================================
"Democracy means simply the bludgeoning of the people by the people for the people." Oscar Wilde |
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Thank you everyone for your replies.
It does sound a bit like I feared, as RobertoS said, a completely dysfunctional system indeed.
So from how I understand what's been written, the fact that I already have an FTTC connection is irrelevant, my order is just put into a queue of orders in the system and if there isn't capacity for me...?
Is the order rejected or drops down to ADSL? If I've read MrSaffron correctly, the order should be rejected unless the new ISP hungry for new business pushes down me onto a ADSL connection...is that correct?
I've also included my exchange details, everything seems to seem that it's available as far as I can see...?
https://i.imgur.com/AMjeWxf.jpg
Thanks.
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Why do think there is currently no capacity? The checker say its available which indicates there are free ports.
It would help knowing the specific cabinet
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It's not quite that, I'm not sure if there is capacity or not, which has lead me down a rabbit hole of whether it's worth taking the risk or not.
As I said in my OP, some time back when I looked into moving to a new ISP I saw then that there was no capacity, but I can't remember where I saw it, whether I was looking at these checkers, or trying to make a transfer request that declined, frustrating but I just can't recall what it was.
Ah ha, I can tell you the specific cabinet, it's cabinet 9.
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The BTWholesale checker will display if there's a waiting if you use the address option.
If you have FTTC already and use the number checker it will always display available even if on a waiting list. The address checker will show waiting list correctly.
I can't remember how many years ago it was the last time I saw someone migrating between FTTC providers who lost their port and had to downgrade to ADSL.
You keep the same port when migrating now.
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Cabinet 9 you say? Can you be more specific?
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Ah ha, I can tell you the specific cabinet, it's cabinet 9. The exchange is needed as well as the cabinet . It shows on the same line above the table as the cabinet number.
Basically you are just worried because of a problem you had once before, but your position now is just like anyone else wanting to migrate. It nearly always goes well.
You'd be surprised how accurate any guess a certain poster makes once you give the exchange and confirm the cab 9 will be  .
My broadband basic info/help site - www.robertos.me.uk. Domains, site and mail hosting - Tsohost.
Connection - Three 4G, tbb tests normally 35-45Mpbs down, 65Mbps off-peak, 9-24 up.
==================================================
"Democracy means simply the bludgeoning of the people by the people for the people." Oscar Wilde
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OMG....what a plonker...sorry, that was a useless post wasn't it!
Exchange - Longton (I know the code for it used to be LCLOT)
Cabinet - 9
Sorry about that *cringe*
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Thanks j0hn83, that's a good tip.
I've just checked with the address checker and it's showing everything as available. So that's a good sign I suppose!
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Hi everyone
I think I'm right in thinking that if I change suppliers it should be a simple case of moving from one place to another, BUT I am a bit paranoid of problems and possibly losing my access to FTTC and having to move ack to ADSL. That would be an absolute disaster for my business that I run from the same line so, if there's a chance of that happening I'd rather grit my teeth and put up with current ISP issues than change.
Thanks in advance!
Hi, what everyone seems to have forgotten is that normally when you switch between isps that use openreach's network, is that unless you have done a cease and re-provide your connection will stay put and its switched on the radius servers. The physical port is not re-jumpered.
I've gone from pn to eclipse to pn when i was on adsl and i'm changing again.
Also long as you know your new username and password theres shouldn't be a problem. Only if the databases are not updated which can take till midnight on the switch date.
One thing you have not explained is which isps you switching from and to.
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About 3 years it was at or near full capacity for about 6 months, then had an upgrade which double the capacity. There should still be plenty of free ports available.
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Oh really? I knew it was a while ago!
Thank you for that information, that's brilliant!
Just out of curiosity, where did you find that? I'd be fascinated to see.
Whatever I change over to, I'd probably best wait until the new year now. I'd be grateful for hopefully extra speed (I never get over 22mbps) and better reliability, but if there's any problems there won't be the people about to fix them.
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Thanks for the perspective!
You have a point, and combined with witchunt's post I think I may be OK, capacity was doubled a couple of years back so I should be fine.
That is a good question, I haven't decided yet.
I was initially thinking of BT (I know, I know). Only for the fact that they used to have some dirt cheap introductory offers and offered the huge wireless network for their customers. I have a lot of BT wiresless networks around here so if my net went down for any reason hopefully I could jump onto another BT network.
However...they are surprisingly expensive!
I'm looking at Zen now. They are surprisingly cheap compared to what they used to be charging.
I could always use my phone as a hotspot if the wired internet went down, but my reception is pretty sketchy at times.
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Best not to ask the how.
MORE IMPORTANT
Why do you think switching will signifcantly improve speeds if you current get 22 Mbps over your FTTC connection?
Edited by MrSaffron (Tue 10-Dec-19 09:35:52)
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The author of the above post is a thinkbroadband staff member. It may not constitute an official statement on behalf of thinkbroadband.
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I'm always fascinated by the how, especially with this technology.
I don't think, I *hope*, that's all. My connection speed has been all over the place at times, and always very slow and often dropping in the late evening, predictably so each night.
I'm just fed up with that, and the price I pay for that.
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�Predictably so at night�
Actually time related ? ie 8pm it drops every night ?
Varying speeds.
It sounds faulty to me ... what stats does your router show ?
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Is the connection speed changing a lot, or is this speed test results you are talking about?
Connection drops of the VDSL2 i.e. the local line suggests there may be something wrong and this would most likely remain even after switching provider.
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The author of the above post is a thinkbroadband staff member. It may not constitute an official statement on behalf of thinkbroadband.
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Thank you for your replies, I'm sorry I haven't replied to this.
I have to admit that it completely went out of my mind with Christmas work ramping up like mad. I've suddenly remembered as the speed has dropped wildly again tonight.
From around 22mbps, down to around 5mbps with an upload of around 6-7mbps.
Again, it's only happened in the evening, after 11PM.
Is it a fault with my equipment / the wiring / the provider are you thinking with it being unreliable at a specific time of day?
What sort of stats would you like from the router?
Thanks.
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Since posting that a few minutes ago, it's jumped back up to 25mbps.
In testing it before, I rebooted the router twice and it didn't help, the speed was very slow still. I tested it on two computers on the router, and on a phone connected via wifi - same speeds on them all after the reboots.
I've just spotted that it was downloading from Steam at 3.1MB/s, sure enough, did a speed check and it's back to normal.
I'm at a loss with this fault!
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I assume you weren't doing the speed test at the same time as doing the steam download?
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No, definitely not. lol I get why you asked though!
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No, definitely not. lol I get why you asked though! Fair enough,something definitely odd going on with your connection then.
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