FTTP - Signs of Install Starting!

Afternoon All,

So I arrived home today and found the streets around my new build estate awash with BT vans and engineers opening up man hole covers and peering down them for a few minutes and then moving onto the next (one of them had a tablet with him which looked like it showed all the cable routes)

I live in a post code area that is part of the rural villages build (Minster/Sheerness) so was happy to see some sign of life.... should this mean that work is about to start hopefully?

The last email I had from the fibre contact team said all being well things should be live by MAR21 so it kind of all fits together hopefully?

I have been watching roadworks.org like a hawk so was very happy when I caught them in the act

It is likely yes, they may just be doing surveys at the moment, but it's a good sign.

FTTP work does appear to be picking up across Kent at the moment. I'm also seeing a few areas local to me that are not on any list with fibre coiled ready for rollout (assuming it's not FTTPoD) + postcodes in Ramsgate, Broadstairs, Deal, Faversham, etc starting to come online.

A lot of Kent seems to be included in the various projects which is nice to see...

I am hoping being on a new build estate thats all been ducted in the last 5 years should mean its a quick win and we will be one of the first around here!

So they came back today, although they were from a company called Full Fibre Network Group and were installing blue draw ropes in the main pavement chambers (strangely they were only incorporated as a company in July 2020)

Guess they are doing the prep for the Openreach guys to come in behind and pull in the fibre?

Edited by kjwkjw (Thu 01-Oct-20 20:06:07)

https://uk.linkedin.com/in/perry-spencer-b672b41b3

Ah! Obviously more money to be made in contracting I guess BT need all the help they can get with the scale of their role out plans.

Trying to get it done before they need a permit to get into Kent from outside and/or Kent unilaterally declares independence

Looks like my fibre dream is closing in!

Imagine my surprise to see activity in my floor box this morning (on a Sunday!)

CBT install complete, just need it all to be joined up now

https://pasteboard.co/JJ0jQTc.png

Normally once CBT is on it normally takes 1-4 weeks before FTTP shows up on BT site.. we switched from virgin to BT once we knew they were live and it took them 1 week go live once the CBT was installed.

Edited by deleted (Sun 10-Jan-21 23:49:33)

The guys doing the CBT installs across the estate said they would not be doing the splicing and that BT would be coming at some point to do it.

When I last got in touch with Openreach they said by March 21 so I guess they will come back some time before then to finish the job!

To be honest I am just happy it actually still happened to plan especially considering the current circumstances.

Just glad I have finally seen some concrete proof that its coming!

In reply to a post by kjwkjw:

Ah! Obviously more money to be made in contracting I guess BT need all the help they can get with the scale of their role out plans.

Surely most of Openreach’s FTTP build is done by contractors? Has been round here anyway, with just the occasional Openreach van popping up.

In reply to a post by _Icaras_:

In reply to a post by kjwkjw:

Ah! Obviously more money to be made in contracting I guess BT need all the help they can get with the scale of their role out plans.

Surely most of Openreach’s FTTP build is done by contractors? Has been round here anyway, with just the occasional Openreach van popping up.

So far its been that same company I previously mentioned doing everything so looks that way.

Just to keep the timeline up to date, CBT's been in a month now but not live as yet...

Have seen plenty more being installed not just on my estate but further out into the area so I guess they are going for a big bang enablement rather than in bits

Hopefully not much longer!

I'm in the waiting game in my area. Openreach's contractors put in the ducting and installed the CBT's in the footway boxes a couple of weeks ago but according to the latest update Openreach are "fibering-up" an area 30 miles away at the moment.

So nearly 2 months after all the CBT's were installed around my area, no signs of go live as yet Anyone in the know aware of any hold ups with the build in Minster (Sheppey) or is it just one of those things

We are a fibre village area and they have done a lot of work in the area so was thinking they may use this to bump the numbers for their March deadline... we will see.

I'm in the same situation in Stratford upon Avon, the CBTs went in the underground chambers in October 2020. Some roadworks appeared for 4th Feb to unblock a duct on the main road back to the aggregation node (the local council restricts works on that road for Christmas between November and January).
They were back on the estate testing something in the chambers on 5th or 6th Feb. I thought at that point it wouldn't be long before it was enabled (another retrofit newish build estate in Stratford went live in January) but now a month later still nothing. No planned works visible on one.network either.

I did email into Openreach as they are the ones who originally said by March 2021, but not come back to me... probably got bored with me keep emailing them

I have been monitoring the progress like a hawk and my new build estate had guys here throughout January doing CBT's and running fibre for the splitters etc (all underground)

Another area up the road is all pole mounted HW and again all the splitters and CBT's have been installed for a while.

Guess either work in the exchange or the spine cabling is holding up progress potentially.

If anyone in the know has some info ill buy you a beer or 2

Edited by kjwkjw (Thu 04-Mar-21 11:15:24)

Try asking them on Twitter

There are several areas around here where some fibre infrastructure was in place a couple of years ago, yet they've still not actually installed any fibre to the houses. It can some times take a very long time

In reply to a post by andynormancx:

There are several areas around here where some fibre infrastructure was in place a couple of years ago, yet they've still not actually installed any fibre to the houses. It can some times take a very long time

They normally only run cables to the pole/chambers. It's only run to houses upon order for FTTP service.

Have you checked to see whether it can be ordered in any of these locations?

Finally something new this morning. I spotted one man in an Openreach van going around and taking a quick look in each of the underground chambers on the estate.
This is the first time there has been an actual Openreach van here, all the work until now has been contractors (MAP Group).
I'm hoping this is Openreach doing an inspection/signoff for the contractors work and therefore it might get enabled shortly, assuming they spotted no problems.

Nice, I assume that is what I am waiting for as well.

I did see someone at an aggregation node that serves my new build estate splicing away today and roadworks.org has them scheduled there from yesterday until Saturday evening, hopefully connected.

In other news has anyone else noticed roadworks.org no longer gives any detail? i.e. I can see Openreach have work ongoing but not what they are doing.... shame as it was a good way to track progress.

In reply to a post by kjwkjw:

In other news has anyone else noticed roadworks.org no longer gives any detail? i.e. I can see Openreach have work ongoing but not what they are doing.... shame as it was a good way to track progress.

I noticed that too. Even council work doesn't say what they're doing any more.

one network who do the roadworks data says the lack of detail is to do with data protection!!!!!!???

In reply to a post by candlerb:

In reply to a post by kjwkjw:

In other news has anyone else noticed roadworks.org no longer gives any detail? i.e. I can see Openreach have work ongoing but not what they are doing.... shame as it was a good way to track progress.

I noticed that too. Even council work doesn't say what they're doing any more.

Yes all changed a few weeks ago as the DfT change the rules big time...

https://onenetworkhq.medium.com/street-manager-what-...

In reply to a post by Pheasant:

Yes all changed a few weeks ago as the DfT change the rules big time...

https://onenetworkhq.medium.com/street-manager-what-...

What they're really saying is "our business model requires more people to pay for subscription access".

If it were truly about data protection, then it wouldn't matter whether you were a paying customer. They'd either be allowed to share the data, or not.

In reply to a post by candlerb:

In reply to a post by Pheasant:

Yes all changed a few weeks ago as the DfT change the rules big time...

https://onenetworkhq.medium.com/street-manager-what-...

What they're really saying is "our business model requires more people to pay for subscription access".

If it were truly about data protection, then it wouldn't matter whether you were a paying customer. They'd either be allowed to share the data, or not.

It’s going “closed shop”. To get the dirt about the dirt you need to be an employee of a street works approved contractor.

To me it read like there was simply too much good publicly accessible info out there to hang people on. IYSWIM.

I had MAP group contractors back in the chambers on Monday, presumably the Openreach inspection found some things that needed addressing.
Overnight the wholesale checker has updated the FTTPoD speed from 330/30 to 1000/220 which from other threads here sounds like it can be a sign that FTTP will be enabled shortly, I'm hoping it is close now.

Yep! Sounds like it wont be long before you can order. Still hoping mine will change one day haha.

They are putting up more and more CBT's, but nothing yet live in my estate or a number of others in the area that I know have had the kit installed this year.

To be honest I am just glad I know the kit is there, at least means its coming rather than sometime before 20xx?

Yes it looks like the speed change on FTTPoD was a reliable indicator, it switched over to WBC FTTP available overnight, so 48 hours after the FTTPoD speed updated to 1000/220.
I've just placed an order with Zen for their 900mbit (I am on Zen FTTC currently), won't get an install date until Monday though due to it being a weekend.

djb61

Drop Mr Saffron a PM / E-mail with some sample Post codes in so that he can find the new area and update the map.

Thanks

E-mail sent.

It seems despite Zen saying I wouldn't get an install date until Monday that they were wrong, I got an e-mail a little earlier with an install date of 29th March so a pretty decent turnaround.

Nice one! Not a bad install date either considering all the delays of late. Will likely be going with Zen myself, hopefully not much longer and I can post the same

Very quick turnaround. I ordered beginning of Feb and it's only going to be done at the beginning of May.

My install was down as a 1 stage install for the 29th but this afternoon I had an Openreach engineer call at the door. He said that as we were the first to order he had come out to run the feed from the chamber in advance and to double check everything was working right, light check on the fibre etc.
It seems despite the contractors coming back to resolve stuff after the last openreach check that everything still wasn't right. He didn't say what was wrong just that there was a problem in the chamber but he was here a couple of hours and I saw the cover was off the splitter trays when he was working in the chamber.
Apparently everything is sorted now and I have a coil of fibre outside where the duct comes up so fingers crossed the install should be nice and simple in a week or so.

Nice! Getting very close for you now.

Still no change here as far as being able to order goes, however they have had people here this week rodding and roping all the ducts to the individual houses!

I guess to make life easier for the installs when the time comes, CBT's, Splitters all connected and now blue rope to every house! Cant be much longer surely

My cul de sac (RH194TJ) had O.R. lay fibre back in Aug 2020 as I saw them lifting each cover along road and pulling through fibre. Unfortunatley 7 months later still only able to order FTTC .
I cycle around town frequently to try and keep fit and notice that O.R are busy doing work in most parts of the town and strangely those areas served by Telegraph pole which I saw them marking as Fibre enabled with yellow markers back in Dec 2020 are alreay able to order FTTP yet my estate and others in town when I look at BT Wholesale checker can not.

Is it easier to install Fibre in areas served via Tegraph poles rather than areas who have a duct from BT chamber to their premises?

In reply to a post by Riding_my_bike:

Is it easier to install Fibre in areas served via Tegraph poles rather than areas who have a duct from BT chamber to their premises?

It can be, especially when the lead-in from the chamber to the premise is via direct-buried cable, rather than in a duct. Openreach have been known to install new poles in that situation.

Also, the fibre that you saw being pulled between chambers might not have been intended to serve the properties in that area. It might be a spine connection to serve another area, or even for a leased line (which is completely separate from the FTTP network).

Is it unusual for night work on deployments?

I took the dog for a walk around 1900 yesterday and there was a guy working in the pitch black splicing fibre with just a head torch at one of the local aggregation nodes.

Imagine my surprise when I took the dog out again in the morning at 0630 to find him still there splicing away!

Glad to witness more progress, but cant imagine splicing in the dark over night is an easy job to be undertaking.

Thanks for reply. They were doing the surrounding roads to the north and west on the same day all of which are cul de sac type roads so am hopeful it was to serve the local houses.
The whole town is part of the Fibre first delivery albeit I am sure its a huge undertaking to roll out.

It's just very noticeable how quicker the 1/3rd of the town served via poles is being rolled out and lit up via BT WHoleseale chekcer and the slower progress (less visable to be fair) for the other 2/3rd

Is it unusual for night work on deployments?

Not at all unusual

Its definitely common I have seen them at midnight outside my house pulling fibre from the town centre in St Neots (Fibre First) past my house to a surrounding village.
Good news for those in the area I spoke to Clive Selley (Openreach CEO) he says that my end of the town is going to be finished before september 2022 so often when you see them do it once they often come back soon after.

I would be more concerned if i saw Virgin Media undertaking work at night as last time they did they disconnected everything and left it for three weeks and went off. when they came back they were like oh seems we forgot to re connect the cab feeds. You can imagine how my street reacted to hearing that statement

In reply to a post by RR_The_IT_Guy:

I spoke to Clive Selley (CEO of openreach) Last week

In reply to a post by RR_The_IT_Guy:

Clive Selley (Openreach CEO) emailed me last week

In reply to a post by RR_The_IT_Guy:

Clive Selley thinks it will be here in September 2022

In reply to a post by RR_The_IT_Guy:

Clive Selley is my savour when he emailed back

In reply to a post by RR_The_IT_Guy:

I spoke to Clive Selley (Openreach CEO)

Wow, how is Clive? please send my regards next time you speak with him.

I only spoke to him once and it was in regards to the Fibre First St Neots Roll out for my area in particular, its not a regular thing so i don't feel i will be able to do that until there is a major issue that his team cannot resolve or unless there is a delay to find out why.

Sorry to let you down there I won't be able to help you however if you have any issues or the openreach team don't answer back please feel free to email him and he will either call or email you back but please don't do this unnecessarily people I feel like he's busy enough without an extra few hundred emails.

Given RR doesn't have any services with Openreach, the flurry of phone calls and emails within the week from Clive is an impressive achievement indeed!

Now how about that Mike Fries chap and that problematic VM service...perhaps a few tweets and calls wouldn't go astray 😎

Yeah I tweeted more times than i can count and always get told many things that are completely unrealted.
also for the record a VM Man in a van turned up today at the Node and he told me he was checking it out for the fibre upgrade. Finally some good news. He then tells me 19-20Th next month for the actual fix date as he said its him doing the job.

I have quoted what i said elsewhere incase i missed anything.

Hi again
Just gone some good news, VM were just in my node and told me that they did not know of the problem however they are upgrading capacity and might be suppling the Gig1 service in my area if they are able to.

They told me it will be upgraded on the 19th and 20th 100% by that particular engineer. He said he did not know of an issue in the area however I can tell you what he said he was doing the problem should be fixed and will bring newer and quicker services for the future if they are doing a full upgrade.

Let's hope it helps with half the issue. then they might let me get an engineer to fix the other issue.

Interesting you got a call from the big man, i thought it was the exec complaints team who handle his email and he uses a different internal one.

Public figures almost ALWAYS have one public-facing email address, and another they actually use internally. Ministers are the same - one inbox firstname.lastname[at]department.gov.uk and then another which officials can send stuff to them for their offices to flag and put into a specific folder.

If Clive is getting back to RR then great, but I sense it may be the complaints team just using that mailbox. I've been a Minister before when covering in private office in my government department so... I doubt there was direct dialogue with him.

Edited by branflakes (Wed 24-Mar-21 21:34:21)

I mean before i sent an email to him i did also email a few of my contacts all over the country some at samknows, ofcom, connecting cambridgeshire amongst others to also email Openreach asking for direct communication from the top as all the other teams there were unhelpful and were not answering questions so i feel like that was part of it.
That and the email i sent basically stated that my whole area were interested in full fibre without the added cost of a community fibre partnership as i stated how it was commercially viable for them to upgrade the area also stating that all the virgin media customers in my area want to go to FTTP with cityfibre or openreach so there is a clear interest there

My contact at openreach and the other who works in placement of phone masts told me they had a discussion up the chain lets say stating my points how how it was imperative that Openreach acted as they had already lost the majority of customers and that those left were going to go to virgin media when they upgraded the node and cabs as per the planned work later next month according to Virgin Man In a Van (a cityfibre customer as virgin is too slow and unreliable he says, the best thing i heard this month).
I feel like the chances it was Clive are quite high from calling a few favours from various people. I know the response was not the type of response openreach higher complaints usually do it seemed quite different and in some sense sounded more true, I have experienced the different complaints teams before and it really was not the default email that others i know have had so i'll leave it for you to decide but calling in these favours did get me in touch with a lot of high up people in the past so its very possible.

But again as i said down to you to decide I always contact my people first before any teams as i would usually get a better response however this was not the case in this.

I'll let you read what i responded to the over post as it is directly related to this.

Have you got a friend called Max?

I don't know anyone in telecoms called Max, I know a person called max however they are definitely not involved in anything related that I have discussed, they are more of an acquaintance.

Seem like you are annoying him on behalf of everyone else.

I'm sorry I don't understand what you mean.

In reply to a post by Whitehall11:

Interesting you got a call from the big man, i thought it was the exec complaints team who handle his email and he uses a different internal one.

He reads his own emails. He also replied to my email about an hour before the complaints team read it.

The exec complaints team filter his emails to deal with the stuff he shouldn't, but he often replies to complaints.

Phoning for a chat is another matter

I never phoned I said i had a conversation.
I'm not sure why you assumed that.

In reply to a post by RR_The_IT_Guy:

I never phoned I said i had a conversation.
I'm not sure why you assumed that.

"I can tell you that I spoke to Clive Selley (CEO of openreach) Last week about FTTP and he told me about plans in my area stating that they would be operational around September 2022 For the St Neots area as part of of the Fibre First program."

So you spoke to Clive, you had a conversation but you never phoned.

Was it just a casual chat over the fence....socially distanced of course?

OK 😂👍😂

Edited by Pheasant (Fri 26-Mar-21 18:27:16)

I mean I say conversation because I use outlook desktop and that's how it words it so i try and be as correct as i can be. I mean i can see how it was implied but no I meant i spoke to him through email.

I mean a socially distanced chat would be nice but I can't see that happening that's mostly with the 14 Virgin Media engineers i have had this year already.

So you neither called or spoke to Clive. You simply emailed him. Fine. Let’s just call it a misunderstanding.

What’s your connection to Longsands College? Were / are you a student there?

So you neither called or spoke to Clive. You simply emailed him. Fine. Let’s just call it a misunderstanding.

Ok fair enough it happens.

What’s your connection to Longsands College? Were / are you a student there?

My connection is that I am a computer science student in astrea sixth form st neots who is the most known and basically called upon to find faults in their systems and give them the answers to how they could fix them as proved by a few months ago. I stated to them that if they did not act on what i said the network would be taken down and it would be a matter of time where the IT departments reaction was we know who will be the one to take us down then. A month later it happened so I was quite smug and the IT department were basically avoiding my questions and looking down awkwardly. When i asked whether they had fixed it or not and they knew it could not be me as I was not in that day but were like we are not at liberty to say.
I technically am not a student of longsands college as I am no longer part of that particular partition of the institution.

In reply to a post by RR_The_IT_Guy:

I am a computer science student in astrea sixth form

Purely out of interest, how old does that make you?

I get you ask this purely out of interest however the fact that you already know this much is considerably more than i would usually allow especially when its a discussion on a forum that is available to all and I am quite particular about what information is public knowledge but to make you happy I will hint that it is over 17 and that's all i'm willing to say this publicly partly due to identity theft amongst other reasons.
I'm not saying this because of anyone here it's just my policy to be vague when it comes to personal information and not to include any identifiable images online or anything that could compromise my situation.

In reply to a post by RR_The_IT_Guy:

I will hint that it is over 17

Yeah not to far over that I am guessing, you're right not to disclose too much about yourself online thats sensible.

Edited by deleted (Fri 26-Mar-21 22:59:36)

One of the reasons I don't is because I know someone who had a visit from the police because of certain events lets say and I feel that's enough said.
I know the people who are in my contacts get an email and text at the start of every year. It explains a range of the latest security risks but mostly about how people can use their data in a variety of ways from making a copy of keys to a new house or looking through tags in facebook posts to see a house number and a street name separately in the shot or tagged.
The potential of seemingly unobvious clues and if they don't believe me and ask me to prove it to them, I simply say go to IMessage take a picture of the floor and send it to me and then send them a screenshot back of their location and that's when they go okay i should do something about this. 9 times out of 10 their locations are enabled which makes things easy for anyone to track. I know I spend a good portion of my time teaching people that there are logs on everything they do, even by asking them if i can borrow their phone to show them how to get the logs with GDPR regs, then showing them the disappearing messages they sent, are not so disappearing. That one is always fun.
I know one thing I was voted most likely to take over the world my response to that was keep on top of your cyber security and there is no reason anyone will be able to do that, you can imagine my response was slightly controversial however effective.
The majority of people no longer have shared locations with everybody and only select few I tend to be included as everyone knows i only do good unlike some of the hackers i know so clearly my message to over 500 People is getting through.
I know the people i have helped and shown so appreciation. This have meant they have never stopped thanking me, before they always wondered how people found out where they lived, no surprise there, they definitely appreciated my advice.
I know the people who want to know addresses and who want to know everything aren't happy but i feel like that might be a good thing most people don't want some dude stalking them.

I know I do my best to ensure that no information about me and the people i know gets out or if so that the damage is minimal and use right to be forgotten forms to ensure minimalistic results.

I feel you can tell from this that data security and cyber security is an area I have more knowledge in.

Please keep your posts relevant to the thread and not so much repetitive stuff about how wonderful you are.

In reply to a post by Realalemadrid:

Please keep your posts relevant to the thread and not so much repetitive stuff about how wonderful you are.

That would be nice, every time I notice a new post on my thread I hope someone has some good news for me! haha

In reply to a post by kjwkjw:

Is it unusual for night work on deployments?

I took the dog for a walk around 1900 yesterday and there was a guy working in the pitch black splicing fibre with just a head torch at one of the local aggregation nodes.

Imagine my surprise when I took the dog out again in the morning at 0630 to find him still there splicing away!

Glad to witness more progress, but cant imagine splicing in the dark over night is an easy job to be undertaking.

Sound like you’re in the home stretch. 👍

Ok will do

Just to close off my part of this thread. Openreach came and did the second part of the install yesterday, all connected and working now.
They fitted a Nokia ONT.

I did have a minor issue after connecting up my Google Nest Wifi router to the ONT and a speedtest showing 20mbit/7mbit like my old connection. The Nest router does an automated speed test every two days and it seems it uses this in order to then apply some QoS to connections, so because the last speedtest showed 20mbit it was throttling me to that. After running a new speedtest on the router (which came out as 891/90) it was happy and unthrottled me.

So my build appears to be coming to a close, heard back from someone today on the planning team that they hope to have commissioning and testing done in the next few weeks all being well.

I now however may have another issue in that the 3rd party team testing property ducts couldn't seem to get their rods from my property, or the other 3 that share a duct back to the footway box today (circa 15m run according to the estate plans) Most other properties now have a blue rope tied up outside.

I assume this wont prevent an order, but may delay it when they come to do the 1st stage of the install? Would hate to be this close and then blocked from ordering because a 3rd party team couldn't get a rope in.

Thoughts?

Edited by kjwkjw (Mon 26-Apr-21 20:05:41)

Looks at what the BT wholesale checker says when it changes to "WBC FTTP" avaialble (if it hasn't already)

- 1 stage install
- 2 stage install
- KCI2 assure (= survey required)

Also the section labelled "Our records show the following FTTP network service information for these premises" lower in the page, e.g. you probably won't have "UG proven clear" if it's known to have a blockage.

In reply to a post by candlerb:

Looks at what the BT wholesale checker says when it changes to "WBC FTTP" avaialble (if it hasn't already)

- 1 stage install
- 2 stage install
- KCI2 assure (= survey required)

Also the section labelled "Our records show the following FTTP network service information for these premises" lower in the page, e.g. you probably won't have "UG proven clear" if it's known to have a blockage.

Thanks, that's what I hoped.. order still possible but with caveats.

To be honest the guys did not really try very hard, from what I saw it snagged after the first few meters and he took a picture and left. I guess they are paid by the job completed, and longer more difficult ones are not worth the time to spend time trying to get complete.

Hopefully the Openreach guys will have more luck come install time! Fingers crossed

hhhmmm think you have created a signifacant amout of disinformation in your assesments about your email (and that all they were) interesting you think you know more about openreach commercial business case that openreach does -- , so lots of virgin customer who get no choice want choice, virgin changes is commericial every says with virgin , openreach payback increases by 5 years - ,thats no commercial sense at all

Not sure what the post above is about?!

Anyways, to further update some nice guys (from OR this time) appeared this morning and I now have a blue rope!

Now I just need that checker to tick over to WBC FTTP

Edited by kjwkjw (Tue 27-Apr-21 18:25:46)

Ignore him, most of his posts make no sense... Anyway, hope it won't be too long!

Grimers

ignore me - interesting view of the world you carry on

lets hope you dont ever need my help then

LOL! It's not just me!

Post deleted by witchunt

Trouble is if you offered any help no one would know because the post they were talking about makes zero sense it's indecipherable, no offence but you need to reread it

Had a team (actually from OR! and not contractors for once) going around the estate over the last few days checking all the splitters... guess this must be the start of the checks and finally getting us live.

Not sure what I am going to do with myself once I can come off of FTTP watch haha.

Edited by kjwkjw (Wed 12-May-21 15:38:22)

I thought the same when I saw OR vans, too. But, apparently not...

In reply to a post by Grimers:

I thought the same when I saw OR vans, too. But, apparently not...

I remain with my fingers crossed! I did have an email from the chief engineers office saying they were hoping to be complete in a "few weeks" after I sent in a query.

I guess it depends on your interpretation of a few weeks! But it all fits in with the timeline so far.

Edited by kjwkjw (Thu 13-May-21 15:21:00)

Hmm, expect later rather than earlier. Initially, I was told that we would be able to order a FTTP service in late March, then late May, now sometime in June!

Edited by Grimers (Thu 13-May-21 15:22:59)

Race you to the finish

Haha, exactly! Fingers crossed we can both order soon!

In reply to a post by Grimers:

Hmm, expect later rather than earlier. Initially, I was told that we would be able to order a FTTP service in late March, then late May, now sometime in June!

That could be improving ...

March 2024, May 2023, June 2022 ... then maybe September 2021 !

Haha! September 2021 is possible I guess, but not holding my breath!

Edited by Grimers (Thu 13-May-21 16:17:01)

Nope, there are CBTs around me that have been on poles since October and they're still not live

Have seen Kelly's at CBT's doing light testing today, best hope they do not find any faults!

May I ask, what does that look like? I wonder if that's what OR were doing just down the road from me the other day!

In reply to a post by Grimers:

May I ask, what does that look like? I wonder if that's what OR were doing just down the road from me the other day!

Found a stock OR press image and labelled the various bits of gear for you...

https://postimg.cc/r0rFJ7ry

Similar to the above, except they wasn't splicing

They were using a light power meter with a fly lead which they were plugging into the CBT ports.

Haha. Yes no stock images available of power meters into CBT’s but it’s effectively the same test (albeit with different expected readings) that is done during commissioning (and troubleshooting) at various points in the network.

Thank you, appreciate you annotating the image. Looks rather interesting!

In reply to a post by Grimers:

Thank you, appreciate you annotating the image. Looks rather interesting!

They were actually testing my CBT this morning! Grabbed a pic

https://pasteboard.co/K2KioNm.png

Ooh, underground! Very nice! Ours are all overhead here, even where people currently have underground copper feeds.

My postcode area and a few others has changed to FTTPoD 1000/220 overnight, so guessing this is it!

Edited by kjwkjw (Fri 21-May-21 07:45:25)

Ooooh nice. They're still running fjbre feeds to our CBT's so guess we're maybe a week or so behind where you are. There's contractors here every day now as they work the back haul fibre up the road, they're currently 3 poles away so fingers crossed should be ready near the end of the month which was when the OR engineer said it'd be ready

In reply to a post by Rich44:

Ooooh nice. They're still running fjbre feeds to our CBT's so guess we're maybe a week or so behind where you are. There's contractors here every day now as they work the back haul fibre up the road, they're currently 3 poles away so fingers crossed should be ready near the end of the month which was when the OR engineer said it'd be ready

Hopefully your timeline is quicker than mine, our CBTs were installed in January! Its been quite slow progress, just glad the end is in sight

Ugh, you win! Still waiting here! Argh!

Still, don't expect it to go live quickly, can takes weeks, sometimes longer, even after physical work has been completed!

In reply to a post by Grimers:

Ugh, you win! Still waiting here! Argh!

Not going to jump the gun until I can actually order!! I have seen some people stay in the 1000/220 state for ages

Next post will be when its WBC FTTP.

Edited by kjwkjw (Fri 21-May-21 09:20:28)

Some in my village were installed in October, they still can't order!

I can tell you from bitter experience, that even once you’ve done waiting for all the *visible* civils to be complete there could be an issue in the exchange that needs resolution.

With an oD order you can get glimpses of all the various levels of excruciating frustration played out on a weekly soap opera basis stretched out over a year or more in some cases. And you pay for the privilege.

Enjoy your services when they arrive chaps. At least it’s free.

I can imagine! Cheers, it will be well worth the wait!

Yeah, so have I!

In our area they are not using test equipment at the CBT ports, instead they insert a small plug to the port that reflects light back down the fibre and the test equipment is at the Exchange.

They use a phone app that controls the testing and gives them the results, with every port tested. Interestingly a reflecting plug is left in one port of the CBT and this can be an indication that the area is about to go live. I asked one of the engineers how long the device is left and he was under the impression it stays that way until a customer is connected to the CBT.

You can see the test device in the bottom left port of this CBT

That would be this….

https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2021/01/exfo-t...

Not exactly light power measurement, but remote OTDR.

In reply to a post by Pheasant:

That would be this….

https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2021/01/exfo-t...

I had seen that article and did wonder if it was that equipment, however the build for this area started mid 2020, maybe this was a pilot area.

The engineers (KN circet or Network Planning Solutions around here) did moan that it can take a while to test each port at certain times as there can be a queue for the tests.

It is left in port one until an order is installed, the installer then moves it to port two, etc, etc.
It ought to mean that there are less issues with ‘no light at CBT’ on the day.

This stuff appears to be only rolling out on some exchange areas. Slough being the only one I know round here.

So would you say that if one of these devices is in port one, then the CBT is live and an order can be placed?

Not necessarily. As said exchange work could still hold things up.

We were waiting almost two months from the date CBTs were tested, due variously to sudden (I suppose hitherto unexpected) requirement for a new rack in the exchange to carry new fibre tie cables, then further OCR estimation and OCR mapping.

Edited by Pheasant (Sun 23-May-21 07:58:30)

No

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

This stuff appears to be only rolling out on some exchange areas. Slough being the only one I know round here.

It looks to be very much a permanent long term diagnostic system, designed to run on its own wavelength over either a dark or interleaved into a live system. Rolling that out to every exchange is impressive. The investment would be substantial.

I can understand the benefits of such a system when fibre becomes the dominant delivery method across the network.

Edited by Pheasant (Sun 23-May-21 07:59:57)

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

This stuff appears to be only rolling out on some exchange areas. Slough being the only one I know round here.

In this case the head end Exchange is LSORP.

I'd say not because it could've just failed after being plugged in or exchange work may not be complete or fibres not spliced further up the street like here currently

Maybe bit we've been assured it won't be longer. We already had failed BDUK build so they know exactly what the issues are from that so no unexpected problem should crop up. Engineers are saying our part should be live by the end of the month but we'll keep fingers crossed.

My postcode and a few others are now LIVE

Order placed, not sure why I am KCI2 as rodded and roped already but guess they will realise that soon enough

https://pasteboard.co/K3DEg5R.png

Edited by kjwkjw (Wed 26-May-21 07:44:23)

Good stuff! Your duct is congested, which could be the reason why.

In reply to a post by Grimers:

Your duct is congested, which could be the reason why.

+1

In reply to a post by Grimers:

Good stuff! Your duct is congested, which could be the reason why.

When they was rodding and roping a month or so back they couldn't actually get their rods through my house duct to the footway (shared with 4 other houses)

Luckily a contact at OR sent a team back and managed to get it done and roped the next day, have spoken to them again to see if they can get the status updated.

Sure it wont delay it for long, hopefully anyway!

Edited by kjwkjw (Wed 26-May-21 11:39:10)

The checker being a bit out of date regarding the duct shouldn't be a problem, FTTP is available and you have ordered it so relax and look forward to installation.

Status changed to 1-Stage now

Awesome! Still waiting here!

SWEET what have you ordered? 900mbps?

In reply to a post by Rich44:

SWEET what have you ordered? 900mbps?

Oh yes!

Been told someone will be round tomorrow PM to install the fibre and ONT... not bad considering the order was placed yesterday Its getting closer now!!

Wow, that is quick! When is it all expected to be completed?

In reply to a post by Grimers:

Wow, that is quick! When is it all expected to be completed?

Fibre has been run, CSP installed and ONT (Huawei) is on the wall...

The port on the OLT has not been commissioned yet though so got a red light teasing me He got it lit to do a light test (-14.7) but then it shuts itself off again.

Shame its a Friday as it will probably be Tuesday now before we get the final hurdle out the way, but happy the hardware install is done

Edited by kjwkjw (Fri 28-May-21 15:27:37)

Damn, that is a tease! I thought they would do it all in one go?

Originally they would, long story short my install was done by the OR guys doing the infrastructure install so my ISP order is a bit out of sync.

I am also the first person to be installed so guess I am the guinea pig

Edited by kjwkjw (Fri 28-May-21 17:22:36)

I wouldn't be surprised if we will be, too!

I'll be the same the minute it goes live. I was the first in 2014 when fttc went live on Christmas day & I got the order in at 8am lol

In reply to a post by Rich44:

I'll be the same the minute it goes live. I was the first in 2014 when fttc went live on Christmas day & I got the order in at 8am lol

Yep, this whole process reminds me of watching for signs of a green FTTC cabinet appearing and then constantly checking it for being available to order

Very thankful that we was the first part of a much bigger project to go live, would have been torture watching everyone else around me getting it first haha

Edited by kjwkjw (Sat 29-May-21 13:33:23)

Yeah, I think we were the first to place an order but because TalkTalk didn't have access to the fibre cabinet initially, we had to move over to BT which took ~2 weeks, so we probably weren't the first to go live.

Yeah, I remember being the same, though I'm checking for FTTP availability a lot more now than I was back in 2015 for FTTC availability!

Edited by Grimers (Sat 29-May-21 15:35:41)

In reply to a post by Grimers:

Yeah, I remember being the same, though I'm checking for FTTP availability a lot more now than I was back in 2015 for FTTC availability!

Now imagine having an ONT all connected up that you cant use yet Thats the definition of torture

I'm pretty sure they've started work in my village in Wales. They have just replaced some very old telegraph poles and I've seen Openreach in the area.
I can't find any information online through, nothing on my local Council website and the Openreach postcode checker still says there's nothing planned. I'll remain hopeful.

Ugh, I wonder if that will be the case for us. I'm thankful that we already have a fast VDSL2 connection!

Possibly. Are they replacing the poles and attaching CBTs (they look like this: https://community.bt.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-i...

In reply to a post by Grimers:

Possibly. Are they replacing the poles and attaching CBTs (they look like this: https://community.bt.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-i...

They haven't finished yet, a few are up but nothing has been added to them. They haven't actually removed the old poles yet, just added new ones. They also added a new metal pole (the others placed are wood) which is fairly girthy.
I was checking the poles that were leading to the cabinet on the weekend and I couldn't see any of the egg carton boxes on any of them.

Hmm, I wonder why they're replacing them...

I'm curious too, the others there were fine, just old. They are doing some trenching now as well.
Someone in the village apparently had a letter saying the metal post was for 5G, but that doesn't make any sense.
I'm guessing the letter was internet related but misinterpreted.

For me the journey is over, LOS light just went solid green followed by a call from an engineer to check all was well It was!!

Good luck to all those still waiting, it will come eventually!

👍 Cool. Do a little dance (maybe on the inside!)

I’ve been out walking today with the family in the Peak District along Derwent Lane by the dam and was quite surprised to see a couple of cottages along the lane that had FTTP strung up outside along the poles. No one connected though! Also looked like OR had done a microtrench right down the middle of the tarmac road from where the poles finished down the hill to the visitors centre.

There must be hope for all if they can manage it there!!

I was watching a video on YouTube about something similar to a valley in Wales, the tides are definitely turning.

By 2026 FTTP will be almost the norm and we will all be lusting after the next big thing..... that being said the step up from 40mbit FTTC to 900mbit FTTP is huge so cant see myself needing anything faster for a long long time!

Here's a photo of the (unfinished) pole. I got home from work and they had finished putting the rest of the pole.
https://i.imgur.com/hi5ke0o.jpg
Can anyone identify anything on this?

Are you getting trams or FTTP? 🤣

Symmetric service on OR FTTP would be nice!

Otherwise no, unless they make me a killer deal for 10GbE. 🤣

In reply to a post by Jason91:

Here's a photo of the (unfinished) pole. I got home from work and they had finished putting the rest of the pole.
https://i.imgur.com/hi5ke0o.jpg
Can anyone identify anything on this?

Doesn't look like any OR pole I have ever seen! Unless its some new type. Looks more power related!

In reply to a post by Pheasant:

Symmetric service on OR FTTP would be nice!

Otherwise no, unless they make me a killer deal for 10GbE. 🤣

I was just saying to someone else, more upload would be the only thing really. It would come to something when your internet is faster than 99% of the populations LAN speed (10GbE)

I am struggling to get consistent speed tests at 1 let alone 10. The only thing that seems to be able to max out the connection at the moment is my own dedicated 1 and 10G servers in a datacentre in AMS!

Edited by kjwkjw (Thu 03-Jun-21 17:44:53)

It looks a little messy for sure, some of those cables are attached to the old poles which will be removed eventually. I don't think they've finished doing the work on it. I just spoke to a neighbour who spoke to the electrical engineers who are working, they told them that they were re-doing the electricity cables and poles because someone wanted to charge their car battery. This makes less sense to me than it being a 5G mast.
AFAIK,Openreach are yet to go near it so I'll remain hopeful. My exchange and cabinet are FTTP enabled.

In reply to a post by Jason91:

I just spoke to a neighbour who spoke to the electrical engineers who are working, they told them that they were re-doing the electricity cables and poles because someone wanted to charge their car battery. This makes less sense to me than it being a 5G mast.

I guess that’s a possibility if the requestor needs an upgraded grid connection. I’ve done two now; a single to three phase, from 60A single to 100A per phase three phase and another from 100A single to 200A per phase three phase.

DNO and Tx split upgrade prices make OR FTTP oD pricing seem like a warm up act.

I reckon that’s a fibre of some description attached via the ‘curly-whirlybird type clamp.

I’ve never seen a pole (if indeed that is what it is) of that type.

Openreach fibreglass ‘hollow’ poles don’t look like that

In reply to a post by Grimers:

Ooh, underground! Very nice! Ours are all overhead here, even where people currently have underground copper feeds.

Same here in my area all over the area here is all underground. No poles!

Some promising/confusing news.
I get this message when searching a postcode on the Openreach website: "We're starting to build our ultra-fast, ultra-reliable Full Fibre broadband in your area." Not all addresses on that postcode have that message, most of them are 'No plans yet' despite being fed by the same pole.
The street next to mine which is a different postcode (which fiber would have to be run by) has the 'No plans yet' message too.
A couple of questions I have:
1) How long would it take to setup? My cabinet and exchange are FTTP ready. There's a cluster of houses that have it that's a five minute walk.
2) How likely would it be for Openreach to just connect fiber instead of moving the old equipment from the old poles?

In reply to a post by Jason91:

Some promising/confusing news.

I think you're best to sit and wait to see what happens, trying to second guess Openreach rollout plans (which may change) is fraught with issues. I have posted here before about a cul-de-sac not to far from me where half were FTTP enabled and half were not so don't expect everyone to get done in your area.

"My cabinet and exchange are FTTP ready"

It is extremely rare for Openreach FTTP to be run from cabinets. It comes from underground aggregation nodes. If your cabinet has FTTC that will be fed with fibre from one, but not necessarily the same one as your FTTP.

Even where the BT Wholesale checker says an exchange is FTTP enabled, more often than not the fibre doesn't come from it. It comes from a bigger area exchange covering multiple smaller exchange areas. A "Fibre headend exchange".

Similarly FTTC. The fibre from the headend meets the copper phone line from the local exchange at the FTTC cabinet.

Ultimately a large number of the smaller ones, and their cabinets, will disappear. Once no-one has copper even for FTTC. FTTC itself will slowly be replaced by FTTP or something that we (the public) don't even know about yet.

Edited by pluralist (Sat 05-Jun-21 10:42:08)

First one in again. Just checked Wholesale & it's gone straight to WBC FTTP AVAILABLE no FTTPoD speed increase. Nothing yesterday & live today.

I just ordered 900Mbps via BT & Topcashback (nice) & install is Tuesday 15th June only a WEEK away. I'll be soooo glad to be shot of poo 4g we've been using for two years.

Congrats, mate! Enjoy! We are looking at the end of June now

Nice one! Hope the install goes well!

In reply to a post by Rich44:

First one in again. Just checked Wholesale & it's gone straight to WBC FTTP AVAILABLE no FTTPoD speed increase. Nothing yesterday & live today.

I just ordered 900Mbps via BT & Topcashback (nice) & install is Tuesday 15th June only a WEEK away. I'll be soooo glad to be shot of poo 4g we've been using for two years.

I thought the default for all openreach install is 2 weeks minimum (14 working days) seem like your 7 days working days are much quicker install (fastest track order)

Yeah I was surprised put the order in, up pops the available dates and boom.

I wonder if its due to them having engineers here still putting rest of the village live or because I've ordered so early or they already had installs happening that day or maybe they just have staff sitting about twiddling their thumbs waiting....

Good luck as you been been waited so long for this. Exciting time! I wish my area got FTTP but can see openreach updated this map: https://api.superfastmaps.co.uk/fibrecities/2.0/

That's all over Broseley, Much Wenlock, Ironbridge & Bridgnorth will get FTTP planned but my area is NOPE!

Edited by adslmax (Tue 08-Jun-21 18:58:16)

In reply to a post by adslmax:

I thought the default for all openreach install is 2 weeks minimum (14 working days) seem like your 7 days working days are much quicker install (fastest track order)

Migrations are a minimum of 10 working days (2 weeks).

If it's a new line there's no reason why it couldn't be within a few days.

Cheers Max. I hope something happens for you soon too.

I managed to get mine installed and live within 7 days of it showing available to order as well, it can be done

That'll explain it then we've only got mobiles at the moment. I wasn't going to pay the full rate for FTTC to get 7Mbps & at that point why oay for a phone too lol

Really glad to be able to have fixed line broadband again, the kids will appreciate the reduction in pings

After yesterday hooking me up to an unconnected CBT the engineer popped back this morning and put a new fibre drop up spanned to the pole with a working CBT via the pole with the "dead" one and this is the result

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/16238376182...

Nice. Upload coming up a bit short though?

Guy said give it a few days, whether that's true or not I don't know. Swapped out the BT Smarthub for my mesh of Fritzboxes & upload is now 106Mbps so we'll see but it's a lot better than 6-9Mbps with loads of errors on fttc that's for sure

106 up is a bit more like it. There's no line stabilisation etc required for FTTP - it works (or should do) full speed from the minute they activate it.

In reply to a post by Pheasant:

106 up is a bit more like it. There's no line stabilisation etc required for FTTP - it works (or should do) full speed from the minute they activate it.

That is true for the FTTP line itself, but the BT Smarthub is a whole different kettle of fish...

I think you know my personal opinion of where ISP supplied routers should be kept; sealed in their box in a cupboard never (hopefully) to see the light of day 😂😎

It is a limit that is currently programmed into the SmartHub/SmartHub2 when they are shipped. For a long time all BT Consumer CPE has had a 50Mbits/s upload limit programmed in.

If you get the 900M option then after a day or two of activation the limit is updated remotely so you get the required upload. I don't know if BT plan to change this default but knowing supply chains for CPE it would take a good few months to flow through to the CPEs in the warehouse.

In my case it seemed the limit only affected the Ethernet ports, but there was a TR069 update overnight after activation, so it was full speed from Day 2. If it doesn't then there is a thread on the BT Community forums where you can ask the team to get the limit removed.

Just what thge OR guy said, he's noticed that on install it's started off a little slower then speeds up over a few hours to full speed. Whether that's just him or not, dunno but it's what he said he'd personally experienced installing it.

Getting pretty much full speed now, only fttp live in village so entire bandwidth is mine mwaaaahahahahahha

Yeah got rid of that. Maybe that's what the OR guy witnessed taking 3 days to speed up was the Smarthubs picking up newer firmware?

Anyway Smarthub in the bin (so to speak) got it setup ONT - Fritzbox 7490 - FB 3490 - FB 3490. Have the 3 FB's setup as a mesh to saturate the housing in 2.4 and 5GHz wifi works really well and getting line speed at each point and very fast ove wifi albeit not quite 900Mbps but who cares for wifi...

Interesting, thanks I did notice that 50Mbps upload limit and how it disappeared when i dumped the Smarthub.

Thanks for the info

In a sealed box listed on ebay LOL

Well until the point where BT ask for their router back when you leave grrrr

Obv in te early days we didn't get routers just those usb frogs 2001 kinda time. Blimey i'm now paying the same for 900Mbps that I paid for 512Kbps in 2001 truly shocking. Anyway from the time of using routers ALL the issues i've ever had have been from ISP provided hardware ESPECIALLY Zyxel stuff I was sent twice utter garbage that was.

Can honestly say buying a Fritzbox is the best thing I ever did for broadband. I bought a 7490 in 2014 and it is STILL getting software updates - most manufacturers never release an update after launch but AVM have added loads of new features. I have the 7490 and 2 3490's setup in a managed mesh and it saturates the house in wifi nicely.

Yeah you're right.
The old poles are still up, but all they have left on them now is the phone lines. They are supposed to be taken down soon. They have stopped taking FTTC orders now.

So I e-mailed Openreach and got this dreaded reply:

"Hello Jason,

Thank you for your patience.

I've received a reply from our team and as per them you were in a plan to bring fibre to the premises (FTTP) to your area but the plan has now been cancelled. Due to the complex nature of the network our plans occasionally change. For a variety of reasons this can cause some areas to be removed from their expected fibre roll out."