FTTC Waiting List - what are the chances of getting fibre?

Hi folks

We might be moving house soon and although it's not far it's far enough to be on a different cabinet at our exchange. An initial check showed attainable FTTC speeds on the new property are much higher than what I get at the moment but it says 'Waiting List' underneath 'WBC FTTC Availability Date'. I'm wondering what the chances of actually getting fibre in the new place would be? I wouldn't want to move from my current house (with 2 fibre lines on a different cabinet) to a house where my 30mb fibre connection looks like a dream 😅

AFAIK the cabinet was activated in 2014 and it doesn't look like box has been enlarged/upgraded since then but I could be wrong! It's Cabinet 4 on Macduff (NSMDF) if that helps.

Cheers for any info/advice!

MacDuff - you mean that FTTC has reached there yet?

Friends in Portsoy and Findochty are always moaning about slow speeds

Check this website. https://www.telecom-tariffs.co.uk/codelook.htm

Enter the post code that is on waiting list or planned and see when is it going to be due by.

Of-course, still no guarantees. For example I got upgraded to FTTC in October 2019 after more than 6 years being on a plan since around 2013. It finally happened for me.

Meanwhile another building E1 6LW next to me has no FTTC and was meant to go live by January 2020. Openreach Fibre "FTTC doing Field Survey, live due by March 2021".

Should still be taken with a pinch of salt. Live due date can give you clues, but not always guaranteed. We were once on an FTTP plan and then it got reverted to FTTC. I got FTTC luckily on time, but the other building under same building estate management that was also not granted wayleave for FTTP is now waiting for FTTC.

If there is a change of plan, you might get FTTP instead should wayleave not be an issue. Problem is, you might have to wait longer than that. I won't be too excited for FTTC at this stage as it would simply mean a longer wait for Openreach FTTP unless it is an altnet. But I suppose FTTC is still better than waiting with ADSL2/+2.

I'd expect it to get a high density upgrade in due course

Newer house for a specific reason or worse broadband, what's your priority?

Thanks for the responses everyone!

In reply to a post by MHC:

MacDuff - you mean that FTTC has reached there yet?

Friends in Portsoy and Findochty are always moaning about slow speeds

I was surprised when we got it fibre haha and it's not the fastest here but it isn't too bad (around 30mbps on my phone line). The worst part is if I could get fibre at the new place it'd be closer to 80mbps.

In reply to a post by BLaZiNgSPEED:

Check this website. https://www.telecom-tariffs.co.uk/codelook.htm

Enter the post code that is on waiting list or planned and see when is it going to be due by.

Of-course, still no guarantees. For example I got upgraded to FTTC in October 2019 after more than 6 years being on a plan since around 2013. It finally happened for me.

Meanwhile another building E1 6LW next to me has no FTTC and was meant to go live by January 2020. Openreach Fibre "FTTC doing Field Survey, live due by March 2021".

Should still be taken with a pinch of salt. Live due date can give you clues, but not always guaranteed. We were once on an FTTP plan and then it got reverted to FTTC. I got FTTC luckily on time, but the other building under same building estate management that was also not granted wayleave for FTTP is now waiting for FTTC.

If there is a change of plan, you might get FTTP instead should wayleave not be an issue. Problem is, you might have to wait longer than that. I won't be too excited for FTTC at this stage as it would simply mean a longer wait for Openreach FTTP unless it is an altnet. But I suppose FTTC is still better than waiting with ADSL2/+2.

Sorry I think I explained it wrong! FTTC is available but the cabinet that serves the property is full to capacity so I'd only be able to order ADSL2+ until fibre was available. We're not on the roadmap for full fibre/FTTP but the next town over (less than a mile away!) are supposed to get full fibre by 2024. Just my luck haha.

In reply to a post by witchunt:

I'd expect it to get a high density upgrade in due course

Fingers crossed. Although yesterday it said 'Waiting List' but today it says 'Available'. I'm really hoping it stays that way until we (hopefully) get moved in! Would it help if the currect occupant ordered fibre before they moved out? Would it save a space in the cabinet for the line? I know who it is and they'd probably be happy enough to do that although they're BT and we're TalkTalk so I'm not sure if that would affect anything? I'll link some pictures to show how the BT page looked:

Yesterday: https://i.imgur.com/EW2Yr6r.jpg

Today: https://i.imgur.com/BTWklVU.jpg

In reply to a post by broadband66:

Newer house for a specific reason or worse broadband, what's your priority?

Everything else about the house is a huge upgrade so we'll likely go for it anyway. Even the internet would be an upgrade if we could get FTTC but it's a small cabinet that serves a lot of properties so I just hope there's room if we move.

Edited by Findlay (Thu 25-Feb-21 15:12:54)

At least if you move you will only drop from 30 down to 18 ... which is still reasonably usable.

Once you are past the Scottish equivalent of "Exchange of Contracts" you should be able to put an order in for service there including, if available at the time, ADSL.

In reply to a post by Findlay:

Would it help if the currect occupant ordered fibre before they moved out? Would it save a space in the cabinet for the line? I know who it is and they'd probably be happy enough to do that although they're BT and we're TalkTalk so I'm not sure if that would affect anything?

If they already have FTTC then you could transfer their port to you when they move out.
This is done via a working line takeover.

I'm not sure if BT can do this kind of takeover but the likes of Zen/Uno can.

In reply to a post by j0hn83:

In reply to a post by Findlay:

Would it help if the currect occupant ordered fibre before they moved out? Would it save a space in the cabinet for the line? I know who it is and they'd probably be happy enough to do that although they're BT and we're TalkTalk so I'm not sure if that would affect anything?

If they already have FTTC then you could transfer their port to you when they move out.
This is done via a working line takeover.

I'm not sure if BT can do this kind of takeover but the likes of Zen/Uno can.

Cheers for the reply! They put in a fibre order yesterday and got their activation date etc confirmed. Today the checker has changed from 'Available' to 'Waiting List' again so it looks like they've nabbed the only port that was available yesterday? If so that was some good timing haha.

Hopefully we can take it over easily if the move pans out 🤞