FTTP Roll out ahead of schedule

I have some good news, today my area in St Neots is finally on the first step of implementation to get FTTP soon.
When i say my area I mean only three streets around 20 houses per street, in the direction the cable is being run with the fibre, with confirmations of FTTP coverage from Openreach and John Henry group

Openreach info below

Thank you for your email regarding FTTP in St Neots. Pleased to report that Openreach has big FTTP plans in St Neots – including the address you provide in your email, aiming for Sept 2022

Regards,
Clive

I’ve looked into your enquiry and the great news is that we will have some fantastic connectivity options for your home. I can see the equipment you’re connected to is getting an upgrade. This will give you the option of ordering Fibre to the Premises.

Our engineering work is due to start the beginning of July 2022 and will take several months to complete. I’m sorry we can’t give you a more specific date at this time but once the work is completed you’ll be able to place an order with your chosen service provider. So, at the moment it is difficult to commit for the completion to take place by September 2022 as wok is yet to start.

I had a chat with the contractors working on behalf of openreach, I was suppressed when it wasn't kelly communications as they are always outside in the Cab, it turns out its John Henry group, does anyone know how they are as they seem to be growing a presence locally,

https://ibb.co/ydj3g80
https://ibb.co/9hFKmtL
https://ibb.co/pLhLYYX
https://ibb.co/MhGpB2f
https://ibb.co/7Xy46Mj


The contractors said that the information that openreach gave me of an estimated date of September 2022 is way too long and that they estimate considerably shorter.


Does anyone happen to think they could estimate a vague timeframe considering i was told fibre optics cables were planned to go in the ground in July 2022 and they seem to have started doing this in the last two days and i was told by OR available around September 2022. I'm not sure if they are doing underpromise and overdeliver to be safe.

Does anyone here think that they could potentially get it done before May 2022 if we are being very optimistic.

I do understand there is no "same" situation everywhere, but if it helps its all freshly rodded UG feeds for less than 2-3 KM (estimated closer to 2) cables for my estate follow the main road to the exchange or at least said one of the OR techs although any difference in distance between route is negligible.

Let me know what you think.
Kind Regards
RR-THE-IT-GUY

I'm sure someone will correct me, but that cable looks a tad beefy just to be deploying FTTP to homes. Perhaps they need to upgrade their spine capacity / add another aggregation node.

Hard to tell, but it looks similar to what came up our road.

In reply to a post by Whitehall11:

I'm sure someone will correct me, but that cable looks a tad beefy just to be deploying FTTP to homes. Perhaps they need to upgrade their spine capacity / add another aggregation node.

I did think it looked a little "beefy" but I doubt the spine runs in that direction unless they dare go under a farmers field at various points and take it overhead as well, as the ducts stops shortly after the farms and tiny villages which already have FTTP nodes and available services.
I'm not sure if anyone here has openreach maps to confirm but I remember being told that the core runs south to Luton or Stevenage (in that general area) I can't remember so don't hold me to it. I know for sure that Virgin Media in St Neots runs to Papworth.

All other areas (including masts) nearby to me are served via Little paxton North west via another set of ducts.
For the estate south east across a park goes via a different set of ducts which has the Virgin Core nearby at least says Virgin Media network build team.

That's what I know not sure if anyone here has resources to confirm, I'm not sure if Openreach will fit one of the above ground Aggregation node nearby as they have power from the Copper FTTC cab.
I think it's possible for them to go back on themselves 50M for another estate with over 200 houses, as i said that's just a guess as I know my copper Cab does double back on itself.

Do you know if they would do that?

That drum is a roll of sub-duct. Generally used when building a new spine which serves aggregation nodes with fibre which then serve the splitters and ultimately the CBT (where your fibre plugs in to).

The spine building process can take months and months (mine is 7km long and took about 9 months to complete). They will pull sub-duct from chamber to chamber and then blow a spine fibre in and joint it up along the route. All this has to be done before they can light up any properties for FTTP.

You've no idea how far along this process they are and what issues they will encounter along the way which could delay the the target date.

You'd be sensible to expect Sept 2022 as the earliest they will achieve it by, There's a fair chance it will also be later than that as not all properties get "lit" up at the same time.

My area went live in Dec 2020, install took place in Apr 2021 (due to Covid) and they're still in the process of making properties live in my area!

Hope that helps.

In reply to a post by RR_The_IT_Guy:

I'm not sure if Openreach will fit one of the above ground Aggregation node nearby as they have power from the Copper FTTC cab.
I think it's possible for them to go back on themselves 50M for another estate with over 200 houses, as i said that's just a guess as I know my copper Cab does double back on itself.

Do you know if they would do that?

New aggregation nodes can be sited in chambers nowhere near the existing cabinets, or in chambers right by an existing cabinet. Nothing to do with existing cabinets as they're passive and not powered. All to do with the network design and where they are best located to serve the splitter notes. Absolutely no issue to go back 50M on themselves from wherever the aggregation node is sited.

In reply to a post by ashlez:

That drum is a roll of sub-duct. Generally used when building a new spine which serves aggregation nodes with fibre which then serve the splitters and ultimately the CBT (where your fibre plugs in to).

The spine building process can take months and months (mine is 7km long and took about 9 months to complete). They will pull sub-duct from chamber to chamber and then blow a spine fibre in and joint it up along the route. All this has to be done before they can light up any properties for FTTP.

You've no idea how far along this process they are and what issues they will encounter along the way which could delay the the target date.

You'd be sensible to expect Sept 2022 as the earliest they will achieve it by, There's a fair chance it will also be later than that as not all properties get "lit" up at the same time.

My area went live in Dec 2020, install took place in Apr 2021 (due to Covid) and they're still in the process of making properties live in my area!

Hope that helps.

Hi
Thanks for confirming, I did see that some 10/24 ducts were fitted (according to one network before it was made private) a while back so at least they can get it in the ground. I appreciate your response, in your opinion when my contract with Virgin Media ends in May next year 2022, should i leave for a one month plan on FTTC so I can cancel and move over or should i brave Virgin Media for another 18 months on faster speed from may 2022 and be stuck unable to move over to a network i would prefer to be on.
I am estimated 80/20 on VDSL2.
I would do 4G but the signal is only good if i go in the attic or at midnight.

In reply to a post by RR_The_IT_Guy:

In reply to a post by ashlez:

That drum is a roll of sub-duct. Generally used when building a new spine which serves aggregation nodes with fibre which then serve the splitters and ultimately the CBT (where your fibre plugs in to).

The spine building process can take months and months (mine is 7km long and took about 9 months to complete). They will pull sub-duct from chamber to chamber and then blow a spine fibre in and joint it up along the route. All this has to be done before they can light up any properties for FTTP.

You've no idea how far along this process they are and what issues they will encounter along the way which could delay the the target date.

You'd be sensible to expect Sept 2022 as the earliest they will achieve it by, There's a fair chance it will also be later than that as not all properties get "lit" up at the same time.

My area went live in Dec 2020, install took place in Apr 2021 (due to Covid) and they're still in the process of making properties live in my area!

Hope that helps.

Hi
Thanks for confirming, I did see that some 10/24 ducts were fitted (according to one network before it was made private) a while back so at least they can get it in the ground. I appreciate your response, in your opinion when my contract with Virgin Media ends in May next year 2022, should i leave for a one month plan on FTTC so I can cancel and move over or should i brave Virgin Media for another 18 months on faster speed from may 2022 and be stuck unable to move over to a network i would prefer to be on.
I am estimated 80/20 on VDSL2.
I would do 4G but the signal is only good if i go in the attic or at midnight.

If I was you I would personally go on to a 1-month FTTC contract so you can jump to FTTP when it becomes available.

If I was you I would personally go on to a 1-month FTTC contract so you can jump to FTTP when it becomes available.

Awsome, my thoughts exactly, I have also decided to get some dect phones a couple of months before my contract is over and to port to sipgate (although i have no idea how from Virgin Media as everything is complex with them) so I can get the cheapest price per Mbps, and decent FTTP provider e.g. TalkTalk fibre 500.
There may only be two of us using the connection at once but all 30-40 devices are always connected. I think for two users, one who only uses less than 10 gigs a day and the other who uses an average of 70GB (80.32GB in total) with hardly any streaming is quite high, how does everyone else compare, does anyone else use this much or more?

In reference to Virgin Media:

I will list the usage over the last 3 months below:


August 2021: 1902GB downloaded, 584GB uploaded

July 2021: 1757GB downloaded, 463GB uploaded,

June 2021: 2106GB downloaded, 417GB uploaded,


So, on average, over the past 3 months, you've downloaded 1921.6 GB of data and uploaded 488GB


Your highest monthly usage recorded was in February 2021 where 2484.32 GB was downloaded in total.


Apologies, I got carried away with all the numbers there but thought that extra information may be useful.

In reply to a post by RR_The_IT_Guy:

I'm not sure if they are doing underpromise and overdeliver to be safe.

It would be a pleasant surprise if they delivered before the dates they have told you, but based on experience and that of others here, I think it far more likely that they will take all that time to fully build the network in your area and that's if there are no unexpected hold-up or delays.

Good luck.