Only half of neighbours have FTTP connection points?

Cityfibre dug up the pavements three months ago to lay fibre but only provided connection points on the pavement (those little black metal flaps similar to gas/water ones which name escapes me) leading to the front of the properties. But they only did this to every other property on this street, not all of them. I am one of those that didn't get a connection point unfortunately, while both of my next door neighbours do.

Around the same time I got a letter (twice) from Lightning Fibre, saying they were due to work on my street but nothing has happened since, its like they've forgotten.

Can two properties share a Cityfibre connection point, or did Cityfibre and Lightning Fibre have a contract contest and both ended up agreeing to serve only half the properties instead? Pavements would have to be dug up again.. seems like a huge waste of resources. Could they not just share the underground cables?

Quite confused by the whole thing, I would prefer to use Cityfibre so I have a choice of ISPs rather than be stuck with one local company whose reputation I'm really unsure of right now.

Edited by Aaron_01 (Thu 25-Aug-22 12:33:53)

In common parlance, what you describe is known as a ‘Tommy Pot’

Whether City fibres version allows for provision of two fibres, I don’t know.

Surely the easiest way to check (if they are already live down your street) would be to place an order with them. Have you tried this yet ?

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

In common parlance, what you describe is known as a ‘Tommy Pot’

I always thought they were known as a Toby box.

They're not live yet so can't check, both websites availability checkers do say they're coming soon.

bidb.uk shows nothing at the present time. Back in May it did show scheduled roadworks by cityfibre and lightning fibre for my road.

Yes it's pretty common for both Cityfibre and Virgin to serve more than 1 property from a single Toby point.
When it's done like this the Toby is usually placed on the boundary between 2 properties and will serve both.

It's a little unusual if the Toby isn't actually on the boundary of your property and they would need to cut across the neighbours garden to reach you.

In reply to a post by dect:

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

In common parlance, what you describe is known as a ‘Tommy Pot’

I always thought they were known as a Toby box.

That’s the joy of common parlance …

I believe you may know what is referred to as 81’s at work …… but no one seems to recall if it is 81’s or 8T1’s

Sleeve dropwiring are called whistles round here, but in a bordering county where I started, they are known as Bill Browns.

As in so very many things, the answers are often not just black or white, but all shades of grey in between.

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

I believe you may know what is referred to as 81’s at work …… but no one seems to recall if it is 81’s or 8T1’s

Yes I know what 81's are and still refer to them in that way even now after many years away from BT but you're right they could in fact be 8T1’s

Most splendid they are too, there are times when your 81’s/8T1’s are exactly the right thing to use.

Fairly sure they were 81s from the original tools list in early GPO days.

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

In common parlance, what you describe is known as a ‘Tommy Pot’

Whether City fibres version allows for provision of two fibres, I don’t know.

Surely the easiest way to check (if they are already live down your street) would be to place an order with them. Have you tried this yet ?

From what I’ve seen of the AltNets at least Gigaclear refer to theirs as “pots”.

Virgin literature refers to them as Toby

Whilst we’re on parlance - is it AltNet or Altnet (or oh my god net!) 🤣

Altnet round these parts guv.

I will see if I can’t get a definitive answer, still some real old lags about.

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

Most splendid they are too, there are times when your 81’s/8T1’s are exactly the right thing to use.

Back in the day when we had to strip and wrap jumpers around frame tags they were the tool of choice and of course no engineer goes anywhere without a No 1 screwdriver (both fit easily into a top pocket)

I have got my old tool record book around here somewhere, I'll see if I can find it and see if it says anything about 81’s/8T1’s

In reply to a post by MHC:

Fairly sure they were 81s from the original tools list in early GPO days.

If I was a gambling man that would be my bet

I would possibly fo back to the original "National Telephone Company"

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

In common parlance, what you describe is known as a ‘Tommy Pot’

Whether City fibres version allows for provision of two fibres, I don’t know.

Surely the easiest way to check (if they are already live down your street) would be to place an order with them. Have you tried this yet ?

Interesting. All the Openreach work around here refers to them as Toby Boxes or Tobies in the descriptions.

I have never heard the term 'Tommy Pot' before. That's a new one on me though I know BT like using their own terms for things. I've seen them very rarely referred to as pots by a couple of smaller operators but always Tobies by CityFibre, VM, Openreach and others. Even the hardware sellers sell Toby Boxes.

https://www.millsltd.com/default/external-undergroun...
https://www.comtecdirect.co.uk/product/universal-sub...
https://www.cmwltd.co.uk/p/toby-box-subscriber-surfa...

As long as CityFibre are purchasing the right ones coupling for two microducts shouldn't be a problem.

Every day is a school day regardless.

Edited by XGS_Is_On (Thu 25-Aug-22 23:12:13)

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

I believe you may know what is referred to as 81’s at work …… but no one seems to recall if it is 81’s or 8T1’s

Or maybe even ... A T 1's

In reply to a post by MHC:

I would possibly go back to the original "National Telephone Company"

Done a little research this morning and found this although nothing official does support your post

In reference to www.vintage-radio.net/forum/showpost.php?s=95ddd9325e5afb60de94dbf8...:

Long nosed pliers were tool number 81 in the National Telephone Company's list of tools. This was carried over into Post Office Telephones, although the official description was pliers wiring number 2.

Lightning Fibre are committed to serving almost every home and business in Eastbourne (53k prems), either via Openreach PIA or building new infrastructure. The project is ahead of schedule, but the build is not complete. Collaboration is not possible so, as Full Fibre rolls out, companies will over-build to provide greater consumer choice. Lightning Fibre operates its own network, as an alternative to mainstream ISPs who resell Openreach or City Fibre, and is one of the very few ISPs rated Excellent on Trustpilot. Mostly, Lightning Fibre is also cheaper than local competition. Rob, Head of Sales and Marketing, Lightning Fibre.

Edited by RobReaks (Tue 30-Aug-22 16:49:40)

Hi Rob. If you’re an ISP representative, or effectively posting as such, then you should ask the team here to tag your account as such, so that folks are aware of your allegiance. Cheers

all done, thanks,
Rob

Not so fast in Hastings unfortunately. Trooli are also rolling out in the town and have started connecting customers.

Competition is a good thing. As with all infrastructure projects, it takes time!
We're the 'local' network for East Sussex, based in Polegate, which is important to many of our customers. We're also a symmetric network, unlike Trooi - upload speeds of 900Mbps are pretty impressive - and our prices are lower. We're also not relying solely on openreach PIA, so we will have a wider coverage.

Hi Rob - if you drop an email to [email protected] with all your details they will tag your account as "isp" rather than "newbie" then folks will know that you are a genuine ISP rep.

Isn't it Trooli who are the local company owned by a local bloke whereas Lightning appear to be owned by a monster investment bank in Guernsey?

Lightning Fibre was founded by Ben Ferriman, who lives in Eastbourne, HQ in Polegate, with funding from Foresight Group, a UK based, sustainability-led alternative assets and SME investment manager. https://www.foresightgroup.eu/
95% of LF staff are East Sussex based. Can't get more local.