In reply to a post by Bob_s2:

I am sorry but any exchange claiming a 100% will have had the votes fiddled. That is pretty much 99.99% certain. The take up of Broadaband is not even anywhere near a 100%.

Some liies as well will be outgoing or inccoming only lines. Some will be burglar alarm lines and some such as small businesses and retail stores will have no need for Broadband and some simply will not want Broadband

I am sure BT will be fully aware that exchanges claiming a 100% will have many fale votes

BT will know exactly how many active lines they have on an exchange at any point in time

Serious acusations there!

For the purposes of the "Race to Infinity" vote:

Current take up of Broadband - irrelevant, many cannot get a decent broadband, so don't bother
No need for Broadband - irrelevant (even if true)
Not want Broadband - irrelevant (even if true)

BT may well be capable of counting the wires, but for whatever reason chose instead to use the number of addresses (so the burglar alarms etc theory is also irrelevant); it became clear fairly early on that this was woefully underestimated (possibly simply out of date, as our villages have seen rapid expansion over the last couple of years, as has Caxton exchange with its new town of Cambourne)

A shambles indeed.

I have made a comparison of the BT Race to Infinity league table positions for 19/12 & 31/12. It is quite noticeable that the top 6 exchanges have all managed to register a significant no. of votes in the final days which, given the time of year, is a notable achievement if they are genuine votes.

There are two extreme examples which must cast some doubts:
1. Whitchurch registered an extra 590 votes to bring them up to 100%; &
2. Castleton (Gwent) appear to have lost 738 votes as they were registering 1190 votes on 19/12 but only 452 votes on 31/12.

Therefore, some doubt must be cast as to the veracity of the administration and the competition in general..

On a separate matter, I know of a small village in rural Wales with a tiny exchange (only 189 lines) which doesn�t qualify for the main BT Race to Infinity competition. However, they have still been able to register more than 75% of its phone subscribers as being of interest and therefore BT will fulfil its pledge to talk to them about available options for installing high speed fibre optic broadband. This could backfire on BT should there may be quite a few more very small similar exchanges who have achieved this 75% landmark on the basis that it is much easier to do campaigns in such smaller communities.

Sorry you are correct. Price differential is LLU based rather then strictly regional pricing.

At times hard to perceive the difference as the introduction of LLU into an exchange signifcantly changes the market on an exchange. OFCOM base their analysys on an exchange basis as LLU makes such a difference to competition and hence investment by BT in an exchange. Obviously some people will stick with BT come what may, even if the LLU operator is cheaper and equivalent or better. That is their choice and BT are quite right to charge a premium price if customer wants to buy their branded product as in any other market.

Are there any exchanges that have, or are down to get, fibre that don't have LLU?

Are companies still doing new LLU in exchanges?

If not I guess one can easily identify those that won't get fibre by 2015. No LLU providor no fibre, as BT have no financial incentive to put up the 50% matching funds, or whatever financial investment that is needed, to get fibre to customer. Other companies might be interested, but with such a small market will they be interested?

OFCOM's report in 2008 put exchanges without LLU as covering 16.4% of premises. I guess there has been a few more LLU exchanges since then. I seem to recall comments that extra government funding would still leave 10% not covered by fibre. Strange how numbers are close to each other. Have BT already decided not to use any fibre hub put in by government money to areas with LLU and told government this? I am probably just being paranoid as always!

Edited by deleted (Mon 03-Jan-11 09:23:08)

In reply to a post by kenb:

Are companies still doing new LLU in exchanges?

C & W are apparently doing a reasonable new rollout, see here, and TT seem to be adding to theirs.

I don't think everyone's efforts were a waste of time - far from it, for many reasons:

- BT and the Government need to get some kind of feedback - anything is better than nothing.
BT needs to prioritise its roll-out like any commercial concern and the Govt need to subsidise rural communities. But how do you find out?

- Many people hate BT for its poor service on existing broadband and phone policies.
(BT drags its feet because it was denied to enter the Video market many years ago.)
So if BT dared knock on a door there would be fireworks...
Also many people junk BT's email shots.
How can you break through to communicate with your (BT) disgruntled clients?
The Answer- Get some locals (like me & you) to champion your cause.
But I see there is NO mention on BT's website about the 'losers' but BT will learn the hard way if they ignore the sheer efforts of the exchange/locations who do not even get an 'Honorable Mention / Listing' on a BT website sometime soon (aka ASAP).

Either way this puts more pressure on BT to act for ALL UK LOCATIONS as we are light years BEHIND Japan, Taiwan, South Korea et al who COMMITED DECADES AGO to invest in fibre-optic before year 2000. It would be make more sense to invest (as in the 1930's USA Hoover dams projects etc) in UK infrastructure like fast broadband to help small businesses generate jobs and growth (its a No-Brainer)! Unfortunately New Labour backed expensive consultants mega failure IT projects and legislated against small businesses (IR35 etc) for the last 13 years.

Many people who declined to vote for 'Infinity' were either ignorant of fast broadband, or computers or the Campaign, didn't have it, or just were the 'No-Speak to Strangers' or (obviously) not at home varieties. (One Receptionist / P.A. said she would give it to the I.T. Dept - when they return in January 2011...)
BT are you listening?
Government are you listening too?

The consequences of not providing fast broadband is that ALL THE UK loses out economically & financially for years to come in this competitive world.
If BT fails to deliver soon its continuing Monopoly should be broken up and Ofcom totally shaken out & re-focussed as it too is not delivering. The whole thing is a complete mess, not just one of its campaigns.

(A Retired IT Systems Developer with Economics Degree, who used to bail out Big Businesses...)

See Main Site Results article.

Edited by RobertoS (Mon 03-Jan-11 10:26:38)

Thanks for that info on LLU.

I see BT have declared their winners and now there are 6. Cheats win after all then, as I simply don't believe after removing any dubious all 6 remained on the same %. Obviously did nothing to remove votes and those that have been honest have been penalised for it.

If BT are going to take us for mugs then so be it. Personally I will now be campaigning for a boycott of BT retail products locally on the basis that they support cheats. A nice big banner on the fence of their exchange in the village should get the message across!

Did anyone else spot the exchange that a few days before the race closed was showing 103% registrations?

BT have picked some market 1 and 2 exchanges for FTTC and likewise skipped over many market 3.

This rollout isnt following that pattern.

In reply to a post by Anonymous:

Did anyone else spot the exchange that a few days before the race closed was showing 103% registrations?

Coffins have broadband on that exchange it seems