I've been reading these posts today and it is very informative, although I confess i don't know what all of the terms mean yet. I too live on Bucklebury Alley and just invested in a new home office. Using powerline adapters to get the network which as Ivy will tell you is not good enough for MOC conference calls from the PC to other users on the company exchange. Listening is great, but speaking is heard in patches. We get between 1 and 1.8mbps down and 150-300up down here. Can't wait for it to improve. What is it like to go to with the ADSL2 and Annex M upgrade capability May 31st? Any ideas?

If you enter your details into this checker, it will give a rough estimation of what you can expect to see on asdl2

http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/adslchecker.php

While the upgrade to 21Cn by BT wholsesale will be a improvement for most people connected to the exchange, asdl2 and asdl+2 services are of greater benefit of those on short lines.

Once Berkshire has its local broadband plan approved, which will be the end of this month, Berkshire will start the tendering process.
If for instance BT win the tender, as they are expected to win alot the white area's which Bucklebury Alley is part of will likely see the cabinet at the top of the road have a fttc twin installed.

Speeds on BT and other providers that offer 80/20, which is a vast improvement over current asdl and possible asdl+" speeds.

As to when this work wil likely start, it will be either end of 2012 but more likely 2013-2015.

Kitz currently doesn't seem to give an ADSL2+ projection, but the BT site https://www.btwholesale.com/pages/static/Community/B... does do.

Both sites do, i suggest you enter your details as kitz does give a result under 21CN.

Has been a while since i have updated this thread.

Hermitage exchange is still due for a 21CN live date of the 31st of May, it may be sooner BT wholesale asdl checker is the best place to check.

While in the East of Berkshire Hungerford, Newbury and Thatcham have been live for a while, more cabs have been appearing in Newbury and Thathcam across the towns.

Most of the work is in Newbury with at least 7+ cabs getting fibre twins that where planned back in phase 5a, delay proably due to Hungerford being enabled. So a pause in Newbury cab enablement and now a return to finish the job.

Cab 14 on the shaw twin roundabouts got power a few weeks back and should now be live, the newer cabs in newbury will have to wait for power but should be quick.

As for Superfast Berkshire the local broadband plan is completed, aside from the delivery section as their are talks atm between Berkshire and another Authority about a joint tender process which would be a faster process for both Counties.

In west berks most parishes have commited funding, some are still to decide and a few more have refused but these are being talked to about joining the project.

As for a timescale for when the tender will go out and a winning bid chosen is still unkown, but i would expect this to be completed over the next few months certainly before the end of the year.

Chris here - many thanks for the update and look forward to any more details.

With Hermitage due to be upgraded this Thursday, how quickly will customers see boosts in their broadband speed?

As long as the work is all completed it depends on what package you are with for your isp.

Some isp's will do bulk migrations and others will do it as customers ask to be upgraded to asdl+2.

Greetings All,

I'm way late to the party here, as I have just discovered this forum as well as the Superfast Berkshire site, but am very pleased to have done so -- a wealth of information and some very knowledgeable posts.

Having lamented the state of Broadband in Pangbourne for years, (getting about 5 Mbps via my ISP), and a bit fearful of casting my lot in with TalkTalk, (one hears things) despite them advertising roughly triple that speed, it was with great surprise that I came across this News Release from BT dated Wed 23rd May 2012, in which it states that Pangbourne (and Wargrave) are now scheduled for an upgrade to 20Mbps by Spring 2013:

http://www.btplc.com/News/Articles/Showarticle.cfm?A...

I'm guessing that this means that the Pangbourne Exchange will be upgraded to CN21, though whether that extends to FTTC is something I'm not clear about. Given that the News Release talks about this development bringing the coverage in Berkshire to 87%, and it talks about the need to "work with the public sector" to reach further, it kind of sounds like this may be where they're drawing the line in terms of commercially-profitable development. Presumably that's where Superfast Berkshire will move things beyond that point.

On a practical level, while the speed quoted will be a huge benefit, just up the hill in Tilehurst there are folks reporting upwards of 40Mbps and beyond, through both BT Infinity and Virgin. Presumably that's the sort of speed one gets from FTTP, and not just FTTC + copper, but I must admit that I'm still trying to get to grips with the differences between ADSL/ ADSL2/ ADSL2+/ CN21, etc., and how that translates into performance. My house is 400-600 meters from the exchange according to Kitz, so we'll see.

Anyway, really pleased to have found this forum, and thought I'd mention the good news for those who happen to be in Pangbourne or Wargrave.

HTH/FWIW/YMMV.

OK Mac,

firstly welcome to the boards.

21cn in both Pangbourne and Wargrave, will mean BT Wholesale installing their 'up to' 20 meg service in the exchanges. These will mean, if your chosen ISP uses a BT Wholesale based service you will be able to acheive higher sync rates (presuming your ISP puts you on the new kit).

21cn is a different product to FTTC.

Yes, the speeds up the road are through either FTTC or Virgin, no FFTP in Reading yet.

If you are only 600m from the exchange (Horseshoe Rd, nearest the town centre) You should be seeing higher speeds than that. Are you able to post the stats from your router ? It could be that you can squeeze a fair few more Kbps whilst you are waiting for the upgrade !