sorry we are on the councils plans but they have no info and we could be waiting 3 years

The situation is muddled because of BDUK funding going on at present, which clouds the process in a hidden way, in what is already a hidden process.

But basically, BT will have run your cabinet through their viability calculations, and decided it is not viable. In this case, the lack of viability might be nothing to do with the number of potential subscribers and everything to do with the cost of providing electricity or the cost of getting the fibre there, or the problems associated with actually siting a cabinet (or more than one).

We know that the lowest cost of providing an electrical connection is of the order of £1,000 - but it fluctuates entirely depending on the work needed on the distribution network. For example, if your order is the one that forces a new/upgraded transformer, then your order has to foot the bill entirely - and can change the £1,000 up into the tens (easily) or hundreds (rarely) of thousands.

If, in the next year, someone else foots that bill, then BT could order their connection for a £1,000 again. It makes sense, in a situation like that, to just wait.

A cabinet can thus become viable for no obvious (to Joe Public) reason - and the electricity connection is one example. So your cabinet might just become viable in the future, even without BDUK funding, and even without your petition. The petition *might* help, but is certainly no guarantee.

In the meantime, because you aren't on BT's programme, you *are* on the council's list. Being on the council list doesn't prevent your cabinet from becoming commercially viable in the meantime, but neither does it mean that it will be an automatic beneficiary of the BDUK funding.

Cambridgeshire/Peterborough don't look to be particularly far-advanced in the BDUK process - where the plans are limited to considering totals & percentages. Detailed cabinet & exchange plans will only be started after a contract is signed.

Either way, you are pretty much in the same state as 40% of the country, not knowing whether you'll be passed by, and not knowing when you'll know.

Edit: Just realised you are in Norfolk, so your county plans are certainly more advanced. You'll probably start to discover which exchanges are going to be included soon, but discovering plans for fill-in cabinets has always proved to be harder.

My personal opinion is that BDUK funding is *very* likely to trigger upgrade of cabinets that are fill-in (or previously unviable) on exchanges that themselves were part of the commercial rollout. It is an extremely sensible and cost-effective way to get towards the 90% coverage.

Edited by deleted (Wed 02-Jan-13 12:32:22)

As a follow-on, I found this statement about the Norfolk plan:

In reference to sayyestobroadband.co.uk/shares/sitepdf_3.pdf:

We will prioritise based on the following principles:

• We will address the white areas on Fig 8 first (areas
  that are not currently �unbundled�).
  
• We will roll out superfast broadband infrastructure to
  areas within Norfolk output areas with more than 100
  people per square km. These are areas with
  significant population but which are currently not
  served by better than First Generation Broadband (if at
  all), so offer greatest potential benefit from the
  intervention (about 80% of Norfolk�s total population
  live in output areas with densities greater than this).
  
• We will address current �unbundled� areas last, as the
  commercial market is more likely to �fill in� these areas,
  particularly following intervention.

So from a council perspective, you are probably last on the list. But from BT's perspective, you are probably an easy target - provided you are within the targets at all.

bazza - as www says - you are almost certainly in the 'unknown' bracket.

I am involved with another county's plans, and DO recommend you keep tabs on Norfolk's C C's progress. I do not know where they are in the scheme - they have awarded the contract to BT so BT will be in discussion with NCC over 'priorities' etc. Providing your exchange area has shouted both to NCC in their survey last year and to BT via their broadband website you have a good chance of being seriously looked at for improvement, but no guarantees as www says. Funds are limited. You will be able to tell from the NCC Broadband Public Consultation document (should be on their website) whether BT have declared any 'commercial' plans to do your area by 2015. Otherwise wait and see what the council and BT conjure up.

Just recived this email from the company who built this estate!

Dear Sir,



Further to your enquiry regarding the availability of BT fibre broadband, Taylor Wimpey have installed all the necessary infrastructure, but provision of the service is at the discretion of the provider. Our engineers will however speak with BT to try to find out what their plans are. We will advise you in due course when we hear anything positive.

so does this mean that there isnt much more openreach have to do to get us connected other then installing the new cabinet ?

I suspect this means that TW have run ducting to all houses which would accommodate telephone cabling. It is probable they have run ducting up to the old cabinet (or to a BT duct in each road) from each house but far less likely they have provided the electricity supply BT would need for a FTTC cabinet. In any case, BT would have had to make whatever connections were needed at the cabinet for existing telephones, not TW.

When you consider there is no need for 'new' ducting to properties simply to receive BT FTTC, I suspect they are just talking about ordinary telephone ducting to each house for basic telephone wiring. In any case, BT will need to provide a fibre feed to the area of the old cabinet, a connection to the exchange for this and an electricity supply to the new cabinet - if it does not exist already.

See what they say. To some extent it will hinge on what planning conditions (if any) your LA placed on the developers of the estate. As before - ask the LA - have you?

In reply to a post by bazza1984:

Just recived this email from the company who built this estate!

Dear Sir,



Further to your enquiry regarding the availability of BT fibre broadband, Taylor Wimpey have installed all the necessary infrastructure, but provision of the service is at the discretion of the provider. Our engineers will however speak with BT to try to find out what their plans are. We will advise you in due course when we hear anything positive.

so does this mean that there isnt much more openreach have to do to get us connected other then installing the new cabinet ?

Where's the cabinet that serves the estate?

Could you pinpoint it on a Google Map?

Post deleted by bazza1984

https://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?msid=2094453605091...

the estate is alot bigger now this was when they 1st started its 3 times the size now

Edited by deleted (Fri 04-Jan-13 18:36:06)

Ignitionnet did you find the cabinet located on google maps ?