Wombat Binfield heath is now live cab and 1st few connections already benefitting from FTTC (from sub 1 meg to > 50 mpbs) - Binfield Cost was very bespoke (based on what was expected to be done by Civils)

I checked roadworks.org yesterday - nothing. Went out today and there are men putting out "Roadworks" signs by the cabinet and with a set of traffic lights on their trailer. Checked Roadworks.org today and it shows "Install 3m of 1 way poly duct in Verge,Provide 1 Provide/Recover 1 NGA Cab and base (1.5m x 0.5m)". The game's afoot!

Curiously the exchange still shows as "Under Evaluation".

John

It may or it may not.

If the exchange become a fibre head end exchange in its own right then it will be - and 21CN/WDC/ADSL2+ will become available.
However if the cabinets on that exchange are actually fed from the 21CN head end connection on a nearby exchange (as has happened) - then it won't. The local exchange in this case is no more than a fibre junction box. I see this second scenario happening on smaller exchanges.

Indeed I see the long term future as regional fibre exchanges serving satellites of smaller exchanges around them which are just junction boxes - and everything being controlled from the regional exchange.

My parents are on a small semi-rural exchange which until 3 weeks ago was 20CN. Now it's been upgraded and they've switched to ADSL2+ their sync speed is now a tad below 21Mbps.

In reply to a post by zom22:

It may or it may not.

If the exchange become a fibre head end exchange in its own right then it will be - and 21CN/WDC/ADSL2+ will become available.
However if the cabinets on that exchange are actually fed from the 21CN head end connection on a nearby exchange (as has happened) - then it won't. The local exchange in this case is no more than a fibre junction box. I see this second scenario happening on smaller exchanges.

Indeed I see the long term future as regional fibre exchanges serving satellites of smaller exchanges around them which are just junction boxes - and everything being controlled from the regional exchange.

The fibre cable most of the time won't pass through the smaller exchange on its way to the headend. It just goes directly to the headend.

What you're describing is already happening. It is very common for the headend not to be in the local exchange. I know of a borough which has 17 exchanges in it, all but one are FTTC enabled. 6 of those are FTTC headends. All of those fibre cabinets connect to one of those 6.

Edited by deleted (Fri 10-Jan-14 18:11:14)

Why is a sparsely populated village getting FTTC, but a densely populated area of a city is not?

Even my parents, who live in a small town very far from the exchange, have fibre. I don't understand this rollout at all.

Also my place of work, in the direct centre of Manchester, with many dozens of offices, cannot get fibre. People living on the outskirts in smaller towns have had it for over a year.

Is it based on potential number of customers, or what is the logic behind who gets fibre and who doesn't?

Its partly funded by BDUK, not part of BTs commercial program.

For the village/small town locations yes that will be the case.

The majority rolled out so far is under the fully commercial programme where the number of premises on a cabinet are a very big factor. So areas with large offices/business parks tend to miss out.

In reply to a post by Freo:

Is it based on potential number of customers, or what is the logic behind who gets fibre and who doesn't?

It seems to be down to the time in which BT estimate they will make a return on their investment, with the estimates based on a lot of factors.

The break-even threshold is said to be 12 years for the commercial rollout, and 15 years for the BDUK rollout.

The thinking behind business parks and office areas is that many businesses have proper FTTP.

FTTC wouldn't give them the capacity they need in most cases.