Oh, you're right, I didn't re-check the list when I posted the link, they weren't there last time I checked

Thanks once again.
My phone line comes in overhead so that seems to give lots of options.
Will be some time yet before anything is available but hopefully will get more info in July when the Parish Council are putting on a special meeting with a chap from the County Council team who will give a talk about the broadband roll-out in and around our village with info down to postcode level followed by a question/answer session. Knowledge before the event is very valuable as well as for the actual fitting of any fibre. One member of the Parish Council has been very proactive in all this which is good.

As I've whinged about here before, they dug up our lane and put new poles in 15 months ago and strung cable along them before Christmas but then nothing. Last week I had a newsletter from Superfast Cornwall and, on a whim, followed the checker and found that I can now order FTTP. Hoorah! (but no other publicity whatsoever, to my surprise). All signed up and due for delivery in 5 weeks. Yesterday the Openreach surveyor came round, looked at the new pole 10m from the front of the bungalow and sucked his teeth and scratched his head, not at all sure they can manage the minimum 5.5m clearance across the road. The existing pole (this side of the road) also carries power lines so they can't use it so it could be time for the JCB! Broadband cut off by tractor load of silage makes a change from the usual man with pneumatic drill, I suppose!

Interesting if slightly depressing.
The Better Broadband Suffolk website indicates first quarter 2015 for my area but the only time the site changed at all was to put us back a year from first quarter 2014. There are signs of activity on the ground like poles and bits of road being dug up but as you indicate early days yet.
If your phone line comes in overhead already then surely that must pass the 5.5 metre requirement already so why not use the same route?
They are very poor at letting people know when fibre is available. I have talked to two friends, one could already get fibre but did not know it until I told him (in the end he decided against it as he could already get 20mbs which more than meets his requirements) the other did not know whether he could or not but had assumed like many that when it became available he would automatically get upgraded to it. He would get it when available as he gets less than 2mbs but has no idea how to check which is typical of many). No wonder uptake is comparatively poor!
Hey-ho looks like it could be a long haul yet and here is me already looking at routers!

They had probably opted out from marketing emails etc from their ISP - so what did they expect?

If they cannot achieve the required clearance for an FTTP drop,then how are they achieving it with your phone line?

We currently have two drops to our house - one 43 metres and the second 45 metres in length.

They can replace the pole with one taller than standard - that is quite common and a relatively simple task.


As for dual use poles - why can they not continue to use it? They is less danger with fibre than with copper.

In reply to a post by MHC:

If they cannot achieve the required clearance for an FTTP drop,then how are they achieving it with your phone line?

They may not be.
When the minimum height restrictions came into force (I think as part of the NRSWA in the early 90's), it didn't apply retrospectively, but only to new/adjusted installations.
So if the dropwire is below 5.5m and was erected before the requirement became law, that's OK.
If it needs to be replaced or a new dropwire is needed, this has to meet the height requirements.

In reply to a post by MHC:

They can replace the pole with one taller than standard - that is quite common and a relatively simple task.

As for dual use poles - why can they not continue to use it? They is less danger with fibre than with copper.

The existance of overhead power is a complication, but not necessarily insurmountable.
Where BT shares use of power poles, the BT wires will be below the power cable with a minimum (c. 1m) gap between the two. If this means the point where BT can attach the dropwire to the pole is too low to meet the road height retrictions, another solution would be needed.
It's not impossible that BT could install their own (taller) pole, but this would likely mean that the BT dropwire would cross over the top of the power cables - which isn't usual practice.

I know most of the answers - they were really meant for the OP to use when talking with BT.

He could always find a fault with his dropwire - that would need a new pole!

I know of installations where the distance between power and phone is less than a metre and in one case = shared use pole with BT above power, to two poles then back to shared use with BT below!

In reply to a post by MHC:

If they cannot achieve the required clearance for an FTTP drop,then how are they achieving it with your phone line?

We currently have two drops to our house - one 43 metres and the second 45 metres in length.

They can replace the pole with one taller than standard - that is quite common and a relatively simple task.


As for dual use poles - why can they not continue to use it? They is less danger with fibre than with copper.

I think the point is his copper and power are supplied by a pole his side of the road, but the fibre would be expected to come from one the other side of the road, and that's the one that isn't high enough.

Why replacing that would be an issue I have no idea .

In reply to a post by zom22:

They had probably opted out from marketing emails etc from their ISP - so what did they expect?

Possibly but perhaps not. I have never had marketing emails from my ISP or any of my grown up children from theirs and have not opted out of anything. I have however had plenty of letters over the last couple of years adressed to me extolling the virtues of Infinity and inviting me to order when fibre is not available! Rather annoying making me mutter "I would if I could you idiots!"