new cabinet

Hi!

first post here, please be gentle with me!

I live in a small-ish village, where the exchange (WWHEMY) was fibre enabled some time ago.

at the time I obtained this info about the lines served by the cabinets in the village:

CABINET1 228
CABINET2 281
CABINET3 319
CABINET4 111
CABINET5 25
CABINET6 38
DIRECT 310

after the exchange was enabled, cabinets 1 and 3 were enabled.

I'm connected to cabinet 4, and like those connected to cabinet 2, we were optimistic that one day perhaps our cabinets may be enabled too.

What has actually happened is that a new cabinet has sprung up (cabinet 7) close to the exchange, which is pretty much equidistant from cabs 2 & 4, so presumably the intent is to pickup exchange-only customers as well as those currently served by cabs 2 & 4.

If I look at the availability checker on the website
http://www.connectingdevonandsomerset.co.uk/where-when/

and put in my postcode, I'm shown as "Out of programme" but if I put in the postcode of other properties currently served by the same cabinet (cab 4) which are closer to the cabinet I see they are:

"Cabinets serving your postcode are currently live and accepting orders for fibre (the list of cabinets shown below).
....
HEMYOCK 7 � Live"

I estimate I'm pretty much 2.1km from the exchange (and thus cabinet 7) which looking at graphs means I could perhaps get ~15Mbps ?

I currently get a stable 7Mbps, which considering my distance from the exchange always surprises me, but for which I'm very grateful.

So, my question is, is there any way I can get openreach to update their database to flag me as eligible for FTTC by connecting me to cabinet 7? Am I being optimistic?

I phoned my isp (IDNET) prior to posting here, and was pretty much advised that they can only be guided by the OpenReach database...

any help/info/advice gratefully received

thanks
Matt

Edited by deleted (Wed 04-Feb-15 16:04:34)

15 Mbps would be a very optimistic estimate for a rough 2.1km from the cabinet, I'd suggest more from 0 to maybe 6 or 9 Mbps.

Moving JUST you would be a pain, and why move just you, what about the rest of the people on cabinet 4. cabinet 4 probably did not get the FTTC treatment because the postcodes appear very dispersed meaning very few would get superfast, i.e. not value for money

Given a postcode then better estimates on VDSL2 speed if served by cabinet 7 might be possible, but network rearrangement link this usually only happens for EO lines, or areas where two cabinets actually overlap and a small cabinet serving just a few lines exists.

Hi Andrew,

many thanks for replying. re:

>Moving JUST you would be a pain, and why move just you

I had assumed that lines would be moved one-by-one as people requested an upgrade to FTTC? Is this not the case? Do all the lines eligible for FTTC get automatically transferred wholesale to cab 7, and those uneligible (like me) remain on cab 4? If so, I see what you're saying - I just don't understand this part of the process.... any insight would be great..

>15 Mbps would be a very optimistic estimate for a rough 2.1km

fair enough - the first graph I'd googled was this one:

http://www.increasebroadbandspeed.co.uk/2013/chart-b...

which is where I got the figure from.

If it makes any difference the cable coming from the cab is a "fat" one, and terminates in a DP on a pole in my yard, where "skinny" wires head off to a number of properties.

> Given a postcode then better estimates on VDSL2 speed if served by cabinet 7 might be possible

I'm at EX15 3xx


thanks again
Matt

Edited by deleted (Wed 04-Feb-15 18:32:09)

Fat cable just means it carries lots of pairs.

The graph you used is an over optimistic one, that generally gives a closer to real life estimate is http://www.thinkbroadband.com/guide/fibre-broadband....

You are missing understanding the roll-out, only lines connected to a specific copper cabinet that has a fibre twin will get FTTC. So needs a fibre twin to be added to cabinet 4 for you to benefit.

Cabinet 7 if it got a fibre twin (and no sign of plans to do) is probably not going to give you superfast speeds, or most other people on the cabinet, hence not been done at this. This does not mean you are stuck at 7 Mbps for ever, but might only see improvements once the 100% target for next load of spending is close to completion see http://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/6808-45m-of-fundi...

Hi Andrew,

thanks again for replying.

>You are missing understanding the roll-out, only lines connected
>to a specific copper cabinet that has a fibre twin will get FTTC.
>So needs a fibre twin to be added to cabinet 4 for you to benefit.

I think the thing I'm not understanding is the mismatch of info between the CDS availability checker based on postcode, and the openreach data based on phone number.

using these examples:

1)
phone: 01823 6xxxxx
cabinet: 4 (near)
postcode: EX15 3xx

2)
phone: 01823 6xxxxx (me!)
cabinet: 4 (far)
postcode: EX15 3xx

3)
phone: 01823 6xxxxx
cabinet: exchange-only line
postcode: EX15 3xx


the BT checker here:
https://www.btwholesale.com/includes/adsl/main.html

shows none of the above have any FTTC availability and confirms the cabinet details I've listed.

the CDS availability checker here:
http://www.connectingdevonandsomerset.co.uk/where-when/

show's 1) and 3) able to get fibre via cabinet 7 (Live)

so does cabinet 7 have a fibre twin?

my own line aside, I'd still like to better understand what cabinet 7 is actually for, and how/if lines currently served by other cabinets (eg cabinet 4 as per my example 1 above) or exchange-only lines (as per my example 3 above) will be migrated over to it.

I appreciate that post-code level data is going to be less specific the line level data, but the data here seems to conflict somewhat.


thanks again
Matt

Edited by deleted (Wed 04-Feb-15 18:31:21)

Cabinet 7 is for the EO lines closer to the exchange. the BT Wholesale checker can be slow to update to reflect this network rearrangement.

EX15 3RQ is a split postcode with some properties on cabinet 4 and some are EO. The EO ones will be moving to cabinet 7.

Lines on cabinet 4 will not be migrated over to cabinet 7 - simple.

Hi Andrew,

okay - that now makes perfect sense, it was the split postcode bit I was missing.

thank you so much for your help - it is greatly appreciated!



thanks
Matt