Openreach = useless

Cabinet was due to get Fibre in February 2015, for the last 6 months nothing has happened now I see roadworks planned in November for laying power cables, surely they could have worked this out while they installed the Fibre back in February?!.

No doubt they won't build the new cab now until next year now [censored], feels like they have wasted 6 months doing nothing, months more stuck on a 2mbit ADSL connection arrrrgh!.

In reply to a post by Spetznaz:

now I see roadworks planned in November for laying power cables, surely they could have worked this out while they installed the Fibre back in February?!.

I'm sure they did but BT can't just dig up the road and lay power cables whenever and whereever they want to. I don't even know if BT are the ones that install the power - I'd have thought it was whoever operates the power grid in your area. It may be that all BT can do is put in a request for power to be made available. Then, like you, it just has to wait.

I think maybe if you can calm down a bit you might realise that BT are at least as frustrated about this as you are. They have already invested several thousands of pounds into that cabinet and have yet to see any return on that investment. BT have executed a massive roll-out over the last few years. They know what they are doing. Unfortunately (but quite rightly) they are dependant on other companies and organisations to play their part. Sometimes those other entites have their own difficulties that interfere with BT's plans.

Edited by Andrue (Tue 11-Aug-15 21:32:29)

Power is fone by people like ukpn who of course charge the commercial rates for the work

Although such delays seem strange to us on this forum, given that we have an interest in Broadband, what I find even stranger, is the slow Take-up rate, once the FTTC is up and running.

My local FTTC has a capacity of 288 BB connections, only 48 had Filter/Links fully loaded whwen it went live in March 2014.

The 288 is probably sufficient to cover all phone lines through the PCP, about 300 based on Postcodes and Addresses.

A year later, about May 2015, another 48 F/Ls were fitted.

So in the first year of being available, only about 17% at most, had been upgraded, tying in with BT's published figures of about 16% UK-wide in November 2014; and 19% about April 2015.


So it appears that many are satisfied with ADSL; perhaps Dial-up; and even no Web access at all.


Whilst BT has a lot of expensive hardware scattered around the country, at various degrees of installation, not earning its keep.

In reply to a post by eckiedoo:

Although such delays seem strange to us on this forum, given that we have an interest in Broadband, what I find even stranger, is the slow Take-up rate, once the FTTC is up and running.

And VM has to close lower speed packages and force punters to upgrade (at no cost to the customer) from time to time. I think the truth is that most homes can get along quite comfortable on a good ADSL connection (ie; >15Mb/s). And even a lacklustre ADSL connection (>5Mb/s) is enough for a single person living alone if they only browse and read email. It'll even support most IPTV services at a good resolution.

For a lot of people the main advantage of FTTC is stability. The only people with a real need for >20Mb/s are families with teenage children where IPTV or online gaming means competition for bandwidth. Even then I doubt you'd find many households that genuinely need >40Mb/s.

Edited by Andrue (Wed 12-Aug-15 08:36:16)

I find the lack of open communication from Openreach more frustrating.
Cabinet 13 on the Sandwich exchange first appeared in 2013 with a frenzy of activity. The available dates have since slipped from 2013 to Sep 2014, Jun 2015 and now Sept 2015. Each time the date has changed the day before it was due with no reason given. An honest report would allow potential customers to perhaps look at other interim options such as Vfast for two years rather than hanging on for fibre supposedly for only 3 months.

Although such delays seem strange to us on this forum, given that we have an interest in Broadband, what I find even stranger, is the slow Take-up rate, once the FTTC is up and running.

In quarterly reports, BT have reported the overall takeup percentage to be going up by 1% per quarter, regular as clockwork. Of course, that has to be countered by the fact that the rollout coverage has also regularly gone up by about 1m properties per quarter (though that rate has slowed recently, as work is done in rural areas).

Remember that only a small percentage of people follow broadband news as we do, and are chomping at the bit to upgrade instantly. Most don't realise that they can upgrade until they are told ... and even then, contract lock-in might prevent them from swapping in a hurry.

Last autumn, BT were applying for the right to install cabs without electricity meters, and had to give a sample of data about the power used by the different cabinet types, with varying card and port utilisation. That data turned out to be a sample of 34,000 cabinets, out of what is now over 60,000 cabinets. The data used there gives us a great snapshot of how many cards are installed in cabinets, and how many ports are in use.

The upshot is that around 90% of cabinets are still on only their first or second linecard, with roughly the same amount still on their first set of tie pairs.

Thread, with links to statistics: http://forums.thinkbroadband.com/fibre/4409966-fttc-...

That thread has a link to a further thread with statistics from 1 year earlier.

So it appears that many are satisfied with ADSL; perhaps Dial-up; and even no Web access at all.

And, from Ofcom graphs, it seems fair enough to say that even when a subscriber has swapped to fibre-based connection, the 40Mbps package seems to be enough for most. This self-imposed limit seems to apply to VM equally; here around one-third are interested in paying for speeds above the 50Mbps level.

http://postimg.org/image/bly6o16cl/

So ... only 30% of the nation have gone for a superfast connection, and only 35% of them (ie 10% of the nation) have gone for an option above the bare minimum.

In reply to a post by Jethro_Tombs:

I find the lack of open communication from Openreach more frustrating.
...Each time the date has changed the day before it was due with no reason given. An honest report would allow potential customers to perhaps look at other interim options such as Vfast for two years rather than hanging on for fibre supposedly for only 3 months.

It'll change the day before because automated systems kick in and extend it for another three month period. As to being open and honest see my other reply. Openreach aren't the only ones involved in the cabinet installation process. They may have nothing to say other than "We're still waiting on our suppliers like we were the last time you asked". Quite probably someone in Openreach keeps prodding whoever is holding things up but their agreement with them may (most probably does) prohibit them from passing on progress reports from third parties. In which case what do expect them to do?

In reply to a post by eckiedoo:

Although such delays seem strange to us on this forum, given that we have an interest in Broadband, what I find even stranger, is the slow Take-up rate, once the FTTC is up and running.

My local FTTC has a capacity of 288 BB connections, only 48 had Filter/Links fully loaded whwen it went live in March 2014.

The 288 is probably sufficient to cover all phone lines through the PCP, about 300 based on Postcodes and Addresses.

A year later, about May 2015, another 48 F/Ls were fitted.

So in the first year of being available, only about 17% at most, had been upgraded, tying in with BT's published figures of about 16% UK-wide in November 2014; and 19% about April 2015.


So it appears that many are satisfied with ADSL; perhaps Dial-up; and even no Web access at all.


Whilst BT has a lot of expensive hardware scattered around the country, at various degrees of installation, not earning its keep.

How can you tell of take up in the FTTC cabinet?

In reply to a post by eckiedoo:

Although such delays seem strange to us on this forum, given that we have an interest in Broadband, what I find even stranger, is the slow Take-up rate, once the FTTC is up and running.

What were ADSL speeds like before FTTC appeared?