Questions About Incoming Fibre

Hey there, this is my first time ever posting here so please feel free to tell me if I'm doing anything wrong.

So my exchange, Insch, has recently come up on the map as Coming Soon for this very month. This is fantastic news as I'm a film and media student, and our current speeds of 2mb down and about 300kbs up have been woefully inefficient for any serious film and media work online. However, we are not connected to the exchange directly and instead to a cabinet and I have heard stories of exchanges going live but some cabinets being left as ADSL only. Using the BT Broadband checker I got this -

BT BROADBAND AVAILABILITY CHECKER
Telephone Number 0146xxxx Exchange INSCH is served by Cabinet 2
Featured Products

Downstream Line Rate(Mbps)

Upstream Line Rate(Mbps)

Downstream Range(Mbps)

Availability Date

ADSL Max Up to 1 -- 0.75 to 2.5 Available
Fixed Rate 2 -- -- Available
For all ADSL and WBC Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) services, the stable line rate will be determined during the first 10 days of service usage.

Throughput/download speeds will be less than line rates and can be affected by a number of factors within and external to BT's network, Communication Providers' networks and within customer premises.

The Stop Sale date for Datastream is from 30-Jun-2012; the Formal Retirement date for Datastream is from 30-Jun-2014.

If the End User wishes to migrate from their current Broadband supplier they will need to contact them in the first instance to obtain a MAC (Migrations Authorisation) Code, and then contact their new Broadband supplier to arrange for the service to be migrated.

Note: Please note that postcode and address check results are indicative only. Most accurate results can be obtained from a telephone number check.
Thank you for your interest.

I have a few questions for some of the more educated people, if that's okay.

For one, does anything from the Broadband Checker give any indication as to whether we will or won't have access to fibre?

Two, how accurate are the 'Coming Soon' bubbles on the BT Openreach site? The map still says June, while the PDF file has our exchange listed for June 14th, which has obviously passed by now.

And three, slightly off-topic, we were considering moving our master socket to a different room for better Ethernet access. Would this need to be done before or after our fibre is activated? (assuming it is.)

Thanks for any and all help.

Edited by deleted (Sat 28-Jun-14 15:06:29)

I would suggest you remove your phone number from the post.

Edited by cajef (Sat 28-Jun-14 14:54:13)

Removed your phone number for you.

No specifics yet on which cabinet, and the BT wholesale checker has nothing hidden in it to help you guess either.

Looking at exchange half the lines are Exchange Only, but cabinets 1 and 2 look possible for FTTC based on being the largest two.

This is cabinet 2 I believe, the key is how close to it you are.
http://www.thinkbroadband.com/guide/fibre-broadband.... gives you distance versus speed estimates.

Cabs 3 & 4 look to have a fair chunk of businesses which may help sway Scottish project to upgrade them too. Place Scotia Homes are they building lots of places on Denwell Road?

As a general rule keep the length of phone wiring in the home to a minimum to maximum VDSL2 speed, and then run Ethernet from the modem or modem/router to the more useful location. Ethernet can run 100m with no speed drop.

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

Removed your phone number for you.

No specifics yet on which cabinet, and the BT wholesale checker has nothing hidden in it to help you guess either.

Looking at exchange half the lines are Exchange Only, but cabinets 1 and 2 look possible for FTTC based on being the largest two.

This is cabinet 2 I believe, the key is how close to it you are.
http://www.thinkbroadband.com/guide/fibre-broadband.... gives you distance versus speed estimates.

Cabs 3 & 4 look to have a fair chunk of businesses which may help sway Scottish project to upgrade them too. Place Scotia Homes are they building lots of places on Denwell Road?

As a general rule keep the length of phone wiring in the home to a minimum to maximum VDSL2 speed, and then run Ethernet from the modem or modem/router to the more useful location. Ethernet can run 100m with no speed drop.

Thanks for the help.

The broadband speed checker also gives Cabinet 2 for most of our surrounding houses and at about similar ADSL speeds. Is there perhaps a map to check where Cabinet 2 is actually located and I can go and physically go and see it?

Also, would you happen to know how accurate the Openreach map is for dates? The PDF says June 14th, but as far as I can tell not many of the places listed there have moved beyond 'Coming Soon'.

Oops forget the cabinet location https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@57.311759,-2.62345,3a...

June the 14th but which year?

If it was this June then fibre cabinets would be stood up by now, or you would have noticed lots of Openreach vans about. Superfast Scotland people are the ones in control of the information release.

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

Oops forget the cabinet location https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@57.311759,-2.62345,3a...

June the 14th but which year?

If it was this June then fibre cabinets would be stood up by now, or you would have noticed lots of Openreach vans about. Superfast Scotland people are the ones in control of the information release.

It's this year. There have been quite a few Openreach vans out, even some digging up significant chunks of rural road. I know where that cabinet is, so would it be worth going to take a look at it? And if so, what should I look for?

Sorry for the silly questions. I'm not hugely informed on all this stuff.

For FTTC a cabinet like http://www.coolwebhome.co.uk/fibre-cornwall/images/f... but without the stickers

If the manifolds like http://www.coolwebhome.co.uk/fibre-cornwall/images/f... are appearing on the top of poles then get very excited as FTTP is on its way for some people.

Pics from Cornwall http://www.coolwebhome.co.uk/fibre-cornwall/

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

For FTTC a cabinet like http://www.coolwebhome.co.uk/fibre-cornwall/images/f... but without the stickers

If the manifolds like http://www.coolwebhome.co.uk/fibre-cornwall/images/f... are appearing on the top of poles then get very excited as FTTP is on its way for some people.

Pics from Cornwall http://www.coolwebhome.co.uk/fibre-cornwall/

Just took a drive down and can confirm there's a new larger cabinet just beside the old one. If I am on Cabinet 2, then that hopefully means it's on its way!

As for FTTP, I haven't noticed any of those on the top of poles. I think the PDF on the Openreach website states we're only getting FTTC as well. Still, it's going to be a vastly superior speed to what we have at the moment.

There are three sorts of FTTC cabinet. The one MrSaffron gave is at the top right of this page. The one below it and the one to the left of that are the others. I've a feeling the 128s should say 96, but judging by the location I expect it is one of those.

Whichever of the three it is, you will almost certainly be getting FTTC, not FTTP.

Edited by RobertoS (Sat 28-Jun-14 20:32:03)

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

If the manifolds like http://www.coolwebhome.co.uk/fibre-cornwall/images/f... are appearing on the top of poles then get very excited as FTTP is on its way for some people.

the pole serving my house has had that manifold & fibre hanging off it for 9 months now

i got tricked into being excited!