Fibre Optic Broadband

Hi, you say that Superfast Wales is aiming for a target date of December 2015, I received a reply from them last week, stating that Fibre Optic broadband would not be available at my property for 12 months or more. I am very frustrated , disappointed & angry about the situation, as I have bought a new Ultra HD television, with the intention of purchasing BT package to receive BT Ultra HD sport package. I have also renewed my contract back in July 2015, also I have had several communications with Open Reach & Superfast Wales & my local MP, with negative results. The reason for not having it, is the cable from the exchange comes directly, not via the green box, but I am annoyed that I live about 500 to 600 yards from the exchange, also there are neighbours have fibre optic and they live about 20 yards & 5o yards approx from my house. One option they suggested, was me and my neighbours / community to pay for the system, (They must be joking).
Regards :- QUANGO 1948

What exchange?

I think anyone here would have advised you against buying in advance hardware based on possible availability of service.

The Welsh target is 96% fibre based and for those close to exchanges they are probably already enjoying 5 to 7 Mbps speeds (or should be) and thus you may not be at the top of the priority list.

Harsh to say, but what makes your case more important than a village that is 4km or more from the exchange, of which there a lot in Wales.

Hassle your A.M. and M.P, then do it again. As much as 50% of case work is now Broadband (per com Mid Wales A.M and M.P.)

While I might leave out the bit about the Ultra HD telly unless you are a brain surgon and need it so you can see what you are doing for remote brain surgery. 1 year can easily become 2 and you may end up having to pay anyway.

The reason you *SHOULD* make a lot of noise is that there are 10,000's of other people in a similar position in Wales who has similar or worse provision. If enough of us make a noise and make this a voting issue, then we may get some attention from the governemnt in Cardiff who have done the minimum possible to help non-labour voting consituencies to date.

Hi, thanks for your response, reason for purchasing a new television, my old television had come to the end of the guarantee period, also I had a fantastic deal from Richer Sounds, could not be missed.The annoyance is that Fibre Optic is round the corner to me, & the other is only up the same street , same post code area. Also I did not get any joy via my MP. This problem has been going on since three months approx, not getting nowhere, I am in the process of writing to BT complaint department , I don't build my hope up.
Regards :- tobias65

You bought a new TV because yours had reached the end of its guarantee?



What speed do you get on your broadband anyway? At 600 yards I'd expect it to be pretty good.

If you tell us the exchange people may be able to take a peek at what is going on in the area

The current Superfast Cymru project only has a 2 Mbps for all as its 100% target, 96% fibre based in a country the size of Wales means 1000's can be skipped totally, and of the 96% probably only 90% will see superfast.

Exchange Only lines which you appear to be generally need more work and thus represent less value for money, and so the bulk of the work goes to other areas.

As requested, the telephone exchange in question is :- Dolgellau, Gwynedd, North Wales.
Awaiting your Response, thank you kindly,
Regards :- tobias65

Hi RobertoS, What is wrong with buying a new television at the end of the guarantee, It's my choice & when there is a bargain going I will consider the deal.
Regards :- tobias65

Assuming samknows is up to date, that looks as though you are stuck on ADSL Max, maximum 8Mbps. Is that right? Do you have router stats, with your sync/connection speed, attenuation and noise margin please?

Just not something I've ever heard of before . Definitely agree it's up to you how you spend your money.

Hmm.. Sky LLU is available... thats a first in my book!

Just done a check on an address I found uing google maps..

Address 2 FFORDD HEULOG, DOLGELLAU, LL40 1HH on Exchange DOLGELLAU is served by Cabinet 6
Featured Products

Downstream Line Rate(Mbps)

Upstream Line Rate(Mbps)

Downstream Range(Mbps)

Availability Date

High Low High Low
FTTC Range A (Clean) 80 74 20 20 -- Available
FTTC Range B (Impacted) 80 61.9 20 12.2 -- Available

WBC ADSL 2+ Up to 17 -- 10 to 19.5 Available
WBC ADSL 2+ Annex M Up to 17 Up to 1.5 10 to 19.5 Available
ADSL Max Up to 7.5 -- 6.5 to 8 Available
Fixed Rate 2 -- -- Available
Other Offerings
Fibre Multicast -- -- -- Available
Copper Multicast -- -- -- Available

So Sam knows must be out of date.

Summary

Cabs 1,2 and 3 already live with FTTC and suspect the posters postcode is close to cab 1 where as far as I can see no sign of any Exchange Only uplift plans, but not sure if its those as lat/lng places them in Post Office yard.

Cab 4&5 are pencilled in for FTTP and cab 6 FTTC, plus so EO work to provide FTTP on the more rural postcodes on the exchange.

If poster wants to private message the address can look at things a bit further.

Samknows says FTTC available in some areas, so is right .

Good spot that Sky (and TalkTalk + TTBusiness resellers) are available, so ADSL2+ might be the way to go for the OP. Particularly as at last one ISP will do TTBusiness on monthly contract, even on FTTC.

Hi MrSaffron, thanks for the tech info, I am not technically minded, most of your information goes over my head, after all I am 67.

I was making remark to Samknows having ADSLMax only and not 21CN...

How come your neighbours can get fibre-optic but you can't?

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Just not something I've ever heard of before . Definitely agree it's up to you how you spend your money.

I replaced mine recently and it still had 2 years guarantee left

Hi mimclaren, for your info FFordd Heulog, Dolgellau, is lower down the road & slightly nearer to the Telephone Exchange . [address removed]

Edited by MrSaffron (Tue 08-Sep-15 09:32:42)

What house number?

Hi BatBoy, OpenReach & Superfast Wales informs me that my Land Line / Broadband cable comes directly from Dolgellau telephone exchange to my house, not through any green boxes. To me it sound a lame excuse.
Regards :- tobias65

Hi BatBoy, Number :- [house number removed]

Edited by MrSaffron (Tue 08-Sep-15 09:33:02)

See my last paragraph if you private message me more detail i.e. address can look into it more

The cable coming directly is what is known as an exchange only line.

There appear to be two likely postcodes and both seem to be linked with some post office buildings, hence the need to know full address to say more.

Upgrading direct lines to work with fibre optic is more expensive, and thus project is within its rights to bypass some people, i.e. coverage target even when done will leave 4% with nothing better than what they have now and maybe 10% will still not be superfast.

You are one of half a dozen or so direct lines, others nearby are connected via a cabinet.

So your choices are:

1. Enjoy to the 10 to 19 Mbps broadband connection that is available to you (if your speeds are a lot lower than this then we can explore what can be done to improve them) Can you post the results link from http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest
2. Wait for Superfast Cymru to do something, but no legal obligation on them and current project is NOT aiming to improve everyone.
3. Pay for what is called network rearrangement which may be £1000 or more to get your line shifted to cabinet 6, costs so much because may need new digging in the street to achieve.

Post deleted by MrSaffron

Have replied to the other post where you stated it.

Presume you would like the address removed from the posts now, so the whole world does not know where you live?

Hi MrSaffron, Please remove the address, thankyou.

Hi MrSaffron, Did the speed check as requested have copied an address for you to have the result :- http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/results.html...
Hope this may help you, please contact me if more details are required.
Regards :- tobias65

Very slow for 500 yards away from the exchange, time to find out the actual connection speeds, attenuation and noise margin figures.

Has your ISP upgraded you from ADSL to ADSL2+ yet?

Hi MrSaffron, thanks for your rapid response, reference the query regarding the upgrade, I would not know, BT has not inform me of any changes.
Regards :- tobias65

Okay if you upload speed as reported by the modem is 448 Kbps then still on the old ADSL based service and requesting an upgrade to WBC ADSL2+ will boost speeds.

Once we know the attenuation an estimate of what you might get can be given.

Hi MrSaffron, Does your reply mean that I should get in touch with Openreach or Bt, to do an upgrade to ADSL2+
Regards :- tobias65

If your attenuation figures show room for improvement likely then it would be a chase BT Retail situation as they are your provider

Hi MrSaffron, Just done a BT Broadband Speed Test on my main Computer ( Ethernet connection via Mains Electricity Wiring to my hub BT home hub 4 ).
Result :- BT Exchange to Home :- 8.13Mb
Home to Device :- Download 5.8MB, Upload :- 0.37Mb

I don't know if these figures are helpful.
Regards :- tobias65

Not particularly

The 8 figure suggests maybe a cap due to ADSL rather than ADSL2+

In reply to a post by tobias65:

( Ethernet connection via Mains Electricity Wiring to my hub BT home hub 4 ).
Result :- BT Exchange to Home :- 8.13Mb
Home to Device :- Download 5.8MB, Upload :- 0.37Mb

that shows you could get a 30% increases in speed if you had a better connection router to 'puter.
also indicates that even if line were faster you wouldn't see the benefits.

Hi ggremlin, thanks for the info, much appreciated.Would you recommend a better router to replace the BT home hub 4, any you could recommend ?????? What is BT home hub 5 like ????
Awaiting your Response, thanking you.
Regards :- tobias65

hub5's are fine, as are hh4. your most limiting factor is the mains networking.