A few questions

Hi all,

Apologies in advance as this could be a longish post so if you make it to the end thank you lol.

AREA PIC

So originally my area was due to be upgraded to FTTP (parts marked 2,3 and 4) but when the survey was done for CDS it was deemed too expensive due to location and the fact that the lines are direct in ground so it was scaled back to FTTC.

Fast forward 10 or so years (2020) and Airband were down to install their FTTP here and I was able to pre order it (signed up and it used the Gigabit broadband voucher scheme), Anyway it was delayed due to covid and also because from the main road (red line) they couldn't get fibre down the lane (long green line with 2 on it) leading to our and other roads.
A year or so later they solved the issue by having the power line poles replaced with new ones which allowed for fibre to be carried on them as well.

So the fibre enters the close (where the purple and white lines are) at the orange blob by the green 2 but now instead of all of the close being able to order FTTP from Airband only the ones on the straight part of the road in purple can order it, The white line where we were able to place the order to begin with no longer allows us when I phoned up about it I was pretty much told "computer says no".

The Villlage that it's in is in the Ultrafast Full Fibre broadband Build Programme to be completed by 23/24 (although I know that doesn't mean all areas will be done), Also I'm not sure if they base that on the area or the exchange?, the reason I ask is that the part of the village I live the cabinet connects back to another nearby exchange while the area I crudely wrote FFTP on the pic is the newer part of the village with the newer exchange and was done via openreach with no government funding (I think) The line marked 1 has just had FTTP made available to them as well.

Earlier this year on roadworks site I noticed openreach were doing works by the entrance from the main road (marked with a purple blob) on the lane where no one could get fibre down previously, I've now noticed that FTTP via openreach is available to around half the houses down that lane road before it stops. (marked with blue 4)

So my questions are

1) I think someone may have paid for Fibre on demand somewhere along the blue 4 point but am unsure so is there a way to check? as it would seem a weird place for openreach to stop as the rest of that lane is a lot more open and easier to access and there are over 100 houses further down rather than the 14 or so (can't remember the exact number) that is available now.

2) Does anyone know if more than one company can use the hybrid poles for fibre and power (I know Airband use it but could or even do openreach use these types of poles to get fibre in hard areas?.

3) What could possibly be the reason why Airband only did the straight part of the close and not the other part (closest houses like 10m away with the ones at the top 60m away).

4) As I said before we were able to apply for the gigabit voucher scheme (auto via airband) but now we are no longer eligible (I think this maybe based on the postcode? that will show Airband as FTTP available but half of us can't order that for whatever reason so I'm wondering if I can find out who to tell I could be eligable again as like I said according to Airband themselves it's not available here. As if Openreach were not going to come down here I was thinking about using the voucher to get fibre on demand (depending on cost) as there is quite a bit of openreach FTTP around us now so hoping it would have an agg node fairly close so the voucher could cover some of it.

Thanks for making it this far if you did and any help greatly appreciated

Mike

I can imagine this being frustrating but i think as you as you are now saying you can't get a gigabit voucher, (which was in twos sadly) you need to check your postcode status

so please download the correct csv file, opne it up on a spreadsheet and search for your address and come back with its code and if any premises is white

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/project-...

Given that it maps every property in England the files it will have errors.

The reason I'm asking you to do this is to see if your postcode has been bumped from commercial to non commercial and needing assistance via the project gigabit scheme. Everything in that post is screaming that it might be.

Thanks for the reply.

The post code says

Subsidy Control Status Postcode ---------------------------- Gigabit Under Review

38 Grey Premises
32 Under Review Premises

I thought that was a weird number as 1-33 were able to order FTTP via Airband so I thought maybe there is some rogue numbers within Airbands system and I found 66-70 were as well making up the 38 Grey ones but I forgot the numbers wrap around in a clockwise order so 66-70 are also in that purple line and those 5 added to the 33 make up the 38, Interestingly though is that number 52 (that is 3/4 of the way in the white part of the map i put up) is able to order FTTP even though the 10 or so houses that surround it cannot so I think that ones still there in error.

Thanks again
Mike

If you've the time https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/project-g... should be informative as far as what grey and under review statuses are. Search in it for 'grey' and you'll find the info.

Humm.. The reason I asked was that you had an en-mass gigabit voucher - which you termed "auto". At some stage in 2020- 2022 (I can't remember when) but all existing vouchers upto that point that hadn't been used, expired and you had to re-apply .. and you said you can't get a new one.

Hence why I thought you might be under the project gigabit scheme and asked you to do that digging (no pun intended!)

In reply to a post by Taras:

Humm.. The reason I asked was that you had an en-mass gigabit voucher - which you termed "auto". At some stage in 2020- 2022 (I can't remember when) but all existing vouchers upto that point that hadn't been used, expired and you had to re-apply .. and you said you can't get a new one.

Hence why I thought you might be under the project gigabit scheme and asked you to do that digging (no pun intended!)

Hi,
Yes we were under the Gigabit scheme previously (basically when I signed up, Airband filled out all the required info and sent it to them and then the scheme contacted me to confirm I had ordered it etc) but due to the delay from covid and the fact they had to get power poles replaced it expired, That's why I was hoping to be able to get another voucher as I could before.

Upon checking it appears the other houses in the postcode are "Grey" which means 1 provider has or will make it available in 3 years (well that makes sense as they can order Airband now, This also seems to indicate that no one else is planning on delivering FTTP here in the next 3 years as other wise they should of been classed as "black" for 2 or more.
While the others (including my address) is "under review" which apparently means that 1 or more providers with commercial plans have it planned to be done, That sounds good but I'm assuming this is still deemed Airband because as I mentioned before with the other houses they are only "grey" and you would have to go past their houses and not make them available to do ours which would be mad and as I stated before Airband have removed half of the close from being able to order it from their site.

That's why I was looking at being able to use a voucher to see about getting it myself and was the reason why I asked about if more than one company can add fibre to the hybrid lines or if was 1 only as if I was looking at getting it then they would have to come down the same way and if they were able to use the power poles as well it would be much easier for them.

Thanks for replying

Yeah I've found out the info and answered it in the other reply and I'm assuming it's not good news.

Thanks for the link.

double check here

https://gigabitvoucher.culture.gov.uk/home/who-is-el...

two or more properties are needed.

secondly i'd contact airband again. There's no magic bullet that anyone can wave but polite prodding by you .

Thanks

That's the link I used to find I wasn't eligible.

I've spoken to I think it's 4 different people at Airband now and it's basically been "computer says no", Well I think the actual words were more of a sorry if the website says no then there is nothing I can do.

Appreciate all the help though.
Mike

In reply to a post by MikeIG:

Thanks

That's the link I used to find I wasn't eligible.

I've spoken to I think it's 4 different people at Airband now and it's basically been "computer says no", Well I think the actual words were more of a sorry if the website says no then there is nothing I can do.

Appreciate all the help though.
Mike

If it is impossible to get past the lower levels it is always worthwhile trying to go round the roadblock rather than trying to go through it. If you look at this helpful CEO contact details site you can find the contact details and e-mail address for the CEO of Airband. A polite message to that person may break the logjam.

Edited by GonePostal (Tue 19-Dec-23 23:46:12)