BT Exchange Exit

Or, in more common parlance telephone exchange closure.

BT are planning to 'exit' 4000 telephone exchanges over the coming years.

The proposal is to do it stages and our local exchange is in the first tranch of 103 exchanges. The plot of land is by no means small and with local housing prices, you could easily build and rapidly sell a property for millions of pounds.

So I ask myself is it a coincidence that there are builders on the site and broadband went off for a wide postode area a week ago and there are no plans to have it fixed for days yet.?

Edited by Sandgroundor (Sat 14-Dec-24 16:23:01)

In reply to a post by Sandgroundor:

So I ask myself is it a coincidence that there are builders on the site and broadband went off for a wide postode area a week ago and there are no plans to have it fixed for days yet.?

it could have any number of reasons that a large postcode had no power for days. And if your internet connection is suffering then thats something you should speak to your isp about in regards compensation.

Whats the name of the exchange?

Can you PM me your postcode?

I would note that closing telephone exchanges is nothing new, the one in village I grew up in was closed decades ago and is now a house.

More likely fibre damage in the network, possibly due to the storm last week, although the condition of many exchange buildings leaves a lot to be desired. Many have building works due to leaking roofs and the RAAC issues.

PM sent.

with full code

Edited by Sandgroundor (Sat 14-Dec-24 21:46:52)

In reply to a post by Sandgroundor:

So I ask myself is it a coincidence that there are builders on the site and broadband went off for a wide postode area a week ago

Yes, it is a coincidence.

Openreach doesn't own the telephone exchanges any more; it sold them off years ago and leases them back. So in the long run, it does want to exit the leases.

But in the short term, simply turning off service to a bunch of users would not gain them anything. On the contrary, most of those users with failed connections will be claiming a daily penalty for the loss of service from their ISP, and those ISPs will be claiming it back from Openreach.

Openreach won't be able to exit exchange buildings until:
1. All voice telephone exchanges are turned off. This has been put back to Jan 2027.
2. All ISPs have removed their LLU equipment from the exchange (i.e. ADSL and voice equipment which connects directly to the copper)
3. Any other services hosted at the exchange, such as leased lines, have been migrated away.

Because of the complexity of all this, the initial trial of ~100 exchanges was scaled back to 3-5. Even if you're in the next 100 it's still going to be a while.

In reply to a post by witchunt:

More likely fibre damage in the network, possibly due to the storm last week, although the condition of many exchange buildings leaves a lot to be desired. Many have building works due to leaking roofs and the RAAC issues.

You could well be right about the condition of the exchange - building work has been going on for quite a while.

Fingers crossed for RTS tomorrow. - 8 days of solid red on the quality monitor is depressing.

Edited by Sandgroundor (Mon 16-Dec-24 00:23:29)

In reply to a post by Sandgroundor:

Fingers crossed for RTS tomorrow. - 8 days of solid red on the quality monitor is depressing.

Have you got a dynamic or a static IP address? The fact you are posting here shows that one way or another you have internet access.

A solid red BQM on a static IP address would (generally) represent a total lack of service. On a dynamic IP address it normally simply means you now have a different address.

Edit: I just realised you may be posting using your phone, but the difference between static and dynamic addresses for landline broadband still applies.

Edited by pluralist (Mon 16-Dec-24 01:00:59)