bt fttc

[reset]

Just checked BT's roll out map, my exchange was due for fttc update in March, now it's showing June.

Why the hell can't BT get anywhere near it's own dates, the fiasco just rolls on.

When the end of June gets here I'm sure it will roll ove yet another 3, why 3 months why not just a month?

[truth4free]

Agree entirely. My exchange was enabled end of 2010/beginning 2011, less than half the town has cabinets though. Since that time ive checked my number dozens of times and dozens of times the date has been put back. Up until a few weeks ago it was showing End of March for my street to finally get a cabinet, just like you though its now showing June.

I have no faith come end of June it will be done either. The whole rollout and the way they have gobbled up tax payer cash in an already financially screwed Britain is an utter joke. Though i expected it to be an utter joke from the start.... Mix BT and Government together and you cant get anything else.

[sentup.custard]

Much the same story here - 31 December 2011 became 31 March 2012, and, predictably, as soon as that date is reached, the theoretical date (which I have no faith in whatsoever), has become 30 June 2012.

Tea stall.
Jumble sale.
BT.

Do not allow these to be mixed together - the resulting shambles could seriously damage your sanity.

[sentup.custard]

@reset...
"...why 3 months why not just a month?"

Dividing the year into three month periods means that BT only have to learn to count to four - twelve would be completely beyond their abilities.

[Mark.J]

Sadly this is all quite normal as BT's dates are only rough estimates and tend to shift both backwards and sometimes forwards in time. In other cases some upgrades have been suspended / cancelled completely until other problems can be resolved first and we've seen a few put back by an entire year.

BT occasionally mentions these changes specifically but most of the time they happen quietly in the background via a tiny database change. The lesson is, don't allow your expectations to get ahead of reality. Deploying FTTC / FTTP is quite tricky and requires some major work so it's to be expected that many locations will suffer delays.

Delays like this are practically normal for most ISP / telecoms firms when rolling out new tech.

[cyclope]

Our exchange enablement date has been moved fowards from by end of 2012(Dec 12) to June 12 ,lol so far the only signs that my nearest cab is getting a Fttc DSLAM cab near to it is the white paint markings written on the footpath ,infact i think there will be 2 cabs sited next to each other, one serving my cab 32 and one for the other cab 31 which is situated opposite a roundabout
And the only planned roadworks around (bt related) are unblocking ducting and laying some, but no where near the cabs, so i see that date meaning nothing

[sentup.custard]

Well, there's progress of a sort here in sunny Willesden.
We too have had a visit from the painters, and there is now a large white rectangle marked out on the pavement, with the letters "BT" inside it.
Needless to say, the old green cab and all the telegraph poles are on the east side of the road, but the spot marked for the new fibre cab is on the west side of the road, about ten yards nearer the exchange, making everyone's line length from the cabinet about ten yards longer.

It will also do a nice job of adding to the things that obstruct the parking bay there - I'd hate to be the poor sod trying to use the disabled spot there and trying to get someone out of the passenger side and into a wheelchair. What with the tree and the signpost, you'd have to park in the middle of the ruddy road. The logical thing to do would be to reallocate things so that the diabled spot was on the end of the parking bay, out of the way of these obstructions and clear of the payment machine for non-residents, but the indicated location of the new BT cab will scupper that idea.

They call it "planning".

[truth4free]

Sadly this is all quite normal as BT's dates are only rough estimates and tend to shift both backwards and sometimes forwards in time. In other cases some upgrades have been suspended / cancelled completely until other problems can be resolved first and we've seen a few put back by an entire year.

My exchange was enabled back towards the end of 2010 (around Sept-Nov Time, i believe it was one of the first) The original date for me to get FTTC (IE my cab to be upgraded) was if i recall correctly End of December 2010.

That then shifted to Jan 2011, then March 2011, then June 2011, then Sept 2011, and then (spot the patter) the end of December 2011.
It then stated March 2012, and now it says June 2012 on their checker LOL........ A year late, my god i wish i was one of those lucky enough to only have to wait a year extra for the shambolic BT.

BT occasionally mentions these changes specifically but most of the time they happen quietly in the background via a tiny database change. The lesson is, don't allow your expectations to get ahead of reality. Deploying FTTC / FTTP is quite tricky and requires some major work so it's to be expected that many locations will suffer delays.

Major work!!!! Sorry but thats nonsense its a simple job in most cases that doesnt even involve digging up a road or pavement.

Delays like this are practically normal for most ISP / telecoms firms when rolling out new tech.

Its funny, 3G services i remember came to my area around 2 months ahead of when 2 of the 4 mobile providers predicted. I suspect 4G will also get here ahead of schedule. Virgin media (or rather Telewest as it was when my street got that) finished that deployment in my street many years ago 3 weeks ahead of schedule (Now thats what you call major work, having to dig the length of a pavement the entire street and across a road at 2 points).

Then i look at BTs history......
ADSL 2Mb services in this street, 3 months late....
ADSLMAX.... That was 7 months late.....
FTTC....... Who the heck knows how long its gonna take them.

The sad part is history says they were incompetent before, this time they are even worse and for where i live had local authority money for the area deployment already. The fact some of my council tax has probably filled BT pockets and they havent even done 50% of this town with cabinets since end of 2010 is a utter disgrace.

This entire rollout and allocating of funds, has been nothing more than a joke from the start. FTTC is nothing more than a stop gap measure which in 20 years will be the equivalent of fixed rate 2Mb ADSL today.

I suspect most will only realise when its too late and then question why millions of tax payers money was spent on a half baked solution rather than question it and the slow progress are making now..... Oh and it is slow progress before anyone trys to say it is not........ The figures BT give about coverage percent are nothing more than a mask by giving exchange figures to meet their idealistic coverage figures rather than how many people actually have a cabinet to use the service.

Infact mark theres an idea for a survey, ask people to enter there number on the BT infinity checker and ask if they are able to get infinity........... I highly suspect 60% (or whatever BTs latest BS Coverage figure is) will not have the option to take the service.

[hareng]

Even if the exchange is FTTC enabled, thats only part of the equation the new cabinets have to be instaled etc. Even if others locally can get FTTC theres no definate yay or nay you will get it.
ie out of 2000 homes locally and 7 cabinets, 6 are FTTC around June 2010.
The Openreach engineer did state 13 months ago the worst areas were being done first and probably explains why one cab not upgraded as they get 3meg downloads on ADSL2+

[DTMark]

Ironically my experience is the opposite, as far as times go. Our local town was scheduled for September 2010 and that's when it was ready. Everything went to schedule.

Sadly they haven't gone any of the cabinets connecting any businesses (that I can find). They're still stuck with ADSLx if they can get it. Maybe because some are exchange only lines. Maybe because some are too far away from the fibre cabinet to get the service.

So despite this "superfast broadband" programme, there's still no modern broadband offering for businesses in the entire town and I can't see when that is ever going to change. It will be assumed that "the market" will provide for that urban area. But there, er, isn't one. That's been the biggest problem all along.

I have a vision of a gap between those higher in the business who see a cabinet rollout plan on a sheet of paper, and groups of experienced engineers on the ground who are told they'll be deploying fibre to one set of "D-sides" who then fall about laughing and point out they're all ancient, some are aliminium, and all are really long.

Then that area is crossed off the list and it then misses out on superfast or any broadband at all. To be fair this is not dissimilar to Virgin Media (ntl as was) who, when encountering the slightest wayleave issue used to skip areas of towns since they didn't/don't have a universal obligation to provide anything. But then, it was their own money, which makes it slightly different.