Given all the focus on fibre services, it’s sometimes easy to forget that a few of BT Wholesale‘s exchanges are still using 20CN technology and have yet to be upgraded to the 21st Century Network (21CN) powered Wholesale Broadband Connect (WBC) platform (this process started in 2004). So here’s a little progress update.
Some of the areas still on the older 20CN platform, which mostly reflects remote rural communities, are often left to suffer slow ADSL Max (up to 8Mbps) style copper line internet connections and analogue telephone services. By contrast the 21CN upgrade brought this older network into the modern digital / IP connectivity age, which not only helped to cut costs but also introduced various broadband (e.g. ADSL2+) and backhaul improvements etc.
The vast majority of these 21CN upgrades completed in 2017, when the network covered around 94% of premises. At the time we were told that BT intended to replace all remaining IPstream exchanges with WBC by the end of 2018, but a few tricky exchanges have taken a lot longer to complete.
Overall, the latest information we have is that around 89 exchanges are left to complete and most of them exist in rural parts of Scotland, which can be disproportionately expensive and complex to tackle. We originally expected a lot more to be done in 2020, but COVID-19 has caused delays. The good news is that these exchanges only represent a bit over 5,000 premises across the whole of the UK.
A BT Spokesperson said:
“We are in the last and most challenging phase of our programme to upgrade our copper broadband capability to these exchanges, bringing faster speeds (up to 20Mbps) and more capacity. Some customers in Scotland have seen their speeds move from 0.5Mbps to up to 20Mbps, transforming their internet connections.
We have building work in progress for 19 more exchanges to be upgraded in 2021 (1,690 customers), leaving only 70 exchanges covering 3,600 customers in very remote parts of Scotland, some of these customers already have access to fibre-based services. We are continuing to examine options for the remaining 70 exchanges.”
As BT alludes above, some of these 20CN areas already have access to fibre-based services, such as Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP), as the full fibre build is nothing to do with BT’s 21CN rollout. Indeed it seems plausible that many of the remaining exchanges may be tackled as part of Scotland’s new £579m R100 (Reaching 100%) programme for improving 30Mbps+ “superfast broadband” coverage (mostly via Openreach’s FTTP).
At this point some people might bring up Openreach’s proposed plan to close 4,600 exchanges across the UK, but that won’t begin until around 2030 (here) – well after the aforementioned work has completed and it raises a very different set of challenges.
Interesting. I’m surprised it’s taken almost 17 years for some exchanges to get 21CN. Hopefully, it won’t take another 2 decades to roll out fttp to these places. How are remote areas going to function when exchanges start getting shut down? It seems like a lot of work to connect very remote premises with fttp to a fibre handover point.
You don’t need an exchange building for the headend. It can be in a powered cabinet like the existing FTTC ones. The rest of the network is passive so no need for any powered kit other than at the consumer end.
It may be simpler to ignore the exchange for FTTP purposes as it might involve extending routings.
According to Sam knows, there’s a few in Gloucestershire Cotswold area.
Are you sure only 5000 premises? Gloucestershire has nearly that according to Sam knows?
Is Sam Knows up to date?
Ours in Mid-Devon is still 20cn, unless it’s been updated very recently. A frequent visiting BT engineer confirmed he had been instructed to “not talk about 21CN related services to the customer because it’s not at the exchange”.
Samknows exchange info is out of date.
They no longer concentrate on exchange availability and instead the business is 100% focused on their speed testing suite.
Might not be. Certainly population figures don’t update.
these are the total of the premises that will be on those exchnages – these exchanges will normall be tiny (a few hundred premises only or perhaps less)) and in the middle of nowwhere or significant distance to the handover / Headend – not sure what the comment about premises in Gloucestershire is related to
i used to like going to these remote exchanges to move a customer from 20cn tec to 21cn so they could have caller display average 30minutes to get there 5minutes to do the job 20minutes on the phone asking the frames help desk to switch the line over then test it and 30 minutes back . i loved jobs like that
Fast the usual bighead comment. According to Sam knows there are exchanges with over a thousand lines in Gloucestershire, just queried the 5000 figure that’s all if you add up Gloucestershire alone many have 100s of lines then that figure could be wrong. The article referring to mostly Scotland, I was pointing out the exchanges seem to be all over UK too.GET IT!
mark
this is the important element
We have building work in progress for 19 more exchanges to be upgraded in 2021 (1,690 customers), leaving only 70 exchanges covering 3,600 customers in very remote parts of Scotland, some of these customers already have access to fibre-based services. We are continuing to examine options for the remaining 70 exchanges.”
sy by end of 2021 it will be 70 exchanges covering 3600 premises (tinay and remote exchange with a few hundred premises at max only)
this where 5000 premises are and they are in a total of 89 exchanges
1690 / 19 = ~90
3600 / 70 = ~50
That’s your 3rd comment about Samknows.
Again…
Samknows exchange info is out of date.
They no longer concentrate on exchange availability and instead the business is 100% focused on their speed testing suite.
https://availability.samknows.com/broadband/exchange/SSADN
https://availability.samknows.com/broadband/exchange/SSAFD
https://availability.samknows.com/broadband/exchange/SSBSY
And 2500 premises
https://availability.samknows.com/broadband/exchange/SSWCE
Address WHITE WALK, WITCOMBE, GLOUCESTER GL3 4SS on Exchange WITCOMBE
Near exchange – WBC ADSL 2+ Up to 17
Samknows exchange info is out of date.
They no longer concentrate on exchange availability and instead the business is 100% focused on their speed testing suite.
I ran 2 of your links through the checker and it returned 21C results. Didn’t bother with the other 2.
21CN WBC status: Not available and a red X. On all.
SamKnows is out of date.
https://availability.samknows.com/broadband/exchange/WNKT
We are not on 21CN and are getting less than 10 mbps, located no more than 3 miles from the centre of Chester
Exchange offers adsl2 on BT Wholesale checker
Sam is very out of date.
Address HIGHFIELD, KINNERTON ROAD LOWER KINNERTON, CHESTER CH4 9AE on Exchange KINNERTON
ADSL Products Downstream Line Rate (Mbps) Upstream Line Rate (Mbps) Downstream Range(Mbps) Availability Date
WBC ADSL 2+ Up to 17
Also has FTTP.
Post Code CH4 9 LF. Unfortunately a couple of miles from the exchange so getting sub 10 mbps. No FTTP yet but we are working on it. Would help greatly if our local authority ( Cheshire West ) started topping up the RGC vouchers as 17 others in England do.
Anyone have the list?
One suspects that the remaining properties in Scotland are inline for R100 intervention so upgrading some of these tiny exchanges would be utterly pointless
Sam
Knows
Is
Years
Out
Of
Date
!
I emailed them about charges on my exchange nearly 3 years ago that still hasn’t been updated.
Their FTTP availability is out of date.
Their reported Virgin coverage is shocking.
Their 21CN coverage is no longer updated frequently.
Who unbundles each exchange is no longer updated properly, if at all.
Just the naming of who unbundles the exchanges should be a clue as to how out of date their info is.
They don’t care either. That’s not their main business now.
Running speed test analysis via their white boxes and their speed tests built in to ISP devices is now their business focus.
Has been for years.
There are no exchanges in Gloucester with thousands of properties still on 20CN.
Posting it 5 times doesn’t make it so either.
Except of course many of with the poorest connections on fixed line will see 4G as the R100 solution or in fact nothing at all as its not actually R100.
“If you look at the names of LLU”
Most of the Rural Gloucestershire exchanges don’t have Talk Talk or Sky! So what clue are you referring too? Are you 100% sure exchanges like Fossebridge are enabled? Or speculation. Please post the relevant information,
@Mark – example please. Speeds of eg. 17M are the clue.
Address DENFURLONG FARM, FIELDS ROAD CHEDWORTH, CHELTENHAM GL54 4NQ COTSWOLD FARM FAYRE on Exchange FOSSEBRIDGE is served by Cabinet 1
WBC ADSL 2+ Up to 17
Yes Fossebridge is 21CN enabled.
If it wasn’t properties next to the exchange couldn’t order 20Mb ADSL.
Stop relying on Samknows.
I wrote it 4 times for a reason.
Minsterworth exchange Gloucester. No 21CN here. Nothing planned. I somehow doubt the figures in this article. It seems that this exchange is not the only one in Gloucestershire to be forgotten. The problem is that nothing much else is available. No 5g to use that. No rural fibre companies interested. Just sit back and enjoy the rural sound of the birds and smell of the cow shit. Cause you ain’t gonna be doing anything on line.
@SS -Address TELEPHONE EXCHANGE, MAIN ROAD MINSTERWORTH, GLOUCESTER GL2 8JS on Exchange MINSTERWORTH
WBC ADSL 2+ Up to 15
@SS – Gigaclear are in Minsterworth.
@ss – https://labs.thinkbroadband.com/local/index.php?tab=2&election=1#14/51.8505/-2.3058/gigaclear/
As above, Minsterworth in Gloucester is 110% 21CN enabled.
Check any property near the exchange and look at the estimates.
WBC ADSL2+ is available at up to 20Mb.
@ The Facts
Just tried to register with Gigaclear, who informed me that no service is available but I can register so that should it ever become available they will tell me.
I repeat I don’t believe anything that says broadband is “on course”.
or you could do a cfp with your communty and see if there is any interest
John Strange property very close to exchange can only get sub 10 speeds on Talk Talk? Shall I say it 4 times same as friends across in Sevenhampton, but I’ll bow to your local knowledge, if you are even local.
THE OLD VICARAGE, CHURCH LANE SEVENHAMPTON, CHELTENHAM GL54 5SW on Exchange ANDOVERSFORD is served by Cabinet 5
WBC ADSL 2+ Up to 3
All exchanges are digital and have been since 1998. The last mile is analogue but that’s true for every landline phone line that isn’t ISDN or delivered over VoIP.
My Kings Norton (Birmingham) Exchange is still only capable of providing me with an up to 5Mb ADSL line. I’m not resident in a rural town.
That’s because of your distance to the exchange, not a lack of 21CN.
The King’s Norton exchange got a 21CN upgrade a long time ago.
The Facts. What you get is usually completely different, like a mobile phone coverage map, just prediction. Sevenhampton is spread out soon obviously quicker neater to cabinet, not for further away houses, and sometimes it’s unpredictable and what is expected can’t be delivered.
The discussion is about which exchanges are 21CN, which these clearly are.
Mark the fact individual properties have low ADSL speeds has nothing to do with 21CN upgrades.
21CN will only help those close enough to the exchange to benefit from it.
21CN offered zero improvements to my sub 3Mb/s ADSL line.
My exchange was done over a decade though.
The fact that all the properties surrounding the exchange show 21CN on the broadband availability checker is proof the upgrades are done.