FTTC Infill & Copper Realignment Woes

[HCR93]

Hi all, this is a bit of a stretch, but trying to get to the bottom of Openreach infrastructure being installed for Phase SEP Bucks&Herts (Connected Counties).

Much of my village (Cadmore End) has been connected with new combined DSLAM/PCP cabinets (9 and 13 on the local Lane End exchange). The copper realignment works appear to have completed and FTTC services are availbale for order locally.

Unfortunately for me, it seems this realignment (as confirmed by Openreach engineers on the ground) has not included our group of properties (approx. 6no). The copper runs directly beneath cabinet 9 to our house, but hasn’t been patched into. With a copper distance of approx. 1km, this should yield us at least 'super-fast' 24Mb/s speeds. Alternatively, cabinet 13 is closer (approx. 300m) but would require a loopback beyond our properties. The really strange thing is during all this work, the line to our DP was cut, and a new copper splice introduced which had me hopeful, but that still just takes us back to the original cabinet on the original copper.

Really the only person that could help enlighten me works somewhere in Openreach, but I can't get any answers. Hopefully someone here can help put in a word?

 

[Mark.J]

Sadly we've seen quite a few cases like this in Exchange Only Line (EOL) areas where Openreach has upgraded them via network rearrangement and new All-in-One (AiO) cabinets. The upgrade can be extremely complicated and sometimes results in an odd outcome, where a patch of properties may be left unserved.

The solution to this may be costly, although if you're in a rural area then you may be able to get them to quote via the Community Fibre Partnerships scheme and cover some of the cost via Gigabit Broadband Vouchers.

£200m UK Rural Gigabit Broadband Connectivity Programme Starts

The UK Government has today officially launched their new £200m Rural Gigabit Connectivity (RGC) programme, which was originally announced during the 2018 Budg

www.ispreview.co.uk

 

[HCR93]

Thanks Mark - all the more frustrating when this isn't an Exchange Only Line, there is already a Cabinet 4 (too far away), Cabinet 4-1 (a further plastic PCP distribution) and now Cabinet 9 and 13. Although given the distance it may as well be EOL.

It's quite a convoluted, but I am certain it's this arrangement (tried to launch a Community Fibre Partnership years ago, but unfortunately faltered at raising the build cost - Openreach shared their local network arrangement with me back then, so I have a clear idea of the arrangement at least).

However, and I reiterate the Openreach Engineer on the ground said this, there was no technical reason we couldn't be patched into either cabinet. They've only recently been enabled, but I want to know whether this may still be their plan, or if basically I should give up home at this point. And whether there is anything we can do to get enabled.

 

[Green Meanie]

Their may still be a migration plan going ahead, if not, it may be worth contacting OR direct and explain that your properties were missed when the new cabinet was installed.
The local engineers may be able to help.

 

[Mark.J]

I also wouldn't trust what Openreach's engineers on the ground say, we've seen plenty of occasions where what they say differs from reality or the actual plan for a specific area. Sometimes they may just be trying to be helpful but actually end up misleading people.

 

[HCR93]

Thanks both - I'm still hopeful something may happen, but pretty distrustful of any promises. There's alot of misinformation and false-promises (albeit with the best intentions) about this rollout.

At this point I just want to know either way - will something come or not. I can then start serious working on an alternative.

 

[HCR93]

Some positive news - I spoke to Connected Counties (our local BDUK scheme) and they've had Openreach out to add us to Cabinet 9. Turns out there was no technical reason, just a mistake. Without the scheme, I doubt it would ever have been picked up as nobody at Openreach to listen - fortunately fixed now.

VDSL ordered and connection should be live next week - 2Mb/s to 35Mb/s will be a revelation (if the estimate is true)!

 

[Mark.J]

Good to hear.