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Gigaclear Progress in Fastershire area?

Now we have this dedicated forum I wonder whether anyone else would like to comment on any progress being made by Gigaclear in the Fastershire areas? I'm in Lot 3c in the Brookend section, and the current start date is currently given as Q1 2020 (originally it was due to be complete last year).
There is no visible plan now, just a postcode checker. I am aware of work in progress between Chaxhill and Westbury-on-Severn, but I believe that they should have extended out by now if they are to reach other areas on time (my area is among the furthest from their current network, so needs all the intervening areas to be completed before my area can be connected).
Is anyone in an area that is being worked on? Is anyone in an area that isn't being worked on but should be according to the postcode checker?
At present I (still) have no confidence of the current plan providing me with FTTP within 2-3 years.
 
Good afternoon,

My name is Aimee and I am the Network Build Care Manager at Gigaclear.

I am very sorry to learn that you are experiencing difficulties in retrieving information on our build in your community.

Please do contact my team on networkbuildcare@gigaclear.com or 01865 591137, and they will be more than happy to keep you updated on your build.

Alternitavely, if you register your interest on our website, then you can be updated via email.


I hope this information is useful.


Kind regards,

Aimee
 
Hi Aimee,

Can you please drop me (Mark.J) an email so that I can confirm your status as an ISP rep for Gigaclear, thanks.

 
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Hi Aimee,
I have been registered with you website for about three years, but have never received any updates (presumably because there's been no progress). I have also contacted Gigaclear by e-mail or phone each year. The latest information I have since the build dates were removed from Fastershire's website is that the build in my area will start during 2020. It was supposed to be finished in 2018. As my area (Brookend) was due to be one of the last in Lot 3c to be built I am interested in how the other areas in Lot3c are progressing - is there any information you can share? I am aware of some work in the Chaxhill and Westbury areas, but have not heard of any connection being made as yet - can you say when the first Lot3c connections will go live? Are Gigaclear on track with the latest plan (whatever that is)?
 
Oh well,no news is no news.
Fastershire should publish a quarterly update on their website from Gigaclear's monthly updates to them in the next week or two, so I guess we'll see if there is any progress then.
 
The latest ThinkBroadband mapping data now shows some Gigaclear connections around Higham, so we now have the first connections in the Gloucestershire part of lot 3c.
 
According to a reply to a query I sent to Fastershire:

"Gigaclear are actively building in 10 cabinet areas in Lot 2/3c and to date over 1,400 Premises in the lot are ready for service. These are however exclusively in the east of the area.
Gigaclear are currently planning some changes to the Lot area which may result in some re-scheduling. This would see a change in the dates with work starting earlier than planned in some areas and later in others. We won't be in a position to publish anything however until we have been formally approached and have had the opportunity to assess the impact which as you rightly state means that some of the existing dates have already lapsed."

So some news at last. Not sure whether it is good news or not - I guess time will tell...
 
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Finally have an installed duct and POT here near Stonehouse.

Voluntary communication from Gigaclear hasn't been great.....and Fastershire have been worse than useless. Registering on either company's website is a waste of time - you never receive any updates until you've seen the contractors do the work, the POT is installed etc. The Fastershire website updates have been slow and I learnt never to trust any dates they initially provided. As mentioned above, they took dates off the website so clearly they found they couldn't believe what they were telling people either.

That said, Gigaclear themselves have been great (and very patient!) at replying to my emails asking for updates...and whether their past predictions are still likely to be correct. None of my requests for information have been ignored/fobbed off so all credit to their team.

Worth following the works on roadworks.org website - you can see where the traffic lights are booked in to be for the next few months which gives an idea of when they might be getting closer or planning to do works in each area.
 
Finally have an installed duct and POT here near Stonehouse.
That's good news for you. The Cotswolds is the most advanced of Gigaclear's rollouts in the Fastershire area, and I assume it is almost complete now.
They have actually started west of the Severn now (but not connected anyone west of the Severn and south of the A40 yet). Currently there are roadworks shown within 12 miles (as the crow flies) of me, although Fastershire have suggested that Gigaclear have changed their plans and may approach my area from the south - so there is a chance that the current start date of Q1 2020 may not slip.
 
I have just checked with the Gigaclear build care team for progress in my area. There isn't any - they are still in the design phase, so there are no dates for the start of the build, end of the build, or even end of the design phase.
It seems the previous information I was given by Fastershire that the build may come from the south is just speculation.
 
Also checked - still in Network Design. In June, they had suggested a September start.

I am just south of Newent - Glasshouse / Taynton, so have connected properties just north Up/Highleadon, east in Tibberton and (I assume based on the digging) cables laid pretty much everywhere from Westbury to current digging activity in Longhope (which has Fttc anyway?) and I think heading west to Mitcheldean and Cinderford (not been there for a bit to see though). Roadworks.org suggests activity along A40 toward Ross coming in the new year.

... so despite lots of nearby activity, no build start (or completion!) date here either. No idea what issues are.
 
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I have just noticed that there is now an entry on one.network (formerly roadworks.org) for Gigaclear in Beachley (at the southern end of Lot 3c). So maybe they are starting to build in that area (area 3 in Lot 3c).
I'm in area 6, so they will have to build area 3, 40, and 52 before they get to my area. Given the time it has taken to build out from Gloucester the same distance, I'd guess it could take 3 years before my area goes live.
 
So, I've just had a poke around checking the properties in that area, and according to Fastershire's checker that build is due to start in Q3 2020 - so maybe they have brought that build forward?
 
New press releases today - Highnam, Maisemore, Tibberton, and Upleadon in Lot 2&3c, and Longney and Framilode in Lot 3e are now connected.
Lot 2&3c now have 1200+ properties passed, out of a target of 21,800. That's around 7% - and it has only taken 3 years. If they keep this rate up Lot 2&£e should be finished in a decade or so - to meet the 2022 deadline they need to build 7 times faster than they have managed so far.
 
Hurrah! Some progress. There's a few appeared in Minsterworth too. There should be a lot appear in the Minsterworth and Westbury areas soon - I'd expected connections to have been made weeks ago.
The Gigaclear network is now only 12 miles from my house. However, it looks to me as if they are now heading north from Mitcheldean, so heading away from me.
 
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I've just checked with Gigaclear again for my area - the network design was rejected in validation, so is back in design. However they insist that the Fastershire date of the build starting in the next 6 weeks must be correct otherwise it wouldn't be on their website. I did suggest that the prerequisites of contacting Parish Councils etc. weren't in place so I didn't see how it could possibly start next month, but I got cut off (maybe accidentally?).
I may learn more once Q1 is over - either I will be shocked by the build starting, or the date will slip another year or so.
Meanwhile I expect the announced imminent arrival of FTTP to block my USO application...
 
Another month. Checked with Gigaclear again, still in design phase and they have no dates for when the build might start. However, the call centre handler checked the Fastershire web site and as that says Q120, she insisted that means it will start this month (even though it is still in design, there have been no notices to parish councils, and there are no roadworks planned).
 
Same here for Glasshouse - still in the design phase - and that dates would be uploaded to Fastershire once validation is complete. Fastershire still saying Q1 2019 ...

There has been plenty of digging going on in the Mitcheldean recently.
 
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