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Gigaclear Progress in Fastershire area?

Are you signed-up to attend Sheephouse?
 
Are you signed-up to attend Sheephouse?
Oh yes. I may be the first one signed up, as the letters that are due to go out are still being printed - I heard in a reply to a query I sent in by e-mail. It is on Fastershire's website now.
Strangely I haven't seen any meetings advertised for Beachley, Sudbury, or Tutshill yet - and their builds have actually started. I wonder whether it is because their builds are mostly commercial?
I do find the timing a little suspicious - it comes a week after another ISP approached properties in the area with a fixed wireless proposal...
 
Fastershire have advised me that the Beachley, Sudbury, and Tutshill had a meeting at the end of September - so they obviously read this forum.
 
Things do seem to be progressing now - works have appeared on one.network in Woolaston (the new Netherend build area) from Mar 2021 to Mar 2022. The village has good FTTC coverage, so I guess this will be a Gigaclear commercial build.
As the feed will come from Beachley it will have to come through my area (Stroat) to get to the Netherend build.
 
Hurrah! Some progress - Fastershire have an online meeting scheduled for the Stroat & Woodcroft areas on 16th December. Hopefully we'll hear about the plans then.
is there any further information on this meeting - I have not had any information on this, and doesn't appear to be any mention of this on their website.

as i am almost next door, I am assuming that I will be in the same area as you, according to the Fastershire site, my area is "Stroat, Chepstow (South West)"
 
It appears that BT/OR are currently building FTTP along the B4228 near Hewelsfield. It looks as if Gigaclear will be having some competition after all - from BT/OR as well as from Country Connect.
 
The build in the Netherend area has now appeared on one.network - covering all of Woolaston (which already has good FTTC) as well as Woolaston Common and Bean Hill (which don't currently enjoy superfast broadband). The works cover the period from Jan 21 to Mar 22.
That leaves the Stroat area between Woodcroft and Netherend with no works planned - and with dates that start in Netherend when they finish in Woodcroft.
So I'm eager to hear the plans for the Stroat area at next week's community meeting. Will they have enough capacity to build Stroat at the same time as Netherend?
 
A community meeting for the Woodcroft and Stroat build areas was held last evening. It all sounded promising :) (at long last!)
The Woodcroft build is due to start in January and be complete by end Q3 21. The Stroat build is due to start by end Q1 21, and complete by end Q4 21. The subcontractors (O'Connors) seem to have the capacity to make good progress.
Once each cabinet is live any properties that have a POT will be able to order - so those lucky enough to be close to the cabinet may be able to order well before the end of the build.
They are planning to use some PIA - so they may use the Openreach ducting that runs past my house for the backhaul as I know that is not blocked, and the Stroat cabinet should be close to my location.
Fingers crossed that I will be able to get an early connection, but anyway I shouldn't have no more than a year to wait now...
 
Works have now appeared on one.network for the "Stockwell Lane" build area which covers Aylburton and a few outlying properties - to run from Apr 21 to Aug 21. Most properties in Aylburton already have superfast FTTC available, so I assume most of this is part of Gigaclear's commercial build (and reinforces my feeling that commercial builds are taking priority).
While the planned works are welcome, it does make me worry again about the lack of any visible works for the "Stroat" area (which is mostly sub-USO), as that was claimed to be due to start in Q1 21 - do they really have the capacity to build in Woodcroft, Netherend, Stockwell Lane and the large Stroat area at the same time?
 
I must admit, i did wonder the same. The only blessing being that in a commericially biased rollout, this would almost definitely be using BT infrastructure, so is more of a "piggy back" exercise rather than the full implementation and dig solutions.

Looking at where i am, (at the bottom of Park Hill Road) i would assume I will be the very last property on that particular Stroat spur that will go up St.Briavels road.

I cannot see that they will continue up the hill to feed the other properties - i would assume they would be fed from the main B4228.

I would imagine that the stroat cabinet would be "fed" from the chepstow direction. possible then joining up with the Aylburton network, to give network redundancy from both directions, if so, I think that they will rattle along the a48 in no time.

There appears to be a test dig (with red/white barriers around) in the ditch opposite the farm shop on the a48, which i assume is them, as BT wouldn't be on that side of the road?
 
Did you attend the on-line community meeting in December? - if so you should have received a PDF by e-mail. That shows the position of the cabinets, and the path of the fibre. The main cabinet appears to be at the picnic site on the A48. For the spur that will feed you the fibre will run up Keynsham Lane to the junction where there will be a cabinet, then continue along Keynsham Lane to the end of Park Hill Road (where there will be another cabinet). It then runs all the way up Park Hill Road to the B2248.
The main feed should run along the A48 from Tutshill, and I understand they will be using Openreach ducts for some of that (the duct runs past my house). I don't believe there is any redundancy, so although it will continue up the A48 to feed Netherend and Ayleburton, all those areas will be dependnet on the link to Tutshill. There will be a cabinet by the Wyvern Garage, which I assume will feed my property (although the main cabinet at the picnic site is only a little further).
I assume the cabinets are placed where they can easily get an electrical connection - although there are overhead power cables at the picnic site, I had heard that that particular supply was already at capacity and no more connections could be made to it, so I hope Gigaclear have checked that.
 
I have also noticed that work in the Bream area is now on one.network - work starting in April 21.
Interesting to hear about the works by Hanley Farm shop - nothing showing on one.network though, so it may be just a trial dig? Although if so that would suggest plans are not very final yet (and the build is supposed to start early March).
Meanwhile, they are progressing well in Woolaston - there have been lots of complaints about disruption, mud on the road, and the fact that they have been digging up roads that have only recently been resurfaced. As everyone in the village already has >70Mbps available, I suspect they may not sell many connections there...
 
It's all go - today works have appeared on one.network along the B2248 from Sling to St Briavels with a start date of April 21.
At the southern end of the FoD that just leaves the large Mill Hill and Stroat areas with no works shown.
 
Anyone know anything about this in the Mitcheldean/Longhope area? I'm still being told 2022 ... Getting very annoyed by 2-4Mb/s on a 4g/3 connection :-(
 
Did you attend the on-line community meeting in December? - if so you should have received a PDF by e-mail. That shows the position of the cabinets, and the path of the fibre. The main cabinet appears to be at the picnic site on the A48. For the spur that will feed you the fibre will run up Keynsham Lane to the junction where there will be a cabinet, then continue along Keynsham Lane to the end of Park Hill Road (where there will be another cabinet). It then runs all the way up Park Hill Road to the B2248.
The main feed should run along the A48 from Tutshill, and I understand they will be using Openreach ducts for some of that (the duct runs past my house). I don't believe there is any redundancy, so although it will continue up the A48 to feed Netherend and Ayleburton, all those areas will be dependnet on the link to Tutshill. There will be a cabinet by the Wyvern Garage, which I assume will feed my property (although the main cabinet at the picnic site is only a little further).
I assume the cabinets are placed where they can easily get an electrical connection - although there are overhead power cables at the picnic site, I had heard that that particular supply was already at capacity and no more connections could be made to it, so I hope Gigaclear have checked that.
I’d be interested to see that PDF - can you upload it somewhere that I can grab it from?

regarding the electrical supply, the main cabinets only need a very small supply, around 10amps or so, the same as a speed camera for example.

normally these are simply connected to a LV feeder pillar, which there is always capacity for, much the same as adding a streetlight.

there are already a couple of low power underground supplies in the picnic area, for both the lights on the toilets and also for the burger van to connect into, so the capacity and availability won’t be an issue.

for the same reason, the branch cabinets will probably be nearby to existing low power infrastructure such as streetlights, give way signs, speed cameras etc
 
I’d be interested to see that PDF - can you upload it somewhere that I can grab it from?

regarding the electrical supply, the main cabinets only need a very small supply, around 10amps or so, the same as a speed camera for example.

normally these are simply connected to a LV feeder pillar, which there is always capacity for, much the same as adding a streetlight.

there are already a couple of low power underground supplies in the picnic area, for both the lights on the toilets and also for the burger van to connect into, so the capacity and availability won’t be an issue.

for the same reason, the branch cabinets will probably be nearby to existing low power infrastructure such as streetlights, give way signs, speed cameras etc
PM me and I'll send a link to my copy - I don't want to post public link as it isn't my document.
As for the power at the picnic site, I wasn't aware that Terry's had a power connection - my neighbour was refused one before Terry arrived because the line was over subscribed - ant told any new connection would have `to come from near the Wyvern Garage (where my power comes from). He couldn't extend my connection, as I already draw more power than my connection is rated for.
 
Something strange has happened on one.network - all the works in the Woodcroft area and the outlying parts of the Netherend area that used to show as Gigaclear now show as "Gloucestershire County Council" or "Streetworks Licence" instead. Most of the works in Woolaston in the Netherend build still show as Gigaclear. I'm not sure whether this is a one.network thing, or whether the responsibility for the works has actually changed?
Still no works shown for the Stroat area - so I'm not confident they will be starting in March as promised.
 
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