back to article BT fibre-to-the-cabinet rollout penetrates 73 more exchanges

BT has named the next 73 exchanges to be upgraded to its broadband fibre technology with all of them running optic cable as far as the street cabinets. None of those exchanges will be kitted out to provide the national telco's fibre-to-the-premises broadband network, however, which will soon offer downstream speeds of 330Mbit/ …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    What about the previous list(s)

    ... that have been slipping and slipping ? Willowcroft for example, originally planned for end Dec 2011, then slipped to start March 2012, then slipped to end March 2012, and today has slipped further to end June 2012. BT's "exchanges ready for 'infinity'" has had the exchange as "ready" since end of 2011, just that nobody can have it.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      We had the upgrade last year and it has slowed connections compared to before!

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Yeah, but...

    .. there is a big difference between fttc enabling an exchange and actually making it available. Fttc is available in Cheltenham but actually finding an address where its available is another matter....I think I've seen about 6 fibre cabs in my travels round town

    1. HMB

      Even if BT say you can have Infinity, they can change their mind

      BT royally cocked up the order I put in for Infinity which was accepted. I even had a chat with the BT engineer (it got beyond installing a BT line) and he pointed out the green cab over the road I'd be getting the connection from.

      A few days later and BT were telling me it wasn't available at the exchange, which was just BS. BS because not only did the engineer have it at his premises, he was installing in the area and had mentioned he'd probably be the one sent out to do mine. I even saw him since around the place I live and he basically told me to complain and that they were talking crap.

      Now happily with Virgin and getting a very good service. :D

  3. This post has been deleted by its author

  4. Surfer

    Excellent news NOT!...BT have just put back our exchange Wallasey on the Wirral from a coming soon of "March" to this mornings update of "June"....I wish BT would concentrate on giving its basic fibre service (40megs) to customers first wthout going on about exsisting fibre people getting upgrades to 80meg or even FTTP.

    Im busting my gonads waiting for this, being 5km from my exchange, im with BE Internet on ADSL2 and my current speed is only 3meg, I'd move to BT like a shot for this service & quite happily pay £50 a month for a 40meg service.

  5. RichD

    Bloody typical, I spend 18 months in Stannington (North Sheffield) on pitifully slow broadband - 1.4mb on a good day with a trailing wind - and 10 days after I move elsewhere, they announce FTTC coming to the Wadsley Bridge exchange. Grrrr...

    1. Mike Fox

      I don't know why you spent 18 months in the slow lane. I've had digital region FTTC for 18 months in Stannington!

      http://www.speedtest.net/result/1846419014.png :)

  6. An0n C0w4rd
    Unhappy

    Now if only..

    they could finish building out existing FTTC exchanges. I live in an exchange and if I put in an address *2* houses away from me, they get "Infinity". I'm off a different street cabinet (ironically, a newer one that was put in 3 years ago) and I'm stuck on ADSL.

    If they'd just be more consistent about where they put up space heaters, I mean, HDSL street cabinets it would be nice. There isn't even any way to query BT and get a "well, the reason you're missed is <X>". All you can do is register on their Infinity page and hope they get around to one day letting you know that you're SOL.

  7. Seb123
    Unhappy

    That's great news, but I still can't get BT Infinity (or anything above 8 mega bits per second) in Canary Wharf. Why?

    1. smooth1x

      I was in poplar down the road by the blackwall tunnel entrance, I could see telehouse from my front door, could still only get 13Mb! (Did think about knocking at telehouse and asking if I could run a gig cable down the road gutter!).

      All those investment banks in canary wharf and yet no fast connections for residental properties next door!

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Those in Canary Wharf area, have you looked into Hyperoptic? They were rolling out in an around that area, I believe.

    3. StooMonster
      Go

      I've got friends in Narrow Street with BT Infinity, they're at the CW end, so it is available to some in the area.

  8. b166er

    Still waiting on ADSL2+ that was supposed to come here March 2011.

    Our exchange doesn't even have a tentative date for fibre.

    Still get the flyer's and other tat from BT offering 'Infinity' though. Cocks.

    As I've always known them: a shower of shite

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      If my experience of ADSL2+ is anything to go by you might be better off on Max, I went from 5.8Mbps/800Kbps solid to a dodgy 4MBps/400Kbps that drops at least three times a day requiring a router reboot.

  9. probedb

    I really don't understand these plans

    We'll do all the surrounding areas of Sheffield but the city centre, nah we're not bothering.

    1. SteveK

      Re: I really don't understand these plans

      Same with the centre of Oxford apparently - noone actually lives there so there's no demand.

      Now confused though. Cowley exchange is listed as ready and accepting orders on the Openreach site, yet when you try to check availability on the BT site it is 'not yet in your area' according to the checker, and 'coming soon in December 2011' on the connection schedules.

    2. Mike Fox

      Re: I really don't understand these plans

      DigitalRegion is in sheffield, that's why.

  10. circusmole
    Thumb Down

    It all means bugger all...

    ...to a lot of people. "My" exchange was "upgraded" two years ago and nobody near me has an FTTC connection, and we are told by BT that they do not know when they can be bothered to connect us.

    Just more headline-grabbing bullshit from BT.

  11. P.Nutt

    As with many

    I get sick of adverts offering superfast broadband, speaking as a person (connected to the main exchange) who has never been able to watch iplayer or to stream internet radio without breakups.. Seems the folk with already superfast connections get faster all the time whereas the rest of us are stuck with the same crappy speed. Some of us would be happy with a stable 1 or even (god forbid) a 2mb connection just to use a few online offerings without it struggling!

    1. StooMonster
      Angel

      Re: As with many

      I get a phone call at least once a month from BT trying to sell me Infinity, the latest went like this:

      BT: "Hello, this is BT. I'd like to talk to you about our super fast broadband,"

      Me: "Sorry but..."

      BT: "We are offering broadband that is four times faster than any of our competitors."

      Me: "Really? Four times faster than any of your competitors?"

      BT: "Yes!"

      Me: "I have Virgin Media's 100Mb service, so what I hear you saying is that you can provide me with a 400Mb connection. Wow."

      BT: "You know I mean broadband over BT's phone lines, not anything else."

      Me: "That is not what you said."

  12. MJG

    Anyone actually have Infinity

    A lot of negative comments here (and I can probably totally agree with most of them), but was just discussing with a friend about this, and when Virgin get a mauling on the reg, there are sometimes a few positives in there. Between me and my friend we know ONE person with Infinity. I have cable, and it's great (I know CS are useless, but never needed em), but will be soon moving to a non cable area. So looking for an infinity connected exchange.

    But my question to you lot is... Does anyone actually have BT Infinity in their house (or even company)? And is it any good if you do? I know a load of ADSL/BT users but none can get it, even if their exchange has been enabled.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Happy

      Re: Anyone actually have Infinity

      I know a number of people that have it (I used to have it, but moved to a different town that is in the list announced today). My mate has had it for over a year and it's astonishingly fast. Currently he gets around 28Mb/s down.

      The other thing to keep in mind, the March/June/September/December dates are placeholders in the checker - firm dates only arrive a week or so before the cabinet goes live.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Anyone actually have Infinity

      My sister has it. Installed a week after booking it, 37Mbit/s down, 2Mbiit/s up. Better WiFi than the old Sky box it replaced as well. She's in a mid-sized town 15 miles from Belfast.

    3. JC_
      Thumb Up

      Re: Anyone actually have Infinity

      We've got it in our small office. 30 down, 7 up. The OpenReach (Huawei) modem works just fine with our Juniper router. No problems, well worth the small price increase over ADSL2, our up speed is now as fast as the down speed used to be.

    4. MJI Silver badge

      Re: Anyone actually have Infinity

      Yes and it is OK

      Latency is low to mid 20s, 35 down, 8 up until the modem throws a wobbly then 1 down 3 up.

      So I reset it weekly

    5. Dixie Nourmous
      Thumb Up

      Re: Anyone actually have Infinity

      Yes I have it and am on the 80/20 deal and get around 56 Mb and it works great !!

    6. smooth1x

      Re: Anyone actually have Infinity

      Yes, have bought a house recently I have BOTH BT Inifinity AND Virgin 50MB Cable,

      even have them coming up of opposite corners out my home office!

      BT Infinity work fine for me:

      BT Infinity 37/40MB down, 8 up

      Virgin 49.9/50 down only 4.5 up.

      Waiting for Virgin to double me and upgrade me to 120Mb as well for the same price,

      Quoted April-July, can't wait!

      1. HMB
        Alert

        Re: Anyone actually have Infinity

        Yeah, it was the upload rate that really made me want Infinity over cable, but I am very happy with cable and from the experience I have got vs Infinity customers who blog, I would say Virgin are much less throttled.

        I'm torrenting the Debian AMD64 DVD 1 as a test, I set it off about several mins ago, it just read 4.1 MB/s. That's MegaBytes/s. It's 24% complete and 13 minutes ETA.

        It was just reading 5.5 MB/s for a moment there (it's getting faster as I finish this comment), which works out at 44 Megabits per second torrent throughput.

        1. StooMonster

          Re: Anyone actually have Infinity

          Few friends have got Infinity and really pleased with it.

          I use Virgin 100Mb package and get a rock solid 10Mb upstream, but keenly waiting to see what the speed bump does.

          As to direct download speeds, I downloaded Dota2 from Steam in three minutes a couple of weeks ago and Mass Effect 3 from Origin in about eight minutes last week. Streaming any HD video service is usually a dream but can occasionally have buffering problems in the early evenings.

  13. Jim 59

    Snails pace

    What a load of nationalised horlicks. Brings back memories of when BT was the GPO and the only phones we could get were grey. They are showing similar flair over this "rollout".

  14. tommy060289
    Thumb Up

    I must be one of the only ones

    To actually have been upgraded and allowed to order!

    We had a date of 31sr of march and they began accepting orders yesterday and promptly ordered an upgrade:D even managed to get a discount already (£21 with vision as opposed to £26!)

    It's nice for Worksop (a small-medium town near sheffield) to actually get something as we're usually left in the dark ages when it comes to developments!

    Also, I've never actually seen on the BT fibre cabinets. I've seen lots of open reach vans messing with the current green cabinets but no new ones. Are the new cabinets only for FTTP?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: I must be one of the only ones

      No, FTTP is (mostly) underground or fed from poles. FTTC cabs are within 100 metres of the PCP you are connected to and about twice the size of a PCP.

      1. tommy060289

        Re: I must be one of the only ones

        Havn't seen any of them (I've seen the pics on the internet)

        maybe they've hidden them in someones back yard

  15. DPR

    Smug bastard

    Sorry guys - on TalkTalk I get 38-40meg download and quite often tip 40-45 on early and late shifts. FTTC and then about 50m of copper to my house. I embarrassed to say I am a satisfied customer.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Smug bastard

      On TalkTalk? Blimey, Fawlty will be around imminently to have you stuffed.

    2. HMB

      Re: Smug bastard

      Don't you mean *the* satisfied customer? :P

      I did look at Talk Talk FTTC, but 2Mbps upload? Really talk talk?

  16. Surfer

    I've got a friend in Northern Ireland whos had infinity since last November and swears by it, he says he gets 38meg and hasnt had a single drop out since installation. Apparantly all of N.Ireland is fibre connected.

    He's even had BT contact him to let him know he will be getting 80megs coming "this spring".

    I don't know about smug, but hes certainly a lucky bastard!

    I must also comment on something that was posted earlier, but no doubt this has to be the reason why my exchange date has now been put back......but ive not seen a single new cabinet anywhere on my travels on the Wirral!

  17. John A Blackley

    At least in other countries

    I might be able to find out who to bribe to get decent service.

  18. s. pam Silver badge
    FAIL

    What a load of rubbish!

    You still have to solve the last mile problem BT, your 40-50 year old POTS wiring plant is so antiquated and in many places boosted just to get dial tone you're not really delivering what you are promising.

    Not that the truth should get in the way of your Marketing B.S. but you should tell consumers the truth. Speeds up-to @ the Cabinet only, instead of misleading them.

    I will add I don't work for any network provider, just a home worker/user tired of the BT lies. At least I get what was possible on the Ginger headed bloke's network!

  19. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge
    Happy

    No FTTC Cabinet for me

    There are none up my street yet I was connected to FTTC last May. 40Mbits down, 1.5up.

    Next door piggyback on my Wireless in the evening as pretty well the rest of the street is on Virgin (old NTL Copper Cable) and once everyone else gets going their 30Mbits speed goes down to 1.5-2 if they are lucky.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: No FTTC Cabinet for me

      Your cabinet can be up to 1000m or more away. I know of someone who is 1500m away and gets the full 40Mb/s down, but it's almost guaranteed they're on .5mm copper.

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The problem is when they upgrade the exchange it does not mean they do FTTC to 'all' the cabinets on that exchange. Anyone feel BT are dragging their heels.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      No they don't, and no one appears to know why. Some cabinets are subject to planning (conservation areas and the like) and some cabs get delayed due to issues of blocked ducting and problems with contractors getting power installed.

      If you know where your cab is, keep an eye on the ELGIN (www.elgin.gov.uk) web site for local works.

      1. Anonymous C0ward

        That explains it

        They've lost their marbles.

  21. Surfer

    One more rant if your reading this BT, how come another Wirral exchange "Heswall" has been accepting orders for the last few months, when this exchange has a small user base of 8,000 compared to Wallasey's user base of 28,000 ?

    Must of been an ***** man at the helm of that decison

    I've had to censor the * as obviously my comment wasnt PC as my original posted post has since been rejected!

    Obviously the Moderator hasnt got a sence of humour, and must frown upon "englishman, irishman & scottish man" jokes!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Sense of humour - us?

      Let's try to keep on topic, shall we.

      PS

      I laughed at a joke only today, so there.

  22. Andy 18

    Devon?

    Just had a good check with http://www.superfast-openreach.co.uk/where-and-when/

    The entire county of Devon is NC (Not currently in rollout plans) except for Exeter. Looks like BT ran a big cable all the way through Devon to support FTTC in Cornwall without stopping anywhere

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Devon?

      Nope - I live in South Devon. Dartmouth was already on the list & Brixham, Paignton & St. Marychurch in Torquay are part of today's announcement. I checked my postcode on that site earlier and those exchanges come up.

  23. G R Goslin

    Ah, well

    73 is rather like 42, the answer to the meaning of life and everything. It has to be seen in context. So what is 73 as a proportion of ALL the number of exchanges that will have to be upgraded. Then I'll know whether I'll have to enter a pact with The Devil to ensure that I'm still around when the update comes

  24. Sheepish

    No financial sense...

    for BT to cannibilise profitable ADSL business models by rolling out FttC at the zero margin pricing it set as the market benchmark. The exchanges that are being rolled out will likely be scrutinised very closely as to which ISP has the most subscribers and who stands to lose the most should there be sufficient uptake, as for town centre's well, wouldn't want to jeapordise any business Ethernet services revenue now would we? Oh hang on what am I saying? This is all in the hands of Openreach who would never do anything that would provide unfair advantage to a BT Group company.

  25. Anonymous Coward
    Devil

    No static IP and a terrible fair use policy

    I called BT who do not offer a static IP on the service apparently.

    They also have a fair use policy which includes extensive curbs on P2P during 16 hours a day at the weekend, and during 8 hours of the day in the week.

    I am happy to wait for Be to deliver a usable service, since Virgin and BT seem only interested in people who are likely to limit use to the BBC, a few iPlayer programs and email, who have no technical knowledge.

    What's-more exchanges enabled in December are still not available to customers.

    1. An0n C0w4rd

      Re: No static IP and a terrible fair use policy

      So use another company that goes over the FTTC infrastructure. Zen comes to mind, and offer static IPs and subnets. AAISP and a few others also.

      I wouldn't touch BT retail ISP with a barge pole.

      1. HMB

        Re: No static IP and a terrible fair use policy

        Seriously, have you actually investigated this? BT are the only people to offer "unlimited" offerings over FTTC. Everyone else has usage limits. Plusnet offer 120Gb a month for the same price BT offer unlimited. Before you say that unlimited isn't really unlimited, the same harsh fair usage applies to the capped products too.

        I think one of the high end ISPs did offer unlimited over FTTC for something like £70 a month, but seriously??

  26. SpaMster
    WTF?

    Y U NO CITY CENTERS?!?

    It does seem to be a bit of a trend now that if you live say 5 miles from a city center, you've got every chance of getting fibre, but in the city center itself? NO CHANCE. Surely these sort of lines are what our city centers need, not somebody sitting in a council house a couple of miles down the road.

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