[-GONZO-]

Openreach engineer installed infinity this morning, rang just before 8am to say he was at the cabinet and will be with us shortly.
Easy install of modem and hub as I already had a modem cable around the skirting board under the carpet into hub2 so just used that to connect modem to master socket so no extra wires needed.
He did a test and was pleasantly surprised to say that I was getting full speed up and down rather than the 60mbs that was estimated .

[DavidT]

Had an engineer out this week to fix my phone line. Whilst chatting to him he said something about BT looking at smaller exchanges and putting new technology in them for superfast BB. No idea what that may be though. He reckoned it wouldn't be long before we got new equipment in our 480 line exchange. To quote him "its all going to go mad with fibre soon". Can't see it myself but at least its a ray of hope.

On another note its now just a few weeks before Connecting Devon is supposed to deliver its report and schedule of how its going to cover all of Devon with superfast BB and how many of us will have to wait until 2020. BT have announced one exchange in north Devon for fibre next year and couple more for up to 20meg upgrade. The vast majority of us are waiting for this report with baited breath as it represents our only chance of getting a decent service. How quickly a year has flown and I will be very interested to see how many private investors have come on board given the large number of very small exchanges we have down here. Just hope the report isn't a complete let down.

[John146]

We couldn't get Virgin Services where I live, the houses on the other side of the road could get it but not us!!, it seems there was a fault on the Virgin cable that fed our side of the road, and, until enough people showed interest in getting Virgin they would not repair it, have now it's great!!, suggest BT will be the same, when enough people register their interest in having FTTC then BT will hang on before providing it.

[AmberPanda]

Originally Posted by DavidT

I’m actually getting fed up of local press coverage of Broadband in Devon. Papers like North Devon Journal and Western Morning News just do not seem to understand what it is they are writing about.

NDJ recently ran an article about one local exchange getting “superfast” next year. Actually its getting an upgrade to the “up to 20meg” service. Not superfast at all. Also the article although not explicitly saying so gave the impression that those currently on very poor connections would see a huge benefit. Of course they won’t and probably won’t see any improvement as the 20meg works faster over shorter distances. If you have a poor connection now chances are it won’t help. You need fibre.


These articles are usually accompanied by someone from BT telling us that this is a demonstration of BT’s commitment to Devon (the UK’s worst served area remember). Then there will be a local business leader saying what wonderful progress this is (someone else who clearly doesn’t get or understand it). Its coming to something when the local paper can devote a half page to an article on one exchange out of several hundred getting an upgrade to 20meg.

Nest year there will be lots of disappointed people when they find out their sub 1meg connection is still sub 1meg.

I and many others have commented and written to the local press on a number of occasions about this and asking them to ask BT proper questions and explaining that what they are is really misleading but it all falls on deaf ears.

The rest of us in Devon still have no prospect of a 20meg service upgrade let alone superfast. Our only hope is the government funding that Devon County Council have received and about which they have been totally silent apart from a couple of pointless Press Releases about their ambitions and initiatives. There is already talk that this funding is not what it seems. What is more worrying is that it seems impossible to get the message across publicly that the only way to help many is fibre or equivalent. People on my small exchange who currently can’t get a proper connection at all will not benefit from a 20meg service.

I'm in Cornwall "waves to neighbour" and BT are running out fibre at a rate of knots here, I am now on Infinity 1 and it is great. I do appreciate how you feel as the village where I used to live only had dial up until recently, BB was almost nonexistant here. I suppose unfortunately some ppl are at the top of a list and some ppl at the bottom.
In West Sussex where we used to live we were at the end of the telephone line and had to wait years for BB.
I hope you don't have to wait too long for a better connection

[DavidT]

Originally Posted by AmberPanda

I'm in Cornwall "waves to neighbour" and BT are running out fibre at a rate of knots here, I am now on Infinity 1 and it is great. I do appreciate how you feel as the village where I used to live only had dial up until recently, BB was almost nonexistant here. I suppose unfortunately some ppl are at the top of a list and some ppl at the bottom.
In West Sussex where we used to live we were at the end of the telephone line and had to wait years for BB.
I hope you don't have to wait too long for a better connection

To be fair I'm quite lucky as I get around 5 meg but there are many on my exchange who cannot get a conventional connection at all. Personally I need faster uploads.

I was talking to a client recently who is a farmer. A well as having to do their VAT online she has to do likewise with DEFRA returns etc. She has a unstable quarter meg connection that died in early July. BT told her they hoped to repair it sometime in September. No allowance is given for this sort of thing and I can't help feel it is just wrong to compel people to carry certain tasks online without there being a suitable infrastructure in place first.

[fmradiotuner1]

Strange my mate who lives right at the other side of Clacton the checker says he can get TalkTalk Fibre who is by Close Lane yet where I am down High Street right in town it says not available and the same with BT so will I never be able to get Fibre here?
The exchange is about 15 meters from here

[*MikeB*]

No you'll never be able to get fibre to the cabinet under the current setup, as you will be connected directly to the exchange rather than via a cabinet. However there are several options being considered for people in your situation:

1.
Placing VDSL2 equipment in the exchanges for customers connected directly to the exchange (apparently they've found a way to stop this interfering with other lines now)

2.
Placing a cabinet directly outside the exchange and diverting customers currently connected directly to the exchange into that cabinet, therefore they'd then have access to FTTC

3.
FTTP for exchange fed customers.

[fmradiotuner1]

Maybe by that time we will have 4G and maybe worth getting rid of the land line altogether?

[zx50]

Originally Posted by fmradiotuner1

Maybe by that time we will have 4G and maybe worth getting rid of the land line altogether?

I'd prefer to have the option of using an ethernet cable if I want. Wireless isn't as stable as a cable is. I think ethernet is here for years yet. The telephone is much cheaper to use than the mobile is. I don't think the landline will be gone anytime soon.

[Rossby41]

Grrr look like my exchange has been pushed back by another quater.

Only 9 months overdue now.

[Mark Smith]

Originally Posted by Rossby41

Grrr look like my exchange has been pushed back by another quater.

Only 9 months overdue now.

Exactly the same situation here.

Getting sick of the sight of those non functioning new cabinets that have been here all spring and summer long.

[Rossby41]

Yay, all firbed up yesterday. Still to wait for it settle down. But hopefully should be getter speeds of around 60mbps.

[*MikeB*]

Originally Posted by Rossby41

Yay, all firbed up yesterday. Still to wait for it settle down. But hopefully should be getter speeds of around 60mbps.

The speed you have now is what you will get. There is no 10 day stabilisation period with Openreach FTTC products.

[Rossby41]

Originally Posted by *MikeB*

The speed you have now is what you will get. There is no 10 day stabilisation period with Openreach FTTC products.

I thought there was, that's why they tell you to leave the router connected for 10 days.

[Glawster2002]

Originally Posted by Rossby41

I thought there was, that's why they tell you to leave the router connected for 10 days.

They do say there is a small stabalisation period, i was told three days when I had mine done the other week but then I leave mine on 24/7 anyway so that isn't a problem for me.

We're getting @ 39 Mbit/s now and when the engineer did the line check he said we should be OK for 80 Mbit/s when the exchange is upgraded to offer that.

[chenks]

Originally Posted by Rossby41

I thought there was, that's why they tell you to leave the router connected for 10 days.

10 days is for DSL connections.

[*MikeB*]

Originally Posted by Rossby41

I thought there was, that's why they tell you to leave the router connected for 10 days.

On the email they send out? Yeah it does say that and I think it was a copy and paste from the ADSL email and someone has forgotten to remove it.

There is no training period with FTTC.

Originally Posted by Glawster2002

We're getting @ 39 Mbit/s now and when the engineer did the line check he said we should be OK for 80 Mbit/s when the exchange is upgraded to offer that.

Don't know what he means by that. Your connection comes from the cabinet, not the exchange. All cabinets have been software upgraded to support the VDSL2 17c profile, so you can get 80Mbit if that's what you want.

[Rossby41]

Originally Posted by *MikeB*

On the email they send out? Yeah it does say that and I think it was a copy and paste from the ADSL email and someone has forgotten to remove it.

There is no training period with FTTC.

No, what I've heard on thinkbroadband forums.

[eypon]

There's more intense dlm the first 2 days so I've been told.

[Glawster2002]

Originally Posted by *MikeB*

Don't know what he means by that. Your connection comes from the cabinet, not the exchange. All cabinets have been software upgraded to support the VDSL2 17c profile, so you can get 80Mbit if that's what you want.

BT only offer the 40 Mbit/s Infinity service from my exchange.

[*MikeB*]

Originally Posted by Glawster2002

BT only offer the 40 Mbit/s Infinity service from my exchange.

That doesn't sound right to me at all. The cabinets provide the connection in the case of FTTC, and as I said in my last post they've all been upgraded (software wise) to support up to 80Mbit.

[Glawster2002]

Originally Posted by *MikeB*

That doesn't sound right to me at all. The cabinets provide the connection in the case of FTTC, and as I said in my last post they've all been upgraded (software wise) to support up to 80Mbit.

I've checked with BT and they've told me that at present 40 Mbit/s is the only option from my exchange.

If I go on the BT Infinity web page and do the check to see what is available the result says I am using the optimum service available.

[captainkremmen]

I've just checked my own exchange again, which has so far had two different dates for upgrade to Infinity come and go in the last two years and it now seems, for the first time, they are actually accepting orders with a latest go live date of 31st March 2013. The availability checker estimates 64Mb download and 20Mb upload for my location when it goes live. Well, that will certainly make a change from 3Mb/900Kb.

However given that this is the third date that has been stated, I'll wait and see but the fact the Infinity website says (for the first time I am sure) that they are accepting orders certainly seems promising.

[*MikeB*]

Originally Posted by Glawster2002

I've checked with BT and they've told me that at present 40 Mbit/s is the only option from my exchange.

If I go on the BT Infinity web page and do the check to see what is available the result says I am using the optimum service available.

From your cabinet, you mean. It just isn't true what you are saying/being told. Really, it isn't.

Perhaps 40Mbit is all your line supports?

[JSemple3]

Is it possible that BT Infinity can be over subscribed to? I wonder because my local exchange was enabled during october (Just as I signed up to a 12 month contract on the old ADSL with aquiss) Anyway, My exchange was enabled and I could get 41.6MB down and 6.9MB up I think it was. Now I check my exchange and all of a sudden it's not available? Is it possible?