My exchange just went to 21CN a couple months back and is due to be upgraded to super fast fibre broadband this month.

What does this exactly mean however?
Would we be able to get fibre optic to the house or is this different?

For Fibre Optic to (near!) the house (FTTC - BT Infinity etc.) the "green box" ( aka "cabinet") your house connects to has to be upgraded. Having the Exchange ready is only a first step!

The first stage is the exchange having fibre installed.
The next stage is that new shiny green boxes with air vents and 240V warning stickers will start appearing next to or near to the old rusty green Openreach Cabinets.

When that happens to the box that your phone line is connected to, shortly after, you should be able to order super fast fibre broadband for many different suppliers.

Go here:

http://www.productsandservices.bt.co...FayUwgodLEAAHQ

And enter your details and it many give you and indication as to when your cabinet is due to be upgraded. (All and any dates are subject to be completely wrong)

Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) means exactly that - you get a fibre connection to your house.

With Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) OpenReach install new road side cabinets and connect these via fibre to the Exchange.

If you order a superfast service (via any provider) Openreach connect your existing phone line to the new cabinet - so the last loop is still on copper

The service is VDSL rather than ADSL so it's still "an up" speed (dependant on the distance and condition of your phone line).

As it's VDSL you may need a new modem (supplied by OpenReach) or your ISP may supply an integrated modem / router.

The following YouTube video gives an idea of what's involved (although it's a bit technical and long winded).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=53NcsctuxV0

Brian

Thanks.

Is there any way I can find out what stage they are at then?

We don't have any green cabinets as the area served is just a couple of villages (about 1500 residential premises from the exchange apparently)
Theres a few BT Man holes etc, but no green boxes.


EDIT: Just foun don Open Reach my exchange will be FTTC/P April 2014

If you do an exchange search at SamKnows it'll tell you everything about your exchange including if an FTTC date has been set.
http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange_search

The following link will tell you if (or when) a FTTC service is available from the cabinet serving you (not all cabinets on an exchange are upgraded at the same time - an exchange can be "live" but your cabinet not).
https://www.btwholesale.com/includes/adsl/main.html

I forget what the web site is but you can check for street road works which might indicate when or if OpenReach is planning on installing cabinets.

Brian

Out of interest what is your exchange ?

It sounds as though it wasn't on the commercial roll out planned by OpenReach but is being up-graded using government money.

VDSL suffers from the same problems as ADSL (distance and quality of lines) so in rural situations FTTC might not be suitable. I believe in some instances money has then been found to do a FTTP install.

Brian

My exchange is MELLOR Lancashire. Its FTTC/P apparently due this month. In Feb the exchange went to 21CN.

Its quite small compared to town / city exchanges as it serves a rural area, but there is a new enterprise zone being set up and they very quickly began upgrading the infrastructure.
At one point even 21CN was cancelled.

According to SamKnows Mellor has a FTTC available date of 2014 (my exchange shows 01/06/14).

Took a bit of digging but it appears Mellor is being up-graded as part of the Superfast Lancashire project. This links to a new item on it.
http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php...d-rollout.html

This is the Superfast Lancashire web site. If you check "availability" it might give more details but SanKnows usually has the up to date date as it gets it's information automatically from OpenReach systems.
https://www.superfastlancashire.com/home

Couldn't find Mellor mentioned anywhere but on the following map (once I figured out Mellor was above and to the left of Blackburn) hovering my cursor brought up an info box confirming Mellor was part of the project.
https://www.superfastlancashire.com/check-availability

Brian

Thanks. Thats interesting. I ownder if it was fast-tracked by the Lancs project.

Originally our exchange was due for 21CN in 2009 - it never happened.
Since the go-ahead for a technology/enterprise zone part of the plan was to upgrade the surrounding infrastructure.

Suddenly 21CN was in progress in December and active at the end of Feb. Now fibre has been pinned down for this Month.

All I can find is Superfast BB is dated for April (did say March) and its FTTC/P. I guess the last part to my house would remain copper as our line is buried. Saying that there is a BT Manhole cover for a main line that goes up to houses further up the road in the next village.

I'd guess no further information on exact dates is available yet. Unless you hear locally I would keep checking the exchange on SamKnows to see if and when a Ready for Service date is set.

Also check the following regularly to see if and when it changes (for your phone line).
https://www.btwholesale.com/includes/adsl/main.html

Indeed, have a look now and see what's offered so you can spot when it changes. Also look at the ADSL speed offered, then do a speed test on your connection. If you get a good current speed then it is probably you'll get a good FTTC speed.

I found the road works site I knew about. No works listed for Mellor (yet) up to the end of the year.
http://www.roadworks.org/

Brian