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FTTC / VDSL2 trial

Cloudmaster
Grafter
Posts: 257
Registered: ‎01-08-2007

FTTC / VDSL2 trial

Can't see any posts on it yet so I guess I'm the first.
http://community.plus.net/blog/2009/06/12/plusnet-to-trial-fibre-to-the-cabinet-fttc/
Just wondering if BTW have set out a timetable for getting FTTC to all green boxes.
Edit:  Don't worry, found more details in the FAQ
85 REPLIES 85
dave
Plusnet Help Team
Plusnet Help Team
Posts: 12,257
Thanks: 306
Fixes: 4
Registered: ‎04-04-2007

Re: FTTC / VDSL2 trial

Yeah, was going to post here but just ran out of time. The 2 enabled exchanges will have all the cabinets done for the start of the trial, after that there's no timescales yet.
Dave Tomlinson
Enterprise Architect - Network & OSS
Plusnet Technology
JEB
Grafter
Posts: 262
Registered: ‎01-09-2007

Re: FTTC / VDSL2 trial

I see the next batch of exchanges to be enabled for fibre, by summer next year, have been announced:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/07/09/bt_upgrade_schedule/
And my exchange is on the list  Smiley  Hopefully Plusnet will be willing to put me on a trial in due course.

James
Be3G
Grafter
Posts: 6,111
Thanks: 1
Registered: ‎05-04-2007

Re: FTTC / VDSL2 trial

Thanks for the list JEB, I'm excited to see that my exchange is on the new list too - nearly all of my surrounding exchanges were included in the previous list of thirty or so, but not mine. So good to see it included now. One thing I do wonder though is, in case anyone knows the answer, will BT make the fibre available to LLU companies too or will they be restricted to the old copper?
Cloudmaster
Grafter
Posts: 257
Registered: ‎01-08-2007

Re: FTTC / VDSL2 trial

Quote from: Be3G
will BT make the fibre available to LLU companies too or will they be restricted to the old copper?

Not sure if this answers the question, but it's posted on the supplied link 'The new technology will offer "up to" 40Mbit/s downstream, and access will be also available via BT's DSL competitors.'
dave
Plusnet Help Team
Plusnet Help Team
Posts: 12,257
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Registered: ‎04-04-2007

Re: FTTC / VDSL2 trial

It's an Openreach product so LLU operators would be able to take it as well. BT Wholesale, who we're taking the trial product from, are effectively treated as an LLU operator by Openreach.
As far as the trial is concerned at the moment, some of the cabinets at the 2 trial exchanges have been enabled and the first batch of test lines are going through. So long as that goes fine we're expecting to put our first few triallists through towards the end of this month (we'll contact them nearer the time to arrange suitable dates).
Moving on, so long as everything is fine we'll likely add more triallists on these 2 exchanges in August then others as the exchanges and cabinets get done but we can't give any more timescales at the moment.
Dave Tomlinson
Enterprise Architect - Network & OSS
Plusnet Technology
Be3G
Grafter
Posts: 6,111
Thanks: 1
Registered: ‎05-04-2007

Re: FTTC / VDSL2 trial

I see, thanks Dave. Will be interesting to see how quickly LLU operators take up the fibre service - I can imagine it giving those that offer near-as-unlimited internet use quite a headache. Huh
James
Grafter
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Registered: ‎04-04-2007

Re: FTTC / VDSL2 trial

Nice to see my parents exchange, Berkhamsted, is also on the list.
Looking forward to seeing how the trial develops.
manastro
Grafter
Posts: 101
Registered: ‎25-01-2009

Re: FTTC / VDSL2 trial


Great to see my exchange, Stalybridge, on the list........... can't wait........ put me down for the trial (if there is one)  Grin
Graham
mal0z
Grafter
Posts: 3,486
Registered: ‎02-10-2008

Re: FTTC / VDSL2 trial

Good to see, but I just wonder having installed a fibre link from the exchange - say maybe 3km or so - to a cabinet in your street - it would be almost as easy just to run fibre the few dozen meters more into the house etc ? - why still use that few meters of copper?
dave
Plusnet Help Team
Plusnet Help Team
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Registered: ‎04-04-2007

Re: FTTC / VDSL2 trial

Whitchurch has 69 PCPs (green cabinets) and serves about 22,000 lines, Muswell Hill 49 and serves 17,000 lines. Much easier to roll fibre down the existing ducting to 69 and 49 sites than dig up who knows how much road or put the fibre on overhead poles. FTTP will come but FTTC is the much more cost effective and easier solution.
Dave Tomlinson
Enterprise Architect - Network & OSS
Plusnet Technology
mal0z
Grafter
Posts: 3,486
Registered: ‎02-10-2008

Re: FTTC / VDSL2 trial

yes I appreciate that Dave - there is a huge variety of infrastructure at the local loop level, but for example in my street and virtually all new housing and industril / commercial developments in the last 20 years - all cables are underground in ducting between the house and the local cabinet / underground junction box - and fibre could easily be pulled through that with any digging.
I mean even in PN tower - you must have a major junction box which is fed by a duct from the local cabinet or even a main cable that was installed all the way back to the exchange.
Of course many older developments / over head cables need much more work.
manastro
Grafter
Posts: 101
Registered: ‎25-01-2009

Re: FTTC / VDSL2 trial

Don't forget there is also a major cost implication in having to install millions of fibre to copper converters in every property, unless someone starts makimg fibre optic routers and telephones for the home market.
Even if BT only install the FO cable into the house, it is an awful waste of FO capacity to run only one line down it.
It simply doesn't make economic sense.
Not to mention all of us that don't live on "new" estates with underground cables to the house and use overhead lines from telephone poles.
With the present idea, there is only a need for one fibre to copper "multiplexer" to split the fibre into as many copper lines as the cabinet can support. Usually, the cabinets are only a few hundred yards (metres) at most from the properties they serve.
Neondaze
Grafter
Posts: 90
Registered: ‎08-06-2007

Re: FTTC / VDSL2 trial

As a matter of interest anyone know why this list: -
http://www.openreach.co.uk/orpg/products/nga/downloads/FTTC_%20pot_exchs.pdf
is different from this list: -
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/07/09/bt_upgrade_schedule/.
The reason I am wondering is because my exchange (Upton Park) is on the first list, but not the latter.
Be3G
Grafter
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Registered: ‎05-04-2007

Re: FTTC / VDSL2 trial

The PDF is dated January and therefore represents the initial list of FTTC exchanges. The news report, on the other hand, is merely a few days old, and lists exchanges that've now been added to the rollout schedule - it doesn't repeat ones already scheduled back in January.