Fibre finally available

[#1]

According to BT's DSL checker fibre is finally available for my number.
That's the good news. The bad news is the speeds are much lower than ADSL
Currently syncing at 5,494 but can occasionally sync at around 6,000!

[#2]

Bearing in mind BT think you could get up to a dizzying 2.9Mbps, you're doing pretty well!! How far are you from your street cabinet?? We're about 1 mile away from ours (also literally just switched on in the last month) and I'm running just over 28000Kbps. I have also performed significant surgery on the wiring and tinkered with the modem, though - all outside the comfort zones of the majority of customers...

[#3]

We appear to be around 0.3 miles from a cabinet which I assumed to be cabinet 1.
Is there a way of finding out exactly where a cabinet is?

[#4]

Ronski has produced an excellent map http://www.ronski.me.uk/. CodeLook http://www.telecom-tariffs.co.uk/codelook.htm is also a useful reference.
Note that the fibre connection might not be to the local exchange.

[#5]

Thanks Spraxyt. Looks like cabinet 2 is about 1.2 miles away. The nearest is cabinet 4 and that's the one just about a third of a mile away. That's due to go live later this year.
Is it be possible that fibre could be provided from the closer cabinet in time?

[#6]

In time... lol
Difficult to say for sure - our cabinet is brand new, just been installed on the doorstep of the exchange and the exchange is just inside a suburban area. They must have had a sufficient number of customers to make it worthwhile doing.
Did you find Cabinet 1? If 4 is your closest and 2 is 1.3 miles away, but you're connected to 1... one has to wonder why - and where the wiring goes from the exchange to cabinet 1.
Try BT's speed checker: http://speedtest.btwholesale.com
Then click "Further Diagnostics" and post the result.

[#7]

Cabinet 1 is around 1 mile away with cabinet 3 around 1.4 miles away. Cabinets I, 2 and 3 are all within about a third of a mile from the exchange and cabinet 4 is about 1.7 miles from the exchange.

[#8]

Just checked the number for the local school and a business both of which are practically opposite cabinet 4 and they are also showing as Cabinet 1 but with no fibre availability.
Edit: is it within the realms of BT to move me to cabinet 4 then supply Fibre when it's available there?

[#9]

Very strange on all counts - especially since your ADSL was faster.
How fast was your ADSL? You could probably consider my line to be a benchmark, we were getting ~17Mbps with a similar distance from the exchange (it was an exchange-only line until recently.) A worthwhile test to eliminate internal wiring issues (as in elimination from enquiries) is to pull everything off the master socket and plug a dangly filter into that.
What's the state of your internal wiring? Do you, for example, have many internal extensions? Do you have an Interstitial Plate (i.e. DSL socket at the top, phone socket at the bottom,) or are you using a dangly filter?

[#10]

@HughPH
Your last post reads as if I have switched to fibre and getting low speeds whereas I am still on ASDL and getting about the best my line can sustain
Edit: Apologies if I've misread your post

[#11]

Quote from: Mav

Edit: is it within the realms of BT to move me to cabinet 4 then supply Fibre when it's available there?

No. Not a snowball's chance, not for just one line. It would involve erecting new poles and or ducts. Likely cost would be in the many several thousands of pounds.
It might be feasible if they moved everyone on your cabinet but you know your area. How easy would it be to dig new trenching or erect new poles to connect you and your neighbours to the alternate cabinet? Bear in mind that BT don't like bulldozing people's houses nor running wires across their property. Telephone cabling usually follows the road - can you walk to either of those other cabinets by road? Is it a shorter distance than walking to your current cabinet?

[#12]

Quote from: Mav

Edit: is it within the realms of BT to move me to cabinet 4 then supply Fibre when it's available there?

Yes, it is within the realms of possibility. But that doesn't make it likely. If you were randomly asking BT to move you, and just you, then it is extremely unlikely. Verging on impossible.
If, however, there is a whole batch of properties that could reasonably be served this way, BT could employ a "copper re-arrangement" technique that sends you to a different PCP instead of the old one.
BT *have* been employing such copper re-arrangements a little more frequently nowadays - as the BDUK projects find it harder and harder to cover people. I'd probably rate it, nowadays, as fairly rare, rather than impossible.
The chances also depend on the routing of your cables to and from cab 1, and the routing of cables to and from cab 4. If the wires already pass cab 4 before arriving at your house, then you are more likely. If they are opposite directions, then rather less likely, and if they are 90 degrees apart, then least likely - the ducts probably just don't joint up.
Looking at Codelook suggests you are in the middle case of the three.
It will also depend on the local BDUK project, and how they plan to reach their target. You will be quite expensive to do compared to "just" upgrading a PCP, maybe similar price to conversion of EO lines, and cheaper than a whole new AIO box or FTTP.
Contacting the Kent BDUK project will be the best option, asking if there is any intention to do this kind of re-arrangement. Mention your postcode and the two cabinet numbers.

[#13]

@wwwombat Thanks for that very informative reply. As SWMBO and I may move at sometime in the not too distant future then it may simply not be worth our while starting something like your suggestion.
Been crossing my fingers, though, for over a year and would rather the checker just kept saying fibre was unavailable

[#14]

Oh, I see now Mav!! 
On the same page, BT always said we could get up to 10Mbps max on ADSL and we were getting 17Mbps after having a good go at the wiring. For VDSL they say the very best we could expect on this line is 24Mbps, and we're getting 28Mbps. And indeed in your case the assertion is plainly incorrect for ADSL.
I would suggest taking what's on that page with a pinch of salt. Best to talk to PN CS and get them to do a line check - this will give you a better idea of the attainable rate - and should also update that BT Service Checker page.

[#15]

They can't check for fibre as the wires currently don't go to the fibre cab