fibre to the cabinet

[#1]

Hi PlusNet's FTTP description

(FTTC). Where fibre is available it means that Openreach has laid a fibre cable from the exchange to the cabinet nearest your premises. 

This is not so in my estates case, there is a major BT cabinet and access points just behind my house that serves the whole estate it is also the cabinet closest to me.BT has not laid fibre to it so we are connected to a cabinet some distance away on next estate Passmore, Milton Keynes and we are on Tinkers Bridge, Milton Keynes. Passmore is not and never has been Tinkers Bridge despite some maps saying so.

The only part of the network to use copper (or sometimes aluminium) is the local-loop from the cabinet to your home or office.

Also not true as poor quality aluminium runs from house to local cabinet then to next estates cabinet before joining the fibre connection.

So this estate is not getting the product as advertised yet pays the same price for a degraded line. If I could walk I would find the cabinet numbers.

This is not a PlusNet issue as such but would it be possible to raise this problem with openreach. the residents will be bringing this topic up in next RA meeting, as we feel it discriminates against our residents who should expect the same service available to other estates in the area and should not be paying the same price for a lesser product.

Kind regards

[#2]

Do you expect Openreach to rerun copper from the fibre cabinet to a lot of houses in place of the non-fibre cabinet wiring?

It's quite a lot of work you know...

[#3]

Taking your definition everyone living more than a few hundred metres from a cabinet is discriminated against. I’m afraid that until the country is converted to FTTP then this will be the case. Until then it’s the luck of the draw. When you sign up for a broadband package you are advised of the acceptable speed range for your address so you do get the product that’s advertised, Note that products are always sold as up to x Mbps.

Again you are unlucky having aluminium cored cable but you should be campaigning to have it swapped for fibre, not copper.

[#4]

No i just expect the product as advertised, fibre to cabinet not fibre to next estates cabinet.all surrounding estates have fibre to cabinet on their estate,its not a difficult job a straight line, roadside too.What is laughable is the cabinet is major one and has no fibre to it.

[#5]

ok the fibre to the cabinet description is that advertised by plusnet and bt. if thats how they describe a product then that is how you should receive the product. all surrounding estates have their own cabs fibre enabled.

[#6]

I'm really having a problem with your logic. The product is called fibre to the cabinet, not fibre to the cabinet located on your estate.

[#7]

You have the product as advertised, you are connected to a cabinet that provides FTTC. It may or may not be the nearest cabinet and there is not much you can do about it.

[#8]

Not quite true @RealAleMadrid.  There is something that could be done, but it isn't cheap and is a lot of organising: https://communityfibre.openreach.co.uk/

[#9]

@pjmarsh You are quite right but community partnerships are notoriously difficult to set up and getting Openreach to do anything sensible is beyond the ability or patience thresholds of most people, never mind the costs involved. 

I also believe Milton Keynes has a very strange telecoms (BT) infrastructure possibly because I think it was a TPON area (fibre optic phones). This has made the introduction of ADSL and FTTC rather problematic, lots of overlays from distant cabinets and the dreaded aluminium cables in places, so it is a difficult area but there are some FTTP installations about.

[#10]

Most of the newer estates have fibre to the premise because they were built with this in mind. i am off course dissapointed i cant get this and would just settle for fibre to the cabinet on the estate.plusnets wording and BT wording clearly states nearest cabinet. i do understand the upto speeds but also understand  db noise limits and the extra aluminium running alongside a dual carriageway instead of fibre makes a difference to line noise lvls. The estate where i am connected to has about 200 residents where this estate has over 600 so would make business sense all round if  hgher speeds were available and less disconnects too. The problem possibly lays with all maps insisting passmore is tinkers bridge south east, this is not so and never been so they are even a different council ward.

[#11]

Where did you find this wording about fibre to the nearest cabinet? There's no guarantee you'll even be connected to the nearest cabinet. I think describing it as fibre to the nearest cabinet is merely a simplification, not part of any contract.

I'm guessing that the cabinet nearest you is not a PCP (Primary Connection Point), and so is not the type of cabinet that FTTC comes from. If it were a PCP, and it wasn't enabled for FTTC, then you wouldn't be able to order FTTC.

[#12]

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@RealAleMadrid wrote:

I also believe Milton Keynes has a very strange telecoms (BT) infrastructure possibly because I think it was a TPON area (fibre optic phones). This has made the introduction of ADSL and FTTC rather problematic, lots of overlays from distant cabinets and the dreaded aluminium cables in places, so it is a difficult area but there are some FTTP installations about.

---

If I remember correctly in the early days of ADSL OpenReach didn't have a clue where their phone lines went in Milton Keynes and had to institute a special project to "map" the area. Add in the dreaded aluminium cables and the whole area was a mess.

Brian

[#13]

@djelite

Can't remember who but a company has a complaint with the Advertising Standards about FTTC being advertised as "fibre" when it's not - the final connection is by copper (or aluminium!!!).

Unless on an Exchange Only line, your phone service is supplied from your Exchange to a PCP cabinet and then onto your property. Unless it's a relatively new build the cabinet you're connected to is pure pot luck in terms of FTTC. In the old days you were connected to a cabinet that had phone capacity available as ADSL and VDSL were unheard of. If later building meant a new cabinet was installed closer to your location OR tended not to transfer lines - there was no need to.

For FTTC a new "fibre" cabinet is installed within 100m of a PCP cabinet and "paired" with it. This cabinet is supplied by fibre optic cable which may, or may not, come from the local exchange. When you order FTTC the connection is "jumped" from the fibre cabinet to the PCP cabinet and onto your property.

With ADSL it was your distance from the Exchange which determined the speed you could get. With FTTC it is the distance from you cabinet.

Brian

[#14]

Each house has a separate pair of wires to the cabinet (and onwards to the exchange).

Rewiring to a different cabinet would involve rewiring 200 houses, which is a non-trivial project.

[#15]

@djelite

You might wish to contact the Milton Keynes Broadband Action Group (MKBAG) which has a web page http://www.mkbag.org/