Fibre to the Premises - FTTP Trial

[#1]

I'd love to be put on the list, I'm on the Bradwell Abbey exchange.

[#2]

I'm also interested - I'm in Walnut Tree, Milton Keynes on the Bradwell Abbey exchange. Plusnet username: herbiejhopkins
Herbie

[#3]

Dave,
i appreciate I'm not in this trial area but I'm on the 21CN trial and have been having diffs. BT engineer (on latest visit) alluded to the fact that our exchange would be getting FTTP shortly. Do you know if there are other exchanges in the offing? As soon as Leighton Buzzard is on, I would be happy to trial. I mentioned it to your Cust Services bod who called today to arrange latest BT visit and he recommended posting here. Sorry if it's not the place.
Rgds,
Phil.

[#4]

Hi, Dave. Not directly to do with this and probably shouldn't even be on this thread, but here in Bournemouth they are currently connecting us all with fibre optics via the sewer pipes! Do you know if this is likely to be a BT thing or a private company who will operate the system exclusively and not allow companies such as Plusnet to offer a service?

[#5]

The info you need is summarised here: http://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/4167-1gbps-burst-speeds-for-bournemouth-announced.html and it contains a link to the Fibrecity website which should fill in the details. I don't think BT will be involved, from a user point of view (I don't know what backhaul arrangements Fibrecity have got).
Some of the pricing looks very interesting, though it's not clear how long the current prices will last. I think I'd be willing to fork out £9.99 a month for a 'basic 100mb/s package' with (allegedly) no usage limits - they have a 'fair use policy' but don't specify what that is. But would it match the excitement of my first ever online connection at home? That was a service provided by the Micronet user group on Prestel, and it ran at 1200 bits per second downstream and 75 bits per second upstream.
[Edit: Ah - I've just seen that, in addition to the £9.99 a month, "a £10 fibre rental charge applies" so the basic price is actually £19.99 a month. Not quite so amazing, but still not bad, and it includes 10 x 1 hour boosts to 1gb/s per month, for those occasions when 100mb/s just isn't quick enough - when you're downloading data from the Large Hadron Collider, maybe.]
Graham

[#6]

herbiejhopkins - I'll add you down on the reserve list
Deepfat - yes, the current plan is to do the trial at the 2 exchanges listed above and then they'll start to expand the coverage. Openreach have just announced a list of the Phase 4b and 5 FTTC exchanges, it's expected that some of those will also get FTTP and there may be other exchanges on the earlier FTTC lists that get FTTP filled in.
The plan for FTTP is that it will be used to fill in areas that can't get FTTC, for example exchange fed lines or where the economics of doing FTTC on a cabinet make it cheaper to do FTTP.

[#7]

Dave, please include me in the trial too if that's possible... I am served by the Bradwell Abbey exchange but barely get a 500K connection... I'm a graphic designer who dreams of being able to work connect to my work's VPN and work from home, play games online, watch iPlayer without getting new grey hairs and a stress-rash... etc...etc. 

[#8]

Hi Dave - Is they any news on this trial yet?  Have plusnet been accepted on to the trial?  Will I need to be migrated on to 21 CN before being able to participate in the trial?
Regards
Phil

[#9]

Please put me on the reserve list too, I am on the Bradwell Abbey Exchange. I'm located in Springfield and my email address is phome@intech.org.uk

[#10]

Hi, If there are any spaces left on the trial for Bradwell Abbey Exchange, please put me down.  I live in Middleton and can only get a sub 512mb connection.  Many thanks.  Chris

[#11]

We've been accepted on to the trial. The trial is due to start in May with the first part being a proof of concept trial with each ISP getting lines into a BT building in Milton Keynes to test everything out.
So long as that's all fine the first customers are expected to be switched across to the trial in July. At the moment each ISP will be limited to 5 places each so I'll keep everyone asking on the reserve list in case anyone in the first 5 drops out, is unable to get the service or we get a higher allocation of slots.

[#12]

Hi Dave
Many thanks for the update.  You mentioned that I might have to be migrated on to 21 CN before being able to take part on the trial.  Do you know if this is the case?  Thanks for updating on dates, a question I should have asked but forgot!
Regards
Phil

[#13]

It doesn't look like you need to be on 21CN, the way we're expecting it to work is that your existing ADSL service (whether 20 or 21CN) would continue to work alongside the fibre (for the trial certainly, probably will change when it becomes a live product) so if there are problems with the trial you'd still have your old connection there as backup and the fibre would be a brand new install where they connect your home direct with fibre and fit a new socket to terminate it.

[#14]

@Dave
Are you saying that during the trial a second line is fitted with broadband only? If so when it does go live and the phone is then incorporated on the same line will it work. 

[#15]

At the start of the trial you'll have your existing broadband and phone provided over the copper. BT will then come and install a second line, this will be fibre and initially will offer broadband only. The 2 will then live side by side during the trial so you'll have voice over copper as you do now and broadband over fibre, and as backup you'll also have broadband over the copper. I'm waiting for confirmation as to whether they will switch the voice to work over the fibre during the trial as well or whether that will just continue to be provided over copper.
I know long term for FTTP they want to do both over the fibre and do away with the copper where they can but I don't know yet whether that's in scope for this trial and if it isn't when it would happen.