LWASH Exchange Information on Fibre Rollout

[#1]

Back in 2011 we had our new Fibre cabinets installed then during the summer (still 2011) we watched OpenReach pull the fibre cables through to the telegraph poles down our road. So I have fibre up to about 4 metres from where it enters the house. It was initially shown on the OpenReach database that we would go live in June 2011 but this was then shown as being put back to September 2011.
I now read in PCPRO (posted 1 Nov 2012) "BT will have two-thirds of UK homes and businesses covered with fibre by Spring 2014 - moving the milestone forward again"
So why can't I find anyone in BT who can tell me when I will get Fibre. Surely they are not going round the country doing all the work, then not actually connecting the last leg to the premises. I know not everyone in an area is being connected, but we must be on the list to be connected as they have done all the work in laying the cables from the cabinet to our house. It just does not make sense.
Does anyone know how to get information out of BT as to what is going on?

[#2]

FTTC is available on some areas of Ashford.
What does http://www.dslchecker.bt.com/adsl/ADSLChecker.Telephone?URL=&SP_NAME=a%20service%20provider&VERSION=... say about fibre for your line?

[#3]

Your exchange is like mine - a mix of FTTC/FTTP.
In theory, you should be able to get one of the two services. However there will probably be areas that are blackspots which BT deem as not cost effective to install fibre. This website should tell you what cabinet you are on and your chances of getting fibre - http://fttc-check.alc.im/
If you are able to receive FTTP (which is a far superior technology to FTTC), it will say on the BT checker "Our test also indicates that your line currently supports a WBC Fibre To The Premises technology with an estimated Broadband downstream line speed of up to 330Mbps and upstream line speed of up to 30Mbps." However most ISPs will still tell you that fibre is not available in your area, even though this isn't the case. I had this for months when trying to get fibre, even though my neighbour was on a 330/30 trial with BT. Because it's a niche product (I think only 2% of the country can get it), most ISPs do not offer it or their sales staff are unaware that they do offer it.

[#4]

I can understand that not all lines connected to an exchange will be able to get fibre on the initial rollout for that exchange.
However, I cannot understand the logic of laying the fibre from the new cabinets to the house if they do not intend offering fibre to that premises. So perhaps the fibre laying has got ahead of the actual installations However it has now been 15 months since the fibre was run to premises along our street. We are only 500 metres from the exchange and all the streets in our part of town have all had the fibre laid from the cabinet, which must have been quite a costly operation. So surely it makes sense to actually do the internal connections, so as to gain some revenue for their labour.
As I said the article indicated that 2/3 of the country will be connected to fibre by Spring 2014, that is 15 months away, the same length of time our fibre connection has stood idle. It does not make sense. What a waste!

[#5]

What did it say on the BT checker page and the FTTC check page?
BT don't run fibre from cabinets to properties (with the exception of the On Demand trial). FTTP bypasses the cabinets and goes straight to the exchange from the customer's house. My cabinet hasn't changed in 20 years despite my area having mass numbers of fibre optic cables. FTTC has fibre run to the cabinets from the exchange, with the copper to your home from the cabinet staying as normal.
It's my understanding that BT will offer one or the other at the moment - FTTC or FTTP. The FTTC check page above will show you which cabinet you should be connected to and what fibre service you should be able to get.
If you can see fibre cables outside your property (black with yellow lines), then this should be a good sign for FTTP.

[#6]

@Chris@1000_Oaks
Don't forget fibre is point to point - you can't just tap in to it it if happens to go past your house!
Have you looked at what the BT checker says?

[#7]

Finally getting Fibre (FTTP) connected, with the installation due to be completed on March 7th.
Until Andyh mentioned it, I did not realise the fibre to premises comes straight from the exchange. Openreach just advised me
For telephony you are connected to Ashford cabinet LW/ASH 7
For fibre you are connected to Manifold MAAASVT)
But having a new cabinet installed just near the old cabinet confused me and as they pulled the fibre to all the premises around the cabinet I cannot see what purpose the new cabinet serves.
I was lucky that the engineer could connect the fibre from the telegraph pole to the rear corner of my house, rather than the front, like the copper phone wire, as this means they will be able to run it to my 1st floor office at the rear of my house.
I am still a little confused as to whether the connection from the outside box to the master socket, a run of about 12 metres is by Ethernet cable or fibre. I am sure the engineer said it will be fibre all the way, no doubt I will see on the 7th.

[#8]

The connection from the wall to the fibre modem inside your property will also be fibre, then you have a standard Ethernet cable to your router.
You might find thinkbroadband's Fibre Broadband (FTTC / FTTH) Guide of interest, especially with regard to the purpose of a local cabinet.

[#9]

BT haven't yet trained their staff to install a fibre end-connector from a fibre strand. So they use this funky tool (http://photos.pcpro.co.uk/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/splicer2.jpg) to join the fibre already blown to your termination point and the pre-made cable/connector, which is about the same cable thickness as Cat5.