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WBC FTTC

seanbranagh
Grafter
Posts: 1,236
Registered: ‎02-08-2007

WBC FTTC

I am a little confused by all this. Looking at this page http://stage.www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange/NIDP I can see that FTTC is available at my exchange but WBC is not.
Another source states that WBC FTTC will be available from September 30th on my line. Can I be connected to FTTC yet or not?
How many cabinets are likely to be connected to the exchange and does this mean that all of them have fibre installed?
Is there any way I can find out where my cabinet is, how far from my house?
I am also confused by the BT line checker. It states that I should get an estimated 2Mb ADSL Max download speed which is about right but it says that I would get an estimated WBC FTTC download speed of 500Kbps. How can this be lower?
17 REPLIES 17
seanbranagh
Grafter
Posts: 1,236
Registered: ‎02-08-2007

Re: WBC FTTC

I realized after I had posted that there was a forum specific to this topic, sorry.
BenTrimble
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 2,106
Registered: ‎06-02-2008

Re: WBC FTTC

Wowee, lots of questions...
Quote
Can I be connected to FTTC yet or not?

Not yet I'm afraid, you're scheduled for the end of the month
Quote
How many cabinets are likely to be connected to the exchange

Well, they're all connected to the exchange by some method, but for the purposes of this forum, we'll only worry about the ones with fibre! Unfortunately I can't get exact numbers, Dave might be able to though.
Quote
does this mean that all of them have fibre installed?

Not all cabinets get upgraded at the same time and some may go un-upgraded.
Quote
Is there any way I can find out where my cabinet is, how far from my house?

Not that I know of, other than walking round the local streets and finding the green cabinet. However, the cable may go underground or by a circuitous route so the distance your line travels may not be the same as the straight line distance.
Quote
I am also confused by the BT line checker... ...How can this be lower?

I'm not sure, it's possible that the VDSL technology would provide lower speeds on a long cabinet-customer run than ADSL2+ on an exchange-customer run. I've asked Dave to comment.
Edit: Dave says it's probably an issue with the line checker, but I'd definitely try to trace your cabinet to get  a better idea.
macowens
Grafter
Posts: 62
Registered: ‎25-06-2007

Re: WBC FTTC

I too am confused by all this FTTC talk, I have recently found out about the FTTC rollout in Northern Ireland and simply keep getting misleading information, one day when you check the BT Infinty checker it is becoming availabler and the next day it isn't. Fact of the matter is that I can now see my FTTC cabinet from my front window (approx 200m away). On Friday night there had been a trench dug from the existing BT cabinet and the foundations were in place and on Saturday the cabinet was put in place, I don't think it is wired up yet but that must be in the near future.
On the OpenReach website there is a document called "FTTC-P exchanges due for delivery by 31st March 2011" and for my exchange (NIAT) it says "Accepting CP orders now". On one of the 'good' days on the checkers I', sure I saw an avaialable date of 31st October.
So where do I stand? Am I entitled to join the PN FTTC Trial? Why is it a trial if it has been going on for over 12 months?
I'm sure I am going to pointed to existing documents about FTTC, but I have extensively searched for info but have got to the point of becoming more confused.
tangey
Grafter
Posts: 145
Registered: ‎29-08-2007

Re: WBC FTTC

For Northern Ireland users there is a useful website:-
fasterbroadbandni.com
Its a government website, as part of an accelerated roll-out in Northern Ireland.
If you click on the "find out about the cabinet rollout" link, you can select your town, and you'll get a list of all the cabinets that are in-line to be converted in that town, with dates. The list includes cabinet numbers,streets and post codes for the cabinets, so you should be able to figure out which one is yours (if its listed).
Don't use the number checker, as it appears to only check phone numbers that are registered as business numbers.
As guidance, samknows was saying that my exchange was FTTC enabled, but BT number checker wasn't saying my number was.  In July, i found the above website, and noted that my cabinet was stated as converted in April ' 10.  It wasn't until the end of July, when I checked the BT number checker again, and found my number was now coming back.  So it may be a few months from the conversion date, before the line becomes available for FTTC ordering.


Regards
Ian
seanbranagh
Grafter
Posts: 1,236
Registered: ‎02-08-2007

Re: WBC FTTC

Thank you for this link. I too am in NI.
I am now even more confused though. There is no cabinet listed showing the same activation date as the BT checker shows for the cabinet my line is on.
There is only one cabinet on the list that could possibly be mine but it should have went live at the end of July, the BT checker says the end of September for my line.
I am pretty sure this is my cabinet though, I drive by it every day. The problem is that it is only half way from the exchange to my house, still about 2.5 miles away. Could I expect the minimum 5Mb downstream up for BT to install on my line?
BenTrimble
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 2,106
Registered: ‎06-02-2008

Re: WBC FTTC

@macowens
As soon as your cab is active, you can join the trial. Your Community username is registered to a Pay As You Go account, do you have an active broadband account with us? If not, PM me your telephone number and I'll pop it in the availability checker (as long as it's a BT telephone line)
It's still a trial because we need to get a large number of people up and running so that we can identify usage patterns, come up with appropriate product sets and price points, identify appropriate hardware, figure out faults processes, etc. etc.
@Sean Branagh
As I've said, the estimated speed for you is very low. This appears to be an issue with the line checker but we can't guarantee that. However, if your cab is quite far away then this would lend itself to significantly slower speeds than others are getting.
seanbranagh
Grafter
Posts: 1,236
Registered: ‎02-08-2007

Re: WBC FTTC

I still think this has to be a mistake in the line checker because it estimates 2Mb on my current line (which is about right) but 500K on FTTC when the line would be half the length it is now. That just does not make sense.
Also BT will not install FTTC unless the line can support 5Mb so why is the line checker telling me I can get FTTC at all?
seanbranagh
Grafter
Posts: 1,236
Registered: ‎02-08-2007

Re: WBC FTTC

I have contacted BT directly through their site with the question below.. Hopefully the can shed some light on the line checker results.
I am completely confused by your line checker. Below is the section I am talking about:
"Our test also indicates that your line currently supports an estimated ADSL Max broadband line speed of 2Mbps.
Your cabinet is planned to have WBC FTTC by 30th September 2010. Our test also indicates that your line currently supports a fibre technology with an estimated WBC FTTC Broadband where consumers have received downstream line speed of 500Kbps and upstream line speed of 100Kbps."
How can the estimated FTTC speed possibly be lower than the estimated ADSL speed?
If BT do not install when the line cannot support 5Mb then why is the lin checker reporting that I can receive FTTC at all?
BenTrimble
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Plusnet Alumni (retired)
Posts: 2,106
Registered: ‎06-02-2008

Re: WBC FTTC

Thanks, please let us know the response.
seanbranagh
Grafter
Posts: 1,236
Registered: ‎02-08-2007

Re: WBC FTTC

No reply as yet but of course that is exactly the quality of service I have come to expect from every large company nowdays.
seanbranagh
Grafter
Posts: 1,236
Registered: ‎02-08-2007

Re: WBC FTTC

Still no reply from BT. Honestly, what do you have to do to get any sort of service from large companies nowdays?
Johan
Newbie
Posts: 2
Registered: ‎07-11-2010

Re: WBC FTTC

Did you ever get a response from BT? I am seeing the same thing when I run the BT checker.
seanbranagh
Grafter
Posts: 1,236
Registered: ‎02-08-2007

Re: WBC FTTC

I never received any useful information from anyone. After doing some more research I was able to locate my cabinet which is 2 and a half miles from my house. I think that is about a mile and a half too far away for vdsl. Based on that I gave up and just migrated to AAISP on my existing 20CN ADSL connection.
Although when I have checked the line chacker since there is now absolutely no mention of FTTC when I enter my number!
dave
Plusnet Help Team
Plusnet Help Team
Posts: 12,257
Thanks: 306
Fixes: 4
Registered: ‎04-04-2007

Re: WBC FTTC

I've been trying to get similar answers for a couple of people with responses like that. Both at one point had a date when FTTC is available but the data disappeared once the cab was enabled. In one case the speed estimate was like your speed was 500kbps. My understanding is that speed estimates below a certain value have been removed from the availability checker because they don't think that they will be able to get FTTC because the speed estimate is too low (BT have a sync speed fault threshold of 15Mbps meaning that if it syncs below that they consider it to be a fault).
A sub 15Mbps product is on the way, I don't have any date yet, so keep an eye on the checker as it may show you can get it again.
Dave Tomlinson
Enterprise Architect - Network & OSS
Plusnet Technology