Cabinet not connected to Fibre Optic

[Ian]

I've currently got an ADSL connection (~6MB) which is fine for most things, but as o2 BB is being sold to Sky, I thought I'd check out the competition.

A fibre optic connection would be fantastic and it looks like my local exchange is enabled, however it appears my cabinet is not . I think that the cabinet is just at the end of my street, so it''s not far away at all.

Does anyone know if there is a way to find out if a cabinet is planned to go FO at some point? I've had a google but can't find anything, so may just give BT a call and see if I can find out anything... however I'm sure they've got a big database so I'd be surprised if it's not already online somewhere.

 

[Ian]

Just found this link which checks cabinets using old data, but no luck for mine - may be useful to someone else though:

http://www.coolwebhome.co.uk/fibre/checker.php

Official Check is: http://www.dslchecker.bt.com/adsl/adslchecker.welcome (but shows no more information if FTTC isn't available).

 

[crazylegs]

Aaahh thats a shame Ian, hopefully you get it soon..

 

[muckshifter]

Mine was 'planned' for Dec 2012, it's now 'planned' for Oct 2013, even tho' my exchange is accepting orders.

Keep an eye on the cabinet, they'll put a big flashy sticker on it, "Fibre broadband is here", when it goes live. But don't, however, expect to get it even if the exchange says "accepting" orders" as mine is, the cabinet may still need initialising ... YMMV.

http://www.superfast-openreach.co.uk/where-and-when/


I'm thinking of putting up a webcam 'blog the box' but the birds would probable nest in it.

 

[Gandalf_the_Grey]

Maybe you need to check here... http://www.fiberopticinternet.com/

 

[TriplexDread]

Go knock on everyone's door Ian. Tell them to contact whoever and ask for the service to be installed. If enough people ask/enquire they will connect the Cab

 

[Gandalf_the_Grey]

Dread, what planet do you live on? Since when do companies give a hoot about its customers. The last time I remember people having any effect on a company, required clubs and sticks and the invention of Unions and look what happened to Unions. Another form of a company.

 

[Ian]

Go knock on everyone's door Ian. Tell them to contact whoever and ask for the service to be installed. If enough people ask/enquire they will connect the Cab

I'll mention it to our neighbours as it looks like there's a BT "register your interest" form that they may use to judge if it will be commercially viable.

Mine was 'planned' for Dec 2012, it's now 'planned' for Oct 2013, even tho' my exchange is accepting orders.

I think I may be out of luck for now, as the exchange is marked as FTTC enabled, but our local cabinet isn't. Fingers crossed it comes online one day (for us both!)

 

[TriplexDread]

Dread, what planet do you live on? Since when do companies give a hoot about its customers. The last time I remember people having any effect on a company, required clubs and sticks and the invention of Unions and look what happened to Unions. Another form of a company.

A little bit of respect please. Not really the way to address someone else on this forum my friend!!!

And fyi it does work. I know first hand and I live on the same planet as you!!

 

[V_R]

First up, is it a fibre cab? The old little ones are no good.

It will look like this and wont be far from the old little cabs....

If its not one of them, keep an eye out for markings on the road as to when they plan to install one. Once its there it usually take around 3-5 months to become live. (least that seems to be the general consensus anyway!)

Don't forget the dates BT say are just 'holding dates' they can and will change a lot! Mine changed about 4 or 5 times before i could order it.

 

[Ian]

Thanks V_R. I haven't managed to see a date yet, they just say it's not available - so I'm thinking it may be that they aren't planning on installing it.

Next time I'm out, I'll have a hunt for the cabinet and see if it looks like that one. I'm fairly sure it's just down the road, so I'll have a look for any markings on it.

 

[Ian]

It doesn't look like the cabinet is where I thought it was, so I'm going to go hunting on Google maps for it .

 

[Anon_F]

Since going fibre optic have not looked back, the extra £12.50 a month is well worth it.
Fast internet, great downloading speed & youtube can be watched anytime.
And I've even tried the odd game online!!!

Go for it Ian!

 

[Ian]

I heard back from OpenReach who were extremely helpful. It turns out that permission for locating the new cabinet has been refused 4 times by the local planning dept, as it's in a conservation area, so it's been withdrawn from the upgrade of the area .

 

[Anon_F]

Blimey we are in a conservation area, but they put it in anyway mostly as so many people had requested it!!! And it was put in partly behind a bush to hide it, but saying that we do have 2 disguised telephone poles that are really telephone masts so that might have helped!!!

Keep pressing for it Ian.

 

[EvanDavis]

I heard back from OpenReach who were extremely helpful. It turns out that permission for locating the new cabinet has been refused 4 times by the local planning dept, as it's in a conservation area, so it's been withdrawn from the upgrade of the area .

And I bet ¾ of the local planning dept have fiber optic in their homes

 

[Ian]

I'm bumping an old thread here as we're now connected to Fibre Broadband . It's only been live for an hour, so I'm only at 22Mb - I'm hoping this will improve to ~38Mb in a couple of weeks as the line settles.

In the end we wrote to our local MP and asked why cabinet permission was refused in the conservation area, they agreed it was silly given that there is already a cabinet hidden away, so wrote to OpenReach and they added Fibre in the next round .

 

[V_R]

Nice one! How far are you from the cab?

Ah just seen the OP, not too far then. Should get the full speeds all being well then Ian.

 

[Ian]

Yep, that's what I'm hoping . Was getting 15Mb on the old ADSL line after improving the internal wiring.

 

[Taffycat]

Nice one Ian! Glad to hear that writing to your MP scored such a good result. Enjoy your new, speedy broadband.