Better broadband for 50,000 homes and businesses thanks to Onlincolnshire project
'The latest communities to benefit from the multi-million pound partnership between Lincolnshire councils and BT, with additional funding from the Government and European Regional Development Fund, are: Market Rasen, Coningsby, Metheringham, Kirton and Chapel St. Leonards, Mablethorpe, Alford, Wragby, Baumber, Horsington, Bardney, and Ruskington.'
http://www.lincolnshireecho.co.uk/Better-broadband-50-000-homes-businesses-thanks/story-23062315-detail/story.html
British Telecom
When I telephoned BT on Wednesday 8 October to enquire about BT Infinity, I was advised that Nocton is situated too far away from the fibre-enabled cabinets (FTTC) to benefit from the faster service.
The particular cabinet serving my property is 'Metheringham No 3', which is located at the junction of Lincoln Rd, Dunston and the B1188 Sleaford Rd. Although the new cabinet is fibre-enabled from Metheringham Exchange, it is almost 3 km from my property and still linked by copper cable to the cabinet. This results in a degradation of the signal and BT Infinity wouldn't improve the service I am getting currently.
I decided to email BT Openreach hoping for a more technical explanation. The query and response is reproduced here:
Message:
"Hi, My technical query is about the BT Infinity FTTC service to Metheringham Cabinet 3 which serves my property. I have been advised by my service provider (BT) that Infinity is not available to me because of the distance our property is away from the new fibre cabinet. I would like a technical explanation as to why this is the case and whether there are any longer term plans to site a new FTTC location in Nocton, so that Infinity can be offered to local residents. Hoping you can assist with my enquiry. Many thanks"
Reply:
"Thank you for contacting Openreach. I have had checked your POSTCODE to see what the situation is with Superfast Fibre Broadband in your area.
Superfast Fibre is in your area but we can’t tell by your postcode if you can get it right now. This could be for several reasons. There’s more than one cabinet serving your postcode and we can’t tell which one it is. There’s a chance you could be on an Exchange Only line - The vast majority of UK premises are connected to a green roadside cabinet which then connects to the local exchange.
However, a small proportion of business and consumer properties are served directly by the local exchange rather than by a green cabinet – so called “exchange only” lines. It can prove more challenging to bring fibre broadband to properties served by exchange only lines, but Openreach is busy working on solutions to achieve this.
We are busy looking at solutions to provide Fibre service to EO lines via existing cabinets as well as creating new cabinets for EO lines. The network over which fibre broadband is provided is bespoke, and all premises are served from dedicated fixed distribution points. Many lines are connected via their own overhead or underground link to a nearby green telephony cabinet. Exchange Only lines, by their very nature, are not connected to green telephony cabinets, instead being connected via their own bespoke fixed link directly to the local exchange.
Unfortunately, this is the only information I would have on Fibre Broadband in your area. We are only able to check via PostCode, I know you have said that you went to your Service Provider but they would be able to search via your Landline Number, which would usually give a more detailed and clearer answer.
I hope this helps and I apologise that I am unable to provide any more information. If you need any further assistance, please contact complaints@openreach.co.uk
Kind regards,
Chris Henry
Openreach Complaints Management
Openreach (A BT Group Business)
Web http://www.openreach.co.uk/orpg/home/home.do"
Unfortunately, that didn't get me much further with my understanding of the situation.
Onlincolnshire
I then decided to visit the Onlincolnshire website. The results are below:
"What's planned for the LN4 2xx area?
Whilst your post code is covered by the Onlincolnshire project, the premises within the post code span multiple phases; it is therefore not possible to establish the exact plans for your address. More detailed information is available by contacting the Onlincolnshire programme office; either by phone (01522 552296) or by completing a contact form. When completing a contact form please ensure to include your address and home telephone number (this information is required purely to assist us in finding out the detail of where your connection is fed from and will not be shared with any other organisations or individuals)."
http://www.onlincolnshire.org/
I therefore telephoned Onlincolnshire for more information, to be advised they are aware of the limitations of service in Nocton. It is on their 'To Do List' apparently.
It seems we are scheduled for Phase II of the funding round and thus unlikely to be sorted with BT Infinity before 2016!!
If my readers manage to get more information on this matter, please comment on this blog entry. It would be much appreciated.
Outside the cities and towns, rural Britain’s internet is firmly stuck in the 20th century
http://theconversation.com/outside-the-cities-and-towns-rural-britains-internet-is-firmly-stuck-in-the-20th-century-33124
Hi Geoff
ReplyDeleteThe reply you had from the Open Reach Manager amazes me having spent my previous life as a BT Network Copper/Fibre Planning Manager. You spoke to a BT Complaints Manager who clearly has not checked out the routing situation for Nocton but simply followed a bog standard reply for Joe public. To make a statement "There’s more than one cabinet serving your postcode and we can’t tell which one it is" is utter nonsense because all telephone lines have dedicated recorded routings otherwise its chaos. Amazing!
Forget the EO (Exchange Only) lines. Its a red herring and again shows either dire knowledge of the local network or a lack of investigative line routing from the BT Manager. Nocton village has no EO lines.
I cannot comment on Online Lincolnshire however money must of been allocated because a new fibre cable has been run from Junction of B1188 to cabinet 3/1 outside Nocton PO - its probably looped in the underground box near the cabinet.
Incidentally I placed a dummy order last week on BT Broadband website asking for BT Infinity and a new phone number in Main Street Metheringham and hey presto around 40mb was offered immediately. As you know a similar exercise for Nocton gives only basic broadband.
The only point I would agree with is the distance from Meg to Nocton however I have roughly measured this and yes a drop in speed would occur but there is a possible way around this. Have you a direct line number for the Complaints Manager? If not I will try and find a way in.
Hi Mick, I decided not to publish the Complaint Manager's telephone number as I suspected the response was a meaningless 'blanket reply' and have since deleted the email unfortunately. However, I used the contact form here: http://www.expect.openreach.co.uk/who-to-contact/ and the 'Recent installation of a street cabinet' link, if that helps. I am continually amazed how difficult it is to get through to the relevant department and obtain a comprehensive reply from service providers nowadays... in whatever industry. Whatever happened to the days of good old customer service! As ever, thanks for your informed response. Best regards.
ReplyDeleteHi Geoff
ReplyDeleteI have written to BT for a more detailed
explanation.
I have just found that BT can offer "Faster Broadband" (its neither Broadband or Super Fast Broadband) once FTTC to cabinets are up and running but it will not support BT Infinity due to the speed. I reckon speeds of around 6 - 10mb for the village should shortly be available. I am on around 3.75mbit and would expect to at least double that going by the fibre and copper distance. As a guesstimate just double what you are getting now from your current broadband speed checker results.
Hi Geoff
ReplyDeleteAs you know I have been trying to get a technical answer from BT Openreach regarding timescales for the provision of faster broadband in Nocton and I have to say the speed and technical response from them has so far proved to be equivalent to that of a snail with arthritis.
In the absence of a reply I, like yourself, contacted the Lincs Broadband Programme Manager.
Steve Brookes proved very helpful and we covered a number of issues on why we are unable to receive faster broadband speeds. I enclose some of the emails which give some light on the way forward. Steve also confirmed to me that we can share this information on the blog. Hope this helps.
Message
"Hello Steve
Thanks again for your very prompt reply and the information on FTTRN. This stacks up with my thoughts on how the fibre footprint is extended to our local pillar 13/1 which is positioned outside Nocton Post Office. I watched in anticipation as the cabling gang installed a fibre spine cable from the JF10 junction of the B1188 to the footway box (JF6) at Pillar 13/1 earlier in the year. I guess this means Steve that once budget approval is given then we are ready to splice at the junction, install a fibre remote node next to pillar 13/1 and then connect.
I do however understand that the Programme Office, as well as BT, will have a Programme of Work queue once approval is given and would be interested to know if Nocton can be included early - as a quick gain - due to fibre being in place o/s pillar 13/1.
Regards
Mick"
Reply
"Hi Mick,
Many thanks for getting back to me.
Whilst FTTRN isn't formally approved as yet, we are very confident it will. It works from a technical perspective, but I'm told that BT are still looking at how to integrate the new 'Node' into their systems. I'm sure you will know only too well where they come from there. We will look to provide this technology wherever feasible and we are aware that Nocton is poorly served at this point. I can't promise on timescales at this point, but happy for you to let everyone know that we are looking at deploying this technology. We will update the website as we progress.
Regards
Steve"
Many thanks Mick for obtaining the extra information. Most interesting. At least we are on their radar.
ReplyDelete