Bah - FTTC delayed even though cabinets installed!

FTTC in our area was originally scheduled for 31 Dec 2010. I assumed
that the bad weather in Nov/Dec delayed things, as although the fibre
was laid in November, the cabinets weren't installed until late January,
and the availability checkers (BT Infinity and AAISP) changed to say
available from 31 March.

But since yesterday, both the BT Infinity and AAISP checkers have
changed to saying availability from 30 June!!! No idea what the holdup
is, but all the cabinet installations I've seen around Winchester
have been completed.

Samknows still thinks RFS date is 1 March.

I do hope that they let it be ordered as soon as it is really ready,
and don't artificially wait until the specified date :-(.

Sorry, just having a rant...

Cheers
Tony
--
Tony Mountifield
Work: (E-Mail Removed) - http://www.softins.co.uk
Play: (E-Mail Removed) - http://tony.mountifield.org

Tony Mountifield wrote:
> FTTC in our area was originally scheduled for 31 Dec 2010. I assumed
> that the bad weather in Nov/Dec delayed things, as although the fibre
> was laid in November, the cabinets weren't installed until late
> January, and the availability checkers (BT Infinity and AAISP)
> changed to say available from 31 March.
>
> But since yesterday, both the BT Infinity and AAISP checkers have
> changed to saying availability from 30 June!!! No idea what the holdup
> is, but all the cabinet installations I've seen around Winchester
> have been completed.
>
> Samknows still thinks RFS date is 1 March.
>
> I do hope that they let it be ordered as soon as it is really ready,
> and don't artificially wait until the specified date :-(.

I've no doubt whatsoever that the nasty weather did play a big part.
However, there's also this:

Job cuts hit BT's performance
The Daily Telegraph, Saturday December 11th, 2010
2010 Telegraph Group Limited, London

BT has apologised to its corporate customers after drastic job cuts left the
telecoms giant struggling to keep up with soaring demand for broadband. BT,
which has shed more than 35,000 jobs over the past three years, admitted it
has been forced into "hiring extra resources" to meet its commitments to
corporate customers, such as TalkTalk and BSkyB.

The Daily Telegraph understands that executives at BT's Openreach division
wrote to internet service providers that piggyback on its network to
apologise for poor service, which has delayed them from signing up new
customers. BT has promised to improve its engineers' response times, which
have also been affected by the recent poor weather, within the next 90 days.
A spokesman for BT said the company had been swamped by a "substantial and
unexpected" spike in demand for new connections.

"[Customers] are experiencing slower lead times for engineering and repair
visits. We are confident that we can restore normal service levels by
re-allocating and in some cases hiring extra resources."

Last year BT placed 4,000 of its highly skilled engineers on other duties as
part of a multimillion cost saving drive. Even though all have been returned
to their engineering duties, BT is still failing to meet its response time
targets. The company has also doubled the size its apprentice training
scheme.

On Tue, 15 Feb 2011 07:46:30 +0000 (UTC), (E-Mail Removed) (Tony
Mountifield) wrote:

>FTTC in our area was originally scheduled for 31 Dec 2010. I assumed
>that the bad weather in Nov/Dec delayed things, as although the fibre
>was laid in November, the cabinets weren't installed until late January,
>and the availability checkers (BT Infinity and AAISP) changed to say
>available from 31 March.
>
>But since yesterday, both the BT Infinity and AAISP checkers have
>changed to saying availability from 30 June!!! No idea what the holdup
>is, but all the cabinet installations I've seen around Winchester
>have been completed.
>
>Samknows still thinks RFS date is 1 March.
>
>I do hope that they let it be ordered as soon as it is really ready,
>and don't artificially wait until the specified date :-(.

Have you considered that in addition to the street furniture there
will be additional equipment required in the local exchange or that
the fibre has not been installed yet?
--
Cheers

Peter

(Reply to address is a spam trap - please reply to the group)

In article <(E-Mail Removed)>,
Peter <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> On Tue, 15 Feb 2011 07:46:30 +0000 (UTC), (E-Mail Removed) (Tony
> Mountifield) wrote:
>
> >FTTC in our area was originally scheduled for 31 Dec 2010. I assumed
> >that the bad weather in Nov/Dec delayed things, as although the fibre
> >was laid in November, the cabinets weren't installed until late January,
> >and the availability checkers (BT Infinity and AAISP) changed to say
> >available from 31 March.
> >
> >But since yesterday, both the BT Infinity and AAISP checkers have
> >changed to saying availability from 30 June!!! No idea what the holdup
> >is, but all the cabinet installations I've seen around Winchester
> >have been completed.
> >
> >Samknows still thinks RFS date is 1 March.
> >
> >I do hope that they let it be ordered as soon as it is really ready,
> >and don't artificially wait until the specified date :-(.
>
> Have you considered that in addition to the street furniture there
> will be additional equipment required in the local exchange or that
> the fibre has not been installed yet?

The fibre was installed first, last November. I chatted with one of the
Openreach engineers that was doing it.

I suppose they could still be late with the exchange equipment...

Tony
--
Tony Mountifield
Work: (E-Mail Removed) - http://www.softins.co.uk
Play: (E-Mail Removed) - http://tony.mountifield.org

"Tony Mountifield" wrote in message
news:ijdod0$vv7$(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> The fibre was installed first, last November. I chatted with one of the
> Openreach engineers that was doing it.

A related FTTC query if I may.

Samknows has the Oadby exchange RFS date as 1/3/11. However, the map on
bt.com/infinity has for Oadby "Great News. [This] exchange is ready for BT
Infinity".

The Infinity and AA checkers for my number (~5km from the exchange) only
offer 1Mb ADSL.

So what's the real situation likely to be? And once an exchange is enabled
does that mean all its cabinets will support FTTC from day 1 or is there a
further rollout process for that to happen? Will all cabinets definitely get
FTTC if an exchange is enabled?

In article <(E-Mail Removed)>,
Grant <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> "Tony Mountifield" wrote in message
> news:ijdod0$vv7$(E-Mail Removed)...
> >
> > The fibre was installed first, last November. I chatted with one of the
> > Openreach engineers that was doing it.
>
> A related FTTC query if I may.
>
> Samknows has the Oadby exchange RFS date as 1/3/11. However, the map on
> bt.com/infinity has for Oadby "Great News. [This] exchange is ready for BT
> Infinity".
>
> The Infinity and AA checkers for my number (~5km from the exchange) only
> offer 1Mb ADSL.
>
> So what's the real situation likely to be? And once an exchange is enabled
> does that mean all its cabinets will support FTTC from day 1 or is there a
> further rollout process for that to happen? Will all cabinets definitely get
> FTTC if an exchange is enabled?

FTTC requires brand new cabinets to be installed. They look like this:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2677/...c837a1bdc5.jpg

It can't be added to existing green cabinets.

Cheers
Tony
--
Tony Mountifield
Work: (E-Mail Removed) - http://www.softins.co.uk
Play: (E-Mail Removed) - http://tony.mountifield.org

"Tony Mountifield" wrote in message
news:ijdscd$1pi$(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> FTTC requires brand new cabinets to be installed. They look like this:
> http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2677/...c837a1bdc5.jpg
>
> It can't be added to existing green cabinets.

Didn't know that, thanks.

So what's the RFS date? Exchange is first FTTC enabled? Cabinet rollout
begins? Finishes? Consumers can start ordering FTTC products?

TIA.

In article <EeydndNjd-(E-Mail Removed)>,
Grant <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> "Tony Mountifield" wrote in message
> news:ijdscd$1pi$(E-Mail Removed)...
> >
> > FTTC requires brand new cabinets to be installed. They look like this:
> > http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2677/...c837a1bdc5.jpg
> >
> > It can't be added to existing green cabinets.
>
> Didn't know that, thanks.
>
> So what's the RFS date? Exchange is first FTTC enabled? Cabinet rollout
> begins? Finishes? Consumers can start ordering FTTC products?

I don't know, but I assume the last of those. Unfortunately, in my town
they've just pushed it out to 4.5 months away even though the cabinet
rollout appears complete.

Cheers
Tony
--
Tony Mountifield
Work: (E-Mail Removed) - http://www.softins.co.uk
Play: (E-Mail Removed) - http://tony.mountifield.org

Manticore wrote:

> Last year BT placed 4,000 of its highly skilled engineers on other duties as
> part of a multimillion cost saving drive. Even though all have been returned
> to their engineering duties, BT is still failing to meet its response time
> targets. The company has also doubled the size its apprentice training
> scheme.
>
>
Why the dont just sack the whole of BT retail and sell the lot to
someone who can run an ISP/consumer telco and stay with making openreach
all about good basic technology is beyond me.

Openreach delivered best profits last year IRC.

Peter wrote:
> On Tue, 15 Feb 2011 07:46:30 +0000 (UTC), (E-Mail Removed) (Tony
> Mountifield) wrote:
>
>
>>FTTC in our area was originally scheduled for 31 Dec 2010. I assumed
>>that the bad weather in Nov/Dec delayed things, as although the fibre
>>was laid in November, the cabinets weren't installed until late January,
>>and the availability checkers (BT Infinity and AAISP) changed to say
>>available from 31 March.
>>
>>But since yesterday, both the BT Infinity and AAISP checkers have
>>changed to saying availability from 30 June!!! No idea what the holdup
>>is, but all the cabinet installations I've seen around Winchester
>>have been completed.
>>
>>Samknows still thinks RFS date is 1 March.
>>
>>I do hope that they let it be ordered as soon as it is really ready,
>>and don't artificially wait until the specified date :-(.
>
>
> Have you considered that in addition to the street furniture there
> will be additional equipment required in the local exchange or that
> the fibre has not been installed yet?

Don't forget they also have to get the leccy board to install power,
install a cable to the nearest relevant existing green cabinet (quite
often, due to space/planning regulations, the new cabinets can be some
distance from the old copper only ones).
They then have to re-route pairs via the new cabinet for those customers
wanting the fibre service.
Maybe they are waiting to see who is interested before starting the work.

mike