Wednesday 20 September 2017

It's here!

Order now complete on a Fibre broadband package Here's my connection speed:

that's 80Mbit/s download speed and 20Mbit/s upload speed on line speed,
real-world data transfer (speedtest.net anyway) gives pretty close to this:


Our line length is under 30 metres.

A neighbour with 1.3KM line length is getting 30Mb/s

Wednesday 30 August 2017

Cabinets Accepting Orders after Openreach data glitch resolved

An issue preventing some users of cabinet 3 from ordering FTTC has been resolved. Some properties were incorrectly being reported as 'too far from the cabinet' by the Openreach tool despite being well within range of a new cabinet.

A property with a line length of approx. 1.3km from house to cabinet is able to order fibre broadband at an estimated speed of 21Mbps.

If your phone number reports as being 'too far from the cabinet' yet you are able to trace your telephone line length to be under 2km, it may be worth investigating if your line length really is too long or there is a glitch in Openreach data.

Thanks go to Highlands and Islands Enterprise for liaising with Openreach to get this resolved.

The below is based on a survey of local telephone numbers against Openreach availability checker on 21st August 2017:

https://www.homeandwork.openreach.co.uk/when-can-i-get-fibre.aspx

Cabinet 1 – in the village – has been live since Dec 2015
Cabinet 2 – Letterwalton/Pony Park/Tyree/North Benderloch - accepting orders
Cabinet 3 – South Shian opp. Shenavallie junction – accepting orders
Cabinet 4 – (opposite Ardbhatan), towards South Shian  - accepting orders
Cabinet 5 – (Barcaldine, near junction with Glen Salacah) – Not yet live. ETA November 2017

It should be noted that the usual adverts by BT/Openreach announcing the arrival of fibre have not been seen - e.g. posters on the cabinet or sales calls by BT, so even though ISPs are accepting orders, given that the cabinets are so new there may well be delays in provisioning.






Friday 11 August 2017

Cabinet Summary - new cabinets LIVE! and new rollout dates

Cabinet 1 - in the village - has been live since Dec 2015

Cabinet 2 - Letterwalton/Pony Park/Tyree/North Benderloch IS NOW LIVE and ACCEPTING ORDERS!

Cabinet 3 - South Shian opp. Shenavallie junction - is apparently now LIVE, but not yet accepting orders. ETA Aug 2017

Cabinet 4 - (opposite Ardbhatan), towards South Shian is not yet connected for fibre and power, but new BT poles and overhead lines have been installed this week. ETA Jan 2017

Cabinet 5 - (Barcaldine, near junction with Glen Salcah) - not yet connected for fibre and power. ETA November 2017

BT availability checker shows cabinet 4 as still being connected. Cabinet 3 (Shenavallie) is activated but not yet accepting orders; presumably awaiting cabinet 4 to be wired up.



Fibre CabinetFibre StatusPhaseProperties
Passed
VendorApprox
Post Code
Cabinet P1  FTTC Available from 18th December 2015  Phase BDUK HIE 12a   149  Huawei  PA37 1PY  
Cabinet P2  FTTC being Activated, live due by August 2017  Phase BDUK HIE 16a     Huawei  PA37 1RY  
Cabinet P3  FTTC being Activated, live due by August 2017  Phase BDUK HIE 16a     Huawei  PA37 1QU  
Cabinet P4  FTTC being Connected, live due by January 2017  Phase BDUK HIE 16a     Huawei  PA37 1QR  
Cabinet P5  FTTC being Connected, live due by November 2017  Phase BDUK HIE 16a     Huawei  PA37 1SL  

Thursday 27 July 2017

one month on and 'still within the next month'

what is the point of these predicted timescales if they are not followed?
Last check on 22 June was "within the next month"

Over one month on and...

27/07/2017
Result icon
We're performing our final quality checks and making sure everything is ready for your fibre order.
You can't order a fibre service today but typically it'll be available to your premises within the next month.
Find out more about the fibre journey.
Cabinet iconExchange name: Ledaig
Exchange status: Fibre enabled
Cabinet number: 3
Technology: -

Thursday 22 June 2017

Availability checker - "within the next month"

22/6/17 openreach where and when:
Exchange name: Ledaig 
Exchange status: Fibre enabled 
Cabinet number: 3 
Technology: -

We're performing our final quality checks and making sure everything is ready for your fibre order.
You can't order a fibre service today but typically it'll be available to your premises within the next month.
Find out more about the fibre journey.

Wednesday 21 June 2017

Fibre being pulled through.

Fibre being drawn through new ducts from cabinet 3 opp Ferlum, towards Barcaldine Castle

Monday 5 June 2017

power being connected to cabinet 3

SSE engineers running power to the new cabinet 2nd June 2017.
ETA still says January 2017

Thursday 11 May 2017

4G / LTE is the way to go?

This is the speed we get in Benderloch in a mobile 'not-spot' via 4G/LTE modem, external antenna and EE data sim:


This is comparable with a mid-speed FTTC connection and around 5x faster download/ 35x faster upload than our current ADSL. Ping latency matches our ADSL connection at present (both are tested over 802.11ac wifi).

Cost is £23/month for 16GB data use and 'up to 60Mb/s' speed on EE. Other masts for other networks are available in the area, and more upgrades are in planning for the area.

I see this as a viable alternative to waiting for FTTC rollout.

The biggest downside to 4G is the unknown contention for capacity at the cell site - how will a single cell site handle a large number of subscribers, or a small number of high-consumption subscribers?

Presumably when hoards of tourists all come and take photos and upload them to Facebook, this will start to slow down. Likewise if everyone suddenly migrated to 4G for their home internet connections, would everyone suffer?

Time will tell







Tuesday 28 March 2017

Barcaldine Castle Voda/O2 mast upgrade to 4G

Barcaldine Castle Voda/O2 mast upgrade to 4G

17/00538/PP | Upgrade of existing telecommunications site (including extension to existing lattice mast) | Telecommunications Mast South West Of Barcaldine Castle Benderloch Oban Argyll And Bute

Wednesday 22 March 2017

Fibre rollout now 2 months overdue

No progress updates on fibre rollout. Green cabinets are installed at P2,P3 and P4.

Some overhead cable works taking place locally in February 2017 - whether related or not I don't know.

No change to the anticipated rollout dates for any cabinets (Status as at 22 March 2017)


Cabinet P1 - Opposite Village hall - FTTC is live but reported 'full' so not accepting new orders?
Cabinet P2 - near BT Exchange/Tyree, Benderloch north - (planning ref 16/02101)
Cabinet P3 - Ferlum/Shenavallie junction, South Shian road -(16/01861)
Cabinet P4 - Ardbhatan, South Shian road -  (16/01864)
Cabinet P5- opp Gair Na Mara Barcaldine (moved slightly)-  (16/01862) (v2: 17/00534)


Don't know what has happened to:
PCP006 - opposite Barcaldine Primary School - ETA unknown (16/02840)