Project Lightning Silence...
 

Recently there haven't been many announcements regarding Project Lightning.

Could VM have been waiting for the business rates announcement before continuing ahead?

Is the £3bn already walled-off for Project Lightning or could the project hit a financial wall due to the business rates hike?

Maybe we don't know for sure - what are your opinions on this?

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

Last I read was that its been going really well from a subscriber point of view and they were considering further expansion after the initial 4 million homes.

Their view may have changed since then?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/...-more-network/

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

The cash has been assigned to the product and work is in progress. They haven't had any major announcements all that recently but there is work ongoing nationwide.

The stuff below is FTTP.

https://www.cableforum.co.uk/images/...2016/10/24.png

The business rates changes may threaten future expansion, what they are doing right now was always intended as a first phase only, but this phase is pretty secure.

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

We are very busy planning the build, you will only hear something when an area is completed and ready for customers.

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

Yes, well, perhaps keeping people more informed so that they don't end up contracting with someone else prior to the build would be useful.

In my experience the big reason why this doesn't happen is that VM have no idea when they'll be building to areas and not committing to dates saves breaking them.

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

Or they don't want there competitors to know in advance when a area is going live ;)

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That's fair enough. I ask because I have leafleted a significant number of people in an area between 0.6km and 2km from an existing active duct in an area with a fair amount stranded plant and EO telephone lines. I sent a map to VM, also.

I'll have to wait and see whether we become part of a following phase.

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

Which area are you?

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

Northampton (Wootton Area)

Eastern side of the A45, south of the Newport Pagnell Road

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

Why? Are they afraid of someone rocking up and offering FTTP?

Doesn't seem likely. More likely they can't keep to the plans.

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

The whole business has undergone a massive shift over the last 2 years.

Make no mistake, expansion and growth are "the" priorities for VM.

They announced a fairly sizeable build program a few months ago, that they haven't even started yet.

It will be a big while yet before any another announcements are made, let's just build what we have said first.

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

Not really sure what you are expecting. Loads of new areas are being added. If they were all announced, you would have announcement overload.

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

I just noticed that Broughton in Northamptonshire does appear to be planned.

https://i.sli.mg/fP6ESV.png

However - that is not the same place as "Broughton Astley" which is in Leicestershire, which was announced here: http://www.cityam.com/245296/these-n...fibre-premises

Thought that was mildly interesting!

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

LOL, Planning.....

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Yes planning, know a lot about planning Networks do you?

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Lightning strikes Scotland

http://www.virginmedia.com/corporate...-scotland.html

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

Yes been on the sharp end of it for years hence my LOL

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Exactly right.

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Indeed :)

So have i 20 years in cable to be exact :)

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

BT publish their plans months or even years in advance.

Pointless being worried about what competitors may do. If the product's not going to sell well with competition it ends up more expensive for VM as they give the introductory discounts and pay for the installs then watch customers churn as the competition take measures to reclaim their punters.

If there's a fear the product can't stand up to competition the product needs some serious work.

I find it far more likely given my experience that until the street works go in and are approved there's no way VM can give any specific timescales so they avoid doing so. The work is considerably more complex than BT delivering FTTC.

There are streets here that have had tracks since February and are still not live. There are streets on the neighbouring estate that have had tracks since last year and are still not live. The MSAN and power distribution cabinets covering over 1,000 premises have been sitting there since March in one case and even earlier in the other doing nothing, one of them still has no power.

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

They will dig the streets and put the network in at a later date, this might be due to delays elsewhere but at least the construction is done, better it done than having contractors waiting around

The problem occurs when your competitors know your intentions and then blanket the area with discount tying customers in for 1-5yrs so your brand new network will sit there with little income due to the potential customers being tied into long contracts. So your network will not make money, seems sensible to me regardless of how good the product is.

---------- Post added at 16:36 ---------- Previous post was at 16:35 ----------


20yrs myself.

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

5 years ? lol what a load of tosh

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

Really? I was offered that deal last year as i had left and was on the 6mths free deal and was then offered this deal to keep me. As i had sold my Sky box a few weeks earlier i was then offered the Family pack half price for a year with a new Sky box installed

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

I agree if competition finds out project lightning area's they will blanket the area with sales, this is a known fact and is why very little information is added.

BT is a different ball game as most upgrade area's for them they either already provide a service or there is no cable so all other companies will use the OpenReach network. A win win either way for BT.

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

So what's stopping them from doing that when the streetworks hit the register?

---------- Post added at 20:51 ---------- Previous post was at 20:48 ----------

I'm pretty sure the longest period anyone can be contracted is 3 years if you're a business. I'm not aware of any contracts over 18 months for consumers for right now, at least from the major players.

Surely when they dig the streets the competition will notice and 'blanket the area with discount' so doing the civils well in advance is a damn stupid thing to do?

Can't have it both ways. Either you keep it quiet until the last minute or you do the civils well in advance. I'd hope you see how these contradict each other if it's that big of a deal giving competitors a heads up. There's always going to be something for contractors to do and most local authorities will permit early starts if it's part of a larger programme.

---------- Post added at 20:57 ---------- Previous post was at 20:51 ----------

Just thinking some more are you guys aware that when an area is planned the customers who've signed up on Cable My Street get an email indicating it's on the way? There are roads here that won't be built out to for years that have had that email as the planning has been done. Not exactly the actions of a business obsessing over secrecy.

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

Three-year contracts were banned by Ofcom over five years ago. https://www.theguardian.com/money/20...year-contracts

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

The construction side will probably be done advance for small infill areas not not major towns and cities.

As for the contract i was surprised when offered it as i hadn't heard of anyone having that type of contract. I didn't take it at the time so who knows if it was a genuine offer?

---------- Post added at 18:23 ---------- Previous post was at 18:21 ----------

Don't tell me tell Sky, i was offered that so can only comment on what i was offered

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

how can u check what areas will be having this?

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

Now stop being silly :PP: .. its a serious debate

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

If you mean the build full stop you can't.

If you mean FTTP it will be 'brand new customers only'. More specifically new areas rather than smaller in-fill builds of streets near existing network.

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

York expansion announced

"Today we're thrilled to announce that homes and businesses in York will be next to benefit from an ultrafast broadband and entertainment boost this year, as part of our £3bn network expansion across the UK.

Virgin Media are planning to expand our fibre optic network to 20,000 homes and businesses in the area as part of our pledge to bring better connectivity and top-notch TV to 17 million premises by the end of 2019."



http://community.virginmedia.com/t5/...k/ba-p/3234713

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

Does "Project Lightning" only refer to the RFoG deployment? Or does that term include coax infill?

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

Any form of expansion VMare undertaking comes under lightening

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Would be good if they'd invest the same amount of effort/resource into resolving overutilisation problems on their existing network. Or were more transparent about what they're doing about it.

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The rollout of the new CMTS's is a massive part of that.

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Thanks that's good to know. Wish they would tell you this when you call them up.

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People in the call centre wouldn't have any idea what's going on behind the scenes. Service techs will have limited knowledge/understanding. Network/headend engineers will be in the loop as well as people running/involved in the projects behind the scenes, and nobody can tell timescales. The area I used to cover, one site was cutover to a E6000 in less than 2 weeks. Some other sites are still being built ready for cutover 3 months later....

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

Yeah, the various departments within VM, at least on the front line, basically don't talk to each other at all.

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

What about areas where ducting exists right to the house, with some cabinets sometimes? I've always concluded that Virgin don't know about all of these areas as surely these areas would be so easy to enable?

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

Staff are always asked for this sort of information. It's officially called stranded plant, and I know I've put some forward. If it's able to be added on to an existing nodal area it will be done in a relatively short time. If it needs a whole new nodal area that's a different story

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

As I thought then, they don't know. They wouldn't ask staff if they already knew.

It's difficult motivating very busy staff to submit this kind of information, I know that from the company I work for. Also, Virgin Media rely a lot more on contractors than the likes of BT, I believe they even do repairs at Virgin. Obviously they would have even less interest in submitting information as they don't work for the company.

I know of a whole road near here where there's ducts to every single house, but it's about 800m from the rest of the network for that town. Makes you wonder if a Nynex manager at the time lived in that road and pushed it through to be done early!

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

To be fair all the stranded plant I've looked at does actually appear on the records, so they do know, but I would imagine it's a lot more time consuming to look over maps of the whole country opposed to a list with it all on. That's only guessing though I'm not certain of anything. Yes VM use contractors, but this sort of information they would be expecting the majority of it to come from network engineers. At the time I was looking at that sort of stuff I was an in house network engineer, the guys who know the local network like the back of their hands, as opposed to a service technician/installer. You say about motivation, I loved my role as a network engineer, and spending time looking for expansion opportunities would be something different from the norm

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

4/11/16
"Virgin Media, which is owned by US cable group Liberty Global, has raised its fibre rollout target to 2m premises in Britain in a sign of confidence in consumer appetite for fast internet connections.

The company had previously said that it expected about a quarter of its £3bn broadband investment programme, dubbed Project Lightning, to link homes directly to fibre lines. Virgin has raised this target to 50 per cent after speeding up its building programme."
Source: https://www.ft.com/content/fee3e60e-...3-4351ce86813f
[Non-subscribers should cut and paste the above link into Google and then click on the headline to read]

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

Could you explain the difference between a service technician and a network engineer? It's interesting to compare with Openreach.

Openreach don't really separate it out in that way. Other than as I've mentioned there's still some degree of contractor use but only for installs. The direct labour staff (the vast, vast majority) do installs and repairs but staff who are more highly trained are less likely to pick up install jobs.

I agree with your point about motivation, most people would find it interesting but would want to be given the time to do it. Rather than just being expected to find stranded plant whilst simulatanously struggling to fix someone's dodgy broadband with the clock ticking!

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

Scotland to lead the UK with Virgin Media investment in fibre broadband

http://www.virginmedia.com/corporate...broadband.html

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

A service tech works from the cabinet to and inside the house, the network engineer generally works in and back from the cabinet to the headend but occasionally into the house.

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

Would a service tech have any reason to go to a hubsite? There's one of those behind my house and every morning about 20 Virgin Media vans drive to it! Would they all be network engineers though?

Do Virgin use contractors for the service tech role then? In other words do contractors in VM do repairs as well as installs?

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

Service techs have no need to go into the headend. All the vans are most probably just network engineers meeting up before heading out to do their days work. Unless what you are referring to is a stores depot in which case everybody goes there. There are no service contractors that I'm aware of, there was some talk about it but nothing seems to have happened.

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

Good, I believe repair work is best done in house.

No the building is a hubsite, I believe that's the correct term. All of cabinets in a 15 mile (maybe more) radius are connected to it.

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

Slightly offtopic question, but do VM use microwave links anywhere for backhaul instead of fibre?

There's a cabled area near me that has no visible (although there could be) crossing of a road to link back to the headend (unless it does cross the road where I think it does and it's been tarmac'd over since then) - however there is network both sides of that A-road, and there is a tower (an NTL site) with a microwave dish on it (on the side further from the headend) pointing across town at another tower that is literally the other side of the road of the headend building.

I find this kind of stuff interesting for some reason.

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

Very rarely,

there's some old STM-1 radio links knocking about and they are being decommissioned.

We are looking at providing rural broadband via radio. You can get 10G links around over 5km, the further the distance the lower the capacity goes.

there's a few VM test beds on this, but nothing that is ready for installation.

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

If you're comparing it to BT's network then don't. Usually with their network you can see a jointbox (as we call them, you may call them manholes), on one side of the road and one on the other. The duct goes at 90 degrees to the road, directly over.

Because the cable network was built so much later they often didn't have that luxury. Up until recently here on a major road you could still see the NYNEX ducting in the road and it's all over the show, diagonal angles to cross the road, curved ducts, all sorts!

So you may be missing something completely and will never figure out how it gets over the road if it's all been resurfaced since.

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

That's a fair point.

In this case, it's an A-road with quite tall grass on both sides (possibly hiding a chamber on the far side), I think I can vaguely remember an NTL van being on the headend side of the road in a specific place during the late 90s while driving past and there's actually an earthy scar there that goes over the mound away from the road between the trees if you look far back enough on street view. Through the trees on the other side of that, there is a catv chamber in the footpath with tracks leading back in the direction of the hedge by the road and also back down the footpath to town.

Although the road has been resurfaced and you can't see anything crossing it, on the other side of the road there is some kind of chamber but it's too buried with grass to see whether it's BT or CATV and it's on a busy road - no way I'm interested enough to risk walking down there.

After a run of a few metres next to the road, a vague scar (in street view going back in time) which sweeps around and up over the other embankment, right where there is ducting in a cul-de-sac the other side of the trees.

It's highly likely that it crosses the road there - but the microwave tower had me curious since it does seem to have CATV equipment there. That might just be for the mobile tower links, however. I didn't think STM-1 would have the bandwidth to carry a signal for an area with 4 - 6 nodes in it.

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

attached is a list of all the communities of the Lightning Horizon.

Let me stress that these are not all going to be built, but many could be if there's enough demand for services registered on "cable my Street"

So if you live in one of these places you could get Virgin if you can drum up enough support and get your neighbours to sign up.

I apologise that the list is not in Alphabetical order, which is a bit annoying.

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

How are those places decided upon (for that list)? Presumably there are other lists for previous months.

I thought VM just aggregated by postcode area but there seems to be a challenge each month, or at least it's hinted at. Do those communities receive flyers or something like that?

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

I would guess that they've surveyed areas that are feasible to cable due to nearby infrastructure to come up with the shortlist.

I then imagine they'll order them by demand then do more analysis to determine the cost and likely uptake. If the numbers are right, then it's selected.

Pure speculation on my part, though.

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

Oooh, lots of Wirral locations there.

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

Indeed, we've discussed this before but I really hope they know how much stranded plant they have in Wirral.

They've got a NYNEX duct running up Boathouse Lane linking Neston (where they have network) to Heswall (where they don't) which should come in very handy. There's stranded plant in Meols too, and the Saughall Massie end of Upton. There's a few roads in Parkgate with ducting to the house but no cabinets. Also, that estate in Greasby where they did the PIA trial with Openreach, that has loads of ducting and cabinets.

Places like West Kirby would be much harder to do, nearest network to that would be Upton.

Bromborough isn't on the list, but that's where their hubsite (dunno if that's the correct term) is for Wirral and Ellesmere Port. There's a few big new estates that have been built there in the last 5 years, none of which have Virgin Media.

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

Thank you so much for posting this list. My area (Upton Rocks in Widnes) is on the list :). Will try not to get my hopes up too much, as 'Cable My Street' is still saying 'Computer says No', but I really hope that this is a sign that Virgin Media will be heading my way sometime in the near future.

It would make sense for Virgin to expand into Upton Rocks, as their network covers properties nearby. Upton Rocks consists of a large number of homes built from the 90's onwards, probably just after one of the former cable operators cabled up most of Widnes.

After moving to Upton Rocks, I did get in touch with Virgin to ask if they would consider expanding into area. This was back in 2010, but I still have the emails. My enquiry resulted in a guy who Virgin referred to as their 'local new build officer' getting in touch with the Technical Manager at David Wilson homes. The response I received back said 'as this is a new development there may be wayleave issues affecting us gaining access for the foreseeable future.'

Since 2010, the roads and footpaths have since been adopted by the local council & Project Lightning now exists. Surely this is a good sign? Who knows, maybe my enquiry from 2010 could have helped to get Upton Rocks on the list!

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

One thing I can recommend doing is writing a note for your neighbours, making over a thousand copies and putting your walking boots on.

I got a minor fracture in my left foot in the process but it's healed up now.

Postcode checked recently changed to: "We're on our way..."

To be fair though, they might already have been on their way without my canvassing - but I like to think I had some effect ;)

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

Yes it looks like the document posted the other day has been fed into the cable my street site in some way. The postcodes for those areas seem to all show "we are on our way" now.

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

That's the way to do it!

---------- Post added at 11:53 ---------- Previous post was at 11:43 ----------

Just been announced that FTTP customers can now get phones as well. As the VM Voice over cable product is now ready.

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

Not saying this isn't true, but my area comes up with the same "We're on our way" comment, but where I live is absent from that list.

It's puzzling because it's not just a generic result, as when you use a postcode for somewhere remote and no where near a Virgin area, it does generate a different response - "Sorry not in the near future" etc.

The only thing happening near here is some new builds which Virgin is being installed, as big white cabinets have appeared near the roadside.

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

Our area is not on that list either. I'm speculating a little here, but I think the list is referring to a definition of "Our Communities" that is specific to VM's Project Lightning - which could maybe therefore relate to areas considered to be "slightly remote, but near enough to the network" - and where people have already expressed some interest and are being specifically considered in November. If that's true then if residents there express more interest now, they might have a chance of moving up the queue compared to others.

Interestingly though, if, depending on demand during November, not all of those areas will end up being cabled (as Pierre hints at) then the "We're on our way" message can't be true at this stage for every one of those places, surely. This implies that these communities have until the end of November, at which point, some of them will become "We're no longer on our way"?

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

That's the real news right there. I'm hopeful that Virgin will now drop the silly line rental requirement now that the ASA have bitch slapped ISPs for hiding that charge.

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

Well that makes alot of money, you can hardly drop a few million off your budget at a stroke

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

It seems to be the case for Wirral postcodes. But that's all I've checked.

Any postcode I put in from a part of Wirral on that list gives me the "on our way" comment and postcodes for areas not on the list that currently don't have VM, say "not in the near future".

I should add, I live near a Virgin hubsite and am surrounded in every direction by the network. The old part of my road even has it. But I am on a new build estate (we have been adopted by the council) and I get the "not in the near future" message. So it's definitely not generic.

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

I don't disagree at all, but I'd much rather just pay extra for broadband and not have to get line rental as well.

I know I can do that now, but it's "cheaper" with the line rental and that's daft. Just standardise the prices.

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

RESULT! As of this morning, when I enter my address on the 'Cable My Street' webpage, the answer is now 'We're are on our way...'

If anyone from VM is reading, thank you!

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

I wouldn't get too excited. Half of the borough of Wirral (which I appreciate you've probably never heard of but I use as an example) is showing that message. That's 20-30,000 houses. Highly unlikely they'll all be cabled. As Pierre said above only the places that get enough interest will be done.

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

Just to add to this: "60% only take a land line to get broadband"

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php...broadband.html

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That won't surprise anyone that works in this industry though.

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I don't think it'll surprise anyone that's ever bought broadband.

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Agree and this will happen, but no doubt most people will expect to pay no extra at all

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

I have heard of the Wirral & know it fairly well - have family living in the Wirral & I live in Widnes, which is reasonably close to the Wirral. Also aware of the high volume of houses in the Wirral which are likely targets for Project Lightning & understand the reasons why (fair amount of unused or part built infrastructure from the original cable franchise builds)

RE 'I would'nt get too excited' - sorry for being positive ;) I am realistic & don't expect VM to start digging up my street tomorrow, next week, next month or even next year...but I am now reasonably confident that at some point before or around 2020, VM are likely to be able to provide me with a service.

I could be wrong, but my interpretation of the feedback from Pierre was that the communities listed on that 'November' leaked document were under consideration & would become part of the rollout if enough interest was registered before the end of the month.

Yesterday, 'Cable My Street' told me:

'Sorry, we can’t reach you at the moment. Thanks for your interest in Virgin Media services. We’re really sorry that we can’t connect you to Virgin Media in the near future. If you register your details, we can let you know if the situation changes.'

...whilst today, 'Cable My Street' tells me:

'We're on our way...Your community has been chosen for future development. We’re working as fast as we can to get to you but right now we can’t confirm when we’ll be able to connect this address to Virgin Media services.'

So without wanting to sound too much of an optimist, my take on this is that my community has now expressed enough interest & is part of the rollout plan. Why else would VM be saying 'We're are on our way' :)

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

I know, I'm not saying you're wrong but it's a massive, massive job to cover those bits of the Wirral that are on the list. They were the tricky towns that weren't done originally. Places like Heswall with big populations (3rd biggest town), but mostly spread out, large houses. I'm just a bit more sceptical, we shall see. When the network was originally built by NYNEX they built out from Bromborough to mostly high density areas.

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

Even my area that said for years that It was not on the List now it says my area is part of Future Development and alot of other places in Northern Ireland too. It seems to be major population centres.

That being said BT were told recently to open up their Ducting to other suppliers meaning VM could in theory deploy their network with very little digging piggybacking of BT Infrastructure This is especially the case with the RF over Glass where they could install the last mile themselves.

A local gas company has expanded its reach around Northern Ireland and it connects houses for free where it would normally cost £2k so I'm guessing VM see this as a long term strategy

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

Could in theory but I'm sure I read somewhere that VM always use their own ducting to avoid issues.

In Milton Keynes (for example), most areas can't get Virgin Media due to an ongoing dispute with BT over who owns what.

That might have calmed down by now, but I can't imagine that would help Virgin Media to decide in favour of using others' ducting.

They could, in theory make use of dark fibre but everything I've ever seen has indicated that they always and only lay their own kit, whether duct or fibre.

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

I'm pretty sure I've read a quote from someone high up at VM to say they have no interest in using someone else's ducting and will only build their own.

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We'revnot using BT infrastructure at this moment in time.

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

Has the cablemystreet database been reset in the last month?

I was able to re-register there yesterday and I got a new e-mail in a different style as if I hadn't registered before... whereas in the past it told me I was already registered.


It seems like there are various phases in which VM look to see who's interested in which area, then the process begins anew. Something has changed. I could be totally off-base however, and one registration is enough...

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

VM do not use and will not use other network providers duct to bring our access cabling in.

MrIca, your comment that "20-30k houses being cabled is highly unlikely" is not quiote accurate... current areas announced and in build cover 4 times that figure already. Dunfermline and its surrounding villages are being cabled as we speak which totals some 75k homes.

If VM is going to hit its 4M new cabled homes then they have to aim big, the Wirral is a big part of that plan (amongst many many other areas!)

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

Well that's really good to hear. I'm glad to be proved wrong in this case.

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

I'm seeing some progress on the nearby Chester/Wrexham rollout. I saw a closed road with some people who looked like Virgin Media network planners with clipboards. Given the location it looks like it would be for the trunk route as there's no houses nearby.

There's also a website about the expansion from the contractors doing the surveys, and some job adverts for door to door sales positions for Virgin Media in Chester.

Looks like the initial phase will be Blacon, Saughall and Mollington which will take 4 months. The whole thing will take 3 years.

http://www.citysurveysltd.co.uk/proj...ester-wrexham/

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

I've noticed today that when you use certain postcodes, the messages that come back are different. Rather than saying "we're on our way" it comes back with a message saying how they haven't decided where they are going yet and to register your interest?

It also tells you in the corner how much interest they have had from the area in question, and for some reason depending on area it's colour coded. Orange shows up in certain places, and I've seen a dark blue as well.

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

Interesting... I wonder what purple means.

Lightning has gone quiet for a while but I suspect there will be more info in August since Q2 was mentioned in Liberty's Q1 results as being a date for more info being provided.

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

It could be a way of gauging where they are going next based on interest. Just odd that from "we're on our way", some areas look like they are no longer part of the expansion plans even though it said they were.

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

Exactly correct, unless there is a public statement from VM that they are expanding to an area then I wouldn't take it as gospel. The changes to the CMS website are down to the change to a new server which is providing better analytics of sign ups as well as returning more accurate information to people who register an interest.

HTH

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

There's more info in the web page source, by the way. If you know where to look, you can also find out the name of the community project that the build is a part of and its build reference number.

I might be completely wrong but you might even be able to see that community's current ranking.....


...I didn't find out what the colours meant, though.

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

One area actually shows orange and the number of registrations, whilst another I checked just shows orange with no number (just a white bg with a document icon)

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

Just checked an area in Wirral and it was amber. It's probably a traffic light system with a few extra colours. Amber might be "registering interest / under review". Dary grey = "no."

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

OK, here are the colours:

Dark Grey = "No - Not considering this area at the moment".
Amber = "Maybe - if we get enough interest. Still under consideration".
Blue = "Coming Soon" - this area has moved beyond just the consideration stage.
Purple = "Yes - area has been planned and will likely be built (in the next wave of areas? don't know)."

Green is what used to show before the above colours became live recently. There's no green any more.

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

Thanks for the information. It sounds to me like the colours and number of registrations figure are to help them decide which wave of areas to do next. Less registrations could mean you are pushed down the list but may still be cabled - just later on due to priority/perceived demand from other areas which come first.

Remaining positive is the key, as you never know!

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

I didn't find any "numbers of registrations" count, but there does appear to be a community number and (for sites that will be built) a build reference that are also buried in the page, including the community name.

The reason I didn't think it was the number of registrations is because some of the higher ranges mean "no" and some of the middle ones are "yes", while some of the even lower numbers are "coming soon"

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

Correct, it isn't number of registrations. I cant confirm if your assumptions are correct... but you aren't far off the mark Onramp ;)

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

Slightly worried a postcode I was keeping an eye on used to be showing as being "On the way" but now it shows no plans.

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

I spoke to a person involved with the planning of Project Lightening in my area today as there was a VM stand placed outside a shop. He said my area is definately planned, but not all addresses will get it and it will depend on how the houses are situated and whether there is tarmac or brick work along the street in general. Brick work they don't touch, It needs to be tarmac.

I asked about timescales and he looked and said there is nothing listed for the next 6 months as they were working up to my area from the other side starting with new builds on the outskirts.

I'm not saying what he says is gospel but it's encouraging. I also showed him my street on Streetview and he said there is no reason why it wouldn't happen.

Just a case of sit and wait which is the frustrating thing.

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

That isn't correct, we are actively building in huge areas of block paving (Dunfermline), paving slabs (Newcastle) and red tarmac all over the country. What stops us digging in an area is wayleave in private areas, if we don't have permission to dig from the landowners then we wont place micro duct in private driveways (for example).

This person you spoke with would be part of the regional sales team and not a planner so may not be aware of the intricacies of expansion. We also don't start with New Build sites, they are completely separate to project lightning delivered by different field teams and budgets.

HTH

Re: Project Lightning Silence...
 

Two grey Virgin Media cabinets have appeared in the centre of Saughall (Chester, complete new network area), one of the roads leading down from the Chester High Road into Saughall has also been closed now for many weeks with a Virgin Media roadworks sign at each end. So the Chester build has commenced anyway, finally.