ADSL : Will i ever get fibre optic?

[KingDaveRa]

A colleague lives on a private road - approximately 40 houses or so. His town has Virginmedia all over, but his street doesn't. The street association approached Virgin who said it wasn't viable as they didn't have a cabinet near by. Unfortunately their road is a bit out of the way of the other residential areas, so it would have taken a lot of works just to get TO their street, let alone cabling it. He also said something about a £50k charge from Virgin to cable the street anyway (mostly due to it being private).

So yeah, it's definitely a bit 'don't hold your breath'.

[pip08456]

Originally Posted by APS

These is a difference between the work VM will need to do and what BT will need to do though. For VM they will normally need to dig up pavements/roads to lay a fibre and power to a new cabinet and copper to each house. In the case of BT all they often have to do is pull a fibre down an existing duct to an existing cabinet, and then change the kit inside that cabinet. The wires to the houses are already there.

Sometimes the work goes a little beyond this if there are limitations in the existing duct or cabinet, e.g. power and space. In that case the work is often limited to the cabinet or its surrounds. I have heard that if there are duct problems they just skip the upgrade on the specific cabinet and the customers it serves, at least in the short term, leaving groups of people with no upgrade!

Pretty close to being correct but there is more work involved.

It is not just a matter of pulling a fibre cable to the existing cab. It needs a new cab to house the DSLAM, power and equipment as well.

The power co. may need to dig up the road/pavement to supply the power.

Collapsed/blocked ducts may need to be cleared/replaced. The amount of work involved is huge.

Then there is the problem of permissions.

Quite often BT don't need any unless in a conservation area or the local council objects for whatever reason (I'm not au fait at what they could be but it has happened).

If a collapsed duct is found in the middle of the road, again they must request permission from more than one (local/government) department to be able to dig up the road to replace/clear it.

Etc,etc.

Areas with these problems are "skipped" in the initial roll-out as you cannot have teams sat around waiting for things to be in place, they are best served continuing with the roll-out.

As continuing moving on gives a small buffer it does give teams the opportunity to re-visit areas that had a problem if everything is OK to go ahead.

Openreach have recently implemented a policy of changing the date for problem areas to the end of the current commercial roll-out phase rather than the 3 mth placeholder dates they used in an effort to not raise expectations. Not all the areas of BT's complicated site will reflect this.

A March 2014 placeholder means there are problems with any (or more) of the above and once resolved then the date will be brought forward.

IMHO it is far better than the date continually being put back by 3 months.

[qasdfdsaq]

I'd say the big difference is VM have to lay cable past each and every house they want to provide service to, i.e. down the whole street. BT/Openreach only have to dig up to the cab, they do not dig up the road to the house in the vast majority of cases.

Digging up the entire length of the street, down the entire pavement and past everybody's house is going to be more disruptive than digging up the street corner for one cabinet.

[chumba]

Reckon im about to cancel on VM.
I have never had such a bad connection and ive been on the net since 98.
Atleast on dial up you got what you paid for

This adsl netgear combo is really frustrating the hell out of me.

[robson689]

Originally Posted by chumba

Reckon im about to cancel on VM.
I have never had such a bad connection and ive been on the net since 98.
Atleast on dial up you got what you paid for

This adsl netgear combo is really frustrating the hell out of me.

They might be offering services through the BT FTTC network soon so if you have BT FTTC in your area it might be worth waiting to see what VM offer in the future.

[Pierre]

Originally Posted by pip08456

Pretty close to being correct but there is more work involved.

It is not just a matter of pulling a fibre cable to the existing cab. It needs a new cab to house the DSLAM, power and equipment as well.

The power co. may need to dig up the road/pavement to supply the power.

Not a major issue, they usually just take a feed from the nearest streetlight.

Collapsed/blocked ducts may need to be cleared/replaced. The amount of work involved is huge.

May, but not always, plus - obviously, the duct laid will be new.

Then there is the problem of permissions.

Quite often BT don't need any unless in a conservation area or the local council objects for whatever reason (I'm not au fait at what they could be but it has happened).

BT have to gain the exact same permissions as Virgin, as does any utility.

If a collapsed duct is found in the middle of the road, again they must request permission from more than one (local/government) department to be able to dig up the road to replace/clear it.

Nope. just a road opening notice from the local authority

---------- Post added at 08:01 ---------- Previous post was at 07:59 ----------

Originally Posted by qasdfdsaq

I'd say the big difference is VM have to lay cable past each and every house they want to provide service to, i.e. down the whole street.

Yes, but obviously the cost of the dig is offset against each property passed.

---------- Post added at 08:03 ---------- Previous post was at 08:01 ----------

Originally Posted by robson689

They might be offering services through the BT FTTC network soon so if you have BT FTTC in your area it might be worth waiting to see what VM offer in the future.

Correct, if there's BT FTTC in your areas then from July there will probably be VM FTTC as as well (over BT obviously)

[robson689]

That's not true. BT don't need planning permission for most things unless like has been said, they are doing work in a conservation area. They might submit a planning notice but they don't need permission.

[Pierre]

Originally Posted by robson689

That's not true. BT don't need planning permission for most things unless like has been said, they are doing work in a conservation area. They might submit a planning notice but they don't need permission.

If BT are going to dig up the road, or install a cab.

They need the exact same permission from the local authority as Virgin Media do.

In the eyes of government BT is exactly the same as VM and vice versa.

We all work to the electronic communications code. The New Roads and Streetworks Act and the Traffic Management Act.

Also if you are referring to the siting and positioning of cabinets, you're right BT don't need "planning permission" but neither do Virgin Media. However you still need to gain approval from the council that it is sited sympathetically and responsibly. i.e. not impede sight lines and road junctions etc.

[pip08456]

Originally Posted by Pierre

Not a major issue, they usually just take a feed from the nearest streetlight.

No digging there then, just run the cable over the pavement. I know of at least one cab that is still awaiting power as BT and the power Co can't agree on cost for supply. Go figure.


May, but not always, plus - obviously, the duct laid will be new.

As I said "may". Can't see them putting in an old duct.

BT have to gain the exact same permissions as Virgin, as does any utility.

Permissions still have to be forthcoming and can still take time.
Nope. just a road opening notice from the local authority

OK just the local authority but it is still permission as they can't do it without it.












































---------- Post added at 08:01 ---------- Previous post was at 07:59 ----------



Yes, but obviously the cost of the dig is offset against each property passed.

---------- Post added at 08:03 ---------- Previous post was at 08:01 ----------



Correct, if there's BT FTTC in your areas then from July there will probably be VM FTTC as as well (over BT obviously)

I have not seen any case of VM offering this. Have you?

[robson689]

Originally Posted by Pierre

If BT are going to dig up the road, or install a cab.

They need the exact same permission from the local authority as Virgin Media do.

In the eyes of government BT is exactly the same as VM and vice versa.

We all work to the electronic communications code. The New Roads and Streetworks Act and the Traffic Management Act.

Also if you are referring to the siting and positioning of cabinets, you're right BT don't need "planning permission" but neither do Virgin Media. However you still need to gain approval from the council that it is sited sympathetically and responsibly. i.e. not impede sight lines and road junctions etc.

They do not need planning permission to install a cab unless it is in a conservation area! It was on the news because they were putting 5ft cabinets outside peoples front gardens.

[qasdfdsaq]

Originally Posted by pip08456

I have not seen any case of VM offering this. Have you?

They are not offering it yet but have announced they plan to. There's some thread about it somewhere...

P.S. Welcome back Pip

[pip08456]

Originally Posted by robson689

They do not need planning permission to install a cab unless it is in a conservation area! It was on the news because they were putting 5ft cabinets outside peoples front gardens.

BT have been stopped from installing cabs in non-conservation areas and are working with the councils for a solution.

The "we can stick cabs anywhere" ethos does not exist.

Any council can object to the siting of any cabinet anywhere for any valid reason.

[Martin_D]

Originally Posted by qasdfdsaq

They are not offering it yet but have announced they plan to. There's some thread about it somewhere...

P.S. Welcome back Pip

http://community.virginmedia.com/t5/...ht/true#M18784

[pip08456]

Originally Posted by qasdfdsaq

They are not offering it yet but have announced they plan to. There's some thread about it somewhere...

P.S. Welcome back Pip

Cheers, nice to back in contact with old friends.

---------- Post added at 16:32 ---------- Previous post was at 15:48 ----------

Originally Posted by Martin Dee 11

http://community.virginmedia.com/t5/...ht/true#M18784

Hi Martin.

Check out my post on that thread.

Answer the points and I may agree, only that they are looking into it with you.

It does not state they supply it though, only that they are looking into it.

How long do they need to look into something before the other ISP's leave them behind?

[craigj2k12]

Good luck streaming youtube when that is launched, I doubt Virgin will add any additional peering capacity to meet the demand of the extra bandwidth being used