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Fibrecity 100 meg connections in Bournemouth - Dundee is next
Monday 19 January 2009 15:37:30 by Sebastien Lahtinen

Fibrecity, part of fibre-through-sewers company H2O Networks has announced the first thirty homes will be connected to its 100Mbps fibre network in Bournemouth by the end of March. This is one of a few true "fibre-to-the-home" (FTTH) services that will see the fibre optic cable being built all the way to the building providing a future-proof infrastructure.

The company has been running a campaign over the last few months to connect those around its fibres to the network ready for its lightning speed service which involves cutting a 'micro trench' 2cm wide and 6-15cm deep to the edge of the property making the premises 'fibre ready'.

"This is an exciting development for Fibrecity. Since its launch last year, the initiative has progressed according to plan and is on schedule to be completed by 2010. We are in a very strong position and are having positive discussions with a number of key content providers and that can provide wholesale access to Fibrecity customers."

Elfed Thomas, CEO, H2O Networks Group

The Scottish city of Dundee will be the next to benefit with work starting this summer to roll out a fibre network.

[ Topic: Internet Service Providers | 51 comments | link to this item ]

Comments

Posted by whatever2 over 3 years ago
30 homes? By the end of March?

That's hardly a fibrecity is it?

Not exactly matching the hype.

Website still has no info on pricing or which 3rd party will be providing a service.

"a 40 per cent take up in the first phase roll out area." 40% of what?

How does it get from the sewer to the building in a normal town with tarmac roads and brick paths?
Posted by herdwick over 3 years ago
" the first thirty homes will be connected to its 100Mbps fibre network in Bournemouth by the end of March"

that should use up the entire capital available to this 4 person outfit !
Posted by comnut over 3 years ago
"How does it get from the sewer to the building in a normal town with tarmac roads and brick paths?"
er, the usual way, dig it up, get permit for ducting from sewer...
Posted by comnut over 3 years ago
that is the good thing about tarmac, easily replaceable... same with bricks, easier to move than pavement slabs..

Posted by comnut over 3 years ago
at least it will take the heat of others, when the cry goes up.. :) :)

You want HOW MUCH!!!!!?????
Posted by whatever2 over 3 years ago
"that is the good thing about tarmac, easily replaceable... same with bricks, easier to move than pavement slabs.."

what, so that will be done for every property all the way up and down the largely flat concrete centre of bournemouth?

bricks might be easy to move, but I cant see it being cheap doing bournemouth.

When it happens... but I suspect by 2010, 100mbps won't be all that to crow about.
Posted by 2doorsbob over 3 years ago
well i have to congratulate a company taking the initiative they now need to start talking to sky/easynet about rolling this out in areas not covered by virgin media to ensure maximum take up
Posted by Foggy_UK over 3 years ago
Quote: "involves cutting a 'micro trench' 2cm wide and 6-15cm deep" isn't that just a little shallow ??? That's just asking for Mick the Dig to chop it in half !!
Posted by Foggy_UK over 3 years ago
It's a nice idea but I think the money will run out before the customers come rolling in.

"micro trenching" is a good idea but might be better suited to hiways and byeway of the countryside, less chance of hitting other services as thay roll down the road with the disk cutter tee-ing in a cut for each house as thay go.
Posted by brillean over 3 years ago
"The Scottish city of Dundee" indeed. Doh! The English town of Bournemouth? A tabloid newspaper called "the sun"?
Posted by Dixinormous over 3 years ago
'When it happens... but I suspect by 2010, 100mbps won't be all that to crow about.'

Is the Internet expensive on whatever planet you're on? ;)

This isn't Singapore or Japan, this is the UK where 1 provider has a commercial product above 24Mbit and that's only available to 1/10th of the population at the moment, and BT continue to procrastinate over whatever they are doing. 2 trials of FTTC which won't do 100Mbit, and 1 trial of FTTP only.

Much as I wish you were right of course.
Posted by whatever2 over 3 years ago
Be are already trialing 45mbps and are in the Bournemouth & Poole exchanges with 24mbps (i'm on it now) Virgin also cover some areas. Mobile rates are expected to be trialing at 20mbps this year as well.

So yes, a dedicated trench in the distant future to every premises offering 2x what is already being trialed isn't such a wow any more.

I'll believe it when I see it, but I'll bet money on there being very competitive offerings by the time it actually does hit the ground for everyone in the area.
Posted by Dixinormous over 3 years ago
Be have done trials of bonding but it needs a second phone line.

Virgin also yes currently offer 50Mbps.

100Mbps will still be as good as it gets though, and that same fibre can handle much more than this. 1Gbps and upwards.
Posted by whatever2 over 3 years ago
I hope so...

I'll remain cynical until it actually happens. I see problems beyond the PR and the lack of info...

I can't help thinking that this might be a tiny bubble, and will remain so unless it gets some severe money behind it.
Posted by comnut over 3 years ago
"what, so that will be done for every property all the way up and down the largely flat concrete centre of bournemouth?"
well put it this way.. what will happen when the mains, gas, water etc has a problem in that area??

Its not a new problem, and why there are always ways to get access...
Posted by comnut over 3 years ago
whatever2: er, have you checked you calendar lately?? 2010 is LESS than a year away... :)
Posted by whatever2 over 3 years ago
yep...and so we have to explode from 30 to 10's of thousands of homes in less than a year... and yet we still don't have any actual details.

They dig up the road and pavement here. Outside my studio, they probably do that once every 2 months. I cant see them doing that around the entire town. Cable wasn't laid here for that reason.

So, Dundee is next for what? more PR?
Posted by comnut over 3 years ago
again with the random figures... the main stuff is most likely DONE..

the figure needed is the amount that have signed up.. A LOT smaller I guess..
Posted by comnut over 3 years ago
"but I suspect by 2010, 100mbps won't be all that to crow about.'
was what I was talking about, not 'deadlines'..
Posted by comnut over 3 years ago
I think we would be lucky to have consumer 50M nationally by 2015, it highly depends on whether it is misused or badly sold...

A lot have got sick of this and wisely chose to pay for the business service.

Yes, fibre does 1Gbps and up - But you have to PAY for it - It depends whether the company wants reliable business users, or fickle cheap users!!
Posted by c_j_ over 3 years ago
"the main stuff is most likely DONE.. "

MAYBE. Anyone seen any EVIDENCE?

The fibre's in the street sewer, a lawn edger digs a "micro trench" from home to property boundary. There's a gap between boundary and sewer. How do they cross the gap without digging a visible, EXPENSIVE, messy, trench? Has anyone seen it done yet?
Posted by comnut over 3 years ago
Evidence? you wont see it, unless you happen to work down there...
Posted by comnut over 3 years ago
How do they cross the gap?? the same way VM and others do it from their fibre..

g'wan... use google a bit....
Posted by whatever2 over 3 years ago
"Evidence? you wont see it, unless you happen to work down there..."

I do. That's why I can see a gap in the PR... especially when they're talking about hooking up just 30 homes.

I reckon i'll be on bonded Be, before I see a microtrench from manhole, all the way down the high streets. I also suspect it will be cheaper, even with a second line needed, especially as h2o are doing all this work for free...
Posted by whatever2 over 3 years ago
VM don't cross the gap. That's the point. If they don't have the customer density, you don't get it. Especially when people don't want scars every 20yds down the road.

Oic how they do it now...

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/62/33624023-shocking-virgin-media-installation.html
Posted by Foggy_UK over 3 years ago
Quote:"Has anyone seen it done yet?"

S&SE Telecom seam to have started something simular around here. A few years ago they pulled a major fibre route in from Guildford to Brighton (part a national network)using a tradional JCB cut trench, but now thay seam to be cutting micro trenches from the footway boxes into businesses. It's being done with a big disk cutter and a fibre dropped in the grove and back filled with some sort of tar/resin.
Posted by c_j_ over 3 years ago
"How do they cross the gap?? the same way VM and others do it from their fibre."

I thought H2O's PR said their business model was fibres in the sewers and no holes in the street, because holes in the street are expensive (and very visible). Has that changed, or have they just redefined "hole"?

Re VM: Every cableco has lots of holes in their streets, and in my garden, VM's now-disused "micro trench" connects their hole in the street to the F connector by the TV. Don't need Google for that.
Posted by whatever2 over 3 years ago
Holes=expense.

If someone knew which premises were in test, I could nip around and see what work has been done. But 30 'homes' (which could just be one block of flats...) is a bit needle in a haystack.

I'd like to guess that they are very close to the datacentre...
Posted by chrysalis over 3 years ago
as far as I am concerned adsl1 is a 4mbit service and adsl2+ is a 6mbit service (average synch speeds), classifying adsl2+ as a 24mbit service is just wrong as only a very tiny amount can obtain around that speed. Very dissapointed that this fibrecity has become a bit of a joke only 30 homes?
Posted by kendal01 over 3 years ago
you lot really do amaze me at times. things like this don't happen over night!!! stop slagging them off and be happy they are actually doing something.
Posted by comnut over 3 years ago
<perrin voice> My god c_j_ , do you still believe that it comes up your toilet pan????

Posted by comnut over 3 years ago
If you had bothered to find out, it comes out of the main sewer, and is ducted amongst **all the other** systems, and JUST like VM, this single fiber optic has to be split for all the users - have you not seen the diagram on fibrecity??

http://maps.sfgov.org/site/sfdpw_page.asp?id=32429

http://buildllc.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/utilities_02.jpg
Posted by comnut over 3 years ago
whatever2: I forget where I saw it now, but the average expense of a company digging their own network is about £70M ..

Using the sewer, it is only £10M(or less depending on site), so a lot cheaper... :)
Posted by c_j_ over 3 years ago
What's San Francisco got to do with H2O in Bournemouth? Or H2O with VM?

I saw the Fibrecity prettygram [1] last May [2]. Given its lack of detail, folk in the trade were guessing hundreds of pounds per connection. Once H2O have real connections maybe we'll KNOW.

[1] http://www.fibrecity.eu/ftth.htm
[2] http://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/i/3539.html
Posted by whatever2 over 3 years ago
H20 is/was giving away connections for free, presumably to get a customer base they can sell to someone... but that was only residential premises (unless only certain business zones were contacted).

Most people I know couldn't see the benefit in having a line with nothing on the end of it... yet.

Catch22.

Posted by comnut over 3 years ago
c_j_: FFFS man!! have you NO imagination????
"What's San Francisco got to do with H2O in Bournemouth? Or H2O with VM?"

I'd give you a hint, but hey, YOU search for 'how utilities are routed' - you will find it is the same whether you are in Bournemouth, SF, anywhere that is a busy town....
Posted by comnut over 3 years ago
whatever2: if you looked hard enough, you would realize they DO have an ISP...
But i'll leave all the uninformed, stupid bickering to you...
Posted by whatever2 over 3 years ago
"But i'll leave all the uninformed, stupid bickering to you... "

And contribute nothing to the thread. Not like the fact that there was no mention of an ISP and rates on the letter that was sent out.

Or perhaps your so informed and clever you can tell what the 100mbps package will cost and involve?

Wind it in.
Posted by whatever2 over 3 years ago
http://www.ask4.com/searchresults?q=bournemouth
Posted by whatever2 over 3 years ago
but you might like this thread where FC state that they haven't announced an ISP yet.

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/63/33632595-100mbps-for-bournemouth-page-8.html
Posted by silver47 over 3 years ago
My dad had a visit from a Fibrecity engineer today saying that they will be coming to hook our area up in the first week of March, so it looks like my area will be hooked up in the second wave.
Posted by whatever2 over 3 years ago
Cool.

Did they give a breakdown of services/costs?

Apparently they are saying they'll offer the service for free for a while... but details aren't forthcoming beyond that.
Posted by CARPETBURN over 3 years ago
quote kendal01"you lot really do amaze me at times. things like this don't happen over night!!! stop slagging them off and be happy they are actually doing something."

Very well said, never a more true word spoken. I actually admire hoe well H20 have done, i suspect most whingers have no clue about the companies history and the research and development they have done previously.
Posted by michaels_perry over 3 years ago
All very well for urban areas where mains sewerage systems run outside homes. Rural areas don't have mains sewers so running FTTH through sewers will never get to us - and we're the ones suffering most from slow internet connection because of distance 'slugging' ADSL systems.
But we already have an overhead telephone system on poles. So why don't they string fibre adjacent to the existing copper cables and give us FTTH? It would be just as cheap as through the sewer, or cheaper as they don't have to dig any holes at all!
How about it telecoms and ISPs?
Posted by cyberdoyle over 3 years ago
and fibre is so much cheaper than copper, why don't bt just replace the copper with fibre, end of.
Posted by Dawn_Falcon over 3 years ago
Sure. Wait, you, say, they have to actually put in into the ground? Yea, that's where the costs are.

michaels_perry - Fiber isn't robust enough to take that sort of conditions, without spending massive amounts of money. Equally, FTTC would up your speed considerably without needing to do external runs...
Posted by andrew (Favicon staff member) over 3 years ago
Actually BT has a fibre over telegraph pole solution that is cheaper than very strong armoured fibre

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/i/2420.html an old 2005 item.

So FTTH/C where telegraph poles are in use does not need to be a barrier.
Posted by comnut over 3 years ago
so has this idea 'died', or what?????
Posted by WharlesBarb over 3 years ago
I'm abit new to this online comment stuff, but it seems to me if you cut the whinge(crap) and add to the to the construction we can get back to being able to beat the world and get to where we need to be to get us all out of this,quote,'Oliver Hardy's 'Its another fine mess you've got me into'unquote, its not all G. Browns fault Any sudgestions anybody?







































++
Posted by c_j_ over 3 years ago
"Fiber isn't robust enough to take that sort of conditions, without spending massive amounts of money"

You've not seen (or heard of) Verizon FIOS in the US then? FTTP over basic existing poles - including a fibre phone service. More details, including pictures, in the article below. I look forward to seeing something similarly detailed for H2O once they get their first few punters connected up.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,1972498,00.asp
Posted by comnut over 3 years ago
well they do have the advantage of no national government funded phone company..

READ the comments about how awful it can be... :)
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