Openreach have this week released an update on the status of the fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) deployments with some revised ready for service dates. FTTC uses fibre optic cable from the telephone exchange to a road side cabinet where equipment is housed which connects to your phone line, giving improved broadband service with speeds up to 40Meg. 29 exchanges were announced as the first to receive access to this new technology. The table details below gives a date for when these exchanges are expected to be ready to receive orders. These are deemed to be "phase 2" of the FTTC rollout, and this covers around 500,000 homes. A further 69 were announced in July.
| Exchange | Area | Cabinet Ready for service date |
|---|---|---|
| Glasgow Halfway | Glasgow | 02/11/2009 |
| Cardiff | Cardiff | 04/01/2010 |
| Dean | Edinburgh | 04/01/2010 |
| Didsbury | Greater Manchester | 04/01/2010 |
| Enfield | London | 04/01/2010 |
| Failsworth | Greater Manchester | 04/01/2010 |
| Glasgow Western | Glasgow | 04/01/2010 |
| Halifax | West Yorkshire | 04/01/2010 |
| Heaton Moor | Greater Manchester | 04/01/2010 |
| Hemel Hempstead | Hertfordshire | 04/01/2010 |
| Pudsey | West Yorkshire | 04/01/2010 |
| Taffs Well | Rhondda Cynon Taf | 04/01/2010 |
| Tottenham | London | 04/01/2010 |
| Bury | Greater Manchester | 11/01/2010 |
| Calder Valley | West Yorkshire | 11/01/2010 |
| Chingford | London | 11/01/2010 |
| Leagrave | Bedfordshire | 11/01/2010 |
| Thamesmead | London | 11/01/2010 |
| Woolwich | London | 11/01/2010 |
| Chelmsford | Essex | 11/01/2010 * |
| Edmonton | London | 11/01/2010 * |
| Luton | Bedfordshire | 11/01/2010 * |
| Oldham | Greater Manchester | 11/01/2010 * |
| Rusholme | Greater Manchester | 11/01/2010 * |
| Watford | Hertfordshire | 11/01/2010 * |
| Belfast Balmoral | Belfast | To be notified separately |
| Canonbury | London | Possibly delayed |
| St. Albans | Hertfordshire | Possibly delayed |
| Highams Park | London | Now FTTP pilot |
Highams Park will not be enabled with FTTC at this time as it will instead be part of the FTTH pilot. Canonbury and St Albans may not reach the target date for Phase 2 of the FTTC deployment and as such may be replaced by Caerphilly and Basingstoke respectively which will have a cabinet ready date of late January 2010. The exchanges marked with an asterisk have a risk of not enough cabinets being enabled to be released on the date specified, however a better idea should be available next month.
I wish BT would stop delaying and faffing about and actually deploy FTTH (NOT GPON but real ptp FTTH) and then we would not have them faffing about in a few years time again.