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Fibrecity invite users to connect for free to Dundee fibre network
Wednesday 01 September 2010 16:07:24 by John Hunt

Fibrecity have announced that they are now ready to take registrations to connect to the fibre network they are deploying in Dundee. Residents and businesses can apply for a free connection that will link up their home or business to the fibre network, allowing them to take advantage of faster broadband services as well as TV and potentially other media that could be delivered over the next-generation fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network.

"Now that all the planning and negotiations for the build of Fibrecity Dundee are concluded, it is important that residents that want to apply for a free connection do so quickly so that they don't miss out.

Fibrecity Dundee will introduce more competition to the market. Its open access network will enable consumers to benefit from super fast broadband available through a choice of service providers.

No longer will people need to worry whether their service provider is misleading them about the broadband speeds that their network can support."

Paul Lennox, (Project Director) Fibrecity Dundee

The company plan to connect up around 4000 people a month with around a million homes connected over the next four years. To register for a free connection visit www.getreadydundee.com or call 0800 954 2020.

Down in Bournemouth where the company are already installing their fibre network, some problems have occured. Over 200km of fibre optic cable have currently been installed but Fibrecity's contractors have cut through some existing cables in the process with some Virgin Media customers losing access to TV and telephone services. The 'microtrenching' technique used by Fibrecity to deploy their cables is supposed to lay their network above any other cables which may be in the ground but it seems to be that in some cases, these aren't as low as expected.

[ Topic: Broadband | 25 comments | link to this item ]

Comments

Posted by kev445 about 1 year ago
microtrenching, sounds like they will be run ragged with repairs, with customers complaining left right and centre...

Posted by CARPETBURN about 1 year ago
Anywhere that has microtrenching for basically anything risks cables being cut through. As i pointed out in the other bournemouth story, sometimes its only about a foot deep (wouldnt shock me if its even less in some places due to lazy contractors or pavement/road conditions). Virgin, BT and others all have used microtrenching in areas. Its not new that cables get cut through when others start to dig. Especially when doing an initial roll out of any service

Posted by TaRkADaHl about 1 year ago
I believe that Velocity1 are doing a 1 month trial... think its worth a stab to see how it goes.

Quite impressed with their leased line pricing, £600pm for a 100Mb/100Mb line... Cant For a 10Mb/10Mb line with BT Net/VM it costs around £750 per month.

Posted by CARPETBURN about 1 year ago
^^^ If it were me id read the terms of that so called free month first (Normally if something sounds too good it is). Assuming it is genuiningly free and not (subject to you signing up to x months to get 1 month free or other similar marketting spin) then yep agree worth a try. I wish the company all the best, they seem to be the only ones going for broke so to speak.

Posted by herdwick about 1 year ago
"the only ones going for broke" - so you've read their accounts too ;-)

Posted by herdwick about 1 year ago
Microtrenching = disc cutter through anything and everything in the way.

Posted by New_Londoner about 1 year ago
Seems as if its only 3-4 inches deep? Could see heavy trucks causing problems!

Posted by CARPETBURN about 1 year ago
No not read their accounts herdwick though i was waiting for that gag.
Both of you are right about any microtenching though, i really dunno apart from cost (IE cheap) why any firm still does it.

Posted by AndrueC about 1 year ago
@CB:Is any other reason needed? That and the basically lousy RoI from cable are explanation enough.

Posted by TaRkADaHl about 1 year ago
The microtrenching does worry me a little as I have seen the guys laying cables around here. They were just lifting lines of slabs, digging down about a foot and dropping the cable in. Judging by how un-flexible it was it must be quite shielded. Somehow I suspect that the yellow tape they lied down on top of it marking it as 'Fibre-Optic Cable' won't do much to prevent someone else digging through it...

Posted by c_j_ about 1 year ago
Yarwell (Phil T) last September read H2O's/i3's accounts from March 2008 (they're filed with Companies House, but most of us have to pay a few quid to read them).

Phil said they were "entertaining reading" [1], which is not something that can be said about most company accounts. More detail in [2]. Startup accounts often look weird, next year's should be more indicative. Presumably Fujitsu trust them.

[1] http://forums.thinkbroadband.com/otherbb/t/3698882-i3-fibrecity-bournemouth-more-news.html
[2] http://forums.thinkbroadband.com/otherbb/t/3699398-i3-fibrecity-bournemouth-more-news.html

Posted by PeteK about 1 year ago
"“We apologise to the people who have been inconvenienced. Other utility cables should lie below the depth that the Fibrecity Bournemouth network is being laid at. Any cables that Fibrecity damages during the rollout have to be repaired by the operator that owns the cable,” he said."

I would be taking a very dim view, and ensuring they got a FAT bill everytime I had to fix my cables they had chopped

Posted by john ( staff member) about 1 year ago
The way some Virgin cables are laid it doesn't surprise me they have been cut.

Posted by GMAN99 about 1 year ago
I know... just a quick walk down our road and you can visibly see them either running up drives or poking out to go into the feeder pipes

Posted by andrew ( staff member) about 1 year ago
At my old house/flat, neighours Telewest was killed by a grass strimmer, and another time the council lawn mower snagged the plastic outer and shredded things, it was barely under the surface and had obviously got pushed up over the years.

All the hassle generated, shows why a FTTH roll-out would be expensive, and potentially disruptive.

Posted by CARPETBURN about 1 year ago
quote"The way some Virgin cables are laid it doesn't surprise me they have been cut."

Id extend that to any organisation thats microtrenched any type of cable, even stuff totally unrelated to broadband (traffic lights in my area spring to mind).

Posted by CARPETBURN about 1 year ago
@Andrew quote"All the hassle generated, shows why a FTTH roll-out would be expensive, and potentially disruptive."

Indeed though i suspect the issues you describe are where the last few feet (IE curb to home) was cable cut, rather than the main supplying cables, so to speak. Hopefully if FTTH becomes mainstream eventually whoever does the installing to homes, does it properly and not just bury the thing 6 inches under your lawn.

Posted by james_2010 about 1 year ago
I live in Bournemouth and signed up to Fibreband once my install was complete. The speeds I get with their 100Mbps package are brilliant and, they have provided me with a good customer service.

I would suggest that people in Dundee sign up to get connected, as the broadband speeds are very good indeed.

Posted by c_j_ about 1 year ago
"ensuring they got a FAT bill everytime I had to fix my cables they had chopped "

Quite. There's a world of difference between who does the repairs (the cable owner or their contractor) and who pays for repairs caused by poor workmanship.

If there's a dispute over whose financial responsibility it is, the only real winners will be the lawyers, who will not come cheap, and they will as always be paid for by the punters.

Birmingham Cable's twenty year old conduit in my street is only a few inches deep. No space for simple shallow microtrenching anywhere like this.

Posted by lloydio about 1 year ago
The people who got cut were in Winton! VM's thick green cable is spilling out everywhere in the streets!

Posted by New_Londoner about 1 year ago
These posts show that the micro trenching is seriously flawed, especially on grass. Good luck to potential customers of companies that have used teh technique in Bournemouth, Dundee, S.Yorks etc, I think you're going to need it!

Looks like a major risk to business customers in particular, suspect they will be very cautious as word spreads on this.

Posted by CARPETBURN about 1 year ago
They all use microtrenching, i bet if BT eventually roll out FTTP/FTTH the last few feet will be microtrenched and your lawn dug up six inches. Its a horrible way to do things no matter who does it. BT, Virgin, local authority, and fibrecity they all microtrench in some manner and all of them you can guarantee have had nightmares at some point.

Posted by c_j_ about 1 year ago
"BT, Virgin, local authority, and fibrecity they all microtrench in some manner"

Indeed so, but surely only one of them in any given location can use microtrenching as a *cheap* last mile technology?

If (say) cable has already microtrenched a street, no one else can without risking damage to the existing infrastructure (or taking expensive precautionary measures), as we see here.

So how many financially interesting places are there where microtrenching hasn't already been used?

And that's without taking into account the service interruption risk that New_Londoner mentions.

Oh dear.

Posted by CARPETBURN about 1 year ago
quote"Indeed so, but surely only one of them in any given location can use microtrenching as a *cheap* last mile technology?"

Depends on what else is already burried there, how much room is left on the pavement or whatever it is they intend to trench-up again.

Cables etc do often get damaged, there are a set of traffic lights (about 2 years old) in my area that die as soon as workman even look at the ground, they spend moan times being cut through than working.

Posted by CARPETBURN about 1 year ago
^^ opps moan should be more, obviously typed moan as we all agree micro trenching is a big moan.