Openreach update on fibre to the cabinet rollout
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.
Comments
I think they'd be better aiming for FTTH in urban areas and FTTC in rural areas. FTTH at the heart of UK networking is a short-termist view.
I'm also hopeful that someone is keeping an eye on backhaul and core networks. It's not good just upgrading the last mile.
Only just noticed that the 4 greater manchester exchanges are all heavy student areas, that should do a good job of testing capacity...
Nothing for the West Midlands???
matbarrie all of midlands east and west so far is a massive blackhole in the plans.
Lots of other areas missing. What do you expect?
boggits: They are also IIRC the areas where ADSL was originally first rolled out.
How about wireless from the cabinet to the home ?
- this would save re-wiring the last 500 metres
Available from www.alvarion.com
They also offer wireless from the exchange
.
Anyone know what the deal is with ST Albans (& Cannonbury I guess). Are they delayed by a few weeks, months or indefinitely?
Concerned,
St Albans
I kinda hope they do a good job of it, I live in basingstoke, about 2.6 miles from the exchange, and my service is not all that great, although it has improved drastically in the last few months, I harrassed Sky till I got someone to tweak the settings so it wasnt so unstable
Once again the North East of England is missed out
4 North East exchanges in next phase.
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.