Fibre Broadband Available Soon *Updated*

** Please note the below information has been changed by BT on the 12/02/2013 – See comments section for further information, at this moment in time we are awaiting confirmation from BT why the installation date has suddenly been changed from 31/03/13 to 31/3/14 **

At the beginning of the year it was noted by Middlemore reader Kevin that the BT broadband checker was now showing that FTTC broadband would be available by 31st March 2013 for his Middlemore address.

In slight disbelief I checked out the results as just the day before I had been told by BT that there still was no time-scales for when this would be happening, but sure enough the checker returned positive results showing that I too would be able to receive fibre broadband.

However, checking with a number of properties within the Middlemore estate, it was found that some properties are still being listed as not being able to receive the upgrade, it would seem that the newest of the properties built are connected to a different cabinet than the older part of the estate and only the older part is being upgraded.

After a bit of research it would appear that BT have a habit of only upgrading the cabinets where all houses have been built, leaving the cabinets where new houses are still being built without the upgrade until such time that all houses are built. Now this is only speculation and we have asked a number of BT representatives as well as local Daventry councillors and Northamptonshire County Councillors to help get to the bottom of this with us for the last month, but unfortunately BT are being tight lipped as to why only some and not all of Middlemore is being upgraded stating commercial reasons for selecting which cabinets are upgraded.

To check if you will be able to receive Fibre broadband, simply enter your details into the following broadband checker
https://www.btwholesale.com/includes/adsl/main.html

If the results show similar to the below, (note red circled line) then FTTC will be available to you

fttc-yes

However if the results show similar to this, without the FTTC line as circled above, then Fibre broadband is not currently going to be available.

fttc-no

 

So whilst it is fantastic news for some, sadly for other properties the misery of poor performing broadband continues. If you are not able to receive the upgrade it is strongly suggested by both BT and our Councillors that you show there is demand for Fibre broadband by registering your interest for the upgrade at the following two sites:

Northampton County Council Superfast Broadband Survey:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/96W7GJ7

BT / Openreach Register Your Interest Website:
http://www.openreachfibrebroadband.co.uk/expression-gen.aspx

The Middlemore residents association are actively pursuing BT to try and change this partial upgrade to a full one to ensure that all of Middlemore is upgraded, obviously it will help with our requests for the upgrade by ensuring that as many people as possible show their support by registering with the sites listed above.

Any further news that we get regarding this will be posted on this web-site.

13 Replies to “Fibre Broadband Available Soon *Updated*”

  1. Does this mean everyone on the newer side will have to wait for all building on middlemore to be complete before we can have fibre optic? If that is the case we are looking at 2-3 years and upwards which is ridiculous

    1. Ryan – absolutely agree, sadly its the way BT apparently works.

      However it should be noted that NCC will hopefully approve funding of speed upgrades throughout Northamptonshire as part of their “Superfast” project which they have agreed with BT bringing £8 million funding for the upgrades.

      We have been actively speaking with the Superfast project team and Councillors to get funding as soon as possible to ensure that ALL of Middlemore gets access to high speed broadband as soon as possible.

  2. I’ts disappointing that since moving in to centrally located Middlemore, just over two years ago the Broadband download speed has dropped from over 1mbps to the rediculous 0.08, 0.06 and sometimes 0.03 as at the present time. About a year ago I took BT’s fastest available option and yet have had to start multiple dialogues with them (in India) but to date have never received any significant improvement in speed. This new blow to the prospect of high-speed fibre broadband not coming to our particular vicinity of Middlemore in spite of it being promised (online over a year ago for March 2013) just adds salt to the open wound. I work from home with a VPN and Skype connection to work nearly 200 miles away; the line gets used for most of the day yet frequently the speed gets so poor that the line all but gets cut off . . . and there just never seems to be a default complaint path through which to air your views! Well done Middlemore.co for trying.

  3. Is there no chance that they will connect the new side at the same time as surely when it’s connected to fibre optic it’s done then and all future houses just go off it?
    Just to show how slow updating iPhone at the moment estimated time of completion 10 hours
    At 0.4 mbs
    Driving me mad

  4. I will get fibre optic on the 31st march 2014! whats up with that I live on farnborough drive surely that was were the first houses were built

    1. Well that just shows how hard it is to get sensible answers from BT.

      For over a month BT has been saying 2013 on their on-line checkers, now they are also saying 2014 for me and all the other numbers checked.

      Seems someone at BT has been changing the dates on their database. At this moment in time (9pm 12/02/13) – I honestly don’t know what the correct year is, but rest assured I have already e-mailed our BT contact to establish what is going on with the date change from 2013 to 2014 to find out if this is a mistake or not.

  5. If and when Fibre optic B/B arrives would we have to change our Line provider, to BT? Cheers Bill

  6. Bill – you should be able to stay with your current provider, no need to change to BT (unless your provider isn’t offering fibre – in which case you would need to move, not necessarily to BT though)

    With regards to this random and sudden date change – I found an interesting post on the thinkbroadband web-site that says the following:

    “”The change in dates on the website is as a result of the recent Advertising Standards Agency ruling –Openreach will be moving to provide a six-and-nine-month view of when exchanges will be enabled to improve the accuracy of this data when it is presented to end-users by CPs.

    However, the deployment plan remains the same – the majority of people who were given a March date will still be able to receive service by that point, we are just unable to provide a three-month view any more as a result of the ASA ruling.

    Whilst in most cases we were able to forecast an accurate date, deploying fibre is a complex engineering job which involves planning consent in some cases, power provision, traffic management, etc. Therefore there will always be the potential for unexpected delays to occur for an individual cabinet. Moving to a six-month view reduces the impact of such delays on our predictions.””

  7. I have been monitoring roadworks.org for some time now to see if there is any change and today I notice that the cabinet 49 is due for install between March 21st and April 5th. I just hope for others not serviced by this cabinet get some news soon after.

    Farnborough Drive, Daventry, Northamptonshire
    Works Start: 21 Mar
    End: 05 Apr

    Low impact, delays unlikely
    Location : (PCP49) NGA RELATED ,REAR OF 8 ICKWORTH CLOSE ON FARNBOROUGH DRIVE
    Description : Install 4m of 1 way poly duct in Verge,Provide 1 Provide/Recover 1 NGA Cab and base (1.5m x 0.5m)
    Current status: Planned work about to start
    Traffic lights, etc: None/signing only
    Queries should be addressed to BT quoting reference BC005WP00100500101702100
    Work info last modified 14:41 on 22/02/2013
    Last updated on roadworks.org 19:15 on 22/02/2013
    Data source Northamptonshire County Council

  8. Looks like they have started work on the BT cabinet at the entrance to the estate, hopefully only a couple of months left before Fibre is available.

    .

  9. I note that the http://www.roadworks.org web-site shows that work is being carried out by Drayton reservoir entrance to clear a blocked BT duct.

    Hopefully that will be the duct that the fibre is being sent down to the new cabinet they have fitted.

    Can’t be long left now till its completed.

  10. Roadworks web-site now shows power being installed on the 14th to 16th May to the cabinet.

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