Kitz Forum
Broadband Related => FTTP Rollout => Topic started by: Chunk72 on April 27, 2021, 10:40:07 AM
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Hi All,
Beamish Exchange FTTP was announced last July as part of the "final third" rollout for harder to reach rural towns and villages. The Exchange serves the local communities of Beamish, High Handenhold, No Place, High Urpeth, West Pelton, Grange Villa, Newfield, Pelton Lane Ends, Pelton and several properties on long lines in the surrounding countryside.
With a tiny amount of Openreach fttp deployed as part of Digital Durham's BDUK project and one new Housing Estate in Newfield that was as much fibre as there was in the area until now.
As one of those long line residents on an 18 Down / 0.8 Up fttc connection I was keen to keep up with developments in anticipation of being able to order fttp and having previously done the work to start a CFP to be told we would be covered in the commercial deployment I have been keeping track as and when I've seen activity on my travels.
The following info is taken from my notes, interestingly all the work so far has been done by Openreach teams with one exception where an MJ Quinn gang were working in Pelton and the Openreach checker still says we are starting our fibre build in your area.
There have been several sets of roadworks following the path of the A693 up to Stanley, clearing duct blockages and running spine cabling. Presumably Stanley Exchange is the Head-End for Fibre terminations.
Apologies if the formatting or info isn't relative, just trying to help out anyone looking for information from the local area.
30th October 2020
Rodding and roping Station Road, Beamish
3rd November
Van(s) checking UG boxes and cable routes?
4th November
Station Road close to / past the War Memorial
10th Dec
No Place - blockage clearing
14th Dec
3 Vans New Road Beamish
17th / 18th Dec
Pulling cables on main road around station lane
4th January 2021
Pulling cables in Pelton?
5th January
Pulling cables beamish (from Stony Lane down to Fire Station), Newfield and west Pelton
6th January
Fire station to allotments
7th January
High Handenhold
Spoke to crew they are from Yorkshire and are pulling in spine cabling then it gets handed off to another team
13th January
2 vans, 1 parked on corner, 1 short visit to paper mill cottages/minstrel farm - cable crosses the river here and a boggy field so that might prove tricky.
14th January
Confirmed by landowner they were surveying the chambers and poles for installing fibre from beamish
January / February
Clearing duct blockages and building new chambers around Grange Villa, West Pelton and No Place
Fibre splicing in Pelton opposite car wash
New Chamber in Newfield outside pub ?
March
Pole replacements in Pelton, and new poles in Edenfield, West Pelton. Roadworks to clear duct blockages and lay poly duct around Station Road and Woodside in Beamish and in Front Street, Newfield
New Pavement chambers below poles where the spine comes into Grange Villa from West Pelton, blue rope at bottom of poles.
11th March
Fibre splicing opp. Newfield Inn
CBT’s fitted to poles Front Street, Newfield and on the corner of Pelton Lane outside Newfield Inn
2 vans rodding outside social club Pelton
22nd March
Vans in No Place
Pole work in Beamish on Station Road, CBT’s fitted above Station Road
Unblocking Works scheduled West Pelton on Twizell Lane
23rd March
3 x Vans in High Handenhold on front street and No Place
24th March
Pole work Beamish above Station Road, 3 or 4 poles with CBT’s wires coiled and fibre between poles through trees no problem
25th March
3 x Vans in HIgh Handenhold
29th - 31st March
Duct Blockages Grange Villa
31st March
Openreach works in pavement chambers and poles, below Station Road Beamish
1st April
2 vans in No Place splicing outside UG fed estate. All visible poles with DP’s have CBT’s
7th - 9th April
High Handenhold, rolling works in paths, verges and boxes for essential work on overblown fibre cables
Project ref: WC3PNR9M
8th April
3 vans High Handenhold standing at 1 van doing nothing
12th April
Multiple Vans working Station Road Beamish, Vans behind Stone Row at Grange Villa
13th April
4 vans No Place, 1 van High Handenhold
14th April
2 Vans splicing in pavement chamber on street outside The Parade, Pelton
2 Vans in No Place (p.m.)
15th April
2 Vans outside Fire Station, High Handenhold a.m. Hoist by Sheperd & Sherpherdess pub, Beamish
2 Vans No Place, 3 Vans High Handenhold p.m.
15th - 22nd April (date changes frequently)
New Pavement Chamber opp. Victoria Terrace - Pelton
15th April - 19th April
Planned works for council estates in Pelton primarily pole fed. Work listed as duct clearances and new duct installation.
Duct clearance works West Pelton
19th April
Openreach Vans in Pelton
5 Openreach vans in Beamish. Engineer mounting CBT on pole outside Urpeth Villas
20th April
MJ Quinns engineers rodding outside co-op in Pelton, Openreach engineer in adjacent PCP
Openreach Van at Pelton Lane Ends
6 Openreach Vans in Beamish, splicing in pavement chambers, CBT’s mounted on poles with coils of fibre in New Road, Beamish so all Poles from Station Cottages to Stony Lane now have CBT’s.
Old Telegraph poles along from A La Spicery have CBT’s fitted above the old rings right at the pole tops.
Poles opposite Birchwood close still don’t have fibre, will probably require roadworks as poles embedded in bank/stone wall
21st April
4 vans in No Place
7 vans in Beamish
22nd April
6 Vans in Beamish
22nd - 26th April
Clear Duct Blockages Rear of South View Pelton
Clear Duct Blockages Side of The Avenue Pelton
26th April
3 Vans - High Handenhold
27th - 29th April
Clear Duct Blockages Rear of Sydney Street Beamish
Clear Duct Blockages Rear of Arthur Street Beamish
28th April
2 Vans splicing in pavement chamber opposite Stony Lane
29th April
3 Vans splicing at Agg Node outside Fire Station, High Handenhold
28th - 30th April
Clear Duct Blockages Rear of Albert Street, Grange Villa
29th April - 4th May
Replace Joint Box Frame and Covers, Station Road Beamish
4th - 6th May
Clear Duct Blockages Baytree Terrace
Clear Duct Blockages Laurel Crescent
5th May
Civils in Laurel Crescent, High Handenhold
2 vans in Pelton across road from Co-op. CBT’s on poles in back streets behind The Avenue, Pelton
6th May
Yesterday’s work patched on Laurel Crescent, new joint box installed on entrance to street. Markings on path on Baytree Terrace and blue rope at base of pole
Vans in Beamish, pole climbing New Road, Beamish
7th May
1 x Van Splicing Track Joint on pole, New Road, Beamish opposite Stony Lane
1 x Van Splicing in Chamber, Station Road, Beamish
3 x Van’s Mounting CBT’s, Summerfield, West Pelton
7th - 11th May
Ivyway, Pelton. Access required to install a new joint box and approx 1m duct to exsting pole, this is part of the project to provide fibre to Beamish Village
Ernest Street (Back 1-47), Pelton. Access required to lay approx 2m duct in order to provide customer with high speed broadband services, This is part of the project to provide fibre to Beamish village
10th - 12th May
New Road Beamish, outside Durham Motor Services Garage. Access required clear a blockage in existing telecoms duct , build a box and provide ducting in order to provide high speed broadband services. This is part of the project to supply fibre to Beamish village
Victoria Terrace High Handenhold. Access required to clear a blockage in existing telecoms duct, in order to provide high speed broadband services, this is part of the project to provide fibre to Beamish village
12th May
Openreach vans and workers in Pelton either side of the road by the Co-op working UG. Vans in The Wind and Sandyford / Ivy Way.
11th - 13th May
Victoria Terrace (Side), High Handenhold. Access required to clear a blockage in existing telecoms duct and lay approx 1m of duct in order to provide high speed broadband services. This is part of the project to provide fibre to Beamish village
Eppleton Terrace High Handenhold. Access required to clear a blockage in existing duct and lay apprx 1 m duct in order to provide high speed broadband services. This is part of the project to provide fibre to Beamish Village
Cartmel Terrace, High Handenhold. Access required to clear a blockage in existing telecoms duct and provide approx 1m duct in order to provide high speed broadband services, this is part of the project to provide fibre to Beamish village.
13th - 17th May
Chester Road, Stanley. Excavation required to clear a blockage in existing duct , this is part of the project to deliver fibre to Beamish Village
14th - 18th May
Opp 1 - 18 The Fairways, Greens Bank, West Pelton. [Utility asset works] Replace 1 jointbox frame and cover(s) (1690mm x 710mm) in Footway.
19th - 26th May
Build 1 precast chamber 1310mm x 610mm x 1265mm deep in Footway, Install 10m of 1 way poly duct in Footway opp. Victoria Terrace - Pelton. Works in progress 21/05/21
20th - 24th May
Station Lane, Pelton - [New service connection] Build 1 concrete chamber 725mm x 255mm x 665mm deep in Footway, Install 1m of 1 way poly duct in Footway, Install 7m of 1 way poly duct in Carriageway
24th - 26th May
Queen Street (Back), Grange Villa - Access required to clear a blockage in existing duct in order to provide customers with high speed broadband services. This is part of the fibre provision project for Beamish village
Pine Street (Back), Grange Villa - Access required 2 blockages in existing duct in order to provide customers with high speed broadband services. This is part of the fibre provision project for Beamish Village
Orchard Street (Back), Pelton - Access required to lay 1M duct in order to provide customers with high speed broadband services. This is part of the fibre provision project for Beamish Village
o/s The Limes South View, Pelton DH2 1ET - Access required to clear a blockage in existing duct in order provide high speed broadband to customers, this is part of the fibre provision project for Beamish Village
25th - 27th May
Brackenbeds Close, Pelton - Blockage 1 o/s 16 Brackenbeds Close Beamish DH2 1XH, Blockage 2 o/s 40 Brackenbeds Close Beamish DH2 1CH. Access required to clear a blockage in existing duct in order to provide high speed broadband services to customers, This is part of the fibre provision project for Beamish Village.
O/S 150 Brackenbeds Close, Pelton DH2 1XL - Access required to clear a blockage in existing duct in order to provide customers with high speed broadband services, This is part of the fibre provision project for Beamish Village
O/S Ferndene, Grange Villa DH2 3LZ - Access to clear a blockage in existing duct in order to provide high speed broadband to customers. This is part of the fibre provision for Beamish Village.
R.O 24 & 44 Albert Street on back West St, Grange Villa DH2 3LR - Access required to clear 2 blockages in existing duct in order to provide customers with high speed broadband services. This is part of the fibre provision project for Beamish Village
28th May - 2nd June
O/S GRANGE VILLA CARS, FRONT STREET,GRANGE VILLA, DH2 3LL - Access required to clear a blockage in existing duct in order to provide broadband service to customers, This is part of the project to provided fibre to Beamish village
Opp 29 Elwin Place, Pelton DH2 - Access required to clear a blockage in existing duct in order to provide high speed broadband service to customers. This is part of the fibre provision project for Beamish Village
7th - 15th June
R/O 1 Greta Street North on Hollyoake Street, Pelton Lane Ends - Build 1 concrete chamber 1220mm x 680mm x 1665mm deep in Carriageway
19th - 27th July - May be duplication of above now works approved
Road Closure to build Concrete Chamber rear of Greta Street North, Pelton Lane Ends
19th - 28th April (roadworks disappeared from checker 19th p.m)
DSLAM (Cabinet P3) replacement Entrance to Sandyford, Pelton
[Moderator edited to change one occurrence of "no place" to "No Place".]
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Very interesting, thanks for posting.
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Hi Chunk
I've responded to your PM, mate.
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Thank you Black Sheep,
I will keep the thread updated as things progress.
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I'm sure plenty will find it interesting, I have a similar thread for our area.
Welcome to the forums.
PS You might find this interesting, once you move it to your area. Note it only updated when either they check or someone emails on.
https://labs.thinkbroadband.com/local/broadband-map#14/51.3466/1.4264/geafttp/
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Apologies if the formatting or info isn't relative, just trying to help out anyone looking for information from the local area.
That's fine, its not a problem. And welcome to the kitz forum. :)
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Thanks for the Hello's, post updated with latest activity.
Lot's of work been going on this week.
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Where are you getting the specifics on things like "Access required to clear a blockage in existing telecoms duct" now that one.network no longer tells you this?
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Durham Council publish all their roadwork info online separately to one.network and long may it continue :fingers: :fingers:
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Post updated with latest info.
The Openreach map has updated to show work starting in next 3 months...
Interestingly the teams are now moving to do the UG fed estates starting with Brackenbeds Close in Pelton, which is an 80's/90's built estate where everything is ducted. That leaves Thornton's Lea and Thornton's Close as the last two big UG fed estates in that village to do.
They have overbuilt areas which had G.Fast already during the course of the project and still no signs of activity in the actual rural areas.
I don't think any of the pon's built back in March are able to order yet but surely it won't be much longer.
Also seeing signs of prep work taking place in Chester-Le-Street which is also on the market towns and villages list, with various pieces of duct installation and joint boxes going in.
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I don't think any of the pon's built back in March are able to order yet but surely it won't be much longer.
The first PON's are ready to go into commission as we speak. The bit after that is done however, is the 'unknown', as there can be a dwell period before being made customer ready for service.
But ... it's almost in touching distance for the good folk of Beamish. ;)
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But ... it's almost in touching distance for the good folk of Beamish. ;)
Thanks Black Sheep, still ever hopeful it will make its way down to us.
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More updates added, lots of activity observed as the rollout is progressing.
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And indeed it looks like the U/G fed houses in Beamish Hills, No Place DH9 0SP can now order native fttp.
I think parts of Beamish Village and Pelton Lane Ends/Newfield will be next as those works were around the same time.
Progress is marching on.
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Updated with work from June onwards (continued from original post)
28th May - 2nd June
O/S GRANGE VILLA CARS, FRONT STREET,GRANGE VILLA, DH23LL - Access required to clear a blockage in existing duct in order to provide broadband service to customers, This is part of the project to provided fibre to Beamish village
Opp 29 Elwin Place, Pelton DH2 - Access required to clear a blockage in existing duct in order to provide high speed broadband service to customers. This is part of the fibre provision project for Beamish Village
S.O. 17 Front St on Albert St, Grange Villa - Access required to clear a blockage in carriageway in order to provide customer with high speed broadband services - part of the Beamish Village fibre provision project.
4th - 8th June
Opp Allotments, Baytree Terrace, High Handenhold - Access required to provide a new frame and cover to existing box This is part of the project to provide fibre to Beamish Village
Opp 8 Stone Row, Grange Villa, DH2 3NA - Access required to provide 1m duct to existing pole in order toThis is part of the fibre rural build project for Beamish village provide high speed broad band services,
Opp 47 Stone Row, Grange Villa, DH2 3NB - Access required to clear a lay 1m of duct to existing DP in order to provided high speed broadband services to customers. This is part of the fibre rural build project for Beamish village
OPP 54 STONE ROW, GRANGE VILLA on the road leading to Twizzel Dykes DH2 3NB - Access required to clear a blockage 1m from existing DP in order to provided high speed broadband services to customers. This is part of the fibre rural build project for Beamish village
O/S 6 Laurel Crescent, High Handenhold - Provide One New Pole
S/O 32 , CONSTANCE STREET, Pelton - provide 1 new pole
7th June
R.O. 24 & 44 Albert Street on back West St, Grange Villa DH2 3LR - Access required to clear 2 blockages in existing duct in order to provide customers with high speed broadband services. This is part of the fibre provision project for Beamish Village
8th - 10th June
Station Lane, Pelton - [New service connection] Build 1 concrete chamber 725mm x 255mm x 665mm deep in Footway, Install 1m of 1 way poly duct in Footway, Install 7m of 1 way poly duct in Carriageway
7th - 15th June
R/O 1 Greta Street North on Hollyoake Street, Pelton Lane Ends - Road Closure to Build 1 concrete chamber 1220mm x 680mm x 1665mm deep in Carriageway
10th - 14th June
O/S NO:4 , NICHOLSONS TERRACE, Beamish - Replace a Pole
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Nothing exciting to report this past week, there was some splicing being done in Pelton and some works in Grange Villa to clear blockages at the base of the poles, some additional poles have gone in and some pole replacement work is scheduled.
A good bit of Grange Villa and High Handenhold is now ready and waiting for CBT's to be fitted to poles.
Still nothing happening on the outlying properties away from the villages. Fingers still crossed our PON gets the green light.
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Some properties on Station Road in Beamish with postcode DH9 0QU can now order up to 1000/220 fttp.
Lucky devil’s
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CBT’s being installed on poles today in Grange Villa. Joint boxes being installed at Pelton Lane Ends but otherwise quiet this past week or so. Nothing new on the planned roadworks front, maybe waiting a team to arrive from another area.
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Quick observation today driving through Grange Villa where CBT's are currently being mounted.
Aerial fibre being strung between telegraph poles, an engineer on the ground with a very long stick with a loop on the top that looked to be attached to the overhead copper cable as a guide, walking from the pole with fibre to the destination pole. To maintain tension on the fibre cable to stop it sagging down there was an engineer up the top of the originating pole.
I know for copper services one way pulleys and thin rope leader with a bit of drag on the reel of copper are used to extend cables between poles and for road crossings.
Bet the looped pole has a fancy OpenReach name too, really interesting to see the deployment process evolve.
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25th - 29th June
JCN OF PELTON LANE ON C4 (FROM A693 TO PELTON LANE) - Locate and Excavate 1 blockage in existing duct.
AT JNC WITH C4 (FROM A693 TO PELTON LANE) TO OPP S/O 1 VICTORIA TERRACE ON PELTON LANE - Locate and excavate 1 blockage in existing duct.
5th - 7th July
o/s sub station on Sandyford, Pelton and also o/s 43 Ivy Way on Sandyford of DH2 1DR - Access required to lay ducting and clear 2 blockages in order to provide broadband services to customers, this is part of the rural build project for Beamish Village
o/s 41-42 Ivy Way, Pelton DH2 1DR - Excavation to lay duct in order to provide customers with high speed broadband services, this is part of the rural build project for Beamish Village
After a few weeks with work being done on poles and without the need for roadworks, Openreach have started to schedule more works on the project. Some areas are now live and able to order, lucky lucky people.
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1st July
R/O 13/15 PROVIDENT STREET ON ALEXANDRA STREET (BACK), ALEXANDRA STREET (BACK), Pelton Lane Ends - [Utility repair and maintenance works] REPLACE 1 EXISTING BT POLE
Noticed today a particularly difficult run of poles in thick foliage between the Shepherd and Shepherdess pub and the Aged Miners Homes in Beamish have had some clearing work done and blue rope strung pole to pole overhead.
Some new additions:
5th - 7th July
OS 1 SANDYFORD PLACE PELTON CHESTER LE STREET DH2 1DH - excavation to install new fibre service
o/S 2 FAIRFIELD PELTON CHESTER - EXCAVATION TO INSTALL NEW FIBRE SERVICE
6th - 8th July
24 TO 20 MOSSWAY, Pelton - EXCAVATION TO INSTALL NEW FIBRE SERVICE
Still no sign of activity in our area.
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Latest roadworks, this information might start to disappear as Durham Council seems to have adopted One.Network on their roadworks page but for now the old system is still accessible and updated. https://durhamvi.symology.net/ (https://durhamvi.symology.net/)
28th - 29th September
JCN Pelton lane and Albert street Grange Villa Durham DH2 3LJ - ROAD CLOSURE REQUIRED TO ALLOW CIVILS TEAM TO CLEAR BLOCKAGES IN CARRAIGEWAY. OFF PEAK WORKING
1st - 5th October
R/O 2-4 LOVAINE STREET ON GRETA STREET SOUTH, Pelton Lane Ends - Road Closure to install 15m of 1 way poly duct in Carriageway
I know that to put street works in especially closures requires months of advanced notice so perhaps these dates will move forward once they have been processed by the council - I was of the understanding that the Beamish project was slated to be mostly complete by the end of September.
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Certainly seems the case round here that jobs will show on one.network as "Advanced planning", disappear, then come back later as "Planned work about to start".
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Quite the update today, I have had a good physical look around and made some notes below, work is ongoing in Pelton and High Handenhold.
This morning High Handenhold was swamped with OR vans and people, I stopped counting at 10 vans.
State of play:
No Place
All properties in No Place now have access to FTTP.
Beamish Village
Station Cottages, Station Road, Woodside, Deneside, Abbots Walk, View Tops,Nicholson's Terrace, Properties on New Road, Urpeth Villas and Urpeth Hill Top all have CBT's and work looks complete, I believe this is live now? Some infill to do closer to the old Miners Cottages and Birchwood Close perhaps.
High Handenhold
Work in progress - South View, Victoria Terrace, Eppleton Terrace, Denton Cottages, Cartmel Terrace all have CBT's mounted. Arthur Street and Sydney Street have been blue roped to base of poles.
Baytree Terrace,Lilac Gardens and High Hold Bungalows are being worked on today - they had already been blue roped. Observed splitters being put in pavement chambers, CBT's will be up shortly.
2 chaps splicing in the Agg Node outside the Fire Station.
Pelton
Work ongoing today on The Parade and in Ivy Way and Fairfield.
Heathmeads, The Wynd, Constance Street, Ernest Street, Properties on Front Street, Pelton Lane, Wheldon Terrace and Lyons Terrace all have CBT's in place and look complete. Brackenbeds, Thorntons Lea and Thorntons close I'm not sure as they are UG fed.
Newfield
Kensington Way (New build estate has had native FTTP from Day 1), Roseberry Villas, Properties on Newfield Road, Newfield Inn, Hares Buildings, Oakdale Terrace all have CBT's and work looks complete. I believe FTTP is available to order.
Pelton Lane Ends
Nothing yet, some duct works have been done and a road closure is in place for October for more work.
Grange Villa
Mostly complete, Front Street, East Street, West Street, Albert Street, Queen Street, Stone Row all have CBT's mounted and work looks complete. Pine Street has CBT's mounted and fibre coiled waiting to be spliced in.
West Pelton
All Properties on Twizell Lane, Plantation View, Eden Hill Farm, Summerfield, Hepburn Gardens and Edenfield all have CBT's mounted and work looks complete. A quick postcode check shows not live yet.
So the vast majority of work has been done, the Exchange has 10 fttc cabinets with 3 of those offering Gfast.
What has not yet been done: Properties down Hammer Square Bank, Cranberry Bog Road, Pockerley Buildings, Riding Farm, Urpeth Forge, Minstrel Farm, Papermill Cottages, hamlet of High Urpeth, Stoney Lane and properties on Blue House Bank all of which are on long lines from Beamish.
I understand why OR have done the rollout the way they have on a cost per premises passed basis but they have yet to address the 2 to 24Mbps customers while upgrading those who already had great connections and that galls a little bit. :fingers: it gets to us before they move out of the area and call this rollout done.
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More street work activity has popped up for the work in progress areas and Pelton Lane Ends.
28th - 30th July
O/S 10 VICTORIA TERRACE HIGH HOLD PELTON CHESTER LE STREET DH2 1PZ - Access required to lay duct in order to provided customer with high speed broadband services, this is part of the rural build project for Beamish Village
opp 13 The Parade Chester Le Street DH2 1NF - Access required to carry out excavation in order to provide high speed broadband services to customer. This is part of the rural build project for Beamish Village
o/s 1 Oak Terrace Chester Le Street DH2 1NG - Access required to carry out excavation in order to provide high speed broadband services to customer. This is part of the rural build project for Beamish Village
O/S 49 MIDDLEFIELD PELTON CHESTER LE STREET DH2 1DP - Access required to lay duct in order to provide customer with high speed broadband services, This is part of the rural build project for Beamish Village
29th July - 2nd August
opp 1 industrial St and nr 1 Industrial St on back Pelton Lane Ends DH2 - Access required to excavate in order to provide high speed broadband services to customers. This is part of the rural build project for Beamish Village
r/o 8 Alexander Street back, Pelton DH2 - Access required to carry out excavation in order to provided high speed broadband services to customers, This is part of the rural build project for Beamish village
o/s 12 Edward Terrace on Pelton Lane, Pelton DH2 - Access required in order to clear a blockage in order to provide high speed broadband services to customer, This is part of the rural build project for Beamish Village
r/o 3 Greta Street on Pelton Mews, Chester Le Street DH2 - Access required to provide customer with high speed broadband services, this is part of the rural build project for Beamish village
There is also a DSLAM replacement taking place right in the middle of a freshly fibred patch, I am reasonably sure this is a replacement for a 2013 ECI cabinet.
2nd - 6th August
Side of 32 PELTON LANE on SANDYFORD - BEAMISH 7 - DSLAM 867837 - STREET CABINET & POWER INSTALLATION. Excavate to lay approx 3m BT ducts, Lay concrete plinth, Stand cab. Excavate to expose low voltage cable for Power Connection and lay approx 3m duct. POWER engineer to carry out inspection prior to jointing. POWER jointing team to insert cable and execute jointing works. Reinstate, Check and clear site.
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By way of an update, OR have been busy in Pelton and Grange Villa with various duct unblocking and splicing activities. A few roadworks are in place for mop up in estates that weren't covered 1st go round.
Most likely is unconnected but OR have had a large presence pulling fibre up Station Road and around the bottom of Urpeth Grange, this are is fed from the Birtley Exchange which is not in any currently announced plans as the area is carpeted with Virgin Media. It could be the fibre is to enable more masts for Voneus wi-fi who are the only provider operating in Ouston and Perkinsville.
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Regarding Urpeth Grange, Openreach have been in Bellerby Drive all week pulling in fibre for FTTP. I've no idea whether it's being fed from Beamish or Birtley though.
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Regarding Urpeth Grange, Openreach have been in Bellerby Drive all week pulling in fibre for FTTP. I've no idea whether it's being fed from Beamish or Birtley though.
That's interesting, Urpeth Grange has areas that barely get above adsl speeds, and as I said not announced in any plans that I can see, maybe Digital Durham? Birtley will likely be a headend Exchange, cool that they have gotten the fibre across the east coast mainline and up to the estate in about a week.
Beamish and surrounds fibre all goes back to the headend in Stanley Exchange.
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This past week there has been some sweeping up activity completed. A couple of new poles to facilitate provision where they had got stuck earlier in the summer.
Interesting to see a few CBT’s have been mounted on Joint User Poles with Electricity which I had thought was a no-no but they are definitely there.
Splicing activity and finishing up Laurel Crescent / Baytree Terrace this past Thursday and Friday.
Further 4 road closures planned for back streets of Pelton Lane Ends and Grange Villa to finish their PON deployments where blockages are preventing fibre being ran.
Still no sign of activity for the more difficult to reach areas and with streetworks requiring 3 months notice if a closure is required we are looking at next year now if indeed our PON makes the cut.
Very frustrating as I’ve yet to see a single live connection on my travels.
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Interesting to see a few CBT’s have been mounted on Joint User Poles with Electricity which I had thought was a no-no but they are definitely there.
That must make provisioning a lot more complicated/expensive due to the precautions needed when going up such a pole.
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8 vans and lots of activity up in Beamish outside Peggy's Wicket today, looks like they are still connecting previously installed CBT's to the splitters and adding CBT's where there is a new pole.
I've started to plot where the service is live in the local area, cross checked with postcodes and the wholesale checker and will send the info to Andrew at TB so he can update their map. There seems to be a complete lack of publicity otherwise.
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The ThinkBroadband map has been updated with the info I provided.
Almost all properties in No Place and West Pelton can now place an order.
Grange Villa (Stone Row is live), Pelton (lots of live postcodes), High Handenhold (live in 2 streets around the exchange), Beamish (live around Station Cottages) and Newfield (Hares Buildings and Oak Terrace are live) currently have spotty availability but the hardware is largely deployed and being commissioned - lots of properties will go live in large chunks pretty soon I think.
There are outstanding works to finish deployment in Grange Villa and Pelton Lane Ends (Beamish Court is live).
So far there have been no sign of works to reach properties at the top of Beamish near the Shepherd & Shepherdess or Hammer Square Bank, Cranberry Bog Road, Pockerley, Riding Farm, Stoney Lane, High Urpeth and I suspect these will be pushed into 2022 or beyond, maybe even fall under BDUK which we are currently awaiting the findings of the last OMR which are due to be published by the end of Summer (!)
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As expected my PON was high costed out of the current rollout due to the potential cost of civils and anticipated road closures. The existing route being down a country lane with silted ducts, closures would be the only safe way to work.
We do have a glimmer of hope, having suggested an alternate route this is going to be resurveyed to see if there is capacity to extend the network from the top of Stoney Lane and get to us from that direction, and as it would be much less disruptive and hopefully cheaper it could still happen.
Keeping everything crossed.
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Our PON and the suggested alternate route has been resurveyed by the Chief Engineers team this week and is now with costing to see if the numbers add up.
Elsewhere around the exchange area a few additional poles have been put in and some street works are outstanding in the next few weeks to enable the already deployed CBT’s to be lit and commissioned.
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Thank you for the update.
Hopefully the result (from the bean-counters) will be positive. :fingers:
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So another surveyor was out yesterday and walked the road, should get an update no later than next Friday.
Also this week, there are OR advanced closure notices for next March on Cranberry Bog Road which is a more difficult deployment than our PON and only has circa 7 properties plus a riding school and small holiday park. Odd decision if the Project Manager has chosen to build this PON ahead of ours, but that’s all part of the mystery.
Oh and the detailed Durham roadworks site is now defunct, just goes to an IIS Windows instance, which is a shame. They are all in on one.network now.
Still living in hope of fttp, will have to take another 12 month contract for 16/0.5 fttc this month or suck up out of contract costs and see what happens.
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Did another postcode check yesterday, lots more areas live (44 additional postcodes). Plenty of streets in Pelton, all of High Handenhold & Pelton Lane Ends are now showing as live.
The outstanding areas are:
Greenacres, Ivyway, Southfield and Thornton Lea / Thorntons Close in Pelton
Most of Grange Villa (recent works have been completed and likely waiting on database updates as it has all been fibred)
Busty View, North View, South View and Newfield Terrace in Newfield
Edencroft in West Pelton
View Tops, Abbot's Walk, Stoney Lane and Everything above and including Birchwood Close in Beamish towards the Shepherd & Shepherdess
Everything rural
2 OR road closures have appeared for Cranberry Bog Road next March which could be good news for the 6 properties distributed along it, or may be entirely unrelated.
Personally things have gone quiet and I am resigned to our PON being left out. As OR indicated we would be covered in the commercial build we missed out on the vouchers and unless we get scoped into the next phase of Digital Durham or OR find some additional funding it looks like a long wait. Edit - update today from Chief Engineer Team says they have identified 3 possible routes, all of which will require a degree of road closure and no decision has yet been made while they weigh up the costs. Next update next Friday at the latest.
The outcome of the OMR has yet to be published on the .gov or Durham website so it remains a waiting game. Edit- the public review closure note has been posted today but is somewhat opaque in the coverage detail. It says tender will start January 22 contract start November 22 so in reality no work will likely happen before spring 2023.
I am very happy for those who are now able to order a service, the ISP's and OR seem very slow to be advertising availability but I have seen a few connections on my travels.
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Todays confirmation that we and the other 26 properties on our PON won’t be covered in the current commercial rollout.
Expected but still gutted.
OR suggested resurrecting our community fibre scheme but this maybe a non starter as the area is no longer able to apply for vouchers because it was flagged to be covered commercially and we are not eligible. Off to see if/where Digital Durham have us in their list.
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Very unfortunate. :(
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Yes not great. Digital Durham have effectively told me to ask again this time next year to see where we are in the procurement plans. Not heard anything back from CFP team either which is no surprise, not much to do before the voucher scheme reopens in Spring.
Good news if you live in Chester-Le-Street and surrounding villages as Openreach have started prep to lay fibre in earnest. Rodding and roping for Spine cabling going in all over the place, even working on weekends.
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"oh you'll just have to wait" is such a great response when for all they know you're struggling to work from home on crap broadband.
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I know it's a right cop out from them, seems they are aggrieved because BDUK have taken ownership of the project. Direct Quote from reply "As Project Gigabit is a BDUK initiative, Digital Durham are not directly involved with the delivery, however, we would hope to have a better understanding of which premises will be upgraded as part of this delivery towards the end of next year, when the intervention areas have been finalised."
DOWNLOAD
16.7
Mbps
UPLOAD
0.60
Mbps
LATENCY
58.6
ms
PACKET LOSS
0.86
%
Hope OR find some loose change down the back of the metaphorical sofa and come back to finish the bits left out.
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Just as an update to this old thread, I had an unexpected email from OR Fibre Enquiries team yesterday.
"We've reviewed your enquiry as our records were not updated to show that Fibre to the Premises is available to order for you as per the timescales shared earlier.
Unfortunately, the project planned to upgrade your area to FTTP has been delayed and now expected to be completed in the year 2024. As you may understand that delay can be caused due to various factors but be assured that we will try our best to complete the engineering works as soon as possible."
The cynic in me thinks the delay is brought about by the chance of additional funding from the BDUK contract which is due to be awarded any time now and expected to start either later this year or early next and will nicely offset or balance the cost of civils for long line areas that were missed out last year.
In the meantime there is overbuild going on like the clappers with VM blanketing Chester-Le-Street, Great Lumley and Washington and even beating OR to the punch where areas had been previously announced. In a nearby village that Netomnia successfully raised vouchers for and are installing OR have popped up there too.
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The cynic in me thinks the delay is brought about by the chance of additional funding from the BDUK contract which is due to be awarded any time now and expected to start either later this year or early next and will nicely offset or balance the cost of civils for long line areas that were missed out last year.
It isn't eligible for funding if it's part of a current rollout plan, even a very delayed plan.