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[kitz]

It appears to me that BT, like their forebears Post Office Telephones, have always been very conservative in their choice of equipment and way of doing things.
If the fiber infrastructure and equipment isn't compatible with the strict BT specifications then I personally can't see them wanting to take the DR system on.
As I've previously posted, BT have installed fiber according to strictly commercial criteria and I wouldn't think they would want to provide FTTC services where they already supply expensive leased-line products.

oldgeezer.

I agree, and this is why earlier in the thread I mentioned that BT may want to install their own cabs & dslam equipment.  I cant see any obvious reason why they cant make use of the existing fibre thats been laid.. although it may require careful planning to ensure minimal disruption for existing customers whilst they swap over and connect it to the BT infrastructure.   

[UncleUB]

Just to update...

No more info available from my isp (Origin)at this stage

And this is part of the reply I have just received from my MP from when I asked him to look into if/when BT will upgrade my exchange for FTTC.

I am following  up your request with BT, but I have recently enquired about another exchange in the constituency and was given the same response that they will not divulge their future expansion plans. As they are a private company they are not accountable to the Government or Members of Parliament but we will ask them again.
 
I am also contacting the Council who are joint owners of Digital Region to see what their long term plans are for the service. I will contact you again once I have had a response from them both, but please do not hesitate to contact me in the meantime if you have any questions.
 
Regards
 
Clive Betts

[kitz]

I have recently enquired about another exchange in the constituency

That sounds like they have totally misunderstood what is required!   

[burakkucat]

That sounds like they have totally misunderstood what is required!   

Indeed. 

[UncleUB]

I have recently enquired about another exchange in the constituency

That sounds like they have totally misunderstood what is required!   

Well as Mr Betts is MP for Attercliffe and the exchange in question is Attercliffe 

The only other exchange nearby is Meadowhall which would probably come under his constituency and is also not on BT's plans to upgrade for FTTC but doesn't have many users pulling off it.

[TheKeymeister]

Was just passing through but thought it might help or interest someone if I shared this...

>> Meadowhall only having 11 residential customers !!!!

According to the exchanges post-code its smack-bang in the middle of Meadowhall, so its possibly an exchange that was specifically built to provide telephony for Meadowhall businesses.   Now its a totally industrial and retail area. I cant recall what was there before.  I do remember seeing it go up though once when whizzing past on the M1.  From this long ago memory (I was only young at the time) and M1 viewpoint there wasnt much else but fields and possibility some sort of colary/steel works building?

It looks like the residential houses behind meadowhall are served by Attercliffe... so theres going to be some really long lines there too.


---------

added more info


Linky to g.maps showing  Meadowhall exchange location, houses behind meadowhall are served by Attercliffe exchange and can only get 512kbps.

Meadowhall (MDH if memory serves correctly) exchange is 'built in' to Meadowhall itself, it's in a loading bay accessed by driving down the side of Marks & Spencers, just to the left of the white van
here.  I believe it does only feed Meadowhall itself and there are various DPs hidden all over the place.  The exchange is quite small, it's a System X with a Cosmic (non standard space saving) MDF, but they still managed to clear space for LLU equipment.

I always thought Attercliffe exchange covered a massive area, and I always struggled to get a reasonable connection when I lived on top of a hill within its area, but I was told there used to be a Firth Park exchange (it's
here on Google maps) that possibly covered some of the area that Attercliffe does now...  It only shows up on satellite view, street view shows the houses that are now sat on the site, although the previous street view images showed the exchange.

A nice bit of probably useless information but I couldn't help myself!

[kitz]

Hi and welcome ^

All snippets of information are welcome :0)

--------

Well as Mr Betts is MP for Attercliffe and the exchange in question is Attercliffe

yep, but he appears to think that another exchange is called for.  It isnt..  its just fibre runs to FTTC cabs that are needed.   

[UncleUB]

Hi TheKeymeister and welcome 

Yes Attercliffe has quite a large catchment area(about 26000).I myself am at one of the farthest ends of it,just below the Sheffield Parkway.Before DR I was with O2 LLU and getting roughly 2.5mb,before O2 I was BT and lucky to get 1.5mb 

[UncleUB]

Well I thought the plug had been pulled last night about 6pm.All Origins network was down and no one was answering their phones.

Turns out they had some kind of outage and as all their phone lines are VOIP they weren't working either.They did post messages on social media sites but everyone feared the worse as DR has finished,but it all came back up again around 18.45.(Phew) 

[roseway]

That's a relief.

[UncleUB]

I have just received this reply from Clive Betts MP

  Dear Mr xxxxxxxxxx

Further to my email below, I am still waiting for a response from BT but I have been informed that customers need to contact their Digital Region supplier directly about continuation of service.

With regards to Digital Region's general future,  I can confirm that Digital Region are currently in the process of trying to sell the infrastructure which could take up to 12 months. I understand that the general plan is for the service to carry on as normal until the sale but given the uncertainty on when a sale could take place and what will happen after any sale, providers may look to migrate their customers onto ADSL based products. There is also a possibility that a buyer will not be found and the service will cease entirely. Unfortunately I do not have any news on a potential buyer at this stage.

I would suspect any sale is likely to rely on the private firm buying the infrastructure at a price which is similar to the cost or recovers most of the costs incurred by the European Commission (EC) to have the cabling installed or for the EC to take a hit on the European tax payer investment. As I understand it the EC were happy to underwrite the investment so long as it was run essentially as a not for profit initiative that benefited the local area, but if a private buyer does comes in they don't see why they should subside their profits by giving them effectively free infrastructure. I don't know how much this will impact any sales negotiations or how hard the EC will push this.

The Council will be keeping me informed of the progress of the sale and I will pass on any information I receive. I will be in contact again once I have heard from BT but please do not hesitate to contact me in the meantime if you have any further questions.

Regards


Clive Betts MP

[kitz]

Thank you for sharing that UB.

Hmmmm not quite sure what to make of that.  It sounds like if they are expecting up to 12 months for a buyer to be found, then you may at least have connectivity at least for about 12 months.

The third paragraph "as it was run essentially as a not for profit initiative that benefited the local area"  I really not quite sure what to make of that and I presume there will be more intricate details somewhere, but unfortunately I do think this likely will have an impact on any potential buyers :/

I think that means BT out of the picture.  They may have considered taking over the fibre, but I would assume that at one point they would have installed their own cabs to standardise the network. Im only guessing but if they are going to be tied up in red-tape, it would be far simpler to start afresh. 

.. and if BT are going to go in anyhow... which private buyer is going to want to take over a network that has previously been financially unviable and now also have probable competition from BT.

I really dont know what to say.  :/

[Origin_Pete]

As the largest ISP (by which I mean the company with the most DRL connections) on the network, we're using whatever weight we have with DRL and other suppliers to get the best outcome for customers. I can only promise UncleUB and our other customers that we're all over this. As for what will happen long term, that's a bit above my pay grade, but I know Oliver is working as hard as he can to make the very best of a bad situation.

[UncleUB]

Thanks for the message Pete. 

Tbh at some point I (and many others) will either continue getting a fibre connection  ...Or will be dumped back to the dark sub 2mbps days of ADSL.
As we are mere pawns in this game(well its not a game I know)we just have to sit back and wait.

[waltergmw]

Hi Uncy & Origin Pete,

Given the way we have been quite disgracefully served by BT in Ewhurst**, I very much doubt if a satisfactory solution will be achieved with such an organisation. Given that the financial situation is not good, perhaps a Community Interest Company such as the structure designed by http://b4rn.org.uk/ would be the best solution. This arrangement ploughs any eventual profits back to the community and not shareholders so should be more sustainable. It should also avoid any claw-back demands from the EU as it is not a commercial operation. Perhaps a careful review of suppliers' costs might produce more economic backhaul solutions too. A local workforce striving to help their own community usually results in significant operational gains too.

Kind regards,
Walter



** See:-

http://www.ewhurst-broadband.org.uk/?p=2283&cpage=1#comment-800

http://www.ewhurst-broadband.org.uk/?p=3330&cpage=1#comment-794