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[AndyPPUK]

I met some people from "Faster Broadband for Worcestershire" yesterday... not hugely productive, but they did give me some snippets of knowledge that I don't think anyone has found out before, which will be rather nice for people on exchange-only lines.

They confirmed that customers with exchange only lines will not be left out of their BDUK roll-out, and better yet the solution BT has for exchange only lines in Worcestershire is to skip all that tedious mucking about with cabinets, and simply hook them up with FTTP!

I guess this is a rather nice reward for people lumbered with exchange only lines, as they will go from the worst type of connection to the best in one fell swoop (well, a 3.5 year roll out, acutally, but you know what I mean...)

[Black Sheep]

That is good news for DEL (Direct Exchange Line) EU's. I honestly thought that we (OR) would probably end up dropping a Cab at various points on the separate 'feeds' leaving the Exchange, ergo making them FTTC viable. But as you say, this will be a great coup for the DEL's of Worcester. I hope they roll the same programme out nationwide !!

[kitz]

I don't think anyone has found out before, which will be rather nice for people on exchange-only lines.
..//..
and better yet the solution BT has for exchange only lines in Worcestershire is to skip all that tedious mucking about with cabinets, and simply hook them up with FTTP!

This is good news  
I too had assumed at some point BT would have to install cabs.  This is a much better solution.   

Wonder what the viability would be for all DELs country-wide.  Would it have to be considered on an exchange basis depending on length of the DELs. 
Would this also be a good opportunity for BT to consider something that had also crossed my mind - FTTdp.   Im sure there are a few on this forum who would love FTTdp

people lumbered with exchange only lines,

Weird situation in that most DELs were very close to the exchange, so they went from having had the fastest internet connections during the 00's, to being totally left behind for fibre.

---
Edit - moving this to the News Section as this IMHO is news worthy.  Thanks Andy.

[AndyPPUK]

Thanks for considering this newsworthy, Kitz!

My guess is that this is probably going to happen with many, if not all BDUK funded roll-outs, but nobody in the Council really understood that it's a big deal - the Worcester people I spoke to had no idea that this was anything special or newsworthy (in fact one of them didn't know what a DSLAM was). If anyone reading this is on a DEL, but not in Worcestershire, it might be worth dropping a line to your local BDUK people and asking about it.

[kitz]

Its certainly progress..  and provides hope not just for BDUK DELs ... but also for many other users around the UK who thought they'd been forgotten about.
Exchange Only lines are estimated to make up to 5% of UK phone lines, so thats a fair chunk of the population.  Quite a few of those lines - especially those in communal type blocks -  could be well served with FFTB.

[waltergmw]

Gentlefolk,

Perhaps BS can comment in more detail but I believe there are some rural exchanges where there are some very long DEL lines.
If so, does that mean that the recipients of BDUK's State Aid are obliged to run possibly many kms of P2P fibre ?

Likewise for those FTTC enabled PCPs where BT have not offered VDSL services according to their Wholesale availability checker ?
(I have observed that BT are too embarrassed to even mention the FTTC option already fully commissioned to those on long and atrocious lines where BT deem they cannot oblige.)

Kind regards,
Walter

[AndyPPUK]

I'm not sure how all the BDUK deals work, as individual councils were allowed to add their own bits to the 'basic' specification, but the Worcestershire one that could have required BT to deliver a maximum contention ratio, maximum lag time simply obliges BT to deliver minimum sync speeds of 30Mbps to at least 90% of premises in the area, and 2Mbps to the rest. The only extra bit they added was that they must reach 30Mbps to at least 90% of businesses in the area, not just hit the 90% of everything target by doing residential lines.

BT are free to choose where to go, as long as they hit these percentages, unless the council has set them other (possibly secret) priorities, so this doesn't oblige them to deliver 30Mbps for any DEL connections at all, unless that particular BDUK area has over 10% DEL connections, in which case they would have to do some of them to hit the 90% target.

Another point is that there is actually no obligation to run fibre anywhere - BT is free to choose any technology, so they could use satellite to get to hard to reach places, and the Worcestershire people suggested this might be how BT will do 'difficult' bits.

[kitz]

Perhaps BS can comment in more detail but I believe there are some rural exchanges where there are some very long DEL lines.

Im not BS...  but yes there are. 
This is a theoretical example - but likely not too far from the truth.  Say maybe a farm (or small cluster of houses) in the middle of no where.  Back in the days before DSL was even conceived of BT in their wisdom likely decided it would be much cheaper & better to say run six copper lines in a more direct route over one 30/50 pair cable , rather than making a diversion via a cabinet which could perhaps add a substantial run to the overall length of copper for the EU. 
'BT' is used in general.. I should say the GPO..  because it was to provide telephony only and not broadband back then.

Small clusters such as the above IMHO would be the ideal candidates for FTTdp - obviously depending on how easy the cable run would be - which is something that us plebs cant guess at.  Even B4RN is still a long way from completion and needs more fibre runs to meet many more outlying areas.

If so, does that mean that the recipients of BDUK's State Aid are obliged to run possibly many kms of P2P fibre ?

Highly unlikely, the cost would be far too high.  Each case would have to be reviewed on its own merit.   
The vast majority of DELs are close to the exchange which is likely the case in Worcestershire and why BT have opted for this approach... and why it at least gives hope to some.     

[tickmike]

Interesting.
But what does FTTdp mean ?, it's not in the 'Glossary ' or DEL.

[burakkucat]

FTTdp -- Fibre to the Distribution Point
DEL -- Direct Exchange Line