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[Robbie]

Can I read anything into what these 2 Openreach people are doing on my driveway?

The looked to be inserting yellow plastic conduit(?) into the existing ducting.  We were not expecting the gods of FTTP to arrive anytime soon as we are on G.fast but could they be prepping for proper fibre?



(I say 2 people doing, when 1 of them seemingly did nothing whilst the other did all the heavy lifting.)

Openreach used to do a curtesy knock before setting up on my property, I guess those days have gone and with it any opportunity for a cup of tea.

So does anyone know what the yellow reel signifies?

 

[Black Sheep]

They are rods for pushing down the ducts from box to box. They will then pull through a blue rope that will later get used to pull a cable in ..... be that fibre or copper cable, we have no way of knowing.

Is your area listed for FTTP ??

[Robbie]

Is your area listed for FTTP ??

It is but it's in the large "up to Dec 2026" bucket.  The exchange is Gainsborough and it's a long time since it was the capital of England...

[Black Sheep]

It is but it's in the large "up to Dec 2026" bucket.  The exchange is Gainsborough and it's a long time since it was the capital of England...

Ha ha

With nothing to go on but a picture, it's hard to form an opinion tat carries any weight. But it looks like your area may be a newish build (last 20/30yrs) looking at the block-work drive/road and the property in the background Wild guess, mind.

If so, it would be unusual (although not unheard of), for copper cable lengths installed in duct to fail. Only ever had one and that was rat chewing at the cable. So, with that in mind, maybe they've brought the FTTP programme forward for your area ??

Drop us a post-code, not neccessarily your own if you dont want,  but somewhere nearish so I can have a gander at our quick-view system to see if work has started there. 

[Robbie]

Thank-you and on the nail with the house ages as they range from 2002 to 2008, with ours built in 2005.

A nearby postcode is DN21 1FB but our actual cabinet number is Cabinet 34.

 

[Black Sheep]

Cheers - will have a gander for you tomorrow. 

[Robbie]

You are a gentleman.

[Alex Atkin UK]

It is but it's in the large "up to Dec 2026" bucket.  The exchange is Gainsborough and it's a long time since it was the capital of England...

Probably meaningless comparison, but mine is in the 2024 timeline but they've made a ton of progress.  So it really depends if your street is the start or the end of the process.

My understanding is, the easier your street is to do, the sooner it will likely be done.  Around here the areas with existing ducting or easy pole to pole runs were done months ago (though only became available to order this week), but mine was just done yesterday as there was no existing duct across the road.

There's also pressures of competition.  Virgin and CityFibre also are rolling out round here, and it seems if they can use 90% Openreach ducting/poles, then they're not averse to putting in their own to fill the gaps if they can beat the competition.

There's been a direct correlation between how quick Openreach have been doing works and how much Virgin have, though obviously I can't be sure its because Virgin are following Openreach closely so know they can use their new ducts, or if they are outright trying to beat them to it.

[Black Sheep]

Thank-you and on the nail with the house ages as they range from 2002 to 2008, with ours built in 2005.

A nearby postcode is DN21 1FB but our actual cabinet number is Cabinet 34.

 

Mate - the good news is that Gainsborough is well up and running with FTTP delivery under the 'Rural FTTP programme'.

Regulars on here will know, but to reiterate ... there is a ghost-plan (blueprint) created initially of each PON (typically a PON serves up to 120 homes). Once these have been created, then a proper, real-life person  goes and performs a manual survey to fine tune the GP data and submit to Planning.

From what I can see on the quick-view (its a map of the area with life-cycle colours denoting at what stage each PON is at), I would humbly suggest around 1/4 of Gainsborough have had manual surveys carried out, to date. The post-code you gave me being one of them. 

[dee.jay]

Probably meaningless comparison, but mine is in the 2024 timeline but they've made a ton of progress.  So it really depends if your street is the start or the end of the process.

My understanding is, the easier your street is to do, the sooner it will likely be done.  Around here the areas with existing ducting or easy pole to pole runs were done months ago (though only became available to order this week), but mine was just done yesterday as there was no existing duct across the road.

There's also pressures of competition.  Virgin and CityFibre also are rolling out round here, and it seems if they can use 90% Openreach ducting/poles, then they're not averse to putting in their own to fill the gaps if they can beat the competition.

There's been a direct correlation between how quick Openreach have been doing works and how much Virgin have, though obviously I can't be sure its because Virgin are following Openreach closely so know they can use their new ducts, or if they are outright trying to beat them to it.

Same here in Bridgend - "by 2026" - but bidb.uk now shows many roadworks notifications for the main Bridgend town - not sure if that is in response to Netomnia rolling out full fibre - and a already very heavy VM deployment..

[Robbie]

Mate - the good news is that Gainsborough is well up and running with FTTP delivery under the 'Rural FTTP programme'.

The post-code you gave me being one of them. 

TVM and I have dropped you a message.

 

[Robbie]

My understanding is, the easier your street is to do, the sooner it will likely be done. 
There's also pressures of competition.  Virgin and....

To my eyes our street looks very easy - 110m of ducting from the current (ECI) cab with 4 access points along the way.  The route from the exchange looks rather more complicated though.

Our cul-de-sac is only 9 houses, so not exactly dense with properties.  When Virgin looked at the area a few years ago they just went down the main road rather than including our side street.  Virgin's survey team did come down our road though but stopped halfway, blocking my exit one day.  When I chatted to them they said they could not go any further as the last half of the street is privately owned and the owner had refused access, despite multiple enquiries and, when it came to the owner, "some people are just mean".

I did express my surprise as I do own the road and nobody had contacted me at all.  I'm not usually regarded as 'mean' either! 

[Black Sheep]

PM sent back with the good news. 

[Robbie]

I am very grateful so thank-you again!

 

[Black Sheep]

No worries.