FTTP on Demand

Ever the search for better broadband in the land of third world broadband known as rural England continues....

So who's got it or getting some then? ;)

Looks like our local FTTC cabinet that OpenSheep installed last year might becoming live real soon now. Wow thought it might never happen. According to the OpenSheep website this cabinet will support "Superfast" copper based broadband but apparently also actual real bits of glass aka Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) on demand.

We are almost 0.6 mile / 1 km from said cabinet which I think, given the quality of the last 1/2 mile of copper based connection, strung along some half rotten poles, most of OpenSheep refuse to replace or even climb anymore, I'm hardly excited about FTTC, but fibre to me ......oooooooh now that would be nice. They may even have to replace some poles so they can string up the glass!

So being the curious fecker, I have blasted off a request for quote for an FTTP On Demand connection to pre-sales at Cerberus Networks. Their website says according to my address I'm eligible to order it, but cant tell me owmuchizit. Apparently it takes them 2 weeks to generate a quote, I suppose they too have to wait on OpenSheep....:cry::LOL::ROFLMAO:

This will be interesting....
 

upnortheast

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Northumberland
In this area -
We (about 25 houses / businesses )were promised FTTP (about 12 months ago ) to be installed about now.- nowt happened
Seems the Gov has critised BT / Open whatsit for not reaching targets.
So they have taken the huff & are not doing any new quotes until a review has been carried out
Good job they don`t run a proper business
 
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Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme

In March 2018 we launched a £67m Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme. Gigabit broadband vouchers can be used by small businesses and the local communities around them to contribute to the installation cost of faster connections using gigabit-capable infrastructure, i.e. full fibre broadband sometimes known as fibre to the premise or FTTP.

With increasing use of cloud-based services (data storage and payroll for example), streamed services, voice and video conferencing, and cyber security measures today’s connectivity speeds may begin to slow under the impact of increased traffic. Gigabit-capable connections will allow users to increase download and upload speeds according to their need well into the future.

Small to medium sized businesses can claim a voucher worth up to £3,000 and residents can claim a voucher worth £500 as part of a group project.

The scheme is only accessible through broadband service providers who have registered to be part of the scheme, so if you are a qualifying business or local community group interested in benefiting from a voucher:

  1. Check whether your business/community group is eligible for a voucher - details are on the website.
  2. Then check whether there are registered suppliers in your area using the postcode search on the website. (You can also talk to your existing supplier to see if they are participating in the scheme.)
Vouchers are issued to the supplier and can only be used to offset the cost of installing a gigabit-capable broadband connection to your premises.

For full details about whether you are eligible for a voucher and to connect you to a full fibre broadband supplier, go to: https://gigabitvoucher.culture.gov.uk
 

foxbox

Member
Location
West Northants
I'm looking at this at the moment; so far the closest I've got is a half arsed illustrative figure which was based on making a number up, adding a bit to it and then sticking a 0 on the end. Having questioned what the figure means and how reliable it is I'm now told they'll progress the enquiry to a field survey (we're 2 miles from the cabinet, half over ground, half under) and that may change the figure. We're being quoted over £50k (excluding vouchers) to connect 5 businesses and about a dozen residential properties at the moment; I don't believe they can do it for that (as they're lying workshy gits) but we'll see. No way we're paying that figure anyway but thought we may as well chase down the different options before complaining to our equally useless MP.

I strongly suspect they see the vouchers as free money and are just adding their value to the quote generated by the buffoon whacking the calculator in their HQ.
 
This is a joke.

Tell them to install it and you will sign a 5 year contract with them at a set monthly fee.

It's only BT being silly sausages. There is no reason they can't string up fibre (which is cheaper than copper) all over the country; it's not rocket science, after all.

Ironically had the industry not been privatised we might not have this issue.
 
This is a joke.

Tell them to install it and you will sign a 5 year contract with them at a set monthly fee.

It's only BT being silly sausages. There is no reason they can't string up fibre (which is cheaper than copper) all over the country; it's not rocket science, after all.

Ironically had the industry not been privatised we might not have this issue.
Yes I agree it’s a bit of a joke. At least we’re not alone in fudging up our broadband, the Aussie pollies have royally messed up their NBN to the point of it being an utter shambolic embarrassment. Makes us look ok in comparison.

Won’t be signing any 5 year fixed price contracts though, the tech and prices are changing too rapidly to hitch my wagon to that.
 
Have thought about it, a matched pair of MikroTik dishes which run 2 Gbps (1 Gbps full duplex) up to 1.5km are about £225 now per set. They run on unlicensed 60 GHz spectrum.

View attachment 689526

Cheap as chips. Just need a leased fibre line on one end....

Ultimately fibre is going to be superior, at least for my needs. Too much latency with radio/microwaves in my experience.

It's only the lack of longer term contracts that put BT off installing this stuff. They own the network and have no real reason to spend hundreds of pounds installing a line if customers only switch contracts every year- they can't get their investment back.
 

foxbox

Member
Location
West Northants
Ultimately fibre is going to be superior, at least for my needs. Too much latency with radio/microwaves in my experience.

It's only the lack of longer term contracts that put BT off installing this stuff. They own the network and have no real reason to spend hundreds of pounds installing a line if customers only switch contracts every year- they can't get their investment back.

I'm told that we'd be tied to a contract for 6 months after installation after which we'd be free to shop around for alternatives; rather unsurprisingly though they're not prepared to tell me how much the contract is until I've agreed to proceed further down the installation route. They're definitely not keen to do it though; it's been around 3 months since I made contact and I've still to get to a point where there is a quote worth showing to the other businesses on the line even though we already know it'll be too expensive.
 
I'm told that we'd be tied to a contract for 6 months after installation after which we'd be free to shop around for alternatives; rather unsurprisingly though they're not prepared to tell me how much the contract is until I've agreed to proceed further down the installation route. They're definitely not keen to do it though; it's been around 3 months since I made contact and I've still to get to a point where there is a quote worth showing to the other businesses on the line even though we already know it'll be too expensive.

That is ridiculous, tell them you will sign for a year if it is a reasonable deal, possibly longer.

You can't imagine what a full on fibre line will do for you. I have 100meg here presently and the cabinet it probably 50 yards away at most. I'm going to investigate getting FTTP for a private residence. It's not difficult to install either.
 
Ultimately fibre is going to be superior, at least for my needs. Too much latency with radio/microwaves in my experience.
Pornhub works just fine on 4G and if the ms really matter that much, you need to shift your AI day trading platform from the swamps of Somerset to the bowels of Telehouse! :cool:;):ROFLMAO::LOL:

Seriously is 22ms ping really that bad on 4G? Ok it not 10ms but can you tell the difference?

Some poor barsteward on here was up around 400ms on that ‘superfast’ copper shite.
 

foxbox

Member
Location
West Northants
That is ridiculous, tell them you will sign for a year if it is a reasonable deal, possibly longer.

You can't imagine what a full on fibre line will do for you. I have 100meg here presently and the cabinet it probably 50 yards away at most. I'm going to investigate getting FTTP for a private residence. It's not difficult to install either.

I've got 80 odd meg in the village so know what you mean; the farm is on 5 at best though when we've got no line faults. Had to replace the underground section last year; offered to dig in fibre instead for them at no cost but they wouldn't even entertain it. Rural is a hassle, they'd really rather pretend we're not here.
 
Pornhub works just fine on 4G and if the ms really matter that much, you need to shift your AI day trading platform from the swamps of Somerset to the bowels of Telehouse! :cool:;):ROFLMAO::LOL:

Seriously is 22ms ping really that bad on 4G? Ok it not 10ms but can you tell the difference?

Some poor barsteward on here was up around 400ms on that ‘superfast’ copper shite.

It's just not stable enough all the times I have used it. I know the technology is probably improving but the cherry of having fibre right to my computer is pretty tasty in my book.
 
It's just not stable enough all the times I have used it. I know the technology is probably improving but the cherry of having fibre right to my computer is pretty tasty in my book.
Rock solid in my experience with EE since 2014, but I have bought a seriously good router (CradlePoint) and the antenna is outside up a mast, directional and 9dbi gain. It basically never drops.

Still if I can get fibre to the door for a reasonable outlay then I’m having it.
 
I'm told that we'd be tied to a contract for 6 months after installation after which we'd be free to shop around for alternatives; rather unsurprisingly though they're not prepared to tell me how much the contract is until I've agreed to proceed further down the installation route. They're definitely not keen to do it though; it's been around 3 months since I made contact and I've still to get to a point where there is a quote worth showing to the other businesses on the line even though we already know it'll be too expensive.
Which supplier are you getting quotes from?

As I understand it the fibre enabled BT exchanges are “graded” into markets by Ofcom, to incentivise the ISP to provide service in our teeny little exchanges. Then after a while they are re-graded and prices drop.

Market 1 - Areas where BT is the only ISP (less competition, higher prices).
Market 2 - Areas where there are 2 or 3 ISPs (average prices).
Market 3 - Areas where there are 4 or more ISPs (lowest prices)

No prizes for guessing which 'market' my local serving exchange is in!
 

joe soapy

Member
Location
devon
Pornhub works just fine on 4G and if the ms really matter that much, you need to shift your AI day trading platform from the swamps of Somerset to the bowels of Telehouse! :cool:;):ROFLMAO::LOL:

Seriously is 22ms ping really that bad on 4G? Ok it not 10ms but can you tell the difference?

Some poor barsteward on here was up around 400ms on that ‘superfast’ copper shite.
251 ms 48.33 Mb/s 9.30 Mb/s
logo_0006_2233c87373c5.jpg



Expecting a different result? Tell us
BT
 

foxbox

Member
Location
West Northants
Which supplier are you getting quotes from?

As I understand it the fibre enabled BT exchanges are “graded” into markets by Ofcom, to incentivise the ISP to provide service in our teeny little exchanges. Then after a while they are re-graded and prices drop.

Market 1 - Areas where BT is the only ISP (less competition, higher prices).
Market 2 - Areas where there are 2 or 3 ISPs (average prices).
Market 3 - Areas where there are 4 or more ISPs (lowest prices)

No prizes for guessing which 'market' my local serving exchange is in!

I started off contacting the BT Community Fibre (or whatever they're called) team thinking they'd at the least show if we could get it installed (our line is 2.5km long but the distribution point is located about 1.2km from the exchange; we've had numerous promises that we can already get FTTC faster than ADSL2 at the farm but they're seeing the DP on the line tests giving a false reading) but the team there appears small (possibly only 1 person working part time), they email a date and half hour slot which they'll ring me in and if they fail to get through repeat the following week. Won't let me ring back, don't really respond to emails, typical BT really.

Due to the complexities of our site though I'm not expecting a feasible proposal from any of them, just trying to establish if they could actually get it here at the moment. I've got a few other options to chase down too but they're all more complicated than this one which doesn't fill me with hope really.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 77 43.5%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 62 35.0%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 28 15.8%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.7%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.7%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 4 2.3%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

  • 1,286
  • 1
As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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