BT are busy at my exchange

[Glenn]

I just took a look at my exchange on Samknows, it seems like BT will be busy for the next few months;

21CN WBC status:     
RFS date set : 31/03/2011
FTTC status:    
RFS date set : 01/12/2010

It's the 1st time I have seen 21CN listed on there.

[Rik]

Odd that they're doing fibre before WBC.

[Glenn]

That's what I thought too.

[Rik]

Presumably that indicates either that BT don't think everyone will pay for fibre, or they don't plan to cover every cabinet.

[Glenn]

Well, I'm yet to find a cabinet locally, either standard or FTTC.

[Gary]

I checked mine, still no date status for WBC and it no longer mentions 21CN at all  although we do have the dreaded carphone warehouse LLU here now, funny how their checker says I would get 4Mb when I get 6.6-.6.8Mb, they must know who cr@p their service is in advance 

[Rik]

 

[Glenn]

Just found a checker that gives a wide range of results http://www.dslchecker.bt.com/adsl/adslchecker.welcome

BT Wholesale
THE BROADBAND AVAILABILITY CHECKER

For Telephone Number xxxxxxxxxx on Exchange BLACKWATER

Your exchange is ADSL enabled, and our initial test on your line indicates that your line should be able to have an ADSL broadband service that provides a fixed line speed up to 2Mbps.

Our test also indicates that your line currently supports an estimated ADSL Max broadband line speed of 2.5Mbps.

Your exchange is planned to have ADSL2+ by 30th April 2011. Our test also indicates that your line currently supports an estimated ADSL2+ broadband line speed of 3Mbps.

Your cabinet is planned to have WBC FTTC by 31st March 2011. Our test also indicates that your line currently supports a fibre technology with an estimated WBC FTTC Broadband where consumers have received downstream line speed of 17.3Mbps and upstream line speed of 7.5Mbps.

The actual stable line speed supportable will be determined during the first 10 days of use. This speed may change over time, to ensure line stability is maintained.

If you decide to place an order, a further test will be performed to confirm if your line is suitable for the service you wish to purchase.

Thank you for your interest.

Please note that dates and exchanges are indicative and subject to change.

Please note that postcode and address check results are indicative only. Most accurate results can be obtained from a telephone number check.

Note: If you already have a Broadband service enabled on this line and you want to switch service providers, you will need to contact both your current provider and your new provider to get your service changed over new and existing service provider to have this service transferred.

How does the highlighted part work, they are giving figures for a cabinet that doesn't exist?

[Rik]

Extrapolation from current ADSL? 

[dujas]

I checked mine, still no date status for WBC and it no longer mentions 21CN at all  Dunno  although we do have the dreaded carphone warehouse LLU here now, funny how their checker says I would get 4Mb when I get 6.6-.6.8Mb, they must know who cr@p their service is in advance

Talktalk unbundled my local exchange just over a month ago, so I decided to switch to their Plus package (from Idnet), largely because it meant ADSL2+ speeds (my line attenuation is 15.8db) when my exchange still doesn't have a date from BT for WBC 21CN.

I have to say so far I'm impressed. My combined monthly costs for the telephone and broadband have halved, no more download limits (although there is a FUP) with a sync of 22Mpbs downstream, average throughput of around 18Mbps with no noticeable peak time slowdown.

First line customer support is as expected, awful, heavily script based and if you ask them a question to which they don't have an answer, they'll either make something up or terminate the call. Fortunately their UK based forum support is good, but there is a 2-3 working day delay in processing your request.

So assuming their LLU is available, nothing goes wrong with your order and you don't mind them tracking every website you visit under the guise of malware prevention, they're not that bad


PS Their line speed checker works on a work case scenario of a 15db SNR target margin.

[Glenn]

I checked on IDNet last night, it gave me the same info as in my post above.

[Gary]

Talktalk unbundled my local exchange just over a month ago, so I decided to switch to their Plus package (from Idnet), largely because it meant ADSL2+ speeds (my line attenuation is 15.8db) when my exchange still doesn't have a date from BT for WBC 21CN.

I have to say so far I'm impressed. My combined monthly costs for the telephone and broadband have halved, no more download limits (although there is a FUP) with a sync of 22Mpbs downstream, average throughput of around 18Mbps with no noticeable peak time slowdown.

First line customer support is as expected, awful, heavily script based and if you ask them a question to which they don't have an answer, they'll either make something up or terminate the call. Fortunately their UK based forum support is good, but there is a 2-3 working day delay in processing your request.

So assuming their LLU is available, nothing goes wrong with your order and you don't mind them tracking every website you visit under the guise of malware prevention, they're not that bad


PS Their line speed checker works on a work case scenario of a 15db SNR target margin.

Glad it worked for you  , they are the only LLU provider at my exchange, but for me I could not go with TalkTalk after seeing the reviews and chaos on my mothers line, I would rather go with Be if they ever appeared, like you we have no date for WBC.   

[Ted]

I checked mine, still no date status for WBC and it no longer mentions 21CN at all  although we do have the dreaded carphone warehouse LLU here now, funny how their checker says I would get 4Mb when I get 6.6-.6.8Mb, they must know who cr@p their service is in advance 

Same here, Gary. TT LLU just installed in the local exchange. They estimate my download speed at 4.3mb out of 24mb (I rang them for a laugh), despite the fact that I sync at 8128 and am less than 1 mile from the exchange with an attenuation of 26

What made me really laugh was that he kept saying "I have good news for you, sir." I thought I'd rung the JW helpline by mistake. 

[Gary]

Same here, Gary. TT LLU just installed in the local exchange. They estimate my download speed at 4.3mb out of 24mb (I rang them for a laugh), despite the fact that I sync at 8128 and am less than 1 mile from the exchange with an attenuation of 26

What made me really laugh was that he kept saying "I have good news for you, sir." I thought I'd rung the JW helpline by mistake. 

I think I would keep saying "I have some bad news for you" back  I know its mad about speeds, I sync at 8128 as well so how they estimate that speed I do not know, I'll have to call them for a laugh, although beware they don't jump on your connection, Ted. 

[pctech]

Maybe they are just being conservative to protect themselves which is probably sensible.

They probably live by the customer service philosophy 'under promise and over deliver'

[Gary]

Maybe they are just being conservative to protect themselves which is probably sensible.

They probably live by the customer service philosophy 'under promise and over deliver'

I think with TT it's under promise and never deliver they shape and throttle so much its crazy

[pctech]

I suspect that even the unshaped providers will have to put equipment in place at some point to use as a network misuse sanction to slow down the bandwidth hogs.

[Gary]

I suspect that even the unshaped providers will have to put equipment in place at some point to use as a network misuse sanction to slow down the bandwidth hogs.

Its like catch a catch 22 situation really, more media is available to stream but bandwidth is not infinite, something has to give.