First orders being taken for fibre broadband on some 01454 numbers

BT engineers bring superfast broadband to Bradley Stoke.

The days of frustratingly-slow broadband connections look set to come to an end within the next couple of weeks for some lucky subscribers on 01454 telephone numbers in Bradley Stoke, after internet service providers (ISPs) began taking orders for superfast fibre broadband.

Journal readers connected to cabinet numbers 22 (Brook Way) and 35 (Webbs Wood Road) have today (26th March) reported that they were able to place orders for the new service, with installation dates as early as next week (early April) being promised by ISPs.

Streets served by cabinet 22 are believed to include Cornfield Close (part), Dewfalls Drive, Stoke Meadows, Wheatfield Drive and Winsbury Way, while cabinet 35 serves Juniper Way (part) and Marjoram Close.

The long-awaited upgrade to Bradley Stoke’s broadband infrastructure will eventually benefit around 3,500 homes in the town, thanks to an investment programme that is being jointly funded by BT, South Gloucestershire Council (SGC) and central government.

Work on the project appears to be running ahead of schedule as SGC previously indicated that the first homes would be able to order the new service from “summer 2014” (taken to mean 1st June).

To access superfast broadband services once they become available, consumers will have to sign up for a fibre broadband package from an ISP of their choice (e.g. BT, TalkTalk, Sky, PlusNet, EE). These currently cost £5 to £10 per month more than a standard ADSL (copper wire) service and there may be one-off charges for the provision of a new router and activation of the service.

To find out if you can order the new service, follow the instructions on our Superfast Broadband Upgrade Status page.

Ready to order fibre broadband? Check out The Journal’s Fibre Broadband Deals page where we list the packages currently on offer from the main ISPs.

Please use the comments section after this article to tell us if you have been able to place an order. If possible, also mention which street you are in, which ISP you are using, and how much you have paid (package name, activation/connection fee and monthly charge).

Photo: BT Openreach engineers at work on cabinet 32 in Brook Way.

Share this page:

Related Posts

226 comments

  1. Can I just say a big well done to all those over the (many) years who have been involved in campaigning for this to happen. The Journal really kept this one in the public eye and I think we were likely at the front of the South Glos BDUK queue because of this. It’s a huge example of how well hyper-local publications can do good.

  2. Ordered fibre today.
    Cabinet 35.
    Juniper Way, high number.
    ISP is plusnet.
    Package is unlimited fibre. 22.50 or something per month.
    Connection fee 25 pounds (I’m an existing plusnet customer).

  3. Any chance the Journal could push for a status update on the Exchange Only lines. They may not be able to give dates but if they have actually started looking at them they should be able to give a status as to what they’ve actually done so far and what they’re currently doing.

  5. We have just ordered from BT
    Cabinet E4
    Woodlands Park
    Unlimited BT infinity 2 26.00 p/m 20.00 first 3 months no connection charge,plus for the next 5 days they are offering 100.00 sainsburys gift card
    Installing on 4th April

    Thanks to everyone for working on this!

  6. I live in wheatfield drive and BT infinity is available now,but if i try to upgrade to fibre with my current provider talk talk says that fibre is not available
    Why would that be?

  7. Ordered BT infinity yesterday, cabinet 22, install 11th April. Was on plusnet but while they are slightly cheaper/month BT give £6 off for 4 months + £100 sainsburys’s vouchers + a much better router.

  9. Ordered mine with BT went via Quidco. £70 cashback + £100 Sainsbury voucher install on 10th April.

    Thank you to everyone involved in getting fibre to Bradley Stoke.

  10. I’m on cabinet 35 in Juniper Way

    Just signed up for 38MB unlimited broadband with EE.

    Have 6 months £25.90 then 12months £36.40 both include £15.40 line rental but already have EE mobiles.

    I did challenge EE about the up to 38MB, answer was the line can provide 38MB but they think I should get 36MB.

    No engineer call just a change of router.

    I’ll let you know how I get on

  11. Wheatfield

    I went on EE site yesterday and it said not available. Gave EE a call and the operator updated their site as we spoke. Maybe same happening with Talk Talk?

    Give them a call

  13. Makes me very very bitter that exchange-only [EO] users need to wait alot longer. In my mind BT should have waited till the whole installment was completed…….

  15. There should have been a new exchange built at the time.

    It would be nice if the providers who will receive a mint from everyone switching to high speed broadband put a little of their profits into helping exchange only lines even if it means switching them to a cabinet line.

    Is there any benefit from being on an exchange line ???

  16. South Gloucestershire Council has said it is committed to bringing superfast broadband to those currently on EO lines. This will be done by re-arranging the existing copper network and installing cabinets at new sites. The extra work involved means subscribers on EO lines will have to wait longer before the service becomes available. All the upgrade work in Bradley Stoke will be completed by May 2015 at the latest.

  17. Good afternoon people, it’s great news that finally fibre is going to be available for some of those that want it. I’m one of those people that likes to know how things work. So I’ve seen the new cabinet being installed at the top of my road then the Openreach guys dug accross the road and dug about a further 30 ft into my road and stopped. So my question is how does the fibre actually get to the individual properties in road, is the infrastructure already under the road? Do they use existing phone cable under road, is that fibre? Excuse my lack of knowledge but if you don’t ask you don’t learn

  18. @Wolf: You will find the answers to your questions here: http://bit.ly/1jzgdbU

    The digging would have been to access a suitable power supply for the new fibre-enabled cabinet.

    In the fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) technology that is being used, a fibre connection is installed between the telephone exchange and the street cabinet. The connection between the cabinet and your home is not changed (i.e. it is still formed of a pair of copper wires).

  19. I echo the comment above from Toxteth about the way thie Journal has lead the campaign. Ordered my yesterday from BT as EE would only upgrade me if I took their phone services as well.

  20. Marvellous! Upgraded my PlusNet ADSL2+ 4Mb/s to 76.4Mb/s fibre today. Being installed on the 4th April, apparently (though I might not hold my breath about the date)!
    About time too. Just a shame my taxes had to pay for the infrastructure.

  21. @Monxton i tried calling talk talk but i was told to wait for them to change the website. Have now passed two days and website still says unavailable. I think is time to change even though i really do not want to go with BT

  23. did anyone switched from talk talk to BT? i would like to get bt infinity but not long ago i have updated my contract with talk Talk to get a view box from them.

    I am afraid that if i sign up with bt now i will be charged for the whole lenght on my contract with talk talk over £300

    I am served by cabinet 22, unfortunately talk talk as wheatfield said does not give you the option to add fibre to my contract yet.

    so to my original question did anyone terminate their contract with talk talk and paid early termination charges?

    Thanks

  24. Why is nothing happening at all with cabinet 34? No sign of any work taking place there at all, not even the construction of a plinth to support a new cabinet. Nothing imminent showing on roadworks.org either. Work seems to have raced ahead with every other cabinet, but 34 seems to have been completely ignored.

  25. Steve D – I feel your pain – but look on the bright side: at least you’ve got a cabinet! Those of us on EOLs haven’t even got that yet 🙁

  26. @Steve – I have seen Openreach there over the last few weeks – I think they have got the cabling there but my guess is they have been surveying it to decide where to put the new cabinet? (Just a guess)

    Hate being on an EOL 🙁 hurry up and get a solution done!

  27. I knew it was too good to be true. Just been informed by PlusNet that:

    “Our Suppliers have informed us that there is currently no more capacity in your cabinet and they are now working on creating more capacity. They have advised that we check for further updates on 02/04/2014. Please note that if capacity cannot be made before 04/04/2014 then the appointment will not be going ahead. We will contact our suppliers again on 02/04/2014 to check if the work has been successfully completed.”

    This is cabinet 22. Has anyone actually had fibre installed from cab 22 yet?

  28. @ Andy – that’s not good. I’ve not had anything back from Plusnet for cab 35. Install booked for Thursday. Fingers crossed…..

  29. Not surprised.

    It is hard to believe that BT would install a cabinet with minimal capacity.

    The cabinets can contain a number of cards, of different sizes, and it is quite likely BT have installed a minimal configuaration initially.

    The biggest irony is that Bradley Stoke was described as a non comercial area by BT.

  30. @ Simon – making assumptions, Andy suggested that he’d already booked the install and Openreach had moved it. I don’t think it was that he couldn’t book.

  31. The message from PlusNet advised

    Our Suppliers have informed us that there is currently no more capacity in your cabinet …”

    so from that I assumed that BT said, until more capacity was added.

    I am sorry if I am wrong, but it is normal for BT to install cabinets with minimal capacity initially, and added more boards if needed. After it is a waste of money installing a cabinet with 288 ports when only 50 are needed. Much better to install cards that support 64 users.

  33. So does it look as though BT have had more than 64 orders for cab 22 alone already? Or have they said the cabinet is ready before it actually is? If they’ve had over 64 orders then south glos council have been screwed haven’t they? BT were insistent that BS32 was not profitable enough without state-aid.

  34. The new BT cabinets can come in various configurations and I have no idea what the current number of allowed users is.

    The usual max number of ports in a FTTC cabinet is 288, and this is usually made up from stacks of cards. BT can easily add another card(s) if needed up to the maximum allowed. This usually takes a few days.

    Without confirmation that users have been attached to the new cabinets it is not possible to say if BT have run out of ports, or have issued an erroneous message.

  35. Is this long awaited upgrade suggesting that increase in speed will only affect those who apply specifically for fiber? Or will standard ADSL connections increase in speed also? Or are the rest of us going to be stuck with 4Mb?

  36. 4Mb? Luxury(as they said in monty python)
    Cab37 putting out 0.5-1.0mb.
    Cabinet 37, please turn on.

    Apart from the few cabs taking orders there doesnt seem to be any news on updates for all other cabs on fibre rollout.
    Just seems to be either cabinet installed or not.

  37. I have this morning been able to order on Cab 32 BT Infinity2 , the BT availability checker states that FTTC is available and should be able to get upload speed between 12.7-19.2 Mbps* and predicted download speed will continue to be between 48-65 Mbps*

    First Installation date I could get was next WED 9th April. At last!

  38. Happy Days for Cabinet 32.

    I have just ordered an upgrade via PlusNet. The upgrade should be 8th April, and I expect to see a speed of 59Mbs.

  39. Would love to know how you guys on Cabinet 32 are ordering when there is no FTTC on there?!

    Only Fibre Multicast? ……………….

  41. Cabinet 32 is definitely showing up as available for FTTC on the BT Broadband checker (SH – could you provide Will with a link)

  42. I’ve just done to looking at yes it is there but the number I’m looking to getting it on is next to the cabinet 32 & on the cabinet, yet no able to order… Currently talking to BT!

  46. Still no luck with talk talk, they still saying that fibre is not available . Appalling customer service, apparently open reach has not allowed talk talk to accept fibre orders

  47. Using the link adsl checker, capacity expected april 30th with dl speed still only stating up to 4mb speed?!

  48. Well my new Plusnet router came in the post today. Install on Thursday. Am I the first? Will let you all know how it goes..

  49. I’m also due to be installed on Thurs. Keeping my fingers crossed as I’m not from one of the postcode areas mentioned in the SouthGlosCouncil article.

    Will shout if it happens.

  51. I think the unlimited fibre package I signed up for has an 18 month contract, with penalties if you pull out earlier. This is with plusnet.

  52. Been in contact with BT and only HALF of cabinet 32 has been made live! Why I can’t see it on the number I want to put it on!

  54. Placed my order with BT last night – I’m on cabinet 32.

    Once the ball started rolling it has happened a lot quicked than I expected.

    Thanks to all that have helped drive this – it’s been a long wait!

  56. Simon,

    Just a little bit – seems odd though.

    No access to Virgin but going to be making contact with BT/Openreach/South Glos about why only half is live.

  57. Looks like me and Gyre on Juniper first then.

    Can’t wait. Even last night Spotify was playing up on a laggy connection. This can’t come soon enough.

    Will report back how it goes.

    Am also 18 months from Plusnet.

  60. Spoke to EE last night – Cab 37 – Hornbeam Close

    On their internal system is says by the end of June latest. The new cabinet is in place so I suppose it’s just a case of being patient until then.

    Fingers crossed it comes sooner! It’s been a painful 6 months only having moved to the area and being stuck with a shocking 3meg download!

  62. My new kit arrived today with Friday due for install….been bumped for a whole week. Beware punters – I fear there will be a long delay due to populatrity

  64. My bt infinity was due to be installed tomorrow but I have just had an email from bt saying there is a problem (what I the problem is I don’t know) and the appointment has been rescheduled for the 9th.

  65. I didn’t take the internal router. I’ve already been using a PPPoE solution with my ADSL modem for the last few years. Hopefully I can just swap out the modem and plug in the BT VDSL one. 🙂

  67. Now been told by South Glos Council “I’ve just checked with BT Openreach and your telephone line is definitely connected to cabinet 32. Openreach have confirmed that cabinet 32 is live and accepting orders, and they have assured me that the whole cabinet is live.”
    BT has said its due to demand that I cannot order!
    Guess have to keep on checking

  68. My PlusNet FTTC upgrade has been moved from Tues, 8th Apr to Thu, 10th Apr.

    Not sure why everyone’s appointment is being rescheduled, but could be demand.

  69. I asked Plusnet why the appointments were being moved. They said the original booking was only provisional and that it was pending checks with BT. Not sure how much I believe that, but that’s what I was told. He also said people should be turned on in the order they were booked. If you got in quick, you should be at front of queue. Again, not sure how accurate that was but thought I’d pass on.

  70. Mine (cab 22) has also been bumped from the 4th to the 9th. Looks like the Openreach engineer is going to busy next Wednesday!

  72. Cabinet 9 (Gloucester Road/The Common) serving The Common East is now “live and ready for service”, says SGC.

  76. Selfishly(!) I’m hoping the reason nothing has happened on cabinet 34 is that 34 is somehow involved in sorting out the EOL which are around that area.

    Ed – any chance of pushing for a status update on the EOLs?

  77. SH/Ed – Thanks for querying what’s happening with Cabinet 34 with SGC. I’ll be very interested to hear what they have to say. It seems strange that absolutely nothing appears to be happening at this cabinet at all. No sign of a new FTTC cabinet or even a plinth to put it on. There are lot of people connected to 34, so it’s odd it seems to be being ignored. Must be a good reason I guess, but I’d love to know what it is.

  78. Readyness does seem ad hoc.
    Cab37 was done at simular times to other cabs and yet nothing moved and june1st still latest date?

  79. Response from an SGC spokesperson in relation to cabinet 34 (Brook Way/Savages Wood Road):

    “I can confirm that cabinet 34 is in the plan to be upgraded. The rollout of fibre broadband is an ongoing process, so not all cabinets can be upgraded at the same time, but I can assure you that good progress is being made.”

  80. I’ve had confirmation for my install on Wednesday (8am – 1pm) now. Cabinet 22. I’ll let you know how it goes.

  81. SH (Ed) – Thanks for passing on the reassuring words from SGC regarding cabinet 34. Still seems strange that BT installed 6 of the 7 new cabinets and left 34 completely untouched. You’d have thought that while they had all the equipment in the area to lay concrete plinths and install new cabinets, they would have done them all at the same time. BT seems to be behaving like a slightly dodgy firm of builders, where they start the work and then disappear to another job half way through! I’m probably being unfair on BT, but it’s frustrating to know that some parts of Bradley Stoke now (or imminently will) have access to superfast broadband, while others still seem to be nowhere near to having it. Of course those on EO lines are in an even worse position, so I mustn’t grumble really!

  84. @MP – it won’t be lack of ports, it’ll be lack of engineers. How can they be out of ports if they haven’t hooked anyone up yet??

  85. Hi

    It is unlikely at this stage they will have run out of ports, it is very easy to add new cards to increase capacity.

    My concern would be in about 2-3 months.

    FTT Cabinets tend to support maximum configurations of 100/128/250/288 depending on cabinet size and manufacture. I do not know the make and size of cabinets around Bradley Stoke.

    SH – It would be interesting if SGC could reveal take up at each cabinet.

  87. Our Broadband upgrade was also re-scheduled for today, 9 April. Engineer said we were the first to be connected on Cab 22. After being here well over two hours, mostly on the phone to support staff, it wouldn’t work and he had to reinstate our 2MB connection and then said that our order has now been cancelled by BT. There were at least seven connections to Cab 22 scheduled for today – I wonder if any of these actually worked……..?

  88. @toxteth It hasn’t happened yet. No one’s even turned up. Looking at DB’s comment it looks like it might not happen at all. I’ll be on the phone to Plusnet on the dot at 1pm. This is typical BT incompetence. I have to deal with this kind of poor service from BT at work too.

  89. @Toxteth, let us know how your install goes tomorrow, I am scheduled for Friday afternoon (Juniper Way Cabinet 35), router arrived and just waiting to go.

    @Gyre – any news from your side?

    Kids have even planned a Halo marathon for the weekend (hopefully this won’t impact your enjoyment :-D)

  90. Wow that is not good chaps. I’ve not had any notifications from Plusnet of problems yet. Gyre, as was pointed out, is due this afternoon on same cab as me. Good old BT. Utterly hopeless at times.

  93. Just been advised that the engineer will not be attending because of a problem at the cabinet. Guess it will all have to be rearranged when the problem is fixed at some point in the future!

  94. Engineer has finally been in touch. I’m the 3rd install today, the first two having failed after long calls to BT support. He’s still going to come to me, but he thinks it won’t work here either. PlusNet knew nothing of any of this. Engineer thinks the fibre has not been installed properly at the cabinet and it may be 2-3 weeks before it is fixed. Great. I knew I shouldn’t have held my breath.

  96. @ Simon – DB said he had a failed connection on 22.

    So that now leaves 9, 35 and E4 with no reports either way.

  97. NO – I am on CAB 22 and engineer has just been and said wont we working today. He said they can’t identify what the problem is but he thinks it affects all the CABs recently installed.

  98. Does everyone need a engineer visit for fibre installation ? I am planned to be fibre enabled tomorrow but don’t have any engineer appointment. I am on CAB 22 and reading all the comments I don’t have high hopes 🙁

  100. Sam, I am also on cab 22 and am supposed to be connected on the 16th but because I am going for Infinity 1 I don’t need a home visit by an engineer you only get a visit if you want Infinity 2. BT have sent me a new Home Hub 5 but by the sound of it it’ll be staying in its box for a while longer.

  101. Well this is surely nothing short of a giant balls up. SH – I think this needs some investigation with BT/South Glos Council. Lots of people (myself included) taking time off work for installs here. Wasted leave because BT are incompetent.

  103. Thanks Wolf that would make sense. Rang BT, they say installation should go ahead as planned. I wouldn’t bet any money on it.

  104. The engineer didn’t actually turn up or return my calls in the end. PlusNet have promised to find out what’s up and rearrange the install, but so far Openreach have not updated their systems even to acknowledge the individual failure to turn up at my place today. The engineer was a 3rd party BTW, from a company called Kelly Ltd.

  106. There was a Kelly van parked on Juniper low numbers about half four today. Anyone reading who might have had an install attempt?

  108. my engineer arrived at 16.00 went through the motions got the impression he new their was a problem with box 22.
    reconnected my old broadband and said telephone bt . to find out when problem would be sorted out.
    you try and contact bt. all u get is a talking pre programmed computer. who does not understand brizzle.
    Only want a answer to a simple question.
    with a human voice.

  110. Further to my earlier post, the engineer (Kelly Comms, not BT) turned up at 7.50 this morning and we were his first call. BT knew before 10am that Cab 22 had a problem and the engineer called his manager to ask for his later appointments to be covered by someone else as it was clear he couldn’t get to them all as he’d already been here nearly three hours. I raised a complaint with BT and they are due to ring tomorrow to find out what went wrong. This should be interesting as I may have an advantage here – 1. I used to work in the telecoms industry and 2. English is my first language! Will post again when I’ve spoken with BT

  111. Just spoke to PlusNet who have confirmed that my install is going ahead tomorrow afternoon.

    I hope they know what is going on!

  112. Did anyone else sign up to the Openreach Twitter feed? I noticed that they haven’t announced Almondsbury as live yet.

    Could it be a case of arse an elbow?

  113. So tomorrow is – Simon on 32, me and Gyre on 35. Good luck, people. May Thursday be more lucky than Wednesday.

  114. I live on Juniper (low number) and had an appointment for between 8 & 1. Kelly’s turned up at 1.15 and left at about 5 (should take 15mins) He managed to get the fibre working to the house but the home hub wouldn’t come on line so he changed it with a spare he had on his van but still no luck, after going back and forth to the cabinet many times and speaking to his boss he said the modem wouldn’t work (he also said there may be a problem with the account?) so he reinstated my old home hub and changed us back to copper at the cabinet. Apparently bt will be in touch tomorrow. He did say he had successfully done a couple of houses in Juniper (high numbers) before coming to mine. Gutted a wasted days holiday!

  115. @Simon2 – must have been your house I saw the van outside of then… Few turns from St Mary’s School? I’m a little further down. Gutted for you. This all seems like a balls up…

  116. I can confirm the balls up from my connection; cab 32, Saxon way, installed this morning but pppoe connection falling to authenticate with either ISP or bt_test.
    ISP believes there’s problems with the circuits from the cab apparently.
    Least I’ve got a 3g dongle until it’s resolved…

  118. I wonder if other areas around the uk experienced similar failings on initial cab installation or if we are the only ‘lucky ones’.
    Seems unbelievable that local community/ sgc took it upon themselves to get fibre in the area and yet still we are beholden to bt ineptitude.

    One cab failing, acceptable teething problems at best but all cabs with problems?
    Whats that called?

  120. The Kelly guy I had this morning installed the DSL modem and faceplate and then left. Wouldn’t stay around once the DSL light was on.

    I rang Plusnet and walked through a few tests. Even the connection to the BT test account failed.

    I’ve raised the issue with their faults team and mentioned others in Bradley Stoke were having similar problems.

    Could take days to fix and my better half is giving me grief 🙂

  122. Got an engineer revisiting tomorrow to ‘resolve the connection problems’
    Doubt they’ll be doing anything at my house…

    Does anyone have a working connection on cabs 32 / 35 yet?

  123. Plusnet said they weren’t even seeing the pppoe failures their end.

    I think the more that complain to their ISPs faults team the sooner it will get fixed for all.

    Keeps fingers crossed 🙂

  126. Had a visit from Kelly comms yesterday, same as everyone else, engineer stayed 5 mins, nothing has worked since. Cabinet 35, Juniper Way ‘high’ No’s

  129. Statement from South Glos Council:
    Openreach have assured me that there are no issues at all with any of the cabinets in Bradley Stoke, and there have been a number of successful connections to the new fibre-enabled cabinets. It takes some ISPs longer than others to make the fibre services available (sometimes this can take up to two weeks from when a cabinet is announced as live and ready for service). It could be that ISPs are having to delay some installation appointments due to such a high demand for the new services, but residents will need to speak to their ISP directly regarding any issues with installation appointments.

  130. Well my installation was supposed to be yesterday the 9th with BT for BT Infinity2 on CAB32 which didn’t happen. Rang BT just, they said that according to BT Wholesale the engineers are due to finish their work tomorrow on the 11th and therefore the earliest they can ring me to reschedule the appointment is on Monday 14th. We shall see!

  131. Was supposed to be connected today to BT infinity but engineer fitted the box and now there’s a problem with the Almondsbury exchange! So am not connected to any wifi at the moment! Apparently when they do swap you over they have till midnight that day to reconnect you! Not impressed!!!!!

  132. I think the excuses of the engineers are getting more creative as the day goes on. I was told he’d connected some from cab 35. Anybody care to stick hands up and say they are online via FTTC?

    South Glos Council – are you sure any connections have been made via Almondsbury?

  133. BT called me today to say that there is a problem “Outside the property” but could not tell me exactly what this problem is. In fact, I don’t recall having ever heard so many words without feeling any the wiser afterwards! Like Shaun, I have been given 14 April as the earliest date to be upgraded – we’ll see. Having been the first scheduled for connection to Cab 22, I might wait until somebody else is actually up and running before losing another day’s money (self-employed people don’t get holiday pay).

  134. I’ve wasted 2 days holiday. BT didn’t advise me my 1st appointment was cancelled…Then yesterday, similar to others an enginner was at my house for 4 hours, 3 of which were on the phone to various people at BT. All relating to Cab 22. Absolute joke. Left me with no broadband. I then spoke to someone to complain and she said there wasn’t a problem. she talked me through setting it up on my laptop. She said it would take 24 hours and then it would be fine. The whole thing is a shambles and I am paying over the odds for a poor service (I’m trying to be polite)…By the way, I’ve still not got any internet and I’m getting grief off my wife and kids!!

  135. I guess we should start tweeting to @BTCare. So that others come to know the issues we are facing. I have resigned to the fact that when I go home tonight I wont have any internet.

  139. Cab 35: just chased up my call with Plusnet about this fault. Only now, after 24 hours without service have they escalated it to BT!!!!!

    Plusnet say they have not had any issues reported to them from BT so they assume all is okay unless us, the public, keep calling them.

    As for SGC, sounds like the usual ‘to hard to deal with’ excuse.

  140. My line was upgraded today, after Kelly engineer assured me that that all was ok locally. He confirmed that someone in Saxon Way was on 70Mbs this morning.

    However, no luck for me.

    The BT Openreach modem shows DSL line is ok, and PlusNet confirm this. The issue is PPP authetication. This suggests, to me, that PlusNet and BT and have not configured the exchange or Cabinet DSLAMS correctly. This should take minutes to fix, but the way PlusNet/BT work, it could take days.

    I have been quoted a 4 day fix by PlusNet. As you can imagine the wife and kids(back from Uni) are not happy about no internet for this period.

  141. Ok, I’ve had a reply from Gavin Patterson’s office already. Can I suggest you all go for this route too?

    Gavin.e.patterson@bt.com – be polite, explain the problem, link back to here. If we all do this, we’ll get some quick action. Can I please appeal to as many as you as possible to do this now/ASAP please?

    They’ve asked for my account details and said they will check what’s happened.

  142. I’ve got an open issue reported to Plusnet from 9am this morning. I’ll be following up on it early tomorrow.

    It’s so near yet so far.

  145. Well I dunno what happened overnight but mine has connected now. Getting about 40mbps down. Anybody else?

  146. I had infinity 2 installed with BT on cab 32 yesterday. Had no connection all day but this morning it’s now working with a download speed of 74.52Mb/s and upload speed of 19Mb/s

  147. I have emailed Gavin@bt, Rhianon@Sgc and opened a case with Plusnet.

    I assume that everyone is experiencing the same PPP AUTH error,

    Speaking to Plusnet support yesterday, for two hours, we checked the supplied TG582 router, a Netgear Router I plan to use (much faster with QOS) and a direct PPPoE connection to the BT Openreach modem. All reported the same PPP Auth error.

    Out of curiosity are BT customers also effected? I have a recoillection that BT do not use PPP Auth, (they tie Broadband to phone line not a user).

  148. I get around 40.5 Mb/s down and 18.5 Mb/s up. Paying for 80/20, and profile is 80/20. Happy to get 40, but wondering where the extra 30+ has gone 🙂

  149. Whoops. Actually getting 71. Turns out the limiting factor is my ethernet-over-mains adaptors between rooms 🙂 🙂

  150. Congrats to those who are connected – anyone managed this on cabinet 22? I on the other hand am still waiting for PlusNet to even acknowledge that something went wrong. The promised to phone me yesterday but did not.

    I did see an Openreach engineer poking about in cabinet 22 this morning.
    http://t.co/uFs1AfV9E1

  152. Plusnet just confirmed to me that it was an exchange fault that had caused all the problems. Was fixed overnight.

  154. Pah. Plusnet saying next available appointment is 28th April. So bumped from 9th April (engineer did not actually show up) to 19 days later.

    So, anyone here on cabinet 22 actually got a working fibre connection?

  157. I emailed Gavin Paterson and it seems they are looking into this urgently. I have already had a phone call from CEO’s office and they are contacting Senior Executives at BT Wholesale to get to the bottom of this. At least they have had the decency to look into it urgently and keep in touch.

  158. We have broadband again! Similar speeds to those above on the wifi and more on the PC which runs direct! Not overly impressed at losing broadband for a day, but all good now!

  159. My son has just restarted teh router and we have broadband again!

    A quick test confirms a download speed of 6.78MB/s, which corresponds to 55Mbs.

    Not bad considering the linux box is connected via powerline+switch to the router and the speed test was US site,

    ….

    Happy days!

    Thanks to all who have helped with this! It is greatly appreciated.

  160. After emailing Gavin Patterson last night I received a phone call from his office this morning and they managed to bring my appointment forward from 29th April to the 17th and confirmed all of the issues are now sorted.

    Almost there!

  161. Really unhappy now. There is still a fault somewhere at least on Cab 22 . They are cancelling my Infinity order and getting me a normal broadband.

    BT response “I’ve checked this for you there is an on-going fault and the current order needs to be cancelled there won’t be an update for one week on the fault however in the mean time I can place an order for normal Broadband service while you wait on the fault to be cleared on fibre service then place an order for fibre once complete”

  163. More joy with BT it takes 24 hrs to cancel order which means Monday then another day to order ADSL so looking at Wednesday before I have any internet.

  164. Had BT Infinity2 installed yesterday (cab35) absolutely no problems at all. Whole install took about 10 minutes.
    Hope everyone else gets their service sorted soon.

  168. On Friday reset the router and it authenticated, hurrah. Tested the speed – 56/16 as predicted by the checker. It gets better though; two Open Reach engineers arrived to fix the fault reported post install. Even though it was clearly working, they spent 2 hours in Friday afternoon checking things over and fixed a fault with the line they’d found. End result is the speed is now coming in at 74/18mbps. Result!

  172. Bt checker finally showing cab37 with fttc.
    Guess last nights connect issue was the upgrade/reboot to turn on 37 fibre.

  174. Any news on exchange-only [EO] lines please? Getting frustrated seeing other people being able to order, gutting is the word actually.

  176. My BT installation on Cab 32 went off fairly hassle free. The engineer arrived first thing last Thursday morning and was done in about 15 minutes.

    The only frustration was that the service hadn’t been activated and wasn’t done until close to midnight or the early hours of the following day.

    The initial speedtest using the Homehub 5 gave a result of 70Mb down. I’ve switched that for my Draytek router and it seems to have stabilised at about 55Mb. I may switch back to the BT router to see whether it syncs at a better speed.

    Very happy with results so far – thanks to all that drove this forward.

  177. I would also like to get some feed back, as to when work is going to start on the exchange-only (EO) lines YES I also feel the same we are just getting side lined… What is the story on this matter…feed back would be appriciated please.

  178. Still no fibre on cabinet 22. First engineer visit was scheduled on the 9th but was a no show. Now rescheduled for the 29th. I have received the following email from bt today. Hello BT here, just to let you know that we are monitoring your order for infinity broadband . Our suppliers have advised there is insufficient ports at the cabinet to place your order for broadband infinity. We have requested an update from our suppliers , to find out when ports will be available. We expect a reply by 15/04/14 and will call you then with an update on 16.04.14. Any queries call 0800 1690173 pin 8034.You do not have to call in. Sorry for any inconvenience the delays is causing. Many thank

  179. I emailed South Glos council this morning, this is the reply I got about the EOL;
    The rollout of fibre broadband across South Gloucestershire is ongoing and upgrading the existing copper cabinets to Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) and installing new fibre-enabled cabinets to pick up EO lines is a complex process, which will take time to plan and deliver.

    I’m afraid I don’t have a specific date for the EO lines solution in Bradley Stoke at the moment, but good progress is being made. Openreach are working on the plans for the EO lines in Bradley Stoke, and the re-arrangement of the existing copper network is also being designed. Once the planning stage is completed, the physical surveying of the areas will be carried out. These surveys will give us a more accurate view of the detailed deployment plan.

  180. Will – that’s exactly the same reply I got yesterday.

    I followed it up requesting more information as it doesn’t actually say anything and was told “I’m afraid I don’t have any further information on the EO lines solution in Bradley Stoke at the moment. Openreach are currently planning and designing the new fibre network. Once the planning is complete, Openreach will then begin the surveying.”

    I followed that up by asking if they can contact Openreach and get an update and was told “I will come back to you as soon as possible regarding your query below.”

    I’ll let you know if I hear anything. I don’t think it’s acceptable to be just told it’s in the planning stage. Openreach should know when they anticipate the planning stage will be complete and also how long a survey normally takes. We may not be able to get a date for deployment yet but any decent project manager should know the current planned end dates of each activity.

  182. I live in Stanshaws close and have an EO line, feeling that we are gonna have to wait a long time before we get better broadband. Makes it worse seeing that BT have installed the new cabinet at the end of stanshaws close/ Oaktree cresent.

  183. I live in Linden Drive, and I am given to understand that living in this road we are also on an (EO) line as we’ll…and if this is the case, I don’t know if any cabinet has been installed for this section yet…any feed back on this road would be much appriciated…I wait with baited breath!.

  185. Has anyone managed to get an order placed with Talk Talk. I am on cabinet 37 and talk talk customer service keeps telling me that fibre isn’t available in my area. EE and BT websites show availability. Has anyone on other cabinets, which went live earlier, been able to upgrade to fibre with Talk Talk?

  186. @ TT_customer – Depends if TT are set up for FTTC or FTTP?

    EE brightbox router means an engineer doesn’t have to visit your property and they only need to visit the local cabinet to switch you over.

    Looking at the 30th April for my activation.

  187. My line went dead about 1300. Swapped to new EE box. Hope it goes live overnight. Juniper high nos. A note through the door from the engineer would have been nice

  192. Glad it’s not just me waiting for news on cabinet 34. I’m perplexed as to why BT didn’t upgrade it at the same time as all the other cabinets in Bradley Stoke. SH (Editor) contacted SGC and received assurances that cabinet 34 is to be upgraded – but of course no indication of when.

    I wonder if cabinet 34 is somehow going to form part of the solution for Exchange Only (EO) lines? BT are supposedly only at the planning stage of trying to work out how to deal with all the EO lines in the town, so I guess it could be months before cab 34 is upgraded if that’s the case.

    If only BT and SGC could be a bit more communicative about what the plans are and what the timetable is, that would save a lot of stress and second guessing.

  193. Steve – think you’ve hit the nail on the head regarding communication. I think we all appreciate that things take time but the lack of communication only drives the suspicion that BT are going for the quick wins, leaving the hard stuff till then end, and there’s no oversight from the council. I’ve pushed to get some sort of date when they estimate the planning stage will be complete but without any joy. I don’t believe any project plan would have an open ended stage on it so the only conclusion is that they haven’t really done anything.

    I think it’s time we all started emailing our councillors (assuming Brian Hopkinson and Sarah Pomfret for Bradley Stoke Central?) and make them work for our votes at the next election 🙂

  194. Actually – looks like those around the Hawkins Crescent area are in Bradley Stoke South so John Ashe and Robert Jones are the ones to contact…

  195. I raised the question of why nothing appears to being done at cabinet 34 with South Gloucestershire Council. Here is their response:

    “Cabinet 34 is in the plan to be upgraded as part of the council’s project. Cabinet 34 will be surveyed in the next couple of months and should be ready for orders this Autumn. The rollout of fibre broadband is an ongoing process and not all cabinets can be upgraded at the same time.”

    And their latest response regarding exchange only (EO) lines:

    “Openreach are continuing work to plan and design the more complex solution for residents in Bradley Stoke who are connected directly to the telephone exchanges via Exchange Only lines. For those EO lines that will be upgraded as part of the council’s project, in order to install the new fibre in the most cost-effective way we need to completely re-arrange the existing copper network in those EO line areas, to make it possible to install new fibre-enabled cabinets. The EO lines will then be connected to the exchange via a new fibre-enabled cabinet, which will hugely improve speeds. All cabinets installed as part of the Superfast Broadband Project will be live and ready for service by March 2015.”

  196. SH – Many thanks for looking into the situation regarding cabinet 34. It’s very disappointing to hear that properties connected to this cabinet will have to wait until the Autumn before getting access to superfast broadband. My understanding was that all properties that have lines connected to a cabinet (i.e. non-EO lines) would be able to place an order by the Summer (1st June). This latest news sounds to me like the deadlines have slipped and we are being let down by BT.

    Why wasn’t cabinet 34 surveyed at the same time as all the other cabinets (after all, it’s only several hundred yards from cabinets that have been upgraded)? What’s so different about cabinet 34 that it has to be left until the Autumn? It seems BT has been more than happy to accept the government subsidy, but only seems interested in upgrading cabinets where it’s very straightforward to do so – which defeats the whole purpose of them being given the subsidy in the first place!

    Again, the lack of information from BT and SGC doesn’t help. If we could be told what’s so difficult about cabinet 34 and why it couldn’t be upgraded at the same time as its neighbouring cabinets, we might be a bit more understanding about the delays.

  197. @Steven D wrote: “My understanding was that all properties that have lines connected to a cabinet (i.e. non-EO lines) would be able to place an order by the Summer (1st June).”

    That’s not quite correct. What we were told when the Bradley Stoke phase was announced is that the first homes would be able to order the new service by summer 2014.

    In practice, the first orders were accepted on 26th March 2014, more than two months ahead of schedule.

    I’m also on cabinet 34, so just as frustrated as you are, but at least we know we will definitely be getting the new service sometime within the next four to ten months.

    I am, however, concerned that this sentence in SGC’s statement:

    “For those EO lines that will be upgraded as part of the council’s project…”

    could be interpreted as meaning that some people on EO lines might not be upgraded.

  198. Engineer has just been, cabinet 22, Wheatfield Drive, happy bunny !!!

    Now for the technical stuff – jolly fast !!

    Have been uploading to BT Cloud for the last few days, managing about 5,000 files per day, have just uploaded 1,000 in under an hour

  199. SH – You’re quite correct, your own article does indeed state that the “first” homes would be able to order the new service from summer 2014. Teach me to read more carefully! Nonetheless, given that BT are ahead of schedule, it’s frustrating that the momentum now seems to be being lost and we might now have a gap of several months before the final cabinet is upgraded.

    However, my frustrations at having to wait a few more months pale into insignificance if your interpretation of SGC’s latest comments on EO lines is correct (which I fear it may be). At least everyone connected to cabinet 34 should eventually get superfast broadband, but if SGC is hinting that some EO lines may never be replaced, then some Bradley Stoke residents are destined to forever be in the broadband slow lane. This would be a dreadful situation and create a “broadband underclass” in the town. Surely this is exactly what the government subsidy was supposed to prevent?

    SH- I wonder if you are able to go back to SGC and query this point with them? Was it just a bad choice of words on their part or was the underlying meaning intentional?

  200. I received a response from Robert Jones (South Glos councillor). In the main it repeated information that we all already know and reminded me once again how wonderful the council and our MP have been in chasing this since 2009 (not sure why the job taking over 5 years is something to be proud of).

    He did promise to seek further clarity on the timescales when the Project Officer returned from holiday.

    Not sure if anybody knows, but we keep being told how the Exchange Only lines are a ‘complex engineering task’. Surely it’s just a bit of a rewiring job after sticking a cabinet in the right location?

    Like Steven D I think part of the problem has been lack of information. Keep people informed and they’re generally happier. Being told it’s been in planning stage for over 2 months and we don’t know when that stage will end, doesn’t help.

  201. I am sure the early statements (not sure who from) regarding broadband rollout stated that 90% of Bradlay Stoke would be covered… anyone else remember this ?

  204. Talk talk has started accepting orders for Cabinet 37 users since today morning. Both Fibre medium (38mb) and Fibre large (76mb) available. Just placed my order and Go live date on 12th of May. Fingers Crossed!!!

  205. Help us build a complete picture of the extent of exchange only (EO) lines connected to the Almondsbury exchange (01454 numbers) from Bradley Stoke.

    So far, we have reports of EO lines in these streets: The Beeches, Courtlands, Cross Tree Grove, The Culvert, Hawkins Crescent, Kemperleye Way, Oaktree Crescent, Sages Mead, Stanshaws Close, Teasel Mead, Stevens Walk.

    Have you checked your line? Instructions can be found on this page: http://bit.ly/bs-superfast-status

  206. Anybody who has been recently upgraded to FTTC find that the speeds are dropping badly at peak times?

    Was good for the first week or so, but my speeds are all over the place this weekend.

  207. @gyre – mine hasn’t been great this weekend either. Still a damn sight better than the 2mbps but not up to the speeds I was initially getting.

  208. @gyre – saw BT engineer at cabinet this morning. Power cycled Openreach router later and now getting faster than when installed! Presume there was some kind of issue. Try and resync.

  209. Cabinet 37 – Ordered via EE on the 13th April. New VDSL Brightbox 2 router arrived, but still waiting on activation here. They say Friday the 2nd as the latest, I’ll update when it’s live.

  211. My line has finally been upgraded on cab 22. Speed was very variable yesterday, anywhere from 10Mbps to 50Mbps, but I have been seeing a very stable 70Mbps down and 19Mbps up today.

  212. I live in the Pursey drive area and have been on a sub 1mb connection for as long as I have lived here (7 years) my postcode is in a super fast virgin zone, but my property is not serviceable for Virgin + I am on an exchange only line. I would like clarification from the council as to what can be done for individuals who have EO lines in the south, but cannot be upgraded by the BDUK project.

  213. @Matt K: I was going to suggest you write to SGC to ask, but didn’t you report on 3rd March that you already had? See: http://bit.ly/1o4qhIh

    You could also try contacting your SGC councillors and your MP about this. If you don’t know who they are, you can find out here: http://bit.ly/1meSZt4 and here: http://bit.ly/1meT5RA

    If others are in the same situation, I’m happy to help put you in contact with each other to form an action group.

  214. Cab 37 – EE – Activation now pushed back to the 15th May as they “didn’t process my order properly”

    Good start EE!

  215. I must be lucky, came home tonight and my fibre is active!

    Paid for the 40meg service and getting the full 40meg down and 10meg up.

    Quick download test and I’m getting 4.5meg a second downloads.

    Result.

    Thanks all for you campaigning for this, can now make full use of my Sky HD on demand service etc.

  216. I am still unable to confirm whether Linden Drive is part of cabinet 34 or whether it is an EO line, because according to the map we are slap in the middle of all the roads mentioned under cabinet 34…I did try to look up my number under BT but it came back with an answer of the number does not exists would that be because my line is with talktalk which is the case in fact…all very confusing I’m afraid…any further confirmation from anyone at SGC would be appreciated

  217. Now been on for about a week. Cabinet 35 High Nos Juniper with EE 38MB. Getting 35MB download and between 8 and 14 upload. Got a text message when changed over.

    What a change to the old days, now all we need is a cheap bus service, the lights on longer at night and a good long warm Summer

  219. Connected on Cab 22 yesterday (finally) and download speed now up from 5.5 to 39Mbps. Wheatfield Drive high nos.

  220. Signed up in April for connection 9 May 14. Like many, I received notification that the Broadband connection date would be slipping to 13 May. Naturally I assumed that the whole switchover would slip to 13th ….. but no. BT took over my telephone line (and the cash cow that is the line rental) on the 9th thereby triggering the terminating all of my existing ISP’s services including Broadband. BT say they are not able to do anything until 13th leaving us for 5 days with no service at a time at a time when son needs internet access for revision resources ahead of GCSEs next week.
    In short, if BT change the date of your switch over (and you are not already with BT) tell them it is not acceptable. Ask them to hold the contracted date or slip the whole transfer to the later date (suspect their focus on taking over your line/ISP service will mean they will hit the earlier date).
    BT’s response to my complaint has been woeful and ‘sorry’ just doesn’t cut it. Going straight to OFCOM with a breach of contract complaint.

  221. Has anybody else in Bradley Stoke successfully had YouView installed with their BT Infinity Package. I am being told this has not yet been set up and we are going to have to wait 50+ days to get it sorted but they are going to continue to bill me for this service and I will have to claim back when it is all sorted!

  222. How come everywhere in Bradley Stoke has improved internet connection however in Merryweather Close there isn’t any change at all we have been waiting for so long and yet still no change has happened at all

  223. @Ray: Have you used the BT checker to find out which cabinet you’re on?
    See: https://www.bradleystokejournal.co.uk/superfast
    I expect you’re on cabinet 34 (like me) or on an exchange only (EO) line. Let’s hope that everyone who wants to use this new service actually gets access to it by SGC’s published deadline of March 2015.

  224. @Annoyed. I’ve ordered BT Infinity Package with YouView, and it will be installed tomorrow (the engineer is coming in the morning to set it up) – I am on cabinet 37. Hope we will be able to access YouView.

    Has anyone got BT Infinity package – is it good?

  225. @AMR yes I have the BT Infinity 2 unlimited package and must say I am very pleased. Speed is good and connection consistent throughout the house.

    Good luck and hope all goes well.

  226. After 2 weeks my YouView service is finally working. I have had no issues with the Infinity though which is great. Now got to battle with BT to get money back for the 2 weeks with no service.

Comments are closed.