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Bury St Edmunds – FTTC, Fibre, LLU … find an ISP..

Written by on Aug 31, 2010 | 41 Comments

I live in Bury St Edmunds, a lovely market town but not normally blessed with spanking new technology like FTTC (Fibre To The Cabinet), as I wrote about in this blog post, it’s coming here. Very soon..

I thought it’d be interesting for other Bury St Edmunds people to know why the previous blog post was written and how to choose an ISP along with my personal experience.

I’ve heard friends talking about poor broadband speeds in areas where their neighbours seem to get far better speeds. I was suffering the same so decided to try to find out what the root reason might be.

I’d chosen Sky broadband as part of the deal Sky where doing where you get your broadband thrown in with calls and the TV deals.. when I phoned Sky initially they told me I was in a “Sky area” (somewhere they offer LLU) and I’d get the broadband deal. Turns out that I wasn’t in the area so I was dumped onto a product called Sky Connect and had to pay for the privilege.

The awfulness of that product needs to be described in a seperate blog post, but needless to say DON’T DO IT!

Why was Sky Connect so bad? Was it just my bad luck and line speeds? My line stats where pretty awful (line stats are the information about the amount of noise on your line that could affect your broadband service, you can commonly get them from your router / modem) so for a while I assumed it was that but then I did some digging.

It turns out that Sky Connect is actually a re-branded standard BT ADSL line. And here comes the important bit… so are all other ISP’s packages that don’t have LLU at the local exchange.

Yup that’s the bit that’s so obvious but made me realise… everyone who thinks they’re on such and such ISP is in fact on a BT line… come around 5pm when the traffic management kicks in everyone in you’re local area is sharing the same bandwidth and your speeds go horribly horribly wrong.

With this info I needed to search down an ISP that was LLU.. so I went here..

Sam Knows Broadband Checker (you can search for info. on any exchange and see what’s going on)

It was at this point I discovered one of two good things

  • Sky had taken advantage of LLU and installed equipment at my exchange
  • I spotted the FTTC stuff that I wrote about in the previous blog post

Awesome!

I phoned Sky and they moved me over to the product I had originally asked for, reduced my monthly bill and my broadband speeds have gone from around 0.3 Mbps to around 1.9.

Nothing earth shattering but a significant difference for the average browsing / music / youtube / Spotify session.

I now bide my time for an FTTC install date. :)

The Author of this post is Matt

  • http://www.tec7.co.uk John Newbury

    Matt, just managed to get out of my contract with Tesco BroadBand, with no penalties [hurrah!]. Sam Knows says FTTC due 1/9/10, so should be live now? Any recommendations on who I should go with? BT, Virgin and Sky all report that my line is not yet FTTC enabled :( , John

  • http://www.tec7.co.uk John Newbury

    Matt, just managed to get out of my contract with Tesco BroadBand, with no penalties [hurrah!]. Sam Knows says FTTC due 1/9/10, so should be live now? Any recommendations on who I should go with? BT, Virgin and Sky all report that my line is not yet FTTC enabled :( , John

  • Matt

    Hey John,

    I phoned BT Infinity sales yesterday (6th Sept) and they didn’t have any more info. either.

    My suspicion is that it’s not actually enabled yet, I’m hoping there’ll be a press release when there is a date.

    I’ll do some digging!

    As far as ISP’s are concerned I haven’t had too much of a look round other than I looked on http://www.ispreview.co.uk/review/top10.php and looked at the top ISPs listed and saw that a few of them had FTTC offerings.

    I’ll dig through them to compare and maybe write it up at some point when the exchange is enabled.

    There is of course the possibility that although you have a new cabinet near your house your actual line isn’t enabled… god forbid :)

  • Matt

    Hey John,

    I phoned BT Infinity sales yesterday (6th Sept) and they didn’t have any more info. either.

    My suspicion is that it’s not actually enabled yet, I’m hoping there’ll be a press release when there is a date.

    I’ll do some digging!

    As far as ISP’s are concerned I haven’t had too much of a look round other than I looked on http://www.ispreview.co.uk/review/top10.php and looked at the top ISPs listed and saw that a few of them had FTTC offerings.

    I’ll dig through them to compare and maybe write it up at some point when the exchange is enabled.

    There is of course the possibility that although you have a new cabinet near your house your actual line isn’t enabled… god forbid :)

  • Matt

    FYI all…

    Bury St Edmunds exchange should be “coming on line” at the end of September! woo!

  • Matt

    FYI all…

    Bury St Edmunds exchange should be “coming on line” at the end of September! woo!

  • Ken Tindell

    I use fast.co.uk. Excellent. Now just counting the days for FTTC to be activated on the exchange..

  • Ken Tindell

    I use fast.co.uk. Excellent. Now just counting the days for FTTC to be activated on the exchange..

  • Matt

    Hi Ken,

    That looked like the prime candidate for me as an ISP..

    The packages on all the ISPs seem about the same sort of deal

    around the £25 mark per month for around 45 – 50Gb with an install cost of around £60 (although I think the install cost is determined by OpenReach) I do notice that the Fast is only 12 month contract (some others seemed to be 18 / 24) and if the service from Fast is good then it’s a no brainer.

    How have you found Fast?

  • Matt

    Hi Ken,

    That looked like the prime candidate for me as an ISP..

    The packages on all the ISPs seem about the same sort of deal

    around the £25 mark per month for around 45 – 50Gb with an install cost of around £60 (although I think the install cost is determined by OpenReach) I do notice that the Fast is only 12 month contract (some others seemed to be 18 / 24) and if the service from Fast is good then it’s a no brainer.

    How have you found Fast?

  • Ken Tindell

    Fast has been excellent. BT hasn’t. But Fast are good at managing BT.

  • Ken Tindell

    Fast has been excellent. BT hasn’t. But Fast are good at managing BT.

  • Steve

    Although the date for Bury St. Edmunds is 30th Sept, don’t count your chickens before they hatch mate. I e-mailed someone at BT and they seem to think its going to be November December time. Cause of the conservation areas have not had there new cabinets yet.
    I am still hoping the exchange goes live end of sept though, and the BT person that e-mailed me is wrong.

  • Steve

    Although the date for Bury St. Edmunds is 30th Sept, don’t count your chickens before they hatch mate. I e-mailed someone at BT and they seem to think its going to be November December time. Cause of the conservation areas have not had there new cabinets yet.
    I am still hoping the exchange goes live end of sept though, and the BT person that e-mailed me is wrong.

  • Matt

    Hi Steve,

    I should have looked here before but here’s (some of) the planning applications for the cabinets in the conservation areas:

    http://www.stedmundsbury.gov.uk/swiftlg/apas/run/wphappsearchres.displayResultsURL?ResultID=346387&StartIndex=1&SortOrder=APNID:asc&DispResultsAs=WPHAPPSEARCHRES&BackURL=%3Ca%20href=wphappcriteria.display?paSearchKey=138508%3ESearch%20Criteria%3C/a%3E

    Apparently they don’t need planning permission to change their cabinets outside of the conservation areas; hence those ones being done first while waiting for permission to go through.

    Looks like there’s lots to be approved.. so Nov / Dec (disappointingly) sounds reasonable now…

  • Matt

    Hi Steve,

    I should have looked here before but here’s (some of) the planning applications for the cabinets in the conservation areas:

    http://www.stedmundsbury.gov.uk/swiftlg/apas/run/wphappsearchres.displayResultsURL?ResultID=346387&StartIndex=1&SortOrder=APNID:asc&DispResultsAs=WPHAPPSEARCHRES&BackURL=%3Ca%20href=wphappcriteria.display?paSearchKey=138508%3ESearch%20Criteria%3C/a%3E

    Apparently they don’t need planning permission to change their cabinets outside of the conservation areas; hence those ones being done first while waiting for permission to go through.

    Looks like there’s lots to be approved.. so Nov / Dec (disappointingly) sounds reasonable now…

  • Steve

    Yes cheers mate, don’t know why they cannot activate the ones that are ready and waiting, and then activate the others later. My cabinet is ready now, and if i enter my number on the BT Infinity site, it comes up with the ADSL can get now, and i noticed they have added, from today, BT Infinity available 30th September 2010.
    Hope they do that otherwise why would they update the site?
    Strange really?
    One more thing the person who e-mailed me the other week also did say they are going to activate all of them when they are ready, so i presume that means when all cabinets are a-go.

  • Steve

    Yes cheers mate, don’t know why they cannot activate the ones that are ready and waiting, and then activate the others later. My cabinet is ready now, and if i enter my number on the BT Infinity site, it comes up with the ADSL can get now, and i noticed they have added, from today, BT Infinity available 30th September 2010.
    Hope they do that otherwise why would they update the site?
    Strange really?
    One more thing the person who e-mailed me the other week also did say they are going to activate all of them when they are ready, so i presume that means when all cabinets are a-go.

  • Matt

    Well that’s reassuring that you’re listed on the checker.. I’ve just done the same and got 16mb down and 6mb up estimated…

    I had read something that if you currently can’t get 2Mb or greater they wouldn’t allow you to get it due to the minimum speed they have to guarantee once you’re connected.. we’ll see.

    I can’t see any technical reason why they can’t enable the exchange as a whole, and all the currently connected cabinets on the date they’ve said and still be able to connect additional cabinets to the areas that are awaiting planning permission.

    My current internet connection is so bad I’m (sadly) quite excited by this!

  • Matt

    Well that’s reassuring that you’re listed on the checker.. I’ve just done the same and got 16mb down and 6mb up estimated…

    I had read something that if you currently can’t get 2Mb or greater they wouldn’t allow you to get it due to the minimum speed they have to guarantee once you’re connected.. we’ll see.

    I can’t see any technical reason why they can’t enable the exchange as a whole, and all the currently connected cabinets on the date they’ve said and still be able to connect additional cabinets to the areas that are awaiting planning permission.

    My current internet connection is so bad I’m (sadly) quite excited by this!

  • Matt

    OK so just checking a few of the planning applications has revealed this…

    http://www.stedmundsbury.gov.uk/swiftlg/TempMedia/83440-77284.08.10.pdf

    two weeks ago…

  • Matt

    OK so just checking a few of the planning applications has revealed this…

    http://www.stedmundsbury.gov.uk/swiftlg/TempMedia/83440-77284.08.10.pdf

    two weeks ago…

  • Steve_flannigan

    If they cannot give you anything more than 15MB they simply will not offer you Infinity.
    Done a check today on Infinity and guess what, 31 December now. Some people in Bury are just here to spoil everything, complain, moan, moan then complain again. End of the year it is then, thanks to some of the moan and groaners.

    I have 18.7 Download estimated
    8.8 Upload estimated

    Which is different from my first estimate of 22MB DWN and 9.9MB UP.
    I have read loads of forums about fttc and most people that are estimated my speed actually got 36MB or more. So it goes to show its defo estimated and you prob get more.

  • http://twitter.com/MattFitchett Matt Fitchett

    I’ve received two phone calls today from different ISPs asking me did I need any more info. on signing up for fibre both saying that my cabinet will be live on Sept 30th…. result!

    It appears the rollout will be staggered… makes sense…

    The Bury exchange is confirmed as going live n Sept 30th too…

  • Steve_flannigan

    Im afraid your wrong mate, some cabinets are going to have ISP pre order only from 30th sept. Going live date update is end of november. Thats direct from BT, Bury St. Edmunds. Someone who has been in all the meetings about planning applications and overall deployment of the cabinets.
    Although im still holding out for 30th :)

  • http://twitter.com/MattFitchett Matt Fitchett

    Ditto on holding for the 30th… typical ISP info. I suppose.. should know better :)

    The checker still says 30th Sept for my line is it 30th Nov for yours Steve?

  • Steve_flannigan

    No mine says 31st December :( I have had some bad news too. My contact says there has been a objection about my cabinet and i think its going to be moved. Just as the work has been completed, power was connected last week and its all ready to go. Typical. I did e-mail back and said they could put the cabinet in my back yard LOL :) If only. I think its going to be 1st december for actual go live date.

  • http://twitter.com/MattFitchett Matt Fitchett

    damn… is the objection legitimate? e.g. does it make sense?

    You could always check out the link I posted before, find your one and have a look at the objection..
    I think all objections are public so you can even see who it was hehe

  • Steve_flannigan

    My contact does not know and the cabinet was installed without a planning application, its not in a conservation area so does not need one. So the objection remains a mystery. Contact says that it could be a resident in the area or the cancel themselves may just want it moved.
    Trust me when i say its not in anyone’s way, nothing wrong with the location.

  • Steve_flannigan

    I have a mate who lives on the new estate near the new post office, next to the audi garage, checked his landline number on the BT Infinity checker and he can get Infinity now. So how come i have to wait another 3 months for Infinity????? Bt what are you doing. My cabinet is gonna sit there non-active all that time?

  • http://twitter.com/MattFitchett Matt Fitchett

    Yup I live in that estate too and it’s always said available end of Sept and I can order it now….

    only if the BT website actually worked… hehe

    I’ll make a phone call this afternoon and see how I get on

  • http://twitter.com/MattFitchett Matt Fitchett

    Installation appointment
    Your appointment and activation will be on

    13 October 2010 8am-1pm

    sweet :)

  • Steve_flannigan

    So why do i have to wait another 3 months? I think my contact has been lying to me:(

  • Steve_flannigan

    Just called them too, informed me to call back thursday 30th. Im not holding out for much but there is hope:)

  • http://twitter.com/MattFitchett Matt Fitchett

    Probably bringing them on in stages?

    It’ll all work out fine as I’ll get all the teething problems no doubt hehe

  • Steve_flannigan

    Let me know how the speed is mate, as were pritty much the same estimated.
    Still have not sorted my cabinet out yet, but mayfield roads 2nd box was activated the same time as yours. Wish i was on that one.

  • http://twitter.com/MattFitchett Matt Fitchett

    Will do Steve.

    I’ll blog about the install, equipment etc and the speeds (hopefully!)

  • Andy Liu

    Yep, I am going to relocate from Cologne, Germany to Bury St. Edmunds. So I am going from 100mbit fibre optic line to my fiancee’s BT ADSL … 2mbit. Feels like traveling back in time and there I arrive. Welcome back in the stone Age. Hope one day BT will deliver Infinity asap.

  • Andy Liu

    Does anyone of you guys know if I order a business broadband, if they give a better line then 2mbit? as they promise 20mbit for business, was wondering if it could be done in my area(IP327GP)

    thx for advise 

    Andy

  • http://twitter.com/MattFitchett Matt Fitchett

    Hi Andy,

    Did you check if you can get BT Infinity on that line?

    Cheers,

    Matt

  • http://www.bnl-media.co.uk Andy Liu

    Hi Matt,

    no infinity yet a mountroad area …