Fibre - cabinet 15 [Now Available]

Does anyone know what is going on with Cabinet 15? It was showing as “build” a while back, then “accepting orders” and now it’s back to “exploring solutions” - but it must be in scope for an upgrade?

I am on Cabinet 14 and have noticed the same. I see they are now trying to push you towards community fibre partnerships which seems like you are paying them twice, once to fund the intstall and secondly with your subscription. Has anybody out there done this?

I did look at Virgin but it is uneconomic for them to dig up the street outside as the roots from a tree on the street has done something to the local cable.

Hi,

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but did you find out anything about this? I am moving to Forest Hill next month and apparently my new place is on Cabinet 15. Google searches are giving all sorts of conflicting reports about internet availability.

I haven’t been able to find anything out. I’m really confused about whether or not there are any plans to upgrade now. I don’t understand how there can have been work done that appears to have been nearly completed, and then vanished into thin air.

I might give openreach a call to see if I can find anything out. Do you know around when it switched from accepting orders to exploring solutions?

I have just checked both Openreach and BT Wholesale websites today out of curiosity and it seems that Cabinet 15 has now been deemed fit for fibre as they are now supposed in the planning stages. Hopefully it’ll be available in the next 6-10 months and this isn’t another mistake.

Thanks - I had a look and saw it looked more hopeful, although when I registered my details the automatic reply said “your address isn’t part of our current rollout programme”, which is disappointing.

Maybe I can get a 5G antenna installed on my roof instead…

Not sure if that’s tongue in cheek or not, but potentially it is true! 3UK are launching 5G in August, and home broadband is one of the things seeing some press coverage:

https://www.telecompaper.com/news/3-uk-plans-5g-launch-in-august-with-home-broadband-service–1296111

5G has very much been designed to cover more ways of using it, and with more bandwidth to go around, so potentially this could be a real thing depending on pricing.

Still unbelievable to live in the metropolis and not have a choice of fibre easily available to every premise.

Well, if anyone is thinking about getting Virgin Media then I am an engineer for them and can save you £50 off of your first bill. As a plus, I also live in SE23 and if any problems I can always pop by

Well I’d love to get Virgin Media but I can’t - their website says “unfortunately it looks like you can’t get our services right now”. If you could get them to put some Fibre in, that would be great…!

I contacted them a few weeks ago about checking my street to see if it was possible to hook us up but I’ve not heard anything back. It’s annoying because Dartmouth Road at the top of my street can all get Virgin Media (I believe there’s a - grey - cabinet only just round the corner) but my new address which is around 10m from there doesn’t even show up on the website.

Send me a message and we will have a chat to see what your options are, I will also get someone to check the plans etc, 07818061350

Send me a message and we will have a chat to see what your options are, I will also get someone to check the plans etc, 07818061350!

Same for me. I’m just a stone’s throw off Dartmouth Road too. Let me know if you find out anything useful!

Oh this is handy to know… am a VM customer already (and pretty much a very satisfied customer… BB is excellent, expect when it isn’t working for whatever reason)… the one thing that does cheese me off is when there are problems and the status checker says everything is fine… I suspect usually it’s a very localised issue so it would be good to know there’s a local engineer who might have more insight to any localised problems…

Anyone who needs any questions related to VM answered take my personal number; 07818061350

I can do area checks, equipment checks, full house checks so let me know

I will do!

I’m not sure if there has been any progress with Cabinet 15, but other options seem to be moving along:

Three has launched 5G home broadband in parts of London, giving people “fibre-like speeds” (the carrier hasn’t given specific numbers) without requiring a technician visit. Pricing is simple, too – there’s just one £35 ($43) plan that offers “truly unlimited” access on a one-year contract.

You can get the equipment the next day for free, but Three will bring it to you the same day for £20 ($24).

Three are marketing directly against BT Fibre with a comparison on their sales site, though I believe this comparison is still for 4G service at £22 a month and the BT fibre would actually be cheaper than the £35 a month price in the Engadget article and based on this comparison:

Screenshot_20190819-0819571080×1709 150 KB

I checked the BT Wholesale DSL Checker today, which previously said that a FTTC upgrade on Cabinet 15 was “Planned” and it has now gone back to saying nothing about Fibre, and only that ADSL2+ is available.

Openreach has changed their website so that if you don’t have fibre already you get fobbed off with a blanket “Fibre is coming to your area soon” with zero detail about progress. Very frustrating.

May have to look into Three Home Broadband, @ForestHull, thank’s for the tip. Though it seems as though 5G isn’t available here yet.

@SophieDavis is there anything Councillors can do about the poor (or, rather, inconsistent) standard of broadband in Forest Hill?

If you live in a block of flats, it’s worth looking into Hyperoptic, have just switched to them from Virgin Media recently, no complaints as yet.

Though it very much depends on availability.

For the data nerds:

A typical week of speed tests whilst on Virgin Media:

image1867×886 214 KB

A week of speedtests whilst on Hyperoptic:

image1871×883 129 KB

Oooh dataporn!

What are you using for the speed tests, may I please enquire? Is it something like a fing box, but better?

I have a Synology NAS for my cough totally legitimate downloads, on which I am running a few docker containers. One of which is just a simple script to run a speedtest every hour, and save it out to a CSV. (Someone else invented it, I just use it!)

Unsure about fingbox, it doesn’t seem to offer an awful lot that can’t be done oneself, but I guess it all depends on how involved people want to get with the networks. Though, really everyone should try to learn about the basics of things that happen on their networks. Something like Pi-hole can be used to block nasty traffic, and give you an idea of just how chatty your fancy WiFi lightbulbs really are. (Full disclosure, I am a developer on Pi-hole)

This may be getting off topic!

I’m aware of hyperoptic, but not an option for us unfortunately.

@Kate8 I got in touch with BT Openreach on Twitter and gave them my address and they have now told me there is a project underway which is due to complete in November. Not going to hold my breath but I do have my fingers crossed. I have noticed a few of the big green cabinets which I believe are for fibre being put up recently, and BT Openreach vans about.

Fibre has finally just gone live on Cabinet 15. I ordered mine last night.

Amazing! Thank you!

Got connected today - much faster. Thanks again for the heads up @luke_timothy

Well this thread has depressed me! I’ve just had the BT engineer over today as my speeds are certainly very far from advertised, and he essentially told me I was doomed! I’ve got fibre to the cabinet but copper to the house, and it appears the contention etc means many people now have the issues I have (no dropouts though). I’ve started a case with BT and given them 30 day to remedy which seems unlikely.

I did speak to their sales team online to ask for the minimum speeds for the deal I am on, and they told me that service was not available at my address!

So for now I think I’ll just need to go on a cheaper deal and \ or maybe see if I can find some none cable alternative.

Great! Glad I could help.

Hi Kate8

We’re thinking of going for fibre. May I ask - did you get to choose where they drill into your house? Have you still got your old landline or do you have VOIP (internet phone)?

I have FTTP and I did get a choice where they drilled in - although I was happy with their suggestion. I kept my landline as at the time I was told I would have to change my number. They then cut my land line off anyway and it took two weeks to get it back!

I didn’t get FTTP (Fibre To The Premises) so there was no drilling and the landline is the same as before.

Cabinet 15 was upgrated to FTTC (Fibre to the Cabinet) recently, and I signed up (with my provider Sky) and they switched it on remotely about a month later, increasing the speed I could get 3-4 times, but not as fast as FTTP would be.

Can I ask what sort of speeds you are getting? I’m with BT and having an issue and since they came to fix things my current download speed is around 10Mb - I’m trying to get an idea of what is ‘normal’ - I know what I have is not but not sure what to truly expect. I’m FTTC as well.

It’s between 60 and 75 Mbps for download. I think Sky advertise as “up to 80Mbps”.

Great thank you @Kate8 - I have a miraculous new router arriving tomorrow that will apparently solve all my problems - let’s see.

I am running at 60 download… which is about max for the package I am on.