Ashton in Makerfield exchange - FTTC question

[muttoneer]

Hello,

Sorry to have to post this question here, but I've really got no idea where else to start!

I'm aware that my exchange (Ashton in Makerfield) is due for an upgrade for FTTC this summer however I am concerned that being a long way from the exchange my nearest cabinet will not be in the rollout plans. Our speeds here are shocking and we have not got permission for cable in our street, so we're desperate for the upgrade!

I read in other threads that some people have the data on what cabinets are going to be upgraded but none of the links I found to this data seem to work. Can someone in the know please check for me? My postcode is WA3 2GX.

Many thanks 🙂

[pippincp]

AFAIK people do not have access to current data and are working on an old document that was released into the wild in error.

Distance to the exchange does not matter for Infinity as fibre is supplied to a new cabinet close to your present one and it is the distance from that that matters.

Your exchange being upgraded is only the first step in the process, there is a lot more work needs doing after that.

[muttoneer]

Thanks for the quick response! I understand that distance from cabinet to exchange won't affect the speeds available under Infinity, I was more concerned that BT (or whoever) would be replacing the cabinets nearest to the exchange first, whereas the people most desperate to buy into a better service live furthest away!

Shame the current data isn't out there - it would be nice to know whether our cabinet was included in the plans, even if those plans are slightly out of date.

[sjonez]

Hello neighbour, I also live in WA32GX, unable to get Virgin and continue to put up with poor 500kbps ADSL... the bad news is that there are 2 BT cabinets that cover our postcode and only ONE of them is being upgraded to FTTC in September...

If you check this website you can see for yourself: http://fttc-check.alc.im/results.php?postcode=WA32GX

I asked BT and my line is connected to P69, which as you can imagine I am not happy about! It seems like most of the estate is going to get FTTC apart from those of us on that cabinet!

[muttoneer]

Hello neighbour! That's not good news at all. Even less fun was the 45 minutes I spent talking to a BT operative via web chat who totally failed to understand my question and eventually admitted he had no idea what cabinet I was connected to!

Oh well, looks like I have a 30% chance of decent internet this year then. It really isn't good enough - we should all combine forces and put some pressure on the council to get us decent broadband, or at least allow us to have cable installed. As far as I know the subject has been raised at the Residents Association and at least one councillor is interested in helping. Worth making a bit of noise about I think... you never know!