Fibre connection (FTTC) to all properties around us, except us

[Tevita]

Hi, I've been in our Cambridge (south CB4) new build block for 2 years and never been able to get a broadband package of more than an unreliable 7Mbps.

We apparently don't have fibre and punching in our post code confirms this - our connection to "Cabinet 100" gives nothing and a call to any ISP has them doing the same postcode lookup and unable to offer anything better.

What I don't understand is why the old houses to our left and right, the fried chicken shop across the road, and pretty much the whole street as far as I can tell is fully wired up to FTTC ("cabinet 100) and gets at least 10x, if not 100x, the speeds we do.

We are more or less in the center of town. Cambridge is otherwise well connected. And I can see the green streetside boxes from my window. My feeling is our premises is within meters of fibre cable, yet we seem to be permanently excluded from the network. Forgotten. 

Is there ANYTHING I can do?

[jac_95]

Doing a quick check reveals that the road for said cabinet serves as a private road (and presumably this may be a factor why only ADSLx broadband services are available to you)

Some resources that may be helpful:

https://www.connectingcambridgeshire.co.uk/

For Openreach, you can fill in the form to see if they have any plans to deploy Full fibre to you:

https://www.openreach.com/forms/fibre-broadband-availability---customer-form

[iniltous]

There is a big difference between neighbours getting 10x your 7Mb or 100x your 7Mb .

The fact you refer to your address as a ‘block’ , suggests it’s a MDU ( multi dwelling unit ) , AKA , flats/apartments , and they present particular issues around obtaining permits, wayleaves etc , as the freeholders, letting agents, building managers etc are all involved in any ‘wiring’ that would be required in advance of any FTTP build .

Assuming it’s FTTP available ( so 100x your 7Mb ) to your neighbours , MDU are not included in an area rollout and are dealt with separately, that’s why SDU ( single dwelling units ) can benefit from FTTP when you cannot .

Enter your address here and post the return to check what is available.

https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL/AddressHome

[Tevita]

Thanks for the reply. 

Ours is indeed an MDU; built in the last 5 years, with 6 flats inside. I'm a tennant, though the landlord is very good and as perplexed by the BB situation as myself. 
EDIT: They have said as they understand it, every home in the building is wired back to the street individually to allow for separate accounts.

The rest of the tennants are in the same situation. People have moved out due to the poor internet and I doubt any of the owners would oppose whatever installation it took to remedy the situation - my own has said as much.

Until now we all assumed that our area was simply lacking any decent broadband, or it was in the process of being resolved. But two years in, nothing.

Using the link you sent, and putting in neighbouring addresses/post codes (literally the houses to our right, left, across the road, and ~100m further on) if I'm interpretting it correctly the area has decent broadband.

We don't need FTTP.  Just something better than 5Mps, 230ms ping times, and dropouts would be nice.

Punching in my address I get:

Due to weirdness with our address (rather than putting in just my flat number and street, but choosing Flat X, 1 My Street I see the following:

Anyway, this is the house next door and one on the other side - pretty typical of what I see for all the houses around except our building: 

[iniltous]

OK , so FTTP isn’t available to your neighbours but decent speeds from FTTC ( fibre to the cabinet ) is  , your ‘claim’ neighbours had 100x better speed , is a obviously an exaggeration ( and misleading ).

There are a couple of possibilities why your neighbours can get decent fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) speeds yet you are stuck on ADSL , it could be that your MDU is E/O , exchange only , basically the copper cable to the MDU comes directly from the exchange, not via a cabinet , in these cases ADSL is the only option as you need to be served from a cabinet ( the green cabinets you see alongside pavements ) to get FTTC ,  if no cabinet in the route , no FTTC ,

the other is your address data is corrupt and doesn’t exactly match what the Royal Mail has recorded for the address ….flats can be notorious for having many variations for the same address , you could look up your UPRN and use that in the checker to see if you get the same return .

If your address is shown differently on the DSL checker compared to the Royal Mail entry , and BT are your provider ,  ask for an ORDI ( Openreach data integrity ) check to correct the data inconsistencies.

[imjolly]

you appear to be on CAB 100 so not connected direct to exchange but there is no fibre at cab 100

Cabinet P100

Openreach fibre not available

CB4 1WE

[Tevita]

The 100x is the newbuilds a block behind us - I could be interpretting it wrong but it looks like they have full FTTP connection.

I guess it is possible we aren't served from the cabinet. Though it would seem surprising that a new build would be dealt with that way, especially as I can see a cabinet from my window. But you never know.

A friend suggested the address data may be a problem. The road name various uses 'Drive' or 'Place' depending on which sign you look at, flats in the MDU seem to be listed as buildign numbers, etc.  I will request on ORDI.

Thanks for your help.

[iniltous]

FTTP is standard provision on newbuilds and has been for quite some time but does need the developer to engage with Openreach, how old is your ‘block’ , if it’s in the range 7-10 years , FTTP was optional and many developers didn’t bother , older than 10 , probably only copper , 6 or less the developer basically refused to have FTTP even if it were offered.

FTTP doesn’t come from a cabinet , so if a MDU nearby has FTTP ( seems it does ) the ‘copper’ cabinets and FTTC ‘cabinets’ are irrelevant.

[Tevita]

That would make sense. We simply don't have fibre.

Strange that we are connected to something that lacks this, while the houses all around (much older than our new build) are connected to a cabinet that offers more.  

[iniltous]

Personally I think you probably are on a cabinet that has FTTC , same as the neighbours, but it’s a records issue that shows you having no FTTC , it’s odd you are shown from a different cabinet to neighbours, that’s not impossible but is unusual….if you are off a cabinet that has no associated FTTC , it’s not likely to be upgraded now , but why not in the past , FTTC was ubiquitous, and for a cabinet not to get FTTC must have a reason , occasionally the council would refuse planning permission for a new FTTC cabinet , or no suitable location could be found ( they have to be quite close to the copper cabinet ) or so few ‘connections’ on the copper cabinet made FTTC uneconomic…