[ Date Index ] [ Thread Index ] [ <= Previous by date / thread ] [ Next by date / thread => ]
On 10/04/11 23:00, Kai Hendry wrote: > On 10 April 2011 17:20, Simon Waters <simon@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: >> avaiable on my exchange, and since the 21CN roll out ceased presumably > > Ceased? Do you have reference on that? Not to hand, I gathered the idea when the upgrade date for the exchange disappeared and I was trying to find out when/how. > How does one actually track upgraded exchanges in Cornwall btw? Read BT press releases ;) ExpertReview says "The network is currently available to more than 1,000 home and businesses in the Chiverton Cross and Chacewater areas, but by March 31st it will also be available to residents of St Agnes, St Day, Portreath, Devoran, Leedstown, Stenalees and Par." So that should all be live. As I understand it BT are rolling out "super fast broadband" in Cornwall. They need to do the Exchange upgrades to do this, I presume so they can offer the standard WBC interface to ISPs, but BT seem a little confused as to what products they are offering. It is now branded as "Super Fast Broadband", or "Next Generation Broadband", the "21CN" term has all but vanished. Super fast is their fibre to box product. The last target BT had for 21CN was 75% coverage by spring 2010, they now have announced (April 7th 2011) 80% by end of 2011, and the 2012 end date moved to 2015. Since their super fast broadband target has moved to 2015, and the WBC says it is a "commercial offering", it looks like BT are not upgrading exchanges unless a wholesale customer (or the government) pays for it. This makes sense as 21CN doesn't work well, so the incentive to roll it out for BTs own purposes is thus removed (it was suppose to save them money but presumably that didn't pan out). The 2015 super fast broadband will receive government cash, so it makes sense for BT not to do anything on its own. Since the smaller exchanges won't be commercial for wholesale, the upgrade will presumably only take place if/when the government pays for super fast broadband. However the super fast broadband targets discussed are currently only for limited proportion of the population - so presumably the smaller exchanges won't be done for that either. The expensive subset, those like me who want a rural exchange upgraded to allow (at least) ADSL2+, thus have no roll-out date or plan from BT. Friends at BT tell me BT only have the engineers to do reactive maintenance, so it shouldn't be a surprise that roll-out is restricted to a commercial basis only as they simply wouldn't have the staff even if they had the motivation. Expect the BT phone network to fall into disrepair, and the UK to drift further down the broadband league tables (unless you are lucky enough to be covered by the current upgrade in Cornwall, or in an area where there is clear commercial incentive). The logic of this is of course that the 2015 deadline the politicians make vague promises about won't be met, including extending universal service obligation to 2Mbps, because the government don't have the money to pay to complete the roll-out either. I don't really mind that much, but it would be nice if people could be honest about the situation since vague unfunded promises discourage competitive investment that might close the gap. -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/listfaq