Saturday 23 May 2015

Superfast broadband - really?

Superfast Broadband for Nocton

You may like to read the text of the address that Nocton Parish Council delivered to Lincolnshire County Council's full Council meeting on Friday 15 May 2015:

"Mr Chairman and Members of the County Council.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to address you on the matter of bringing superfast broadband to my village – Nocton, where I am proud to serve as a member of its Parish Council.  As you will see from the terms of our petition, we are asking that the necessary work to bring this about is brought forward in your broadband programme.  A number of residents, including our Chair and several of my colleagues on the parish council have tried to find out exactly when our village might expect to be able to benefit from the higher speeds available through super fast broadband but no-one at OnLincolnshire has been able to provide us with a satisfactory answer.  Apparently, it all seems to depend upon reviews, contract issues, technology and change requests to BT.  However, none of what has been said to us is of much help to those who rely upon the internet for their work, education and, of course, entertainment.

Nocton very much feels that it has been left out of the programme to bring superfast broadband to Lincolnshire.  Earlier in the year my Parish Council noted with considerable concern that despite a very upbeat article in the Winter edition of “County News” on the roll out of superfast broadband across the county, there was little sign of our village receiving the benefits of such investment.  Indeed, and to add insult to injury, in the map showing where it had already been made available, there was a large hole right over our village!

Councillors considered this to be even more disappointing given the fact that just a few hundred metres from the village, fibre optic cables have been laid along the B1188 to, it is believed, the exchange at Metheringham.  It was most frustrating to have watched this work going on for many months only to find that the benefits, like the cabling, had passed us by.

Download speeds for the residents of Nocton must be amongst the lowest in the county, if not the country.  Over the past few years, the number of properties in the village has more than doubled with the construction of two large housing estates.  It is most unfortunate, however, that there has been no corresponding upgrade in its infrastructure to support the increasing population.

In some cases residents moving into their new home have to experience download speeds not much higher than those available by “dial-up”.  Together with very poor mobile signals and lack of any meaningful infrastructure (for example, we have no shop or pub and only a part-time Post Office and infrequent bus service) residents of Nocton are, perhaps, entitled to feel hard-done by and it often feels that the world of technology has moved on without us!

In fact, hardly a day goes by when Open Reach workmen aren’t carrying out repairs to the elderly junction box outside the Post Office where, I understand, the ancient aluminium connectors are continually failing.  We are not even guaranteed a stable landline in the village!

As I mentioned earlier, this is not just about being able to download a programme from “Catch Up TV” – although trying to do so is no mean feat when you have to set things up before you go to bed and keep your fingers crossed that it will not have lost connection in the middle of the night!  Nor is it about the younger ones in our community being able to play the latest computer games with their friends elsewhere.  Important as these things are, they cannot compare with the priorities of supporting our local school and those residents who run a business or are required to work from their home.

As I believe has already been pointed out to the County Council, the education of pupils in our local school is suffering because of slow download speeds.  Perhaps I could quote our Head Teacher who has said recently that whilst small schools have been leading the way with projects such as digital feedback, his pupils cannot take part in events like this because our system is so bad.  If we are serious about Lincolnshire’s small schools thriving in today's world, then we need to have the ability to sell ourselves as technically equipped.  I am sure all here in this Chamber would wholeheartedly agree with him.  He goes on to give many examples of where lessons and other material streamed live into schools across the country has lasted less than a minute before his system crashed to the obvious detriment of our pupils’ education.

In addition, of course, I am aware through my role as a parish councillor of many people in the village who run a business from home or, of equal importance, are required by their company to work at home as is increasingly becoming the trend these days.  I have spoken to many such people and all are frustrated by the lack of an effective broadband service and to the effect this is having on them.

In conclusion, I do of course appreciate that Nocton is part of the rural community where things are not always as easy to achieve as they might be in larger towns and cities.  However, I am aware that many surrounding villages already have the benefit of superfast broadband and, on behalf of all who live and work in Nocton, I would very much hope the County Council will do all in its power to provide us with an effective broadband service as soon as possible – so that our village and its residents can finally join the 21st century!

Mr Chairman and Councillors, thank you for your patience in listening to me.

Councillor Mary Ann Williams, Nocton Parish Council"
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Correspondence with OnLincolnshire

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you will know I too have been lobbying for a better service to this village.

By pure coincidence, I have just received a reply to my latest enquiry - the response is below:

From: Stephen Brookes [mailto: Stephen.Brookes@lincolnshire.gov.uk]
Sent: 18 May 2015 10:54
To: Geoff Hall
Subject: Enquiry to OnLincolnshire

Good Morning Geoff,

Thanks for taking time to write to us.

We are aware that even after the upgrade of Cabinet 3 off Metheringham Exchange, Nocton will see no real benefit given the distance the community is located in relation to the cabinet.

However, we were aware of this some time ago and have asked BT to survey Nocton, with a view to seeing what else we can do to improve speeds in the area. The survey work is ongoing and we will shortly receive details from BT to include anticipated speed uplifts, cost and benefits etc. At that point in time, we will consider how best we may be able to serve the community.

Regards
Steve

Steve Brookes
Lincolnshire Broadband Programme Manager
Tel. 01522 552450
Mob. 07825 043978

____________________________________________________________________
My follow-up reply

From: Geoff Hall
Sent: 21 May 2015 15:10
To: 'Stephen Brookes'
Subject: RE: Enquiry to OnLincolnshire

Good afternoon Steve,

Thanks for your reply.  You may already be aware that I write a local blog for the inhabitants of Nocton – see here: http://www.nocton.blogspot.co.uk/

You can search for all blog pages relating to our broadband issues by putting ‘British Telecom’ in the Search field.  However, in case you are not aware, a member of our Parish Council addressed full Council of LCC recently (see enclosed document for the transcript).  This is going to be published on my blog on Saturday 23rd - if you have any further comments to make on the whole matter before it goes ‘live’ then I would be happy to accompany these on the blog.

It would be helpful to have some sort of timeline for a resolution to our slow broadband service, as it has been dragging on for quite a while now.  At least, it would be nice to have more detail e.g. who funds the uplift; what expected speeds may be; the differing options of how this might be achieved etc.

Kind regards,
Geoff
____________________________________________________________________
More detailed explanation

From: Stephen Brookes [mailto:Stephen.Brookes@lincolnshire.gov.uk]
Sent: 22 May 2015 11:14
To: Geoff Hall
Subject: RE: Enquiry to OnLincolnshire


Good Morning Geoff,

Thanks for getting back to me.

I was aware that a member of the Parish Council had addressed the meeting last Friday and thank you for sharing the letter with me, which I hadn't seen previously.

With regard to Nocton, I will try to clarify the position as accurately as I can, but equally, I am also very happy to attend any meeting in Nocton to discuss more fully.

The vast bulk of Nocton is fed from Metheringham Exchange and via Cabinet No. 3. This cabinet was upgraded on 2nd July 2014 and at the time, this cabinet served a total of 528 premises. Upon completion, over 60% of premises fed received Superfast broadband, but clearly a good percentage didn't and of those that didn't, some received double figure download speeds and some were actually no better off than previously.

The cabinet is situated a good distance form Nocton and it is the distance that is the critical element. We were aware of this when BT modelled the whole of the county, in as much as some postcodes were placed into Phase 8 of this project (between Jan. 1st 2016 and March 31st 2016), in what we deemed the 'Infill' phase, where those premises not getting 2Mb/s would be upgraded using alternative technologies. This still applies, but things have changed slightly in as much as the Minister declared that all sub 2Mb/s premises in the UK would be upgraded before the end of 2015 and that satellite technology would be used. We will of course comply with this, but I should stress that we are still waiting guidance as to how this will physically be achieved. We believe that we will pay for the installation, equipment etc. and the end user will decide which package they want and pay the monthly rental as normal.

In addition, after cabinet 3 was completed, we received a quarterly report from BT to indicate the speeds achieved by all premises fed from this cabinet. At that point, we had identified a gap where Nocton was concerned and even though we always had the Phase 8 scenario to use and a number of Nocton premises were included in this phase from the day we signed the contract, we felt that we should look to do something more given the size and density of Nocton. Nocton isn't alone in this scenario and we have a list of other communities that is continuing to grow as we move forward.

With regard to Nocton, we have asked BT to survey again, with a view to locating a new cabinet closer to the community and picking up the copper feeds going into Nocton. This will shorten the length of copper and provide much faster speeds to the area. Clearly, this wasn't a part of the original planning and there is additional costs associated with this work. We will await the survey results due in the next couple of months and assuming costs aren't too high, we will look to use what we call Change Control to instruct BT to carry out the additional work.

With regard to funding, the original build plan fully utilised all funding so in theory at least, there is no funding left within this contract to carry out this additional work. However, we are looking at realising a significant underspend as a result of driving efficiencies throughout and this has to be reinvested into the infrastructure and it is this funding that we will look to use, subject to it materialising.

In terms of timescales, we will deploy the satellite solution as required by the end of 2015. BT and LCC will agree any underspend after the end of this project, so in the summer of 2016, but in the interim, BT will have fully planned the alternative solution ready for the green light. If I can persuade them to deploy some of the underspend before contract end, we may be able to complete much sooner, but that cannot be guaranteed.

In answer to the question, 'Why didn't we move the cabinet in the first place?; had we done so, we would have had larger negative effect on the remainder of premises fed from this cabinet in other areas.

I must stress that the objectives of this project are aligned to Government targets of 90% Superfast coverage across the county, with 100% being able to get a minimum download of 2Mb/s. I am confident we will achieve this.

With regard to priorities, we will clearly need to maximise value for money and coverage from any underspend and this will be assessed and executed in a consistent and entirely transparent way and no community will have any priority over others in terms of the evaluation exercise.

I hope this helps clarify things a little more.

Regards
Steve


Steve Brookes
Lincolnshire Broadband Programme Manager
Tel. 01522 552450
Mob. 07825 043978

____________________________________________________________________

From: Geoff Hall
Sent: 22 May 2015 12:21
To: Stephen Brookes
Subject: RE: Enquiry to OnLincolnshire

Hi Steve.

Thank you so much for the very comprehensive explanation. I shall forward this on to our local PC and publish it on the blog too. I think it will be useful for local residents to see the efforts that are being made in the background to solve our 'problem'.

We look forward to developments in due course.

Kind regards,
Geoff
Sent from my Windows Phone
____________________________________________________________________

Latest Update - see 'Comments' (at bottom of page)

Installation of new FTTC cabinet - Potterhanworth Rd/Manor Farm - Cabinet 12

04 June 2015 - Cabinet 12 FTTC now installed
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What about the competition - is satellite broadband the answer?

'It doesn't provide a comparable service to fixed broadband products due to the increased latency.'

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/guide/satellite-broadband.html

Compare broadband without a phone line

Compare the cheapest broadband without a phone line packages, deals and offers. Use our Ofcom approved price comparison to find the best packages in your area.

https://www.cable.co.uk/compare/broadband-no-phone-line/

Rural broadband: what are the options?

'Around 166,000 people in the UK are stuck in rural broadband 'not spots' and a further two million in rural areas have inadequate broadband.'

http://www.choose.net/media/guide/features/rural-broadband-satellite-mobile.html

BT challenges Ofcom over broadband prices

'BT has challenged Sharon White, the new chief executive of Ofcom, to a court showdown over the communications watchdog’s decision to introduce restrictions on the wholesale price of superfast broadband. '

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/telecoms/11616798/BT-challenges-Ofcom-over-broadband-prices.html

BT's taxpayer-funded broadband monopoly may lock out rivals, says independent report

'BT’s monopoly in supplying Blighty’s national broadband scheme may have permanently locked out future competition – according to an independent report card on the £780m public purse project.'

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/05/20/bt_bduk_monopoly_may_lock_out_competition_says_independent_report/

11 comments:

  1. As ever many thanks for your efforts to unearth the facts Geoff. You will be interested to learn that today (28 May) there is a team from Future Network Solutions beavering away at the junction of Potterhanworth Rd and Manor Court to install a new, additional cabinet ready to accommodate a Fibre to Cabinet connection; I was told by one of the workers that the fibre will be laid in the next three days and that it will be obvious when the power supply is being connected to enable the cabinet as another trench will need to be dug. Why the installation of this cabinet was not mentioned in any of the replies to you and the Parish Council will have to remain a mystery, but hopefully this is accurate, good news!

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  2. Much appreciated for this info Lincoln Edge. I have spoken with Steve Brookes a few minutes ago and he didn't seem surprised that this work was taking place. However, I don't think he has been formally advised of the extent of progress. I have asked him to provide an 'official' comment via email after he has checked out the matter further with BT - I'll keep you all posted.

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  3. Latest Update - 28th May 2015 (15.26hrs)

    I have received the following reply from Steve Brookes:

    "The cabinet in question is Cabinet 12 off Metheringham Exchange. This cabinet feeds 62 properties in postcodes LN4 2BE, 2BF, 2BQ and 2DJ. These are located around the Manor Farm, Parklands Avenue, Nocton Park Road areas and initial indications are that Superfast speeds should hit pretty much all of these premises, given their proximity to the cabinet. We will not get final speeds until we deploy, but it looks positive. Deployment date is 30th March, but we might be able to complete sooner."

    Good news for some, but not the majority. I have therefore made further enquiries about the remainder of postcodes for Nocton... and the upgrading of our other cabinet situated in Main Street (adjacent to the Post Office. I'll keep you posted.

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  4. Further Update - 28th May 2015 (15.45hrs)

    Query:

    Hi Steve,

    A final email – at least for a few weeks/months I hope.

    Given that Cabinet 12 feeds only selective properties in the newer development of the village – is there any further information on postcodes LN4 2BA; 2BB; 2BH; 2BJ; 2BN; 2BP; 2BS; 2BT; 2BW; 2BX; 2BZ; 2DA; 2DB.

    I suspect many of these lines (which include Nocton School and the Post Office), are probably fed via our remaining Cabinet (3/2 ?) situated on Main Street (actually next to the Post Office). In the main, these serve the older properties in the village and form the majority of housing.

    I would appreciate more information on this cabinet… and am slightly surprised this hasn’t been upgraded first, given a potential priority case of the school broadband service for educational purposes.

    Kind regards,
    Geoff

    Reply:

    Hi Geoff,

    Those postcodes are all fed from Cabinet No. 3 off Metheringham. This cabinet also feeds Dunston and has 528 premises fed from it in total. The majority being in Dunston, hence the reason it was upgraded. After we had completed this cabinet, we were aware that there were still premises in Nocton that hadn't benefitted from the initial deployment, hence the request to BT to take another look. Under this 'Second bite' we would potentially amalgamate the smaller cabinet (Pillar 3/2) into a new, larger cabinet which would be fibre enabled. We have encountered this same scenario elsewhere and are working to resolve as many as we can.

    Regards
    Steve

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  5. Thanks Geoff. I'm no telecomms engineer but if Cabinet 12 only feeds 62 properties and Cabinet 3 feeds 528, and all the older dwellings in Nocton Park area are significantly closer to Cabinet 12 why would Openreach not transfer their connections? That has to be cheaper than implementing their broadband over satellite proposal. At least some lucky newer properties will benefit soon from this work on Cabinet 12. The quest for truth and full disclosure will go on!

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  6. Ah yes, but you are trying to use logic and common sense to this problem Lincoln Edge!

    I suspect your logical solution is rather more complex in reality i.e. it might require direct routeing of new cabling from cabinet 12 to the properties concerned, together with installation of extra telegraph poles/cable conduits/access hatches. If BT were going to do this, then they may as well go the whole hog and install FTTP (fibre to the property)... then the people of Nocton really can have blistering broadband speed!!

    To avoid installation of new trunking/hatches, perhaps the solution would be to site a new FTTC cabinet alongside the old pillar 3/2 cabinet. However, I'm not sure how the fibre cabling would connect through from the Metheringham Exchange. It may just need routeing from Cabinet 3 (Dunston)... or possibly it will require a dedicated fibre link from the Exchange. Having said that, if a new FTTC cabinet is being installed at Potterhanworth Rd/Manor Farm, then one can assume fibre cabling is getting there somehow!!!

    If cabinet 12 is looking to 'go live' March 2016, then it doesn't give much hope to those properties served by the Metheringham 3 cabinet (Sleaford Rd/Lincoln Rd, Dunston junction) and pillar cabinet 3/2 (located Main Street, Nocton Post Office). As you say, 'the quest for truth and full disclosure will go on'.

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  7. Mick Middleton24 June 2015 at 22:03

    Hi Geoff

    For what its worth this is my take on the situation having been a BT Network Planning Manager for most of my working life and now retired in Nocton.

    New fibre was installed into the village and left coiled in a jointing chamber near pillar 3/2 last year. Made sense to do this whilst cabling was taking place from Metheringham to Dunston Cab 3 and core fibre cabling from Lincoln to Metheringham.

    Heres the rub. When new housing developments are being built the developer puts pressure on BT, Virgin, Sky etc to provide superfast broadband into their housing site otherwise this could be a show stopper for potential buyers. The developer then offers to lay all the ducts, outside jointing boxes and connection points throughout the new estate free of charge to BT and cables will then be pulled into the copper side of the cabinets and connected over to the fibre cabinets. In some instances they may pay the Comms company for fibre cabling off site if they are desperate to get houses sold. This is industry practice and not illegal. Cabinet 12 should be operational by August this year with all Peter Sowerby homes connected to superfast broadband.

    It appears BT have simply by passed pillar 3/2 and extended the fibre from near pillar 3/2 to fibre cabinet 12 situated at the other end of the village. Then they have terminated the fibre into new fibre cabinet 12 and given new Peter Sowerby buyers what they ask for.

    I can spit to Cabinet 12 but we are connected via pillar 3/2, as are all the houses in Manor Court, meaning in theory we cannot be connected to fibre. Our fix is so simple however houses from Manor Farm back into the village remain a problem until Pillar 3/2 is sorted.

    The above proves that pillar 3/2 could have been replaced last year with a new larger copper cabinet and sitting next to it a new fibre cabinet. This would also of fed the new estate development.

    Incidentally there will be no fibre to the premise unless of course customers pay for this nor will there be a need for additional overhead poles etc. There are other fixes that can easily connect SOME BUT NOT ALL OTHER PARTS OF THE VILLAGE once FIBRE Cab 12 is running and this is a simple re-configuration of copper cabling.

    I have emailed Steve today and it has been passed to BT. Happy to update the blog when I get a reply.

    As you state Geoff "the quest for truth and full disclosure will go on"

    Rgds

    Mick Middleton




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  8. Thanks Mick. Let's hope you can get more progress with your enquiries - but I won't hold my breath 😉 Regards

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  9. Mick Middleton25 June 2015 at 19:38

    Hi Geoff

    Might be helpful opening a new thread for this

    Its starting to happen

    BT now have an approx cost for turning 3/2 into its own Fibre Cabinet much the same as they did for Navenby Cab 4. Cost are approx and due to contractual reasons I am not aloud to see them. Once they have the full route - detailed costings expected shortly - they then agree Credits with onlinelincolnshire to proceed with detailed planning and deployment

    They also have a likely deployment date which they will also not divulge. I guess this is due to their 'planning bucket" being full - gobbledygook for we are busy.

    I have replied with a number of questions one very specifically on the deployment date of 3/2 and the phase stage. Will update the blog immediately I have a further reply.

    Thats it

    Mick Middleton

    PS. Last time we spoke Geoff I believe you are fed directly from Cab 3 A1188. Similar lines like yourself will be diverted into the new Fibre cabinet outside the Post Office.

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  10. Cheers Mick - many thanks for your persistent enquiries - we will get there, finally, if we all keep pushing. As suggested new thread posted for tomorrow (Friday 26th June).

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  11. Mick Middleton26 June 2015 at 17:07

    Geoff

    Projected date for deployment of Nocton Cab 3/2 will be Phase 8 Q1 (01/01/2016 - 31/03/2016)

    Change Request is imminent and all indications are very positive.

    Change Request is needed for Nocton Cab 3/2 because it is is classed as additional work and the original deployment plan theoretically utilises all available funding. Basically due to Lincolnshire underspend the money is there. All additional work such as this would be added to an already huge volume of work (around 100 cabinets per quarter) being undertaken every Quarter.

    Thats it - will update if I get any further info.

    Rgds


    Mick Middleton








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