Fast Fibre Broadband arrives in Charlbury

Thu 8 Jan 2015, 11:33

Aargh!!! We up at Ticknell Piece appear to be the last to be connected. according to the BT site our cabinet is 'enabled' but not ready yet!!!!

Thu 8 Jan 2015, 09:19 (last edited on Thu 8 Jan 2015, 09:19)

Ah, you were the appointment before us then, Richard! The engineer said he had had a few problems! We are now connected and it's a definite improvement.

Wed 7 Jan 2015, 22:33

It was plug & play for me Hans, using an EE BrightBox-2 router which includes the needed VDSL modem.
I have a 38Mb/s plan and regularly get 37Mb/s or above d/l and 9 Mb/s u/l speeds.

Wed 7 Jan 2015, 22:10

Odd that a chap has to come out to connect the service now in 2015. Should be plug and play imho.

Wed 7 Jan 2015, 20:21

Great News Open Reach coming tomorrow to hoepfully connect ours

Wed 7 Jan 2015, 18:54

Yes - very definite improvement. Great news!

Wed 7 Jan 2015, 17:04

Just got connected. 37.4Mbps download (on a 38Mb contract), 15.74Mbps upload - which is great news as it was the improved upload speed I was really interested in. I think the poor Openreach engineer was a bit exasperated by the arcane wiring that comes with old houses though!

Fri 2 Jan 2015, 23:50

Yup. Looks like all of Charlbury except for cabinet 3 (my cabinet) has high speed broadband now. Bummer. I always seem to end up in the wrong queue in the supermarket too.

Wed 31 Dec 2014, 11:45

Well I just checked on the off-chance this morning - it was designated for December so I reckoned I should at least look - and in fact it looks as if they have enabled Cabinet 1 by year end! so if anyone else is waiting it might be worth checking your line.Can't wait to get it set up! Happy New Year all.

Tue 23 Dec 2014, 21:28 (last edited on Tue 23 Dec 2014, 21:34)

Oh well, saw a white van alongside the Enstone road cabinet last week, (cabinet 3) and wondered if we were going to make the end of december prediction. Checked the website tonight and it has changed by 6 months to June 2015!

This is a whole year behind the original prediction (was june 2014, then sept 204 then dec 2014), so Charlbury exchange has 1 third available, a third still predicted for Dec 2014 and a third now showing June 2015

Tue 9 Dec 2014, 21:17

Thanks for the information also booked for early January

Tue 9 Dec 2014, 20:49

The BT wholesale indicator is showing that fibre is now available here in Market Street, so I've just ordered it. The Plusnet site did give me the option of sending the engineer out on 25th or 26th December, but I chose early January instead...

Mon 24 Nov 2014, 23:22

I have just been connected to my new fibre broadband plan with EE and www.speedtest.net shows a download speed of 39.35Mb/s and upload of 9.03Mb/s, which considering I am on a 38Mb/s plan seems incredibly good to me, slightly higher, even, than the plan suggests it will be.

I had only to plugin the new BrightBox router with its inbuilt VDSL modem and I was connected with no added configuration needed. Very impressive.

Wed 19 Nov 2014, 16:09

I was connected to the fibre broadband yesterday and am currently getting 37 Mbps download and 1.84 upload. However, my router is plugged into an extension of an extension which may affect the top speed.

Mon 17 Nov 2014, 12:47

Normal broadband gives me:
Downstream Rate: 16284kbps Upstream Rate: 1235kbps

So it appears the fibre is giving ~2.4 times the download and ~10 times the upload. Just have to wait to see if it's 2.4 times the price as well when they reach my local cabinet!

Mon 17 Nov 2014, 11:23

Valou, You (and I suspect others) get confused between 38Mb/sec which is bits/sec and is the same as 4.75MB/s or bytes/sec, one byte is 8 bits.

Suppliers always quote Mb/sec, but people often read or misinterpret as MB/s

Mon 17 Nov 2014, 10:58

Tony, you are getting a maximum speed of 4.82Mb with superfast broadband, while we are getting 18Mb with normal broadband. Unless I am missing something, I am now wondering what is the point of this new service which was supposed to transform digital life as we knew it.

Sun 16 Nov 2014, 14:02

Have now been connected to the Fibre to Cabinet High Speed Broadband for about 3 weeks with Plusnet
It took a bit of time to settle down but I now get typical speed as follows
Today 13:51 38545 kbps (4.82MB/s) 12379 kbps (1.55MB/s)
Today 13:33 38034 kbps (4.75MB/s) 12363 kbps (1.55MB/s)
Today 12:47 38304 kbps (4.79MB/s) 12226 kbps (1.53MB/s)
I did get a new BT/Openreach VDSL and ADSL NTE5 Interstitial Adaptor which has the advantage of built in microfilter for telephone and separate RJ45 socket for connect to the modem. BT fit it free of charge on connection. So everything seems fine round here

Fri 14 Nov 2014, 14:01

Just signed up for Fiber from Zen internet - estimated 72MB/20MB. BT Booked for next Friday to change the line. £56 pm inc unlimited call, line rental and 76MB fiber. I live off Sturt Road.

Fri 14 Nov 2014, 11:08

The link posted by Ian is still showing the area around Sturt Road/Woodstock Road as "Works complete" and the rest of Charlbury as "Anticipated complete by end of December 2014".

Fri 14 Nov 2014, 10:24

According to EE my fibre broadband is supposed to be up and running on 24 November which will be four weeks after ordering.

The new "Bright Box 2" VDSL router arrived very quickly, so they are obviously on the case, but we wait to see if it actually goes to plan. I will report back in 10 days time to let you know if it happens. Here's hoping!

Fri 14 Nov 2014, 10:12

Any more news on fibre optic yet? I think we are cabinet 1, on Dyers Hill, and there's no sign of life.. What proportion of the cabinets are enabled so far, does anyone know? All I can find on line is the checker that constantly apologises to me for not being able to receive it yet...

Tue 28 Oct 2014, 17:45

I find it most amusing that TalkTalk can give an "estimated speed of 69.81mbps", they level of their accuracy is astonishing. The uncertainties of their 'model' cannot justify two decimal places of accuracy.
Not sure I'd sign up if it were only 69.23 Mbps....

Tue 28 Oct 2014, 16:01

Cabinet 2 is at the junction of Sturt Rd, The Slade and Dancers Hill. Why is it "illustrious"?

Tue 28 Oct 2014, 14:19

I have ordered fibre broadband from Talktalk (current provider) and they have given me an estimated speed of 69.81mbps. This is from the illustrious Cabinet 2, but I will believe these speeds when I actually see them!

Mon 27 Oct 2014, 21:20 (last edited on Mon 27 Oct 2014, 21:41)

Having now ordered the 38Mb/s fibre broadband from EE as I mentioned last week, and discussed what was needed in more detail with EE's tech people it seems that there is definitely more to it than they told me in the first talk I had with them. They do, indeed, need to make changes in the exchange but not apparently to the sockets in my home, because the new Brightbox with its VDSL-modem/router manages to do everything that is required from the existing socket in my home.

I will keep everybody informed about how well it manages to do this and how fast my connection really is. According to www.speedtest.net which I used this evening, I get 18.02Mb/s from my 20Mb/s package now so hopefully I shall get about twice this speed very soon.

Wed 22 Oct 2014, 12:42

See the better broadband in Oxfordshire website which has a coverage map
public.tableausoftware.com/views/OxonCoverage/Viewcoverageinyourarea?:showVizHome=no#1
Set the area parish and Charlbury and you get a map of the postcode areas with green circles (available) and orange circles (available Dec2014).
Seems as though progress is slower than expected as this same website originally saids June 2014, then Sept 2014 and most recently Oct 2014….so partially correct.

Wed 22 Oct 2014, 09:33

Just to clarify Andrews point.
You can use your existing router without changing the connection but this will not be fibre broad band which uses a different protocol for the connection from the cabinet.
If you do want fibre broadband you will need a new mastersocket with VDSL2 faceplate filter and a wall-mounted BT Openreach VDSL2 modem.
On the debate about availability we may well be first as I think our 'cabinet' is in fact in the exchange!

Mon 20 Oct 2014, 23:00

I'm in Market Street and the useful link (thanks Richard!) says Cabinet 6. No fibre offered as yet.

Mon 20 Oct 2014, 22:39

Cabinet 1, Spelsbury Rd. No FTTC from any of the major operators. Does anybody know where Cabinet 1 is, or meant to be?

Mon 20 Oct 2014, 21:30

It is great news that Charlbury is getting FTTC, but who is actually being offered fibre service probably depends less on the provider and more on which distribution cabinet one is served from. Apparently not all are enabled for FTTC yet. The BT Wholesale Availability checker (www.btwholesale.com/includes/adsl/main.html ) will report what cabinet your service comes from and it may be handy to include your cabinet number if you post whether or not you have been offered fibre service. Alas, we are served by cabinet 3 (top of Browns Lane, across from the bus shelter, now presumably replaced by the newly installed one beside the shelter) and we don't seem to have fiber service yet.

Mon 20 Oct 2014, 20:16

We're about to move in to Charlbury next week and have been given the full 78Mbs by BT. Very pleased and no more expensive than we are currently paying to get about 5Mbs at best!

Mon 20 Oct 2014, 11:23

I have just finished an on-line web-chat with EE regarding upgrading to 38Mb/s Fibre, and for our line there is no need for a new modem in place of the existing socket, as Tony suggested at the start of this thread.
It simply requires a new Bright Box router according to the person with whom I chatted, and all the setup can be done using a web-browser, luckily, as I do not use Windows or Mac, but have Linux as my OS.

Thu 16 Oct 2014, 23:11

I have also been offered the same 38Mb and 78Mb options with EE (previously Orange).
It is more expensive than my current 20Mb connection, which is still working close to its claimed maximum speed (I get about 17.5Mb.s) and is fast enough for my uses, so I am not sure whether it is worth the extra.

Thu 16 Oct 2014, 18:58

BT website says not available yet for our Charlbury number.

Thu 16 Oct 2014, 18:55

I am getting it from PlusNet but I think BT offer the same

Wed 15 Oct 2014, 19:00

Hi Tony, who have you got this through as most providers are saying the fastest is 17Mb

Wed 15 Oct 2014, 17:21

I have just arranged to have a fibre broadband modem installed on 28th October so it is here at last. Most providers seem to offer either 38Mb or more expensive 78Mb.
To get it you will need to have a new modem installed in place of the existing socket. There are a numb er of different service providers you can choose with introductory offers on many of them.