2014

As most of you are probably all too painfully aware, I was more than a little miffed when BT decided to pass us by a couple of years back in the roll out of Fibre to the Cabinet (FTCC). I even wrote about it here.

Since then, despite letters to the council, BT themselves, and numerous phone calls to anyone I thought may be able to help, the situation has remained the same. Watching others hurtle past in the fast lane with all their flashy sports cars, while I dawdled along in the slow lane in the equivalent of a Morris Minor. And before you start, I happen to quite like Morris Minors. There was no sign of any positive news, other than the government statement that it had asked BT to improve their efforts to bring the nation up to speed, and that it should all more or less happen by the end of 2015. That was until now.

A few days ago, a trusted colleague, who is aware of my plight, called me while I was abroad with work. He told me he’d seen a couple of BT OpenReach vans down his road, and more importantly, they had a large roll of fibre with them. Being of inquisitive nature, he asked what they were up to, and in short, got told there was a “push” on to get the remainder of the area cabled up for fibre. Needless to say, at this point I got rather excited. I asked if he could enquire about my now famous cabinet 39, and if that was on the list, but their job sheet for the day didn’t have it on. Either way, it was a very positive sign. A couple of days later, another sighting at a different location, but still in the (local) area.

The cabinets in our area that thus far have not been enabled, don’t have (not surprisingly) the extra fibre cabinet located next to or close to the existing one. My thoughts were that if the fibre was being laid to the existing cabinets and “capped off”, and there genuinely was a push on to get FTTC deployed in full, I should soon start to see the fitters deploying the new cabinets sooner rather than later.

Fast forward, to my run this morning. What do I see as I turn the corner and run past “PCP 39”?

Joy! A few meters from the existing cabinet, markings as to where a new cabinet is to be installed. As to when? I’ve no idea, but it’s clear to me something is now very much happening. Flushed with this news, I decided to have a look around at some of the other cabinets in the area in need of fibre.

People of Roe Lane / Hesketh Drive (P12), you’re in luck.

And for those in Bankfield Lane (P4) you too.

Not forgetting the souls of Ferryside Lane and surrounding areas (P36)

And the happy people of Moss Lane (P37)

I’m afraid I didn’t have time to travel up to Banks and near the Riverside, so if your line hangs off P34, P38 or P43, I can’t tell you the latest.

But the bad news, P33 (Elswick Rd) and P40 (Merepark Drive) don’t (as yet) show any signs of progress.

M.