Connection problems at Wansford exchange

Not really related to Faster Internet, but the Wansford exchange does seem to be having a rough patch with faults. I have had three cases, and an Openreach engineer confirmed several others, where a user can't get onto the Internet and their router has a solid DSL connection to the exchange.

The symptoms of this are a solid DSL light showing a good connection, and a sensible speed displayed in the router's web pages. The Internet light will be off, or red instead of green, or Amber instead of Blue on a BT Home Hub. The router web interface will show no IP address, there may be an error like Authentication failed, No PPP session, LCP down or similar.

If you change the router login to bt_test@startup_domain the above symptoms persist - you can't even log in to the test user (which needs no password and should work on all lines).

So if this happens call up your service provider and tell them you have a good ADSL signal but no PPP session, that the bt_test login doesn't work and that some of your neighbours had the same problem and BT Wholesale had to make changes at the exchange.

Most "help"desks will have you changing filters and monkeying around with all manner of things, but you either need them to report it to BT Wholesale or get them to arrange an Openreach engineer visit who will then have to do the same. Don't be put off by threats of visit charges, if you have an ADSL signal with 448k upstream and a sensible downstream speed then it isn't a problem with the phone line or wiring.c

Some good news

I contacted Talk Talk about the possibility that they may install equipment at Wansford to increase competition and provide faster services, they replied that they do not intend to invest at Wansford Exchange.

Rutland Telecom have not replied to my enquiry about exchanged based and/or cabinet based services, it is some weeks since I contacted them.

A fibre to the home (FTTH) system builder was conceptually interested in Wittering, but needs some local enthusiasm and contacts to take it further. Anyone ?

Meanwhile, the latest Northamptonshire superfast broadband newsletter (pdf download) reveals that our exchange features in the first phase of their bid to BDUK for broadband improvements...

 

Band 1 contains over 35,000 residential premises and almost 1,500 commercial premises.  The 14 exchange areas that would be initially in this band are: 

Broughton, Byfield, Kislingbury, Middleton Cheney, Weedon, Long Buckby, Brixworth, Towcester, Silverstone, Roade, Bozeat, Thrapston, Oundle, and Wansford.  

 So our lobbying does appear to have raised the profile to good effect.

Aspirations from one side of the line

The Northants Newsletter sets out their vision as:-

Our vision is for Northamptonshire to be at the leading edge of the global digital economy.  This means that a minimum two-thirds of premises should have access to broadband speeds in excess of 10mb/s by 2014 and at least 9 out of 10 premises should have this by 2015.  By 2015 all premises should have access to the broadband at the national minimum speed of 2mb/s.  By 2017 all premises should be able to access superfast broadband up to 100 mb/s products with a range of download and upload speeds available to meet requirements.

Be interesting to see what Peterborough City and Cambridgeshire aspire towards.

Northamptonshire Newsletter

Northants County Council have produced a newsletter in support of their broadband activities. Download it from here (pdf file, 280 kBytes).

Northamptonshire Broadband Survey

Northants County Council are preparing a bid to BDUK for funds to enhance broadband provision. They have an online survey to record speedtest results and your views on price and service along with what you might be able to do with a faster connection.

Comments can also be made direct to Ross Griffin Telephone: 01604 236641

So Yarwell and Nassington residents connected to the Wansford telephone exchange can make an input. As both villages are cabinet fed there is at least a modest cost technical option for increasing speeds.

I also sent in an email with comments to bigidea@northamptonshire.gov.uk , reproduced below :-

I thought I would send in some comments beyond what the broadband survey form permits.

I live in Yarwell (PE8 6PS) at the top right hand corner of the county, we are fed from the Wansford telephone exchange which lives in Peterborough City (unitary authority) / Cambridgeshire.

My business is doing computer support / repairs / broadband installations.

Yarwell village is largely capable of getting the full 8M service available from the exchange ie speedtest results of over 6M subject to congestion etc. Some cheaper service providers deliver much lower throughput at busy times but this isn't a function of the infrastructure - I can record a speedtest of 400-600 kbits/s at the pub (PE8 6PR) which is closer to the exchange than my house, but if I take the same laptop home and run the same speed test I get 4500 - 6000 kbits/s ie 10 times faster on a more expensive service provider (the pub uses Tesco).

Nassington village (PE8 6QB) is further away and sees speeds from 1.5 - 5M as you move along the distance / speed curve from the exchange.

Wansford exchange is a "Market 1" exchange with only BT Wholesale broadband services on their 20th Century network and hence 8M maximum speeds. If it had been upgraded to 21CN then Yarwell would benefit from speeds over 8M (maybe 12 - 16M at the points nearest the exchange). Nassington would only benefit slightly if at all. We would also get faster upload speeds that currently are only available on more expensive business products (832k vs 448k).

As a Market 1 exchange we have a price penalty and less competition. Talk Talk have told me they don't intend to install equipment at Wansford which would have offered faster speeds and reduced prices.

Both Yarwell and Nassington have BT street cabinets (one each) feeding the majority if not all properties. We could therefore receive "up to 40M" services if a fibre optic feed were laid to the cabinets and an additional cabinet with electronics installed - so called FTTC with services like BT Infinity. We are unlikely to be attractive targets for BT to provide commercially, and as yet I haven't had any success getting interest from alternative providers like Rutland Telecom who also do FTTC.

So we have a degree of market failure here at the edge of the county where we are limited to 8M maximum broadband, have lower upload speeds, less competition and no prospect of Next Generation Access through commercial provision - we are in The Final Third. Nassington has additional penalties through being located further away from the telephone exchange.

Cabinets - can you help

If we want to get faster internet access via our local BT street cabinet it's handy if we know where they are. There's one in Parkway in Nassington (numbered 2, below) and one at Yarwell cross roads (5). I found two in Wittering - a larger new one on the main road in off the A1 Townsend road at its junction with Burghley Avenue, and another small ancient one (8) not far away on a corner on Burghley Avenue.

If you are connected to one of these, and if BT or another operator puts a new active broadband cabinet next to it (or close enough to connect to it) then up to 40M downstream / 10M upstream services would become available. If you are in Wansford and your cables go direct to the telephone exchange then FTTC isn't an option at the moment, sorry. Nassington and Wittering would benefit most, as they are about 4 and 5km from the exchange so using the cabinet chops a big piece out of their copper cable length and hence reduces signal loss dramatically.

So, dear readers, where are they situated ?

Hello World

Welcome to the first entry in the Faster Wansford blog at fasterwansford.blogspot.com

I'll be sharing some thoughts on options for getting faster internet access into Wansford and surrounding villages, focussing on those served by the Wansford telephone exchange ie Nassington, Sibson, Stibbington, Sutton, Thornhaugh, Wansford itself, Wittering and Yarwell.

It is now coming up to 8 years since we got first generation ADSL broadband in Wansford, following a successful campaign to hit BT's "trigger level" for the exchange. 8 years is a long time in technology and we are still using the same first generation ADSL technology with a single wholesale provider in the exchange. In recent years other exchanges (Stamford, for example) have seen the arrival of cheaper and faster services from other wholesale providers like Talk Talk, Sky/Easynet and Be/O2. BT have also moved on to "up to 20M" broadband using ADSL2+ technology in Stamford, but not here :-(

The next step in broadband speed is to use fibre optic cables, either direct to the home or (more likely) to a local street cabinet where new equipment would be installed to use the shorter copper line from there to your home. The latter is called FTTC (fibre to the cabinet) and BT's own product is called "BT Infinity" although several other ISPs use the same system. BT recently ran a "Race to Infinity" inviting users to "vote" to receive Infinity in their area, Wansford came 609th out of 2500 with 94 votes or 4.33% of lines.

As we came in the top quarter of eligible exchanges there's clearly a demand for faster services, so I was inspired enough to create this blog. Comments and contributions welcome !