Forum Discussion

tum5's avatar
tum5
Joining in
8 months ago

Availablity - neighbours behind my home can get fttp, but I cant.

Hello, 

Im hoping someone can help.

I've been trying to get fttp to no avail and have spoken with virgin who have not been any help besides saying my area is not serviceable.

This is confusing as my neighbours are able to get fttp which are just behind my home. I can see there are road works but was not able to get any concrete information if that extends to my area which I appreciate the call agents cant comment, the distance between me and the neighbours who are able to get the fttp is roughly 20 meters or so.

Im in the postcode PL1 3DJ where as the neighbours who have the service are PL1 3DA.

can someone pease help with this issue, as this very confusing.

  • Adduxi's avatar
    Adduxi
    Very Insightful Person
    8 months ago

    If VM are saying it's not serviceable, then your chances are slim.  It may seem the VM connection is "only" 20Mtrs away, but it may be much further depending on the route needed to get to you?  If you property is the only one, I'm guessing VM's civils costs will exceed any monies they will make from you, i.e. it's not financially viable.

    • tum5's avatar
      tum5
      Joining in
      8 months ago

      Hopefully Im articulating well.

      My street has a row of buildings beside me and in front, none of these have access to fttp, so there is basically a whole street that has no fttp in the area, but the streets behind mine do have it. There is this tiny piece with probably 50-100 dwellings that dont have access, and I thought given that they are doing work reasonably close, obviously im unaware of the route they'd need to take to connect the property/ies, but surely there is profit to be made here?

      • jpeg1's avatar
        jpeg1
        Alessandro Volta
        8 months ago

        To dig up that street would cost thousands, and may need a street cabinet in front of someone's house. Would the Council permit that?

        To justify the cost, VM would need many new connections. But their local networking may not have sufficient spare capacity to feed them. It's a catch 22.

         

  • nodrogd's avatar
    nodrogd
    Very Insightful Person
    8 months ago

    Plymouth is 1990s build legacy network (ex Bell Cablemedia). The area is HFC type network (hybrid fibre - copper coaxial) not FTTP. This network can carry a finite number of connections, so although VM is overbuilding with full fibre in existing HFC areas, it won't go live for some time, & even then only it's likely to be for 2Gb non TV connections initially. The existing network is only capable of serving the houses it currently passes.

  • nodrogd's avatar
    nodrogd
    Very Insightful Person
    8 months ago

    Had a closer look at this on Google Streetview. From my visual assessment following roads have legacy HFC cable services available:

    Grand Parade (Front only), Garden Crescent, Eddystone Terrace (Front only). The rear of Eddystone Terrace/Grand Parade is block paved, which would have increased the build costs significantly. With that & the small number of properties not served, any flats in that road would be unserviceable to the current network.

    Bear in mind that in Plymouth VM builds & maintains it's own ducting. There is no agreement to use Openreach or any other companies ducting in the area.