Ultrafast FTTP Broadband for Tichborne Update

Dear all,

Some of you will have seen further activity in the village by the people in white vans. The work being executed is the implementation of the backbone infrastructure for the new Fibre To The Premises (FTTP) broadband service that you should be able to take advantage of very soon. Indeed some of the properties in the village already have access to the new service. So I thought I would provide a quick update and provide some expectations and actions for you. As a reminder, whilst we have had to wait for so many years for fast broadband, one of the benefits of having waited is that we are some of the first homes in the country to be able to have this new, very high speed, FTTP service.

1) Finishing the Backbone

Speaking to the BT Openreach guys this morning they expect to conclude their Fibre infrastructure work around the village in the next 1-2 weeks. They are connecting Fibre to a number of distribution points in the village (see diagram on this page). Should everything get a green light, then the Internet Services Providers (ISPs) will be informed that the service can be ordered. Examples of ISP's include BT, TalkTalk, Virgin, Sky, PlusNet, Vodafone etc. Not all of them will be offering the Service in the Tichborne area. These ISP's are the people who you call to order Broadband, in this case "Fibre Broadband".

1.1) You can use the following link to check the service and sign up to be informed when its available http://www.openreach.com and click the Fibre checker button.

1.2) Once the service is available the following site may be useful to compare prices of different ISP offerings https://broadband.moneysavingexpert.com/?_ga=2.95306524.1668271951.1561550578-1603936567.1561550578#search

2) Ordering the service

Once the service is orderable you will be able to call up your preferred ISP and order one of their FTTP fibre superfast services. Once you agree the contract, the ISP will contact BT Openreach to run a fibre connection between the nearest village backbone distribution point on the backbone and your home. This connection may involve a specific fee. It is also likely that a new wall box will be installed in your home to terminate the fibre connection and connect to your home router. This process may take a few weeks but you should be kept informed as to the expected dates of activity.

3) Timing in Summary - The following are estimated dates

• Mid-July 2019 - Completion of the Fibre backbone in Tichborne
• End-July 2019 - ISP's informed service is available to order FTTP services
• End-July-Early-Aug 2019 - You will be able to order the service from your preferred ISP and request a connection
• End-August 2019 - The implementation of your Fibre connection to your home will be scheduled/ installed
• September 2019 - Join the 21st Century :-)

4) Exception to the Rule

Having said all of that there are two exceptions to the rule to be aware of.

4.1) Homes that are further than ~150m away from a distribution point may not be able to get the service

4.2) Homes in new Bakelands Gardens estate - As these are relatively new homes, the Hampshire Council Superfast Broadband programme (which began 7-8 years ago) did not include this estate in its plans as the homes did not exist at the time. The responsibility for Superfast Broadband connections to new homes was left uncertain until Feb 2016 when the government and BT Openreach agreed a deal. This means that Bakelands Gardens homes may need to work together to encourage BT Openreach to make the service available to them.

I hope this was useful

Regards, Tichborne Parish Council