Parts of Bradley Stoke could get faster broadband after BT announced the Almondsbury telephone exchange is to be upgraded.
The work will bring the firm’s 21st Century Wholesale Broadband Connect service to people who get high-speed web via their phone line.
In theory, people close to the exchange could see services of up to 24mbps; currently the highest speed service is 8mbps. In reality Bradley Stoke residents, who live further away from the exchange, will see a smaller increase in speed.
Almondsbury is due to switch over on 30 April 2008 - but users connected to the Filton exchange will have to wait until 2009 before they are moved to the new system.
If you’re technically minded you can read more on the WBC service here.
11 responses so far ↓
1 Andy // Mar 29, 2008 at 2:40 pm
All I can say is woohoo! And which ISPs will be reselling?
2 Craig // Mar 29, 2008 at 3:57 pm
Good catch; I’d lost hope when BT previously announced that they were pushing back 21CN roll-out for Almondsbury and Filton to Q1 2010.
I’m also glad you’ve pointed out the potential for little improvement in speed. Most of Bradley Stoke must be on monstrously long phone lines - our line (from Filton) is 5.2km according to BT – and line length is critical in determining speed. Those living within 1-2km of an exchange might notice an improvement, the rest of us probably won’t (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:ADSL_Line_Rate_Reach.gif for a pretty graph depicting this).
Given this, is BT truly rolling out a network fit for the 21st Century? Personally I think not. Cable suppliers, such as Virgin are already offering 50Mb connections, something BT can only dream of.
3 Chris (editor) // Mar 29, 2008 at 4:03 pm
Thanks for the link, Craig. I guess the people up in the north of Bradley Stoke might see a little boost. Like you, I’m on the end of about 5km of line so might not see any improvement at all - but even half a meg would be welcome!
I find it amazing that BT will build a new exchange for north Swindon, they won’t build one for Bradley Stoke - a much larger area.
4 Pasty Muncher // Mar 31, 2008 at 3:53 pm
When my one horse town finally got broadband a team of BT broadband internet engineers held an open evening to explain the new service.
They try as best they can
5 glenn // May 7, 2008 at 8:42 am
having lots of problems with our bt line. broadband keeps dropping out and lots of noise on the phone line. bt says its not a problem and the line is ok I,m not convinced. anyone else with the same problems. seems quite common in palmers leaze area!!
6 Matt // May 7, 2008 at 11:46 am
Glenn - I’m on Ellan Hay and I had similar problems, who’s your ISP? It could be one of two things - one issue was found where the connector on the PABX at the end of Ellan Hay had become corroded….AND also out muppet of an ISP had Unbundled us - without telling us - but their equipment was unreliable!! Persist with BT and your ISP and make sure you lay it on thick!!
7 Chris (editor) // May 7, 2008 at 11:48 am
Let me back up Matt’s comments - I’m down that part of BS and I had exactly the same issue. Eventually (after a YEAR of moaning to BT) they tracked the issue down to corroded cables in the green cabinet at the end of the road. Keep at them, BT refused to accept there was a problem with my line …
8 Tim // May 7, 2008 at 12:21 pm
There was a wonderful problem which started in April 2007 and wasn’t fixed until January 2008. It was REIN (radio interference) jumping on to the phone line. It was caused by a faulty television on Lavendar Way. It took over 30 engineer visits and 8 months to find it. We traced it almost to the exact house using a radio then BT did the rest. It was wiping out around 500 lines a couple of times a day, we are half a mile away from the source.
9 glenn // May 7, 2008 at 12:43 pm
thanks for comments. my isp is aol, they tell me that they are putting pressure on bt to sort its lines out however they seem to be dragging their heels on this.
10 Chris (editor) // May 7, 2008 at 1:25 pm
When mine finally got sorted out I was having to make daily calls to my ISP … don’t give up the fight!
11 Bert Hindle // May 8, 2008 at 12:57 pm
Unfortunately, many properties in Bradley Stoke suffer from the fact that during the 90s, it was a cost-saving practice to lay aluminium telephone cables instead of copper.Aluminium cables are terrible for DSL, so even with the exchange upgrade, these properties will still be severely limited in the service they can receive.
Leave a Comment