Tichborne Superfast/ Ultrafast/ FTTP Broadband update

Dear Tichborne Residents,

After a number of recent enquiries I thought I ought to circulate an update on the status of forthcoming higher speed broadband services.

Work is underway: The good news is that BT Openreach (the infrastructure part of BT) are now actively planning and building the fibre spine infrastructure to support broadband operators offering Superfast/ Ultrafast broadband services to the main parts of Tichborne. Over a kilometer of fibre has been laid through the Tichborne estate with ducting implemented to where the estate access lane reaches the junction opposite Park View Cottage. In addition 7 Kilometers of ducting is being checked to determine where blockages are. Once the identified blockges are cleared the fibre spine will run to 10-15 access points throughout the village (diagram shown above article). Once the access points are enabled residents will be able to order the fibre services from their prefered Broadband supplier resulting in a significantly better experience than the poor quality, old cooper broadband infrastructure we have at present.

Availability: BT Openreach were due to make the new Fibre services available before the end of 2018. However, its becoming clear that they will not meet this timeline. My estimate is that we should see the spine ready for broadband operators to take orders for the new Fibre To The Premises (FTTP) services in the next 3-6 months. Once you order the service from your prefered broadband supplier they will have to work with BT Openreach to plan and implement a fibre connection from the nearest access point to your home. This is likely to require some earthworks to bury new ducting to your property within which the fibre would be laid. When the work is completed you are likely to receive a new broadband router that connects to your new service

Pricing structures: There will be a monthly fee for the FTTP service in the same way as your current phone-line based Broadband - though probably a little higher in cost depending upon the speed you sign up for. In addition you may have to pay a one-off connection fee for the earthworks to get the fibre from the nearest village access point to your property. For reference I checked with one of the potential FTTP broadband suppliers today (BT) and since the backbone is not in place yet they were not able to provide actual service prices. However they said “Prices are likely to start at around £30 per month with approximately £50-150 connection fee depending upon the service type you take and the work required to connect the property”. Just to restate you will also be able to get the FTTP service from other broadband suppliers.

Please continue to use to the following website link to register interest in higher speed boardband services even if you already have done so in the past https://www.hampshiresuperfastbroadband.com

In addition, after entering your postcode and house name in the following BT website you should eventually see over the coming months the status updated to Accepting Orders. At this point you will be able to shop around for your prefered broadband supplier to get the service. https://www.homeandbusiness.openreach.co.uk/fibre-broadband/when-can-i-get-fibre?postcode=SO240na

Hope this helps

Cheers Neil