Our Project has been approved by The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) and is now fully funded by approved vouchers.
OpenReach will deploy the project and we can all then have Ultrafast broadband, with any supplier we choose.
A massive thankyou to all those who have approved their vouchers or helped in anyway on the project.
End of project in site.
Most of the village has now been completed and everyone should now be able to order Ultrafast, regardless of your participation in the vouchers scheme. The supplier signup issues have been resolved, normally down to incorrect or mismatching addresses.
If anyone is interested, KCC are conducting a case study into our broadband project. If you would like to get involved or would like to say a few words, good or bad, you can contact Rose on the details below.
KCC Broadband Case Study: CFP20046 Frittenden
Rose Khanum
rose.Khanum@kent.gov.uk
03000 415942
OpenReach have finished installing fibre network and it is now LIVE.
This means you can now sign up with your chosen supplier for Ultrafast FTTP (make sure you ask for that).
You can do this online or by telephone with your existing suplier or a new suplier.
If you are in contract, your suplier may offer Ultrafast FTTP and you should be able to upgrade with no penalty.
If you do need to change suplier and are in contract, some early termination penalties are not very much.
If you are not in contract and your current suplier does not offer Ultrafast FTTP, you can change your boradband suplier easliy with no penalty.
If you need a new supplier you can check the suppliers here:
https://www.openreach.com/fibre-broadband/fttp-providers
You can also check your individual availability here:
https://www.openreach.com/fibre-broadband-availability-customer
All you have to do is order you new service from an Ultrafast FTTP suplier. Thats it.
You will not get an email voucher, the voucher goes directly to Openreach for installing fibre network.
You should in due course get a Govenment email to confirm that you have taken up an Ultrafast FTTP service.
Once you have ordered please fill in this form https://forms.gle/vcbfD7TUzQgNLaWC7 so I can keep track of the orders.
NOTE:
We are aware with an issue for some Sky customers, and this has been raised with Openreach.
I am writing to give you an update of your community funded FTTP.
The Build team have confirmed we are progressing well and although there were a few build problems these have now been resolved and the remaining issues should be sorted soon. We will then be in the commissioning stage so you (thats me) should receive an email within the next 3 weeks to confirm this project is completed and the community will be able to order Fibre to the Premises.
NOTES:
If you have had an email saying your voucher is due to expire, OpenReach have applied for an extension.
If you have had an email asking you redeem your voucher, this can't be done until the project is completed and you have ordered Ultrafast Broadband from one of the supliers on the list below.
With kind regards,
Ann Harrison
Community Fibre Team
PON’s V8003, V8004 & V8006 are now at build complete and are being quality checked starting tomorrow.
This should take a few days given the geographic area that they cover and will then be submitted for commissioning.
Once this is complete the residents can place their fibre broadband orders.
I would advise this should all take approximately 2-3 weeks.
V8005: We have one pole that requires replacing but requires a road closure to do this.
This is scheduled to take place 25/11/20 followed by completion of the overhead cabling, jointing and testing.
The above process then follows.
V8007: We have one pole that requires replacing but requires a road closure to do this.
This is scheduled to take place 26/11/20 followed by completion of the overhead cabling, jointing and testing.
The above process then follows.
V8001: We have one pole that requires replacing but requires a road closure to do this.
This is scheduled to take place 27/11/20 followed by completion of the overhead cabling, jointing and testing.
The above process then follows.
V8002: We have one pole that requires replacing but requires a road closure to do this.
This is scheduled to take place 30/11/20 followed by completion of the overhead cabling, jointing and testing.
The above process then follows.
The road closure dates are scheduled by the Highways Authority and not ourselves so unfortunately this has had a knock on affect to delivering the other four PON’s. The one risk is that given Christmas will be just around the corner once the road closures finish we will do everything we can to get PON’s completed and released prior to the holidays but I cannot at this stage make this a nailed on promise.
With kind regards,
Millen Unwin
CFP Project Manager
Work is progressing well. The area has been split into 7 PON’s for delivery. (Passive Optical Networks)
PON's V8003 & V8004 are at build complete and will be going into commissioning shortly (awaiting resource) whereupon orders for fibre service can then be placed.
PON V8006 ECD for build complete is approximately 07/10/20 followed by commissioning.
The remaining four PON’s are in good shape, we have a few issues surrounding poles that have had their life status changed to derelict whilst we have been building the network which means that they have to be replaced and this requires road closures but we are pursuing all avenues to replace these poles ASAP. Fortunately it only affects certain areas of the overall PON’s so I’m working to bring them into build complete on a staggered basis.
At this moment in time I am still on course to complete all 7 PON’s by the contract completion date of the 24/11/20.
With kind regards,
Millen Unwin
CFP Project Manager
I am pleased to say that we are making good progress and we are now in the build stage of our deployment where we have started our works to install the fibre network and the associated infrastructure. You may have seen our engineers working nearby but they could also be working anywhere on the route from your community back to the local telephone exchange. We'll now be in touch much more often to keep you as up to date as possible as we near your go live date in January.
(Ed. mmmmm Aug, Sept, Oct or Jan?? The actual contract delivery date is the 24/11/20)
With kind regards,
Joe Keenan
Infrastructure solutions customer service
Installation is progressing well with all 7 PON’s (areas). Some are more advanced than others and as such will be released earlier than others for resident orders to be placed. The contract delivery date is the 24/11/20 and PON’s will be periodically released leading up to this date as they are completed.
We are having the usual trials and tribulations of delivering to some of the more rural locations but at this moment in time I don’t think that we have anything that we can’t overcome.
It’s too early yet for me to advise what PON’s I estimate will be released first but I will keep you up to date as the picture becomes clearer.
With kind regards,
Millen Unwin
CFP Project Manager. Fibre and Network Delivery for Kent.
Following our email a few weeks ago we thought we'd get back in touch as we near completion of the survey stage, then we'll soon be releasing work instructions to our contractors to commence the 'build' phase.
You may be interested to know that during the build stage of an FTTP installation, the fibre cable is ran from a head end in the exchange to an aggregation node that takes capacity to a local area. It then connects to a splitter node using a tree and branch approach. From the splitter nodes fibre cables are fed to the new connectorised blocks which can be located overhead on telegraph poles or installed in underground footway boxes. The connectorised block then feeds individual premises.
With kind regards,
Timothy Clarkson
Community Liaison Manager
Following my email a few weeks ago about progress with your Community Fibre Partnership I wanted to share more information as we remain on track. The early stages of the fibre delivery process have been completed, our surveyors have checked the blueprints from the design to your community, to make sure that what looks good on paper works in the real world. Our planning and design teams are now progressing with the critical design and survey stage of your fibre delivery / infrastructure and shortly will be building the work instructions for the delivery teams in order to enter the build phase of the programme.
With kind regards,
Timothy Clarkson
Community Liaison Manager
Firstly, I hope that you are well and managing to cope with the many challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the UK Government announced strict new curbs on life in the UK to tackle the spread of coronavirus, I wanted to write to you in connection with the services that we are contracted to provide so that you understand any implications of the current situation on our current partnership. The Openreach network is critical to maintaining the fabric of UK society – connecting people has never been more important - so from now, we’re prioritising essential work.
This includes:
At the heart of our decision making is the safety of our employees, our customers and the public at large, so any new network build will be restricted to low risk locations. The Covid-19 pandemic is clearly a matter beyond our reasonable control, and we can assure you that we will do what we can to minimise any impact on our delivery timescales, although we still expect that they will be impacted. We can assure you though, that if you are reliant on gigabit vouchers to fund your contribution to our partnership we can confirm that these will be secure. The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) have confirmed to suppliers that the validity of these vouchers will be extended to cover any lost time and have recently suspended the clause in the voucher terms and conditions in relation to the 12 month validity date until further notice. We will be keeping in regular contact with the DCMS on any further changes to the scheme and will continue to oversee everything in relation to this.
We’ll stay in touch over the coming weeks and please be assured that we remain committed to delivering a gigabit capable infrastructure for your community. Our engineering work will resume as soon possible via government guidelines, and we’ll keep you abreast of things every step of the way. We know that what Openreach does is vital, and connecting people has never been more important. We’re reassessing the current situation all the time to see if we can do anything safely, and if we can, we will. If you’ve an enquiry in relation to your project please email communityfibre@openreach.co.uk for further assistance.
Thank you for your understanding during this unprecedented time.
With kind regards,
Matt Lloyd
Senior Manager, Community Partnerships
Hello again
We understand you'll want to keep in touch with your community in connection with your fibre broadband project so we've attached a glossary of fibre broadband that you may like to share with them.
View the Glossary HERE
We've now put requests out for our contractors to commence survey activity. At the survey stage, we take the blueprints from the design to your community, and check that what looks good on paper works in the real world. Our surveyor needs to check that there's enough space alongside all the existing utilities underground for our new cables, and whether there's enough space to accommodate the equipment. They'll also need to determine things like whether any road closures are needed to install fibre and, if so, apply to the local authority for road traffic management, traffic lights etc. They'll work closely with your local authority as need be, to make sure fibre is installed safely and with the minimum of disruption to local people.
Just so you know, when our engineers conduct the survey they won't need to contact you about doing it.
We'll get back in touch within the next couple of months with more information and updates about your community's fibre build.
With kindest regards
Timothy Clarkson
Community Liaison Manager
The contract was handed over the delivery team on the 27th of January. It’s been added to the work stack of our senior planning team to be fully designed, built onto the system and job packs created for the build team.
Whilst sounding simple, the above tasks are very complex pieces of work which all take a long time, especially with a community of your size. This will probably take somewhere between 3-6 months to be fully complete, as once all the above is done, the delivery manager needs to sign off on the estimates and job packs to make sure he is happy with them, sometimes they are pushed back to planning to be re-looked at.
Once the delivery manager is happy, myself or one of the team will provide you delivery updates every 6-8 weeks depending on how much progress has been made since the last update.
I hope this all makes sense.
Kind regards,
Caleb
Community Fibre Team
As soon as the project goes live OpenReach will notify (the community lead) and I will then cascade the information to you, the community. I will notify the 92 voucher holders, as these are the 92 people who are the most important orders. Once confirmed that all 92 voucher holders have active service / have placed orders. The DCMS will give the community 28 days to validate a secondary email (similar to the first one) to confirm their orders/service is live.
Broadband suppliers who CURRENTLY sell FTTP are listed here -
https://www.openreach.com/fibre-broadband/fttp-providers
https://www.ispreview.co.uk/isp_list/ISP_List_Ultrafast_Broadband.php
Please note more providers may become available by the time we deliver the network to your community.
I will attempt to get a multi deal from them, once we have a completion date.
Any questions, with the email or response or anything else, please email me - bb@lancefrench.com.
Once completed you will need to choose a Ultrafast broadband supplier.
I have emailed them to see if we can get any multi deals, and will display that info here nearer the time.
https://www.aa.net.uk/broadband
https://www.bt.com/broadband/ultrafast
https://www.cerberusnetworks.co.uk/connectivity-broadband/fttp-and-gfast
https://www.spectruminternet.com/fttp-full-fibre-home-broadband-on
https://www.structuredcommunications.co.uk/internet-solutions/fttp
https://www.fibre.net (Syscomm)
https://www.zen.co.uk/broadband/ultrafast-fibre-broadband
Any questions, with the email or response or anything else, please email me - bb@lancefrench.com.
You should be aware that if you are in a contract with your current Internet Service Provider (ISP) you may be asked to pay a termination fee if you want to switch provider. There are currently over 180 ISPs who can supply standard broadband to the residents of Frittenden, companies like Talk-Talk, BT Yahoo, Plus-Net etc. But there are curently only 7 residential and 20 business suppliers that can provide FTTP based service and your current supplier may not be one of them. FTTP Services are available at different speeds, the slowest is 30Mb/sec and the fastest 300Mb/sec. Costs vary between approximately £30 and £75 per month (depending on speed) and vary depending on the supplier. You should take this into account before choosing to commit to applying for a grant.
⇈ back to topIf you are unsure and would like some help, please email bb@lancefrench.com or fill in the form below.
All fields must be completed.
Thank you for your request. You will hear from one of our team within 24 hours.
If for some reason you don’t receive a response please call us on
01580 852 727 or email us
bb@lancefrench.com
Sorry, something went wrong, please call us on
01580 852 727 or email us
bb@lancefrench.com