Sunday 19 April 2015

Gone Live

Wiltshire Online have advised that Enford is now connected to fibre broadband! I have done a quick postcode check using the Wiltshire Online postcode checker – all postcodes in the parish (with 2 exceptions) are described as ‘GONE LIVE’. The exceptions (which are both described as ‘FUTURE FUNDING’) are:

SN9 6DE – Coombe, SN9 6DQ – Fifield

Surprisingly, we in Coombe Lane (SN9 6DF) are also described as ‘GONE LIVE’ despite Wiltshire Online notifying me in December that we were definitely NOT going to be included in the fibre rollout programme. This also seems a bit odd, particularly as we are next door to Coombe and Fifield – one would think that we would share the same status.

I (naively) thought that we would all immediately benefit from a fibre connection, but it is not so. Apparently you are still connected to the exchange via the existing infrastructure until such time that you arrange (through your ISP) to upgrade to a ‘fibre’ package. At which point your line is disconnected from the old infrastructure (inside the cabinet) and plugged instead into a new board which is connected to the fibre going back to the exchange. At the same time, your ISP should also supply you with a new router, as the standard (ADSL) routers are not compatible with a fibre connection. Presumably there will be some increase in subscription charges as well.

These are the handful of reports I have received from people who have already upgraded:

Longstreet
74Mbps
Enford Farm Road
42Mbps
Chisenbury Court
10Mbps
Far end of E Chisenbury
8 Mbps


On average looks to be a 10x – 15x improvement.

Interestingly, I contacted our ISP (Plusnet) to enquire about upgrading but there are no upgrade options for Coombe Lane. A resident in New Buildings was also told the same by her ISP (Sky), and another resident in East Chisenbury was told by his ISP (BT) that a fibre connection was not available, that the exchange had reached capacity and he would not be able to get connected until it is upgraded. It seems that ‘GONE LIVE’ does not necessarily mean the same thing to all people!

There is more information from BT on the village website (http://enfordnewsletter.org/index.php). If you have any information to add, please put it on this blog.