January 2015 update
Over 50 of the 100 available fibre facilities in Harberton's Cabinet 21 have now been taken up.
*****
FTTC (Fibre To The Cabinet) broadband arrived in Harberton during the week ending Fri 14th Nov 2014. This is available to phone lines connected to BT Cabinet 21 located outside Pendarves opposite Harberton Parish Hall, which includes most properties in the Harberton electoral roll area but excludes Dorsley, Blakemore, Belsford, Langford, Sandwell and Hazard (all connected to a different cabinet at Follaton) and beyond (01364 codes).
Andrew Hockings and I both heartily recommend Plusnet.
I don't know about Andrew, but I've been with Plusnet for nearly 14 years, and
have had excellent service from them. Before I started using MailChimp to send
village email circulars, Plusnet even gave me special dispensation to send more
than their standard number of emails without classing them as spam. Overall,
disregarding the various special offers all these people offer from time to
time, Plusnet have been consistently better value than BT, for example. And
their call centre really is in Yorkshire no charge for calls to tech support.
Incidentally, Plusnet is actually owned by BT, but the giant doesn't interfere
with Plusnet's operations. My experience is that they still retain the 'personal
feel'.
Plusnet's boradband & phone packages all ofer extremely good value. Payment of
advance annual line rental at a discount is another advantage offered.
Plusnet also offers a referrals scheme, meaning that if someone signs up with
them on your recommendation, you get a small discount on your monthly
subscription. Andrew and I have both benefitted from this scheme. If you click
the Plusnet banner on Andrew's website and ultimately open an account with
Plusnet, Andrew gets your referral automatically. If you click on the Plusnet
banner below I get your referral:
But that's not the main reason we're more than happy to recommend Plusnet they are very, very good!
*****
[taken from village email circular sent 17/11/14]
Some of you will already have heard this from BT or Andrew Hockings, but for
everyone else
First, the big story of the day, but there's
lots more news below that too
Fibre Broadband reaches Harberton!
Despite me reporting just 12 days ago that the arrival of FTTC (Fibre To The
Cabinet = high-speed fibre broadband) appeared to have suffered further delays,
having been tipped off on Saturday by Nick Williams who has been notified of
FTTC availability by BT I'm delighted to let you know that BT's Cabinet 21
outside Pendarves (opposite the Parish Hall) in Harberton is now LIVE.
I phoned up my ISP, Plusnet, on Saturday and ordered my upgrade to one of their
fibre broadband packages. An appointment was booked for an engineer to visit and
install the new modem and router next Monday 24th Nov, so all being well this
time next week my broadband will be flying, relatively speaking. Now there's
service for you. (Mind you, I still won't believe it until it's actually
happened.)
This means that if you are connected to Cabinet 21 (which covers most Harberton
village recipients, apart from those connected to cabinet 9 at Follaton,
including Dorsley Barton, Blakemore, Langford, Sandwell, Hazard and Blue Post)
you may now be able to sign up for a high-speed fibre account. If you have a BT
(or Plusnet, for example) line you can check your cabinet connection and likely
FTTC download and upload speeds at
www.dslchecker.bt.com.
Nothing changes with regard to the wire connection between your house and
Cabinet 21, and the longer that connection is the more it will affect the speeds
you will be likely to achieve as a result of FTTC but most people will
experience very significant improvments.
And I'll take this opportunity to repeat our recommendation for Plusnet:
Not all ISPs may be able to offer a fibre service immediately. Now the fibre
connection to Harberton has been activated, this may be the opportunity for you
to consider changing your ISP.
Andrew Hockings and I both heartily recommend Plusnet.
I don't know about Andrew, but I've been with them for nearly 14 years, and have
had excellent service from them. Before I started using MailChimp to send these
village circulars, Plusnet even gave me special dispensation to send more than
their standard number of emails without classing them as spam. Overall,
disregarding the various special offers all these people offer from time to
time, Plusnet have been consistently better value than BT, for example. And
their call centre really is in Yorkshire no charge for calls to tech support.
Incidentally, Plusnet is actualy owned by BT, but the giant doesn't interfere
with Plusnet's operations.
Plusnet offers a referrals scheme, meaning that if someone signs up with them on
your recommendation, you get a small discount on your monthly subscription.
Andrew and I have both benefitted from this scheme.
If you click the Plusnet banner on Andrew's website
www.andrewspcs.co.uk and ultimately open an
account with Plusnet, Andrew gets your referral automatically.
If you click on the Plusnet banner on the Harberton website at
www.harbertondevon.co.uk or at the foot of this
email, I get your referral automatically. (Or if you phone Plusnet to sign up,
please quote my Plusnet username 'jculf'.)
But that's not the main reason we're more than happy to recommend Plusnet they
are very good!
[taken from village email circular sent 5/11/14]
Harberton Fibre Broadband Update (courtesy of Andrew
Hockings)
"Some of you will have heard that the fibre
broadband has been delayed. This is due to BT having to dig up the cables
between Totnes and Harberton in two places (to replace collapsed ducting). It
sounds like there will be a fairly major road closure and so at the moment they
don't know when this will be. The actual date shown on
www.connectingdevonandsomerset.co.uk has shifted to
October 2015 but I am pretty certain this is just because they had no idea of
time scales at the time. I have contacted CDS and it appears it will happen
quicker than this."
Andrew will keep us posted on developments.
[taken from village email circular sent 26/9/14 - photo omitted]
Fibre Broadband Update
The above photo, taken this morning just as engineers had completed physical
installation of the new fibre broadband BT cabinet (the one on the left) outside
Pendarves opposite the Parish Hall in Harberton, means that the October
activation date given on
www.connectingdevonandsomerset.co.uk could well now be a reality. The new
fibre cabinet still has to be connected up to the new fibre cable which has yet
to be 'blown' down the existing underground conduit carrying the existing copper
wires from Totnes telephone exchange; these were put underground perhaps 20 or
so years ago and fortunately put in conduit which may be the reason rural
Harberton is getting FTTC (fibre to the cabinet) ahead of many other rural
locations.
Nothing changes with regard to the wire connection between your house and
Cabinet 21. It is at the cabinet where your line can be connected to the fibre
system but you will have to upgrade to a (more expensive) fibre-based account
to take advantage of the likely dramatic increase in speed which should be
available to most.
As the above website states, "Once your postcode becomes live you will need to
check with an internet service provider (ISP) in order to determine which
cabinet you are connected to. They will also be able to conduct a line check to
see if a fibre service is available at your premise; as well as gain an estimate
for the potential line speed."
[We know this is BT Cabinet 21 for most local recipients of these e-circulars,
apart from those connected to Cabinet 9 at Follaton, including Dorsley Barton,
Blakemore, Belsford, Langford, Sandwell and Hazard.]
If you have a BT line you can check your cabinet connection for yourself at
www.dslchecker.bt.com.
Not all ISPs may be able to offer a fibre service immediately. When the fibre
connection to Harberton has been activated - I'll definitely let you know as
soon as I do - this may be the opportunity for you to consider changing your
ISP.
Andrew Hockings and I both heartily recommend Plusnet.
I don't know about Andrew, but I've been with Plusnet for nearly 14 years, and
have had excellent service from them. Before I started using MailChimp to send
these village circulars, Plusnet even gave me special dispensation to send more
than their standard number of emails without classing them as spam. Overall,
disregarding the various special offers all these people offer from time to
time, Plusnet have been consistently better value than BT, for example. And
their call centre really is in Yorkshire no charge for calls to tech support.
Incidentally, Plusnet is actually owned by BT, but the giant doesn't interfere
with Plusnet's operations. My experience is that they still retain the 'personal
feel'.
Plusnet also offers a referrals scheme, meaning that if someone signs up with
them on your recommendation, you get a small discount on your monthly
subscription. Andrew and I have both benefitted from this scheme. If you click
the Plusnet banner on Andrew's website and ultimately open an account with
Plusnet, Andrew gets your referral automatically. If you click on this Plusnet
banner
I get your referral.
But that's not the main reason we're more than happy to recommend Plusnet they
are very, very good!
Payment of advance annual line rental at a discount is another advantage
offered.
OK, sales pitch over.
This page on Andrew Hockings' website gives a good description of what happens
next and other related issues:
www.andrewspcs.co.uk/superfast-harberton.
*****
(May 2014)
We hope to update this page in the near future with information about FTTC
broadband (Fibre To The Cabinet) reaching Harberton before too long. See
www.connectingdevonandsomerset.co.uk for further
information.
Harberton does not have its own telephone exchange and is fed directly from Totnes telephone exchange. Broadband effectively reached Harberton when BT introduced 'extended reach ADSL' (up to 10km from exchange) on 6 September 2004.
Broadband is widely available in Harberton village centre, and also at outlying properties but sometimes at lower speeds.
You can check whether your line can support a broadband service by using BT's
line checker:
www.adslchecker.bt.com/pls/adsl/adslchecker.welcome
Useful broadband speed checkers can be found for example at
www.speedtest.net
www.broadbandspeedchecker.co.uk
www.mybroadbandspeed.co.uk (requires Javascript enabled)