It looks like Westow should no longer suffer from rain induced broadband failure.
From looking at thinkbroadband.com map for WBC-FTTP (AKA Full Fibre) enabled locations, it looks like Openreach has finally finished off their WBC-FTTP installation within the Village of Westow connected to WHITWELL ON THE HILL cabinet 1, so Westow now has access to 1.6Gb/s Download and 115Mb/s Upload, or slower speed profiles, if customers have their connection migrated to a WBC-FTTP connection.
So this should also have resulted in them retiring the Microwave link and replacing it with a fibre connection, if however it still fails when it rains, then they haven’t switched over the connection yet.
Openreach still haven’t yet WBC-FTTP enabled the premises in Kirkham, but it would be more cost effective for them to enable the premises, than Quickline, as all that’s missing is installing the Connectorised Block Terminals, back to the inline junction boxes, that should already be in the underground duct.
It’s too close to Christmas for anyone to be able to get a WBC-FTTP connection installed, but people can place their orders is they want to.
Some premises addresses are listed twice on the BT Wholesale Checking website and therefore some ISPs website, but only one version is WBC-FTTP enabled.
For example “The Blacksmiths Arms” must order using the address “Blacksmiths Arms“, or they will be told they aren’t WBC-FTTP enabled, when they are.
To see what WBC-FTTP services various ISPs are offering in Westow, you could look at https://www.thinkbroadband.com/broadband and enter a postcode, you can now also access TalkTalk with their Digital Voice service for an additional £3 per month, because the service comes from the Milton Exchange, where TalkTalk have a physical presence.
Its worth noting that because of Openreach discount pricing and desire to get people over to WBC-FTTP, some ISPs are offering speeds over 100Mb/s Download for less than their VDSL2 80Mb/s profile.
It’s also worth noting that the annual price increase kicks in a few months time, for existing customers who are in contract, but from experience the price charged to new customers after the increase tends to be close to the existing price, so its best to order after the price increase.
BT regularly has sales on their website, in the same way as DFS, so if you miss one, just wait about a fortnight and another one will come along.
If someone is happy with their existing ISP, they don’t have to wait for their current contract to expire, before they migrate over to a Full Fibre Connection, they can place an upgrade order and the ISP will restart the contract date, from when the new service goes live.
If someone however wants to change ISP, before switching to a Full Fibre connection, then they will need to let their current contract expire or pay Early Termination Fees.
Digital Voice and keeping it running during a power cut
With the Analogue telephone network, a cabled telephone was powered from the Telephone Exchange and so would work during a power cut, but a DECT cordless Phone without some form of backup power for the base station would fail during a power cut.
With Digital Voice (AKA Voice Over IP (VOIP)), as the telephone is plugged into the ISPs router, neither a cabled telephone, a DECT phone will work during a power cut, without some form of backup power for the ISPs router and ONT, if connected to a Full Fibre Connection.
If someone is a Plusnet customer and wants to keep their Landline, they can either migrate to BT, or EE penalty free, or exit their contract to another ISP, without needing to pay Early Termination Fees.
You might find the following link useful https://brightling.community/digital-voice/, which was created as a result of a BT/EE representative appearing in the Brightling Village Hall, talking about their migration to Digital Voice, where a landline telephone is connected into a BT socket on the back of an ISP’s router.
Be careful when purchasing a Power Block, to check that the model you are going to select hasn’t been subject to a product recall.
With Digital Voice to be able to make landline or WiFi calling calls over a broadband connection during a power cut, requires some form of battery backup for the ISP router and the ONT, when working with a Full Fibre Connection.
VDSL2 based Digital Voice connections, uptime is limited by the battery backup contained within the local cabinet, which in Westow would more than likely be experiencing the same power cut.
With WBC-FTTP the connection for Westow comes from the Milton Exchange, which should have access to both a battery backup and generator system and which won’t suffer from the same power cut, as one covering Westow.
Vodafone created a Battery Backup solution,
which both Vodafone, BT, EE & Zen, should have been supplying to vulnerable customers, that don’t have access to a mobile phone. The unit has two mains sockets, one to power an ISP router and the other the ONT, its designed to supply around 4-8 hours of run time, but automatically turns off when only 25% charge is left, so it can be turned back on to make an emergency call.
WiFi Calling and 4G Calling
If a smartphone is setup to do WiFi Calling, then if an ISP router looses power, the phone will become dependant on the Mobile Phone Network.
Its worth noting that WiFi calling switches over to 4G calling when the phone gets out of range for the broadband connection, however if the mobile coverage isn’t good enough to support 4G Calling, then the call will be dropped, as it cannot hand over the connection to 2G.
When someone is making a 4G call, its possible for one end to hear a clear call, while the other ends suffers from the sound breaking up, but the caller at the other end won’t know, if they aren’t told. The best solution is for the end which is the source of the breaking up voice, to dial back the other caller, when they have moved to a stronger signal.
Mobile operators are reducing the amount of radio spectrum dedicated to 2G and are working towards turning off the service before 2033, 3 never had a 2G network.
Most mobile phone operators have now turned off their 3G networks and are repurposing the freed up spectrum to enhance their 4G or 5G coverage.
Vodafone and Three are in the process of merging and are working through the process of allowing customers from both companies to use each others network, on a mast by mast basses.
Openreach has problems with some addresses
A problem Openreach has had for a while and still hasn’t fixed, when setting up WBC-FTTP for some addresses, is that they create a new record for a premises and then only WBC-FTTP enabled the new address.
Well they’ve done it again in Westow with respect to “THE BLACKSMITHS ARMS” as there are two records on the BT Wholesale Checker. https://www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com/#/ADSL/AddressHome
The old record is UPRN 200001277468 (not Valid) “THE BLACKSMITHS ARMS , MAIN STREET, WESTOW YO60 7NE on Exchange WHITWELL ON THE HILL is served by Cabinet 1”, lists VDSL2 and only “FTTP on Demand”, The new record is UPRN 100050456923 “MAIN STREET WESTOW, YORK YO60 7NE BLACKSMITHS ARMS on Exchange MALTON”, This will be listed as “BLACKSMITHS ARMS, MAIN STREET WESTOW, YORK YO60 7NE” on ISP websites.
where the UPRN matches the official UPRN on https://www.findmyaddress.co.uk/search
UPRN: 100050456923Blacksmiths ArmsThe Blacksmiths ArmsMain StreetWestowYorkYO60 7NE
UPRN: 10090674342Flat AtThe Blacksmiths ArmsMain StreetWestowYO60 7NE
So if a premises finds that they can’t find their address, they need to look out for a possible alternative address, which might be the old name for a premises and use that for placing their Full Fibre order.
If Openreach has WBC-FTTP enabled an old address name, but not the current address, it is possible to get the records swapped, but it’s not easy, nor is it quick, but it helps if the UPRN record matches the new name and has the old alternative as an alias record, as is shown with the two versions of “Blacksmiths Arms” above.
So “The Blacksmiths Arms” must order using the address “Blacksmiths Arms“, or they will be told they aren’t WBC-FTTP enabled, when they are.
Openreach also sometimes marks an address with a status of XX on the BT Wholesale Checker website, which they use to mark addresses where they don’t think they are providing a physical connection, for example all UPRN addresses that start “Centre of Pond” get a status of XX.
BT, EE doesn’t list addresses with a status of XX, Vodafone and TalkTalk might, plusnet & sky.com lists all of them, so in rural locations you will see “Centre of Pond”, “Street Record”, Postbox records.
EASTLEIGH , MAIN STREET WESTOW, YORK YO60 7NE on Exchange WHITWELL ON THE HILL is served by Cabinet 1
EASTLEIGH , CHAPEL LANE, WESTOW YO60 7NE on Exchange WHITWELL ON THE HILL is served by Cabinet 1 has a status of XX and won’t appear on BT, EE, but will show up on Plusnet & Sky.com and should not be selected, as there might be problems getting the order through.
But occasionally Openreach gets it wrong and applies XX to an address, to which they could supply a service, in which case the premises owner may need to complain to their ISP and failing that the CEO of Openreach, to get the XX status removed.
Hope the above helps and your Broadband connection should now no longer drop as a result of rain in the local area.
John
E&OE