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#1 ftth fibre broadband

Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2023 11:19 am
by ed
here's a thing that's recently caused me to scratch my head, so much that I thought I'd share.....

about 15 years ago I winged about how kingston communications had a monopoly for telephones and internet in Hull.

About 5 years ago they(KC) dropped their prices and a bit later put FTTH in my street and others...whoopeee!

before Christmas we were leafleted saying a company called grains was putting in Fibre in Hull to compete with KC. The leaflet outlined all the partners for the installation and their broadband prices.In early January our street had trenches dug in the pavement and trunking was installed with an access point in front of every property. The trenches were about 9" wide and resonably neat.

last week we were leafleted by another company called MS3 with similar info to that on the grains leaflet. On monday this week the MS3 gangs arrived and started digging a 9" trench 6" to the right of the previous trench dug by grains. They(MS3) have installed access points right next to those that were installed by grains.

I'm scratching my head because in my ideal world couldn't MS3 put their fibre in the trunk that was laid by grains and share the cost?????
These contractors seem to be doing every street in Hull....

go figure!

edit: ironically, the leaflets have a table of speeds and prices comparing KC against the new partners. At all speeds the partners are about £12 cheaper than KC but there is a small footnot star. The footnote is in very very small print and states that KC prices include the landline(free24/7 nationwide) and the partners prices do not include a landline.

I can't imagine how much all this trenching is cossting, but to provide a service at a comparable price as the existing service doesn't immediately strike me as financial sense.

#2 Re: ftth fibre broadband

Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2023 11:59 am
by simon
It doesn't make sense ed, in the same way as having lots of rail operating companies doesn't. Unless it does make sense to one of course. It's a "feature" of deregulation, and Undertakers and duct owners tend to be very protective of their ducts, particularly the bigger companies. The newer ones, funnily enough, are usually quite keen to share.

Statutory Undertakers have legal powers to open a trench in a street, though comms companies often aren't Statutory Undertakers, just to make life more interesting. Strictly they should then have a licence from the Highway Authority to open a trench. A long time ago there were only 4 Undertakers that had to be consulted: electric, water (their regional operating bodies), gas board and Post Office. Now there are in excess of 50, maybe more in some areas.

It's never really struck me as quite right that SU's equipment for instance is put in bridges for their convenience (alternatively they could direction drill under the road at significant cost) but we, the tax payer, bear the costs of any work required for maintenance of the bridge. Once upon a time when they were all nationalised then it was a public asset, just as the bridge infrastructure still is. But now they're commercial companies, and if the services need diverting or modifying as part of maintenance of the bridge for instance then we the tax payer pick up a sizeable bill for their accommodation works.

A good few years ago there was an issue with a water service in a bridge out your way ed that was leaking from the air valve. The water company had been out to inspect (you can probably guess which one) and couldn't get to the asbestos pipe to fix the leak because at some point the aforesaid company installed a dozen 50mm diameter cables in the service bay over the water pipe. The water company wanted to know what I was going to do about it but I pointed them in the direction of the comms company who simply asked the water company to go through the notification process for service diversion, for which the water company would have to pay. Sweet.

#3 Re: ftth fibre broadband

Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2023 12:53 pm
by ed
It's in the best interest of all parties that we don't ask these questions nowadays.....

my scratch point may become sore...I was chatting to one of the reinstatement crew this morning. I was told that the city council are funding this most recent instal by MS3......in which case us tax payers will be footing the bill.

From the original leaflet by grain before Christmas it says the project is privately funded by a chap in Anlaby or west Ella(sadly lost the original)....the plot thickens.

#4 Re: ftth fibre broadband

Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2023 1:17 pm
by Nick
Privatizing profits and socializing losses

#5 Re: ftth fibre broadband

Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2023 1:47 pm
by Daniel Quinn
"about 15 years ago I winged"

Had an epiphany Ed ?

#6 Re: ftth fibre broadband

Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2023 5:11 pm
by ed
surely can't be right.
the trench on the right is today, the one on the left is 2 weeks ago. If the one on the right was financed by the city council shouldn't we(the tax payers) have been consulted???
trenchs.jpg
trenchs.jpg (63.44 KiB) Viewed 4981 times
In 1980 I was on the team that developed a thing called CAFS. The first customer for this system was Kingston Communications and we all thought what great guys these Kingston Communications must be, what foresight they must have. I didn't even know where Hull was at this time....how ironic

#7 Re: ftth fibre broadband

Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2023 5:51 pm
by steve s
We've had new telegraph poles down our street Ed, nothing as fancy as your street though.

Meanwhile KC has changed our contract on our fibre line ( very vaguely) to remove the free local landlines.

I read the new contract and in the small print it mentioned local call prices... suspicious!

On ringing KC at 1st they denied it but then I asked to be put through to some in the contracts office they eventually admitted it.
I won't hesitate to change, and give them a few years, I'd guess KC will be no more !

#8 Re: ftth fibre broadband

Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2023 6:52 pm
by andrew Ivimey
Wicked World, dark thoughts...