Exchange Activate Upgrades
26 June 2008
The Scottish Government's upgrade programme in which BT installed new capacity at 45 Exchange Activate exchanges completed successfully in April 2008. This programme was undertaken as part of our existing contract with BT. It re-invested savings in order to provide additional capacity in exchanges experiencing constraints for serving new customers. Full ADSL upgrades were selected in preference to the addition of an "exchange activate" module only where such an upgrade was more cost-effective in relative terms.
The following 29 exchanges have been upgraded to full platform ADSL. New customers will be able to benefit from broadband speeds of up to 8Mbps and choose from a full range of ISPs. (Please note that the actual speed available is dependent on distance from the exchange). Existing broadband customers on these exchanges may wish to contact their ISPs with regard to the broadband options available to them.
Arden, Ardvasar, Collieston, Craignure, Deerness, Dunbeath, Dundonnell, Eday, Evie, Forss, Fountainhall, Gask, Glendale, Heriot, John O'Groats, Keiss, Kildrummy, Kishorn, Longhope, Morvern, Onich, Plockton, Rousay, Sanday, Sligachan, Stronsay, Struan, Tomatin, Waternish
The following 16 exchanges have been upgraded through the installation of an additional "exchange activate" module. This has removed capacity issues, meaning more customers are able to benefit from broadband at a download speed of 512Kbps.
Applecross, Birsay, Burravoe, Colintraive, Drummuir, Duntulm, Fern, Jura, Loch Scavaig, North Roe, Stobo, Stromeferry, Trochry, Uig, Vidlin, Whitsome
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I'm served by an Exchange Activate exchange and have been told that I cannot get broadband because my exchange is at full capacity:
Q. What is being done about this?
A. The Scottish Government is aware that a number of additional exchanges are currently experiencing capacity issues and is currently in discussion with BT as to how this problem can be resolved.
Q. Can I get broadband under the Broadband Reach contract?
A. No, the Broadband Reach Project will only provide broadband to those who registered with us by the end of May 2008, who are unable to get broadband due to distance from the exchange.
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Isle Ornsay
In addition, the Isle Ornsay exchange will be upgraded to full platform ADSL, and this upgrade is expected to be complete by the end of 2008. After this time, customers will be able to order broadband at a speed of up to 8Mbps and a choice from a full range of ISPs. An indicative date for the upgrade will be announced on this website in due course.
As an interim measure, additional capacity has already been installed at Isle Ornsay exchange, which alleviates the previous capacity issues. A broadband service at a speed of 512Kbps (0.5Mb) is available now at this exchange from a limited choice of ISPs; these ISPs are Abel Internet, AOL, BT, Entanet, Scotnet and Telecomplete.