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Badgers Mount Broadband

2026 Broadband Status

Homes in Badgers Mount (along with those in Halstead and Knockholt) all use the Knockholt BT Exchange (NDKNO 01959) for their landline phone and broadband services. BT Wholesale and Openreach support this infrastructure even if you don't use BT as your phone and/or internet provider.

Phasing out traditional analogue landlines
January 2027 is the latest deadline for the removal of the traditional phone service (PSTN), delayed from the original 2024 plan.
As full fibre isn't available in our area, broadband lines will move to SoGEA (Single Order Generic Ethernet Access), this is a fibre-to-the-cabinet connection but without the analogue phone service. You can still retain your landline number and handset by moving to a digital service that uses your internet connection.

FTTC (Fibre To The Cabinet / VDSL) became available in Badgers Mount from the 22nd August 2014.
Broadband (ADSL) became available in Badgers Mount from 17th December 2003.

Full Fibre Updates
FTTP (Fibre To The Property) is not currently available.

28th May 2024
Openreach changed the status of Knockholt exchange from "No plans..." to "Planning to build in this area...". View Openreach's announcement: South East to benefit from Openreach’s huge broadband upgrade

October 2025
Openreach document shows FTTP services should be available in the "next 12 months": October 2025: Full Fibre Broadband Programme Build [PDF]

March 2026
Looks like the schedule has slipped, Openreach document now shows "in the future": March 2026: Full Fibre Broadband Programme Build [PDF]
Checking the status of an individual property Openreach have also changed things back to "We have no plans to build Full Fibre to this property yet." which is disappointing to see.

These photos show the 2 FTTC cabinets on the Orpington Bypass / Crest Close and BT blowing the fibre optic cable.

For those looking at the current broadband options or troubleshooting their internet connection this link can be useful:

BT Wholesale Broadband Availability Checker:
This will show the likely speeds you can expect using Openreach's service to check the line to your house.

www.broadbandchecker.btwholesale.com

For normal broadband (ADSL), the further away from Knockholt Exchange the slower the speeds. For VDSL (fibre based FTTC) it's the distance from the BT green cabinet on the Orpington Bypass A224 that's important.
See the image below for sample results from the BT Availability Checker using a phone number of a house very close to the BT cabinets - so they are seeing high internet speeds, there's a maximum of 80Mbps. Those living further away from the FTTC cabinets - Badgers Road, Milton Avenue etc. can expect lower speeds - around 20Mbps. Lines using standard ADSL broadband (not FTTC) might only see speeds of between 2 and 6Mbps.

Note
For broadband in Badgers Mount, it doesn't matter which provider you use, if you have fixed line broadband then all providers will use the same infrastructure supported by BT Wholesale and Openreach. But your choice of provider can still effect the broadband service reliability/quality.

Sample Availability Checker results showing internet speeds for a house on the A224 close to the BT cabinets

Local Broadband Campaigns
This photo shows BT upgrading the local broadband to FTTC in July 2014.
View an archived page showing more details of changes to Badgers Mount Broadband over the years.