In November 2011 over a period of several days, I noticed Openreach engineers working inside a manhole. Several times I saw them with what looked like drain rods, and they did appear to be trying to rod out or unblock something under the road.
A few days later a 6 wheeled thing with an enormous hose on it appeared, and further up the road (in a traffic island) there was a van with several workmen peering down another manhole. (see attached pictures). This went on for some hours, then they all went away.
That was Novemeber 2011. Yesterday,
in the evening, I hear clanking outside, look out, and see a van parked in the middle of the road by the traffic island, the manhole once more lifted. They leave after a few hours.
Tonight, about 7pm, a much larger machine than in the first picture appears, along with 3 vans, and there's much engine revving and scurrying about and general Work Being Done. It's now 23:50 and they're still there! The large 6 wheeled tanker-like machine with an enormous hose on a reel has been moved about several times, to both open manholes.
My question then, is this : what on earth are they doing? I'm not 100% it's a BT manhole, but fairly sure it is. There's no sign of water spraying out or being pumped out. None of the vans yesterday or today have any BT logos.
Why only do this work at night? It's a fairly busy main road, but they're in no way blocking the traffic with what they're doing. If it was urgent, wouldn't they have worked earlier today?
And will this make my broadband any faster?
Ian
(Pictures are from the first appearance in November 2011. Tried to take a few snaps this evening, but it's too dark!)