Kitz Forum
Broadband Related => FTTC and FTTP Issues => Topic started by: silversurfer44 on May 17, 2012, 12:28:52 PM
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A couple of weeks ago one of the small green cabinets sprouted out of the ground not too far from my house. See here for the cabinet type. http://forum.kitz.co.uk/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=9600.0;attach=4805
I kept a close eye on this cabinet as it grew,but never saw anyone attending it. All the sites that mention the fiber roll out, including BT, does not mention that my exchange has been upgraded. Now there is a big brother cabinet not too far away from this one at the other side of the road and when I wasn't looking someone dug a narrow trench across the road and laid something in it and covered it with tarmac. I assume this would leave a path to join the family of cabinets.
Now the new cabinet is right next to a telegraph pole, but not the one that my telephone cable is attached to, but I do believe I am connected to the big brother cabinet.
The burning question is :-
Are these cabinets used for purposes other than fiber to the exchange?
I have tried asking the people that should know what is happening (BT and a local OR engineer) and neither could answer the question.
I am beginning to think there is a secret agenda that someone has.
If anyone can throw some light on this I will be most appreciative. Thank You.
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The fibre cabinet needs a power supply so look around at the end of that trench for a street light or lighted road sign which is where they would get the power. My new local cabinet has a small trench between it and the nearest street light.
The giveaway though is an A4 poster stating "INFINITY HAS ARRIVED" on the outside of the fibre cabinet.
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SS44,
Do you have the means available to take a series of photographs of the actual cabinets that have "sprouted up" in your neighbourhood? To see an image of the actual site, rather than an "it's just like this one" is often more helpful.
For the record the image, to which you have provided a link, is that of a small (128 port) Huawei cabinet. :)
The quickest way to answer your question would be to enter your telephone number into the BT Wholesale Broadband Checker (http://www.dslchecker.bt.com/adsl/adslchecker.welcome). If that does not give you a definitive answer, perhaps you would like to send me a PM of your postcode and I will look it up in the December 2011 copy of the BT file that I posses.
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Thanks Oranged & burakkucat.
PM on its way burakkucat. I put my number in the Broadband Checker which gave me the answers that I already know about. Once again no mention of any fibre services.
There is a rather long story about my neighbourhood and cable/fibre services which I think I have mentioned before.
I will attempt some photos tomorrow for you.
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SS44,
I've just replied to your PM and only now have seen your above post. I guess that the FTTC service is not yet operational in your area but will be coming soon.
The PCP through which your telephone line is connected is number 45 and, once you've located it, keep it under observation. ;)
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It would seem that I am not on my own with regard to these cabinets appearing in the middle of the night. There seems to be a few places where this has happened, and the nearby citizens are as confused as I was.
In one case the person observing the cabinet noticed a notice advising to contact o2 should there be a problem with the cabinet. That could be some local playing a joke or something. O2 state on their forums that they are NOT offering fttc services at he moment. So as in their own words, watch this space.
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Right, I've been out with my flashy digital camera. One I picked up at a pound shop, really. It's about the size of a matchbox, takes a AAA battery and has a USB port. Anyway the pics are included and they are for identification purposes only, not a masterclass in photography.
@burakkucat you have got the number of big brother spot on.
The narrow trench that was excavated is in a straight line between two manhole person hole covers (double size variety). I suppose they need to be that size to accommodate the extra sized females.
Now that I am in a hole myself I will stop digging.
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When Openreach were installing the local fibre CAB, I guessed what it was they were doing but the BT checker still said fibre was unavailable right up until all the work had been completed then it gave me the speed estimate for Infinity :
BT Infinity Superfast fibre optic broadband
Great news! You are eligible for superfast BT Infinity.
67.6Mb download 20.0Mb upload Now
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Well I have been trawling through BT's many pages on the subject and found one that said June 30th 2012, or there about my exchange would be activated. Now that is the only mention of my local exchange full stop.
Thank you oranged, I wait for the announcement now. Then I can make my mind up whether to take it further or not. :-\
Personally I would have expected BT to be shout from the rooftops what they were up to, not all hush hush.
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At the risk of going OT I include a photo of the camera I used to take the photo's of the cabinet.
It really is that size.
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Thank you for the pictures, SS44.
As a result of information that Walter has previously provided, I can confidently identify that as an ECI manufactured/equipped FTTC. So instead of the Chinese government monitoring your Broadband usage, it will be Mossad (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mossad) on behalf of Israel. ;D
That's a neat little camera. Ideal for the job. You wouldn't want the locals to be telephoning the local "funny-farm" and saying that one of their "inmates" has escaped & is currently photographing green street cabinets! :lol: