Openreach Engineer - What's he doing?

Today at my local cab, 2 Openreach engineers were working on the same part as you can see on THIS page, in the bottom right photo.

They were sitting opposite each other, working on either side of it, so obviously connecting either wires or fibres.

Would someone know what exactly they were doing please? I'm trying to work out if the fibre has managed to make it here through the ducts from the exchange, and this might give a clue to that.

Fibre ...

In reply to a post by MHC:

Fibre ...

Ok thanks, that's good.

If what they were doing was exactly what the guy in the linked photo was doing, then that is indeed a fibre node being prepared.

The one in the photo looks like an FTTP splitter node. The red trays have the 32 way splitters in them, and then the cards underneath are laced with the single fibres coming from the DP's. The guy pictured appears to be doing an FTTP install, as has the small blown fibre tube that does to the premises in his hand. The red thing on the bench behind is the fibre blowing head.

Why the hell he has the chinstrap secured on his helmet, God only knows.

Do you know if your exchange is getting FTTP or FTTC, or both ?

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

If what they were doing was exactly what the guy in the linked photo was doing, then that is indeed a fibre node being prepared.

The one in the photo looks like an FTTP splitter node. The red trays have the 32 way splitters in them, and then the cards underneath are laced with the single fibres coming from the DP's. The guy pictured appears to be doing an FTTP install, as has the small blown fibre tube that does to the premises in his hand. The red thing on the bench behind is the fibre blowing head.

Why the hell he has the chinstrap secured on his helmet, God only knows.

Do you know if your exchange is getting FTTP or FTTC, or both ?

Well the item the guy in that photo is working on, does look exactly the same as what I saw. I tried not to stare at them too obviously so couldn't see details of what they were doing, other than both engineers were sitting either side of it, both seeming to be concentrating hard as if they were doing very delicate work.

I wouldn't know if my exchange (Rustington) is getting FTTP or not I'm afraid.

Thanks for the info.

both seeming to be concentrating hard as if they were doing very delicate work.

Yep, fiddly stuff, each tray has to have roughly 2m of a single fibre laced out in to it, about the same width as a human hair.

Try using this checker to see what is or might be on offer shortly.

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

Why the hell he has the chinstrap secured on his helmet, God only knows.

Errmmmmm .

I wonder if there is a remote possibility that the fact that the photograph was being taken for display on an Openreach public website could have had a minor influence?

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

both seeming to be concentrating hard as if they were doing very delicate work.

Yep, fiddly stuff, each tray has to have roughly 2m of a single fibre laced out in to it, about the same width as a human hair.

Try using this checker to see what is or might be on offer shortly.

I must have done that and other checkers 50 times in the past week. *grin* It doesn't actually mention that I might be getting fttc soon, at least not if I give it my phone number or address. It only says I'm due to have it if I tell it my postcode. The December 2011 database says all of my postcode is on the one cabinet, so I guess I have nothing to worry about.

Chinstrap only required to be fastened when climbing.



*and if you recall, I have some form on the Openreach photography front.

Rustington is all FTTC, no FTTP in that area!

In reply to a post by Adsl24:

Rustington is all FTTC, no FTTP in that area!

I've found more information online with photos of Engineers doing the same thing, and that does also say it's for FTTP, not FTTC. It is definitely what they were doing though. Hmmm. They were at cabinet P5, which isn't my own cabinet but so far there are 3 they've been working on one by one within a day of each other, and mine (P34) usually comes next.

I have just walked past one of the other cabinets in Rustington, and Openreach are working there too. A black outer cable was coming out of a duct near the cabinet with "Fibre Optic Cable" written on it, and leading to the inside of the van where the engineer was connecting it to exactly the same thing as in that photo and as they were working on at the other cabinet yesterday. I had the balls to ask questions this time (well after he'd caught me being nosy!), and he confirmed he's only dealing with FTTC and not FTTP, and he was connecting the fibre strands to a node (he didn't specify the type of node but it consisted of many trays and was identical in how it looked to that photo).

Interesting and a bit confusing after what I've read here and on other websites. Being an ex electronics engineer I love this sort of thing so am keen to read more about it. I'll do some more Googling.