finding your cabinet?

hey guys, im new here!

just wondering how you can find out where the cabinet you are connected to actually is?

Im in washington and apparently connected to NEWAS P8, but I have no idea where it is and when ive looked around there seems to be loads of cabinets around and im not sure what to look for.

any advice would be appreciated, thanks guys!

You need to look for a green box with a (usually faded) "8" on it.

You may be able to follow logical routes (!) of BT manholes to find it.

RobertoS's site here has pictures of street furniture to help identify the boxes which areant PCPs.

Best of luck!

cool, that sites pictures is helpful!

ive been hunting around using google street view, think ive found where it is, but it doesnt look like theres a FTTC cab near it and it says "not in phase" on the checker which i assume means it isnt getting done, hope it does at some point!

Street view will most likely be showing pretty old images. I know my cab does not show up and it has been standing there at least a year.

Where in Washington do you live? I know the exchange is in Hertburn so the only thing I can think of is perhaps you are linked directly to the exchange.

sulgrave, connected to cabnet P8 according to http://fttc-check.alc.im but it says it isnt part of phase

In reply to a post by Trobed:

Street view will most likely be showing pretty old images. I know my cab does not show up and it has been standing there at least a year.

Where in Washington do you live? I know the exchange is in Hertburn so the only thing I can think of is perhaps you are linked directly to the exchange.

The street view images are typically 2+ years old. They've started updating them again but no idea where in the UK they have started from.

Using that link for my postal code gives:

Cabinet Probability Uplift Phase Status Type
P2 100% 2.42 7b Part of deployment FTTP (Fiber to the Premises)

That is great news. However, none of the ISP checkers even acknowledge FTTC let alone FTTP so I suppose that we just have to play the waiting game.

That "Probability" is a bit of a bad heading, as to me it implies the probability of getting FTTC/FTTP. That isn't what it means.

When it is 100%, like there, that's fine.

When it is less than 100%, it means the probability that a line at that postcode is connected to that cabinet. Some postcodes are served by 3 or 4 cabinets. So lets take cabs P1,P2,P3,P4.

We could have:- EO (Exchange Only) 6%; P1 63%; P2 8%; P3 4%, P4 18%. Note that adds up to 99%, but that's because Openreach round down all figures. It means 100%.

Currently EO lines can't have fibre.
Each of those cabinets will also serve at least one more postcode.
Not all of those cabinets were necessarily scheduled at December 2011 which is the latest data available on these non-BT public checkers.
There can be some on FTTC, and some on FTTP. No cabinet is both. But if P1 is FTTC and P3 is FTTP, it's luck of the draw which you are on. You cannot have your phone line moved between cabinets.
In this situation some posters are getting information from Openreach telling them which they are on.

I hope that helps everyone.

yea, im 100% at cabinet P8, hopefully its being upgraded but according to the december data it isnt going to be done

In my personal case the information in the table makes perfect sense.

There are 4 cabinets in the town. 3 of these have already been updated to FTTC and people have ordered and been supplied fibre to the cabinet. There are also 3 cabinets in outlying areas which are scheduled to be upgraded to FTTC but that has not been done yet.

The last cabinet, the one that I am connected to, is the one closest to the small industrial estate. It has not yet been upgraded to FTTC, and appears from all the evidence to be scheduled for the FTTP on-demand trial, probably some time in the 2nd quarter next year. So that means that we have to wait possibly a year longer then the rest of the town to get our fibre broadband.

What interests me most from your post is where you say "No cabinet is both". Does that mean that when my cabinet is finally upgraded I will have a choice of either staying as I am or upgrading to the most expensive product by having FTTP installed, with no choice in between? That does seem a little unfair to those who want a faster broadband connection but are on a limited budget.