Fibre cabinets and the way they have been installed.

Something has been puzzling me for a while now, and if anyone has a good explanation.. please post...

Now, we know the way that Openreach are installing cabs in the uk is.. (please correct me if im wrong here).

Additional Metal Cabinet installed somewhere close to existing PCP.
Trench Dug between the 2 cabinets.
Power supplied to fibre cab.
Fibre dragged to Fibre Cabinet
Copper connections between new cabinet and old cabinet.
Dslams installed
Testing etc etc
Conenctions when people order

What would have made faaaaar more sense to me: -

Install a much larger cabinet over the top of existing cab
Drag fibre to cab
Install DSLAMS in the top part of cabinet.
Test, and link up to copper bits as needed.

To me, this is far far more sensible, it has lots of other benefits as well.

Power is already there.
When it gets to the point when copper is defunct, you have all that space in the bottom of the cab.
And obviously Expansion becomes easier over the years.
No extra cab.
Less physical footprint.
Easier to job manage.
Less complaints from authorities about protecting the environment
Less /no ? planning permission.

I'm sure they spent thousands on expensive job managers to tell them how to install the fibre system into the UK, but with 5 minutes thought, i can see extensive benefits to doing it this way, rather than the existing way. especially with the long term view in mind.

#puzzled#

How is the power already there and do you relies the size that cabinet would have to be

-PCP cabs don't have power, they're passive.
-In many locations it wouldn't be practical to install a significantly larger cab in the same location, whereas finding a nearby location for a secondary cab is OK.
-Power trench to the FTTC cab doesn't have to be dug in very close proximity to the main telco ducts, only to the one for the tie cables. This reduces the risk of damage to D and E side cabling by power contractors who are often completely separate to the telco ducting contractors

There area few thoughts against in less than 5 mins

I'm in no condition to give a full reply to the OP, but reckon that's a decent one.

I would add a minor one, re:- "Conenctions when people order" is not a problem now. That is achieved by the current method.

A small top mounted cab has been on the list for some areas but never seen one in the wild

http://www.coolwebhome.co.uk/fibre-cornwall/ shows how full the fibre cabinet is, so to enlarge an existing cab to fit both in mean it would be a pretty large affair

Tiddly bit of power direct from the exchange. 50v at your master socket.

Wow, free power. You could run your house on that.

You might find rather a low amperage.

A further aspect is that the FTTC cabinet is now an active, managed, part of the network - it has battery backup, and is monitored remotely for doors opening etc.

Engineers who maintain the FTTC cabinets are a different group, with different skills, from the engineers who alter things in the PCP.

By keeping the cabinet separate, it also keeps the internals separate from the PCP, and keeps the engineers separate. Access to the PCP will be required regularly. Access to the FTTC cabinet will be rare.

A second aspect is this:
The FTTC cabinet can be pre-constructed, and tested, off-site. It makes for a "cleaner" install when it is actually moved on-site - which makes for a more controlled rollout, and therefore less surprises on the budget.