Possible but still requires a lot more work ... and the cost against return will be high especially if the uptake will be just a few users.

VDSL from the exchange ... One day!

Not really a rule to E0. Small exchanges may be totally E0 with small unpressurised 100pr cables leaving or E1, E2 pillars and no cabinets.

Large exchanges may have large multi thousand pair E0 cables as in the late eighties and early nineties pressurising as far as possible into the access network and not having any cabinets was in vogue.

Bare in mind that at this time they were also deploying 4800 pair mainside cables so you could have very large no cabinet areas in town and much smaller cables in the villages.

When I look at deload reloading a cabinet on the fly with working circuits on board, I would be pricing two jointers, two weeks plus civils, plus stores, plus potential traffic management. Cutting in on an E0 would be similar but would have added challenges.

For comparison, jointing copper tails into an FTTC cabinet from an existing cabinet, I would price one jointer one day providing the distance was such that he could draw in the cables on his own.

Edited by deleted (Wed 21-Nov-12 21:03:30)

Thanks all!

I expected the answer for some of the small exchanges - the 10- or 25-pair cables etc.

However, I didn't expect that BT, at one time, employed a *strategy* of long-distance, large-scale, EO lines. 4800-pairs! The jointers must have had fun working at those underground!

That pricing example gives a good idea of the difference in workload it can cost.

In my trawls, I found a few other things that might interest:
- An Openreach cable identification guide, showing some examples of cable (incl 1600-pair and some lead-sheathed cables that look larger)
- That some of the E-side cables (that are pressurised) are insulated in paper - and you don't want to get these wet. You definitely don't want to be playing with these too much!
- That cabinets are likely to take in 1,000 E-side lines, probably in 2 or 3 cables.
- And a cabinet that got torched:

Someone once torched a cab (jointing cabinet) in our area which had IIRC
about 500 working circuits in it and that took 3 days and 3 nights to sort
out - mind you, we did have time for a bit of shut-eye on the night shift
)

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q235/darkdoo/cab1...
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q235/darkdoo/cab1...

>>- That some of the E-side cables (that are pressurised) are insulated in paper - and you don't want to get these wet. You definitely don't want to be playing with these too much!

Well, someone has to play with them. A few pics from the mysterious world underneath the MDF...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/37048532@N04/8210717085...
Nice bit of 1958 plumbing on a 1200pr lead sheathed, dry core, paper insulated.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/37048532@N04/8211808078...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37048532@N04/8211805606...
1200pr old and new cables jigged.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/37048532@N04/8211808722...
An exchange cable nest with all the local main cables heading out to the happy punters.

But only any use for EO lines under 1km long

In reply to a post by BuckleZ:

I guess here in Derry we are lucky with our 100% coverage, also there is a cab right infront of my exchange (LD/Waterside). Just wondering why all exchanges don't have something the same instead of restricting people getting FTTC

Picture of FTTC Cabinet Outside NILDW

Isn't that just the FTTC cabinet for cabinet 19 on the other side of the road? Looking at the manhole covers 19 is not a new cabinet it just happens to be close to the exchange so not a huge surprise there's a cabinet there especially given there's nowhere on that side of the road to put a cabinet as tall as the fibre one without annoying people.

We have a cab right out side our exchange, the PCP's always been there http://goo.gl/maps/wbGXm

Same as us in Uckfield, however no google view of it.