How do I find my BT cabinet?

My postcode is NE34 7DX

Im with virgin right now, and I know my cabinet is about 60 meters away. Its at the end of my street.
I am considering switching to BT infinity, and BT say Infinity is available to me with 76/20 quoted speeds.
Question I have though, is how reliable are these estimates?
I know speeds depend greatly on how far away your cabinet is, but I have no idea where my nearest BT cabinet is. All I see are the small virgin street cabinets, and the slightly larger virgin cabinets (where theres 2 or 3 of them in a row)

I have seen a couple of really old cabinets, which have been there for alot of years, and dont recall seeing any work done to them reciently, which would indicate that FTTC hasnt been installed yet, but BT say Infinity is available to me.

Can someone maybe point out where the BT cabinets in my area are? and if they have infinity enabled?

Thanks

There's no map of BT cabinets available to the public, though there are a few maps that people have compiled for specific areas.


The best thing you can do is to use the BT Wholesale DSL checker - by phone number if you have an active non-Virgin number at the address that it recognises, and by address (postcode and house number or name) otherwise. The postcode only checker often omits FTTC details.

This checker usually gives you the cabinet number - which you may find painted on one of the BT cabinets nearby. If you have FTTC available, the BT cabinet will be connected to a 'twin' which has the FTTC equipment in it - though this can be some distance away from the parent cabinet.


The estimates given are usually fairly reliable and are often on the pessimistic side - though not always, as they are an estimate. 76/20 is an estimate for the full speed available on FTTC at present - the sync speed is 80000/20000kbps, but the overheads mean the achievable speed is around 76/17Mbps.

If FTTC is available, you are free to choose any ISP offering FTTC services over the BT network - you are not limited to BT Infinity. However, Sky and TalkTalk use their own backhaul, which may not be enabled in your area yet - if you are interested in those ISPs, you have to use their own checkers.

Hi David, thanks for your reply.

Using the checker, I can see that cabinet 61 serves my house (or would, if I was with BT)
The checker tells me I can get up to 66.7 down and up to 20 up.
So there must be a BT cabinet in the nearby area that has twin somewhere, that has just been installed.

I have been looking at alternate providers, and Plusnet is one of the top recommended ones, which uses BT's network. They offer FTTC services, and seem like a good choice.

I did look into Sky broadband, but their fibre services are not available in my area yet. Which is a shame as I have a friend who is with Sky, and he says it's a reliable service.

Im interested in going with Plusnet, but the only thing that puts me off is the price. It's sometimes more than a tenner cheaper that BT, for seemingly the same service. I don't suppose you know why that is? You get what you pay for in this world....

Thanks for the help anyway.

I live in Kent and using your post code on google earth I have located what look like cabinets in centenary avenue. These may not be the closest to you but it maybe a start. You could try following the telegraph poles or the inspection hatches normally set into the pavement as these should hopefully lead you to a cabinet.

PlusNet are owned by BT Group and seem to attract mostly favourable reviews here. You could always dip your toe into the PlusNet forum here and see what you think.

If you chose PlusNet, you'd get the best deal taking both phone and FTTC from PlusNet - though there is no requirement to have phone and FTTC with the same provider so long as you have a phone line with someone (FTTC can only be added to an active phone line).

I see.

sholtie: If you mean the 3 big green cabinets thats are right next to each other, I think those are Virgin cabinets. They make the loudest buzzing sound when you walk past them >_< but they've been there for alot of years now.
I believe this is the closest BT cabinet to me:
https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ll=54.975367,-1...

I dont see any FTTC cabinet around it though. Only the small Virgin cabinet across the road.

David: If I went with Plusnet, I would have to take a phone line with them too, as I currently have a virgin phone line.
Plusnet are cheaper than going with BT directly, but Plusnet charge 80 quid for installation, whereas with BT, its free....

EDIT: Ahh I see, the covers on the ground infront of the cabinets, indicate weather its a virgin, or a BT cabinet. I get it now. So all the big cabinets are BT.
With that in mind, the nearest BT cabinet to my house, is about 200 meters away (the one I linked above)

Edited by AndehX (Sat 02-Feb-13 17:36:59)

Op knows where the cab is- no need for this post

Edited by ccxo (Sat 02-Feb-13 17:37:36)

Hi ccxo

just noticed you edited, so ill edit mine too

Edited by AndehX (Sat 02-Feb-13 17:39:42)

Pictures of cabinets and what they are.

In reply to a post by AndehX:

If I went with Plusnet, I would have to take a phone line with them too, as I currently have a virgin phone line.
Plusnet are cheaper than going with BT directly, but Plusnet charge 80 quid for installation, whereas with BT, its free....

It can often be a case of trading an installation charge for a lower monthly charge.

If you take PlusNet's phone and fibre broadband together, it looks like the install charge for a new line is £49.99 - that's what their ordering system quoted when I started a fictional order to install a new line here. In addition, you have to pay a month's rental in advance, which is standard for any phone or broadband product.