Exchange upgrades - what is required?

Hi,

I'm waiting for Torcross to be upgraded, which should be in a few weeks while they lay the fibre from Kingsbridge to Slapton.

But what specifically do they do in the exchange to enable it for fibre? Entirely new equipment/servers to receive/relay the fibre signal? Is it a huge job, or quite quick and straightforward? Never been inside an exchange and always wanted to see what (especially nowadays) is contained inside, so it would be great to know how quick or drawn-out this process is.

Will

If that exchange is the fibre handover node then a couple of cabinets like the ones on page 6 and 7 at http://www.coolwebhome.co.uk/fibre-cornwall/ are what is needed

In reply to a post by deiwise:

Hi,

I'm waiting for Torcross to be upgraded, which should be in a few weeks while they lay the fibre from Kingsbridge to Slapton.

But what specifically do they do in the exchange to enable it for fibre? Entirely new equipment/servers to receive/relay the fibre signal? Is it a huge job, or quite quick and straightforward? Never been inside an exchange and always wanted to see what (especially nowadays) is contained inside, so it would be great to know how quick or drawn-out this process is.

Will

Whats usually in the exchange:

Routers,
Switches,
Lots of cables,
BTw DSLAMs/MSANs,
LLU Equipment,
MDF,
LLU Handover Frames,
TAM,
Cooling Equipment,
System-X Equipment.

As for FTTC equipment it depends if the exchange is the one all of the cabinets are connected to. If it is then it can vary a lot.

When enabling FTTC in an exchange, it has to first be upgraded to 21CN to handle the Ethernet backhaul to the new 21CN network which FTTC runs on. This consists of usually ripping out the old equipment (Routers & Switches) and replacing them with equipment which can handle Ethernet. You also have to do this on the other end of the backhaul.

They then more or less install new separate switches which all of the cabinet backhauls connect to. It is these switches where some LLU providers connect their equipment to so their customer traffic can be handed over to them from BTo and also where it joins the BTw backhaul.

This is a rough idea because every exchange is different.

If the cabinets do not connect to an exchange (Maybe it's too small or there's a large one nearby) then it may just be used to house a fibre splitter or may not have one at all and completely get bypassed.

Most of the waiting is for contract work to be done. In many of the older exchange buildings due to lack of ventilation, BTw/BTo will have to install metal louvers and new cooling equipment; the former requires planning permission. I know ours did even before 21CN (ADSL2+) was installed despite only having ~1300 lines.

So yes it is quite a big job depending on how many cabinets are served and how old the building is.

Edited by chris6273 (Sat 16-Aug-14 09:23:47)

"Is it a huge job"

For my small exchange (540 properties) they have had BT vans or contractors (2 usually 4 at times) parked outside for nearly a month including weekends and still not finished.

Good to know - thanks. So, the laying of fibre is only the start...!

Very helpful, Chris - thanks. And interesting too. Quite clearly, the work they do on the exchange is going to take quite some time.

In reply to a post by deiwise:

Good to know - thanks. So, the laying of fibre is only the start...!

Depends what the infrastructure is like which is already in place - A lot of exchanges will already have 21CN enabled. They will probably do more than one thing at a time - E.g. One time laying the fibre, another getting the cabinet foundation ready (Ducting.etc) and another arranging the upgrade of the exchange equipment/installing it.

But generally speaking yes. Then you've got the month or more wait once everything is in place while they test the damn thing.

Looks like end of September. Is your cab included? This is a map of Torcross exchange locations http://goo.gl/IvmAzT

Edited by deleted (Sat 16-Aug-14 19:09:59)

Not on that list. But that looks out of date - C, E and G definitely haven't got FTTC cabs, whereas ours in Slapton has (and they're running fibre to it as we speak).

C E and G are exchange=only, not fibre cabs.