New Cabinet apeared next to our phone cabinet...

Hey all

Can anyone that has access to install or required information tell me what this cabinet is, this new cabinet has just appeared next to our phone cabinet (LNILC P24) Ilford Central Phone Cabinet 24.
Its larger than the current phone cabinet by several inches in height and might also be wider as well along with it a darker green in colour.
I am also not too sure when it was installed due to I haven't been in that area for a while now so it may of been installed for a few weeks now.

I am not sure if its a new phone cabinet to replace our very old one, or maybe BTO has decided on giving us FTTC after 3 years wait for the FTTP install that we was suppose to of got in the last quarter of 2011, or maybe its Virgin Media due to they currently about to start installs in our are and was told on the phone that we may have to wait up to about 4 months or so months before they do our road if all goes well.

Not got any pictures of this new cabinet yet due to was being dropped off and was darkish out side car but was noticeable to see that it was bigger and darker green, but I will try to get some pictures maybe over the next few days.

I did do a DSL check and there is no information about Fibre or any dates referring to when it will become active, and from the road side I couldn't see any vents on it, however the vents may only be on the other side.
The cabinet may just be an empty shell installed ready for either FTTC or just an update to the phone lines handled by our old cabinet.

I cannot see Virgin Media installing their Fibre cabinet right next to BT's Phone cabinet, however our council may of told them to install it there due to us being in a Conservation Area.

I may be wrong but I think I read some place that VM Fibre boxes only support up to 250m away, if so and that is to be the only cabinet then there may be an issue. Saying that, doesn't RF (i.e. broadband signals) over coax in fact travel longer distances that what twisted balanced lines should, if so then hopefully it would be ok.

So my guesses at this point was one of the following:
1: A New cabinet to house our phone lines, which is to replace our old one.
2: BTO are installing us FTTC, i.e. the reason it being very close to our phone cabinet.
3: Its a VM Fibre Cabinet getting it ready to install their infrastructure.

We haven't been that lucky over the last 3 or so years so hopefully it either option 2 or 3, but knowing our luck it will just be option 1.
I just think its strange that Virgin Media comes into our area to install their network and all of a sudden a new cabinet appears next to our phone cabinet.

If this was in fact BTO installing FTTC what speeds on average (rough guess) would we see, we are about 470m from our cabinet.
Currently we are in total about 3.5km give or take from our exchange, following the roads and we get about 5.2Mb when its dry outside and about 0Mb (non stop d/c's) up to about 1 to 1.5Mb when it has rained heavy, resulting in having to phone BT to have the SNR reset back to 6dB.
So you can see why we are hoping its fibre of some sort.

I know a few of us down our road got our local MP involved a few months back, so maybe this got the ball rolling, I know we got a huge amount of attention from BT after our MP got involved.

Thanks in advance
Paul

Assorted cabinet pictures. (Those labelled 128 I think are 96s).

Thanks for you reply Rob.

Well our current phone cabinet is like I said very old and we have been here 30+ years and don't recall any cabinet upgrade in that time, but it looks like the "Tatty old GPO! PCP" or possibly "Another old PCP" however the new cabinet to me (remember only saw the back of it due to being in a car and also being dark outside) looks like Virgins "Street cabinet" and was a fair bit darker green to be the "Modernish PCP near a pub" cabinet, or maybe one of the "Huawei".

I do recall it having the same type of top (i.e. roof top shaped) and that it was dark green and several inches taller and also maybe wider as well, but not too sure.

Hopefully if I am well enough I will take a long slow walk (well stagger LOL) towards it tomorrow to take photos of the front, back and the side visible.

I am just hoping its not just a new PCP cabinet to replace the old one, just thought it was strange it being placed next to the old one, maybe for them to move lines in blocks at a time to reduce loss of lines.

Edited by PaulKirby (Tue 23-Dec-14 00:59:20)

Basically this is what our old one looks like:

Google Maps for 2009 and Google Maps for 2012

As you can see its very old
So like I said maybe the new cabinet is just a new PCP Cabinet ready for an upgrade.

One worrying thing is I have read that you cannot have half using FTTP and the rest using FTTC and its one or the other and never mixed down the same road (unless that's for the homes using the same PCP cabinet), because people the top half of our road and several side roads that are routed through a different PCP cabinet i.e. LNILC P39 have FTTP already and have had since end of 2011, even openreach where and when site says the following for them:

Exchange name: Ilford Central

Status: Accepting orders

Great news. Superfast Fibre is in your area and your cabinet is enabled and accepting orders. Contact your preferred communications provider for your home or business to order.

However for the lower end of our road and the remaining side roads using our PCP Cabinet LNILC P24 haven't got any fibre at all as yet and the openreach where and where page says the following:

Exchange name: Ilford Central

Status: Under Review

We're in your area but we're still assessing whether or not we can upgrade your cabinet. This means you can't order Superfast Fibre. Click here to find out more >

And one of our neighbours a few months or so ago was either told by BT or Openreach that we are not viable for FTTP, yet the upper of our road and several side roads are.
Saying that though, their PCP Cabinet is a lot newer than ours, so maybe that was the reason, shame they couldn't tell us that in 2011 when the engineers was installing all the fibre manifold this end.

Not too sure what they mean by "Under Review", seems that openreach have updated their Where and When page.

Edited by PaulKirby (Tue 23-Dec-14 02:15:00)

If new cab has slots as air vents it is FTTC if no slots may still be prelude to FTTC

With my County Councillor's hat on.

Have a search of your council's website and see if they have a Planning section. You should then be able to see who made the planning application. You mentioned it being a Conservation Area, so it should be listed, maybe some time ago.

If you cannot locate a planning section on the website, the phone the council and ask for the web address. With my CC hat off, I would not mention the new cabinet to the council, just in case it should not have been erected there - it is easy to throw a spanner in the works, so to speak,

Cheers!

According to roadworks.org Vrigin media are the only ones doing work their but its for a blockage repair

I susspect its just a replacement for the existing PCP, probably due to fault liability, and the lines will be changes over to the new PCP in due course , if they have not been already

Edited by deleted (Tue 23-Dec-14 11:10:53)

Hello Ribble

Yup, like I expected last night, its a new PCP cabinet, strange that they put a new one next to the old one though, I normally see them just lift off the old one and re-fit with the new larger one to accommodate space ready for FTTC loop through.

Here is a photo of them next to each other, can you get the old an new one LOL

veryold pcp cabinet with new pcp cabinet 20141223

But yeah, my guesses are for it to replace the current PCP cabinet due to I know I have been having very bad issues with my ADSL2+ connection when it rains.

But at least this brings our cabinet up to date with our other PCP one across the road.

Thanks
Paul

Hello Ancient_Mariner

Thanks for your reply, well our councils site is like a maze, so you would probably need a degree in cryptology to find anything.

But like I said to ribble its a new PCP Cabinet, I am just puzzled why they didn't just change the outer casing, but like ribble said it may be due to fault issues in the current PCP cabinet, so a complete replacement would be required and there is a lot of wires in there, so it will probably be done in stages after the new year.

Thanks
Paul