FTTRN now live in North Yorkshire. Probably...

Here's an update on the status of the deployment of FTTRN in North Yorkshire, as gleaned from the DSL checker.

Right now, it looks like the FTTRN node in North Yorkshire is live, and properties served by it can order.

The properties are on the Leyburn exchange, and were originally served by cabinet 1 (in Middleham), before becoming served by a new cabinet 10.

The evidence mostly comes from looking at the history of FTTC availability to the properties - how it originally became available, then was lost as a new cabinet was added to the exchange, then became available again. The only thing wrong is that the new speed estimates (with the new cabinet) remain identical to the original ones (when served by the original cabinet).

Cabinet 10

This is a new cabinet, and it is different from any other PCP or FTTC cabinet I have seen before. It seems rather smaller, but has air vents. There was writing on the top of the cabinet that said "Cab 10 in JF6 with fibre node" suggesting that it might just be an empty box, with the works held underground, or perhaps just the PCP.

Photos
Wide shot
Front
Left
Right
Top - with written note

Distances

The new cabinet is located 2km (road distance) from cabinet 1, which is itself around 3.75km (road distance) from the exchange in Leyburn.

The affected properties end up ranging from being 10m from the new cabinet, with a few around 400m, and most then up to 1.8km. The last property then appears to be 2.6km from the new cabinet.

That final property adds up to being 8.35km from the exchange.

Speeds
Unfortunately, the speed estimates remain as they were when served by the original cabinet, suggesting that the tool is not capable of displaying the trial estimates correctly.

The closest property will be able to get 80/20 speeds.

History

September 2014
All affected properties were served by Leyburn cabinet 1 (which is actually sited in the centre of Middleham), ADSL2+ available

October 1st
Leyburn's cabinet 1 goes live with FTTC.
TThe future FTTRN properties remain served by cabinet 1, but FTTC is now available at speeds between 10-17 down, 1-2 up.

October 23rd
FTTC speed estimates adjusted very slightly

December 18th
19 properties changed to being served by cabinet 10 (a new cab number for the exchange). However, FTTC availability is lost, and these lines go back to ADSL2+ only.

December 26th
18 properties changed to show FTTC is now available from cabinet 10. The speed estimates are the same (low) as October 23rd.
1 property changed to show FTTC is now available from cabinet 10, but that FTTC is too far (as it was on October 23rd)

I suspect the cabibet houses the power supply and backup batteries

interesting.

JF6 refers to the underground chamber as there are reference online to " JF6 Size sectional chambers " hence the "cab" is in the ground.

Are the two "slabs" in front of the wonky pole (in the wide shot) footway box covers then? Because I was going to ask where the underground cab actually was. If they're just paving slabs in front of the pole, then I can't see any covers in any of the photos, so... how do the copper tie-ins work with FTTRN? Well, even ignoring that, they wouldn't bury the PCP section (even though it is new), because then OR would have to arrange civil works to dig the pavement just to access the PCP for anything.

I suppose the simple answer is that the chamber is in front of the pole, or out of shot? And that I don't really know how FTTRN works, because I suppose if it works in a similar way to how I'm assuming, then it would just be FTTC (overground or underground).

Edited by deleted (Mon 05-Jan-15 10:45:12)

Http://goo.gl/maps/mFeuA

I susspect the copper work is in a mechanical joint located in the joint box under the 2 box covers in front of the pole.

Ah, Google Maps! Well, that's stopped me wondering, cheers.

Ah ... hadn't thought of the battery situation.

The council report (November) indicated that this node ended up with a local power supply, much the same as a standard FTTC installation, but that the real (and now delayed) deployment of FTTRN really needed to share the power supply over multiple FTTRN nodes to make it q cost-effective solution.

I read that to mean that the power needed to be supplied remotely over a number of copper pairs ... but forgot that either setup would also require a battery provision too.

Edited by deleted (Mon 05-Jan-15 13:31:39)

I understand a JF6 to be an underground chamber with 2 large covers, and as Ribble's map shows - there was indeed such a chamber at the foot of the pole (which the arrow on top of the cabinet pointed at). When I took the photos, there had been no new chamber created in the vicinity.

The reports a few months ago suggested that the FTTRN node itself was a weatherproof box that could be sited underground or on a pole, and that it would be connected to a hybrid closure.

There is a picture as part of this story:
http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2014/11/north-y...

I can confirm that I saw no other sign of installation work in the area: that cabinet was the sole visible artifact.

From a subscriber perspective, FTTRN works just like FTTC. However, from a network architecture perspective, I'm not so sure that it is treated like a standalone FTTC cabinet with PCP. For Alcatel-Lucent, their equivalent box acts as a subordinate, so would always be a child to a "proper" FTTC node earlier in the network, and is controlled and configured via that node. I haven't yet found details of a Huawei equivalent, so I don't know if it works in the same way.

I should say that this FTTRN node is not patched in to all the lines running past along the main road there; the original cabinet 1 continues to supply another village (East Witton) that is further out, which did not end up being connected into cab 10.

I've overlaid some coverage data on top of the original phase 1 map provided by SFNY. It gives a feel for the kind of area being covered by this box (not wildly remote, but definitely sparse)

However, out of concern for intrusiveness on the properties concerned, I didn't include it yesterday.

Any opinions as to whether I should share it, or keep it private?

An update...

The DSL speed checker has now updated to return "proper" results for the various properties connected to the FTTRN node, rather than just repeating the original FTTC speeds.

The fastest "clean" speeds now have a range of 80/20-80/20 (as you'd expect, for those within a few metres).

The slowest "clean" ranges are 67/20-80/20 and 50/14-69/20.

Considering some of those properties should still be 1.5km from the new FTTRN node, it suggests that some very fat copper is in use, although you'd expect that for farms that are sited a long way from the exchange, where high gauge copper would have been necessary for voice service.