Reshelling a cabinet

roadworks.org shows some upcoming work on the cabinet I'm served by:

"Reshell existing Cab with associated new plinth and approx 17m of duct work in FW"

I'm interested to know what this work is for. Is it to expand capacity? Or prepping for G.Fast?

Thanks!

Could be either, or maybe just an overall uplift if it�s guts are manky. Duff PC100�s or a hideous mess of a Midland shelf.

I have never followed a reshell for a copper extension, so I do not know. But I think it would be for G.fast since the new duct is possibly for the hybrid cable. Someone else will probably know if new ducting would be necessary to carry the hybrid cable.

I've seen a couple of cast iron cabinets replaced locally with the new steel cabinets. All those cabinets that have been reshelled so far that I am aware of here have got G.fast pods fitted, though none are enabled yet even though the hybrid cable may be connected up (probably waiting for cable links to be upgraded).

What �hybrid cable� are you on about ?

I was under the impression that one such cable existed, as can be seen in the diagram used in this article. I could not find the source of the image immediately so decided posting the article would be fine.

I do apologise in advance if this information is incorrect.

G.fast is a "hybrid fibre" technology, but AFAIK that means that it's fibre up to the cabinet, and then copper from the cabinet to the end user.

Yes, of course. You're right that it is copper to the end user (no different to current FTTC). But I am referring to the cable between the DSLAM and G.fast pod.

From the article you linked to:-

The technology itself works in a similar way to FTTC (VDSL2) by running a fibre optic cable to your local PCP Street Cabinet

No "hybrid" connection.

I expect the fibre to the pod comes through the existing ducting from the FTTC cabinet. The pod has a DSLAM just like the FTTC cabinet.

You are correct. There is a hybrid cable with power and fibre linking the gfast pod to the FTTC cabinet.

Could be either. It is common to put a couple of extra ducts in when upsizing a shell.

I believe it also takes power from the sister (fttc) cabinet

It's like what @partial said in reference to the hybrid cable. It would make sense as deploying it would be a lot easier.

Looks like it, from what partial says as well . Though how it is fed through other than a draw-pull is beyond me.

I could understand there being the fibre plus a separate power lead, but not a combined one. Maybe a combined power lead and fibre tube to blow the fibre through?

In reply to a post by j0el:

It's like what @partial said in reference to the hybrid cable. It would make sense as deploying it would be a lot easier.

But you were meaning fibre plus phone copper, and it most certainly isn't.

I do not think that is what I was meant.

My apologies. I hadn't scrolled far enough down your link to see the diagram.

No problem. I wanted to avoid linking to the image directly, but in hindsight it would have perhaps been better to do so.

It's a combined fibre and power cable (hybrid).
Nice and red as well

I shall retire, more or less gracefully . [chuckle]

Thanks .

Apologies then, I thought you were on about something else

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

Could be either, or maybe just an overall uplift if it�s guts are manky. Duff PC100�s or a hideous mess of a Midland shelf.

The PCP is indeed extremely manky.

I hadn't even noticed it before as it's a good 60m away from the shiny VDSL cabinet.

High Density capacity upgrade

You cannot judge a book by its cover.

codelook should tell the op how many houses passed and should give a clue if its capacity or g.fast or just a shiny new cab

In reply to a post by Taras:

codelook should tell the op how many houses passed and should give a clue if its capacity or g.fast or just a shiny new cab

It's NDHIL P7. Codelook says 310 properties passed.

If it were a VDSL capacity issue, wouldn't that involve expansion on the VDSL cabinet rather than upgrading the PCP?

Anyway, it's just out of interest. I'll see in a few weeks what the reshelled PCP looks like.

In reply to a post by Taras:

codelook should tell the op how many houses passed and should give a clue if its capacity or g.fast or just a shiny new cab

codelook makes no mention of G.Fast.

Only 2nd cabinets/DSLAM's show on codelook as "being expanded".
High Density upgrades don't show as expanded on any of the cabinets I've checked, unless they also have a 2nd DSLAM.

witchunt has confirmed it is an HD upgrade. I trust his info.

In reply to a post by candlerb:

In reply to a post by Taras:

codelook should tell the op how many houses passed and should give a clue if its capacity or g.fast or just a shiny new cab

If it were a VDSL capacity issue, wouldn't that involve expansion on the VDSL cabinet rather than upgrading the PCP?

Anyway, it's just out of interest. I'll see in a few weeks what the reshelled PCP looks like.

That cab is very small and may not have the space for the new tie cable blocks for the HD expansion.
They don't add PCP extensions (the unvented type) to those cabinets so a shiny new PCP is required.

codelook makes no mention of G.Fast.

Quite and no fttp either. The point was to find out how dense the area is and thus we can have a better stab as to what was going on

HD expansion with associated resell of pcp

Cheers. So is a HD cab still a passive cab, just with space for more copper pairs?

A HD cab is a dslam cabinet that has been expanded with higher port capacity cards and additional ties pairs. In this case 128-256 ports. In this instance the pcp also requires reselling to provided additional tie pair capacity

Very clear, thank you.

This means they're expecting to exceed 41% penetration of FTTC (=128/310).

It won't be long before the original capacity runs out. It may have been at capacity previously.

In reply to a post by candlerb:

This means they're expecting to exceed 41% penetration of FTTC (=128/310).

As stated in the latest BT Group results (See TBB News Item) BT has now increased their take-up assumption from 41% to 61% of total premises passed

Update: shiny new PCP cabinet is now in place - wider than the old one, but no G.Fast pod.

I found that in the availability checker, when I search for my phone number, the WBC FTTC Availability Date shows as "Available" - but if I search by address it says "Waiting List". So it does indeed look like an out-of-capacity situation had been reached.

Being a BDUK funded cab, I wouldn't expect g.fast anytime soon if ever

OK, thanks. Doesn't affect me anyway - firstly I'm too far away, and secondly I have FTTPoD install in progress

Not true, has happened and will happen a lot more. Openreach are allowed to use BDUK funded FTTC to deliver G.Fast.