Extra Cabinets

Hi folks. Could anyone maybe identify a couple of cabinets for me from these photos?

Out of the 40 or so PCPs in my area, two have an additional smaller cabinet next to them.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.020604,-1.470104,3...

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.032045,-1.493518,3...

Are they cabinets that have been replaced by the newer ones and just left in place? Or some sort of expansion? They look quite old.

Also what about this one? Five of these have recently gone up, all within a 400m radius of the exchange. https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.023843,-1.48471,3a...

The Mouselike checker doesn't seem to have any info on what is connected to them. Are they for the current exchange only lines to be moved on to? Unusually one of them is black instead of green, yet it is the same model of cabinet.

Thanks for any info. I've just developed a bit of interest into cabs etc recently since the fibre rollout started in my area.

The small one in your first link is a modern PCP (phone cabinet). The larger one with the air vents is a Huawei FTTC 288 cabinet connected to the PCP.

The small one on the left in your second link is an old PCP, almost certainly still active. The larger squat one on the right I have no idea. I doubt if it is BT or Virgin Media. Not a clue sorry.

The third one looks like a small modern PCP, so as you surmise, probably to take over EO lines. Unless the latest combo ones (PCP+FTTC DSLAM) don't have air vents - I haven't seen a picture of any. I'd expect to see small FTTC cabinets coming near to them.

Hi RobertoS. Thanks for the reply.

There are actually three cabinets in the first photo. The PCP and DSLAM as you mentioned, then the smaller one a little further along.

In the second photo, the larger cabinet is the PCP. FTTC has been installed since the photo was taken and the new DSLAM has been linked to it. The smaller older one, again, is the one that I'm in the dark about.

The smaller ones appear to have 184 and 11\1 painted on them, but I can't be certain as the paint has weathered away over time.

Again, thanks for the help.

The little ones in the first two pictures are just BT SCPs. If it says 11/1 on it then it's SCP 1 linked to PCP 11. They could both still be active or the PCPs could have taken over from them leaving the SCPs empty.

The little cabinets you've linked to are probably just new, little PCPs to enable EO lines for FTTC. DSLAMs should appear next to them in time.

Ah I see, thanks Icarus.

That makes sense as 11 is the second closest PCP to 11\1 and 18 is the second closest PCP to 18\1 (not 184 as I originally thought).

Both areas have expanded substantially over the past 20 years, so I'm wondering if demand became too high and they installed the new PCPs to take over from the SCPs.

Probably exactly that. They physically ran out of space in the SCPs. They tend not to remove obsolete cabinets which always annoys me slightly.

What's concerning is they'll never remove these DSLAM cabinets in future when they become obsolete so we'll end up with lines of cabinets doing nothing!