fibrous coppery stuff?

Not all telephone lines in the UK are connected to a cabinet, the vast majority are. The main site here states.

How do I know what happens when the twisted-copper on my telephone pole gets itself --- not to a big cabinet now an empty hunk of steel --- but to the new-fangled manhole covers in my local pavement.

Edited by deleted (Fri 13-Apr-12 20:39:42)

I get 3.1 download & point 4 up --- yes that's zero decimal four

http://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/results/id/1...

what is your question?!

Clearly you missed the OP's tagline:
"Obscurity is a comfortable cloak"

My Q is this. I have a wayleave wooden pole in my front garden. It is festooned with twisted-copper pairs, mine included. This used to go to a steel box in a nearby hedge. That massive hunk of mostly cast steel remains, doors unpadlocked now, and empty.

In the adjacent pavement have appeared the oblong BT manhole lids. Like this at many sites hereabouts on Fawley exchange which is scheduled on OpenReach website as upgrade imminent. Which means fibre? Yes?

I cannot believe that BT would make thousands of fiddly little connections twice over. So I might assume that fibre has been led to these new u/g manholes and copper the final 20 yards. But is this a valid assumption. How do I tell (do I need to know?) if I am already partially on fibre?

I have more than a user interest. Pre-1968 when I left Leatherhead I was already on fibre. Yes, more than 45 years ago. My phone bill was smaller than BT's, my tv was of a clarity to be marvelled at and there was none of that airline-speak of "over" when attempting to beat the modern timelag on overseas calls.

So I think I would like fibre. Am I already halfway there, at least from BT's u/g bunker to the exchange?

You're probably not already on fibre.

This checker might tell you what phase you'll be done in http://www.coolwebhome.co.uk/fibre/checker.php

Just put your postcode in and press Lookup.

I doubt you had fibre in 1968 since it was not created by Corning till 1970 and initial trials in 1977
http://www.greatachievements.org/?id=3706
Most likely was an early co-ax cable TV service, at a guess Rediffusion

Fawley is marked as coming soon for Openreach fibre, and that would be run to the street cabinet that your line is served from. If you have no street cabinet then you may be a Exchange Only line, which is NOT compatible with the two fibre rollouts Openreach is doing currently.

As others have suggested your postcode into the various checkers, or even better the telephone number may reveal more information. For interpretations copy/paste the text and people can explain it.

Error on my part. I did not leave Leatherhead in 1968, I arrived there. NYNEX fibred up every part of the town, I opted for the new stuff, yes this might have been 1971'ish.

Fibre for cable tv was a lot latter and even now Virgin Media does not use fibre to the home

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/26/6658-the-histor...

In reply to a post by Littleseen:

Error on my part. I did not leave Leatherhead in 1968, I arrived there. NYNEX fibred up every part of the town, I opted for the new stuff, yes this might have been 1971'ish.

NYNEX didn't exist until 1984, and Nynex CableComms didn't start laying fibre in the UK until the very early 90' (iirc 1993), when the market was opened up.