When BT launches it's exchange rationalisation project, the concentration of local exchanges into one physical location, .
Really, how will that work then ? They will need 'concentration' points to replace sub exchanges (although that's what the smaller exchanges are anyway) ? Are you saying some people will end up with 15 miles worth of copper from home to exchange ?
Probably the same as happen in my village just before PhONEday. We went from having a copper fed full exchange to having a fibre fed "sub exchange", which was controlled remotely from the actual exchange in a nearby town. This was coupled with a code change which took the village from it's own 6+3 format numbers, to using the town's 4 digit code, with a 3+3 line number. Everybody kept the same last three digits.
The upside is that with everybody only being a few hundred metres from the exchange, you get FTTC speeds without them having to run fibre around the village.
Probably the same as happen in my village just before PhONEday. We went from having a copper fed full exchange to having a fibre fed "sub exchange", which was controlled remotely from the actual exchange in a nearby town. This was coupled with a code change which took the village from it's own 6+3 format numbers, to using the town's 4 digit code, with a 3+3 line number. Everybody kept the same last three digits.
The upside is that with everybody only being a few hundred metres from the exchange, you get FTTC speeds without them having to run fibre around the village.
Yes, but you still need something warm and sheltered to house the equipment, i.e a building, or a lot of cabinets
In the case of my village, they used the existing exchange building (which is a wooden hut that looks like it dates back to the 50s when the village first got electricity, and therefore rather worn)
But since that change, an exchange fault in the town's exchange means that calls in the village, even to other phones in the village, will fail, so it obviously doesn't contain enough equipment to operate by itself.
When BT launches it's exchange rationalisation project, the concentration of local exchanges into one physical location, .
Really, how will that work then ? They will need 'concentration' points to replace sub exchanges (although that's what the smaller exchanges are anyway) ? Are you saying some people will end up with 15 miles worth of copper from home to exchange ?
No, remove the switching gear in the target exchange, replace with multiplexing gear onto fibre, backhaul the exchange lines by fibre to the new host exchange and do the switching there. Effectively replacing an active unit with a purely passive one, requiring much less maintenance. The backhauls could be to anywhere and switched accordingly. The number of active exchanges being reduced dramatically, around 20-30 nationally could be achieved, sounds difficult but isn't really.
When BT launches it's exchange rationalisation project, the concentration of local exchanges into one physical location, .
Really, how will that work then ? They will need 'concentration' points to replace sub exchanges (although that's what the smaller exchanges are anyway) ? Are you saying some people will end up with 15 miles worth of copper from home to exchange ?
No, remove the switching gear in the target exchange, replace with multiplexing gear onto fibre, backhaul the exchange lines by fibre to the new host exchange and do the switching there. Effectively replacing an active unit with a purely passive one, requiring much less maintenance. The backhauls could be to anywhere and switched accordingly. The number of active exchanges being reduced dramatically, around 20-30 nationally could be achieved, sounds difficult but isn't really.
Yes, but you still need something to house, and air condition the kit. It'll take up a lot less space than the old kit, but it can't really be located in a different place, so in most cases I suspect it will just sit in the corner
of the existing exchange building, looking rather sad and lonely !
In the short term yes whilst copper still used in exchange - cabinet distribution network, eventually the cabinets will function as the concentrators once all fibre. Security will be an issue yes, but shouldn't be unsurmountable.
It wouldn't surprise me that some Cornish Exchanges could be used as trial sites for concentration. Considering the Superfast Cornwall project is reaching completion with Fibre now available to over 90pct of users and closing in on the rest fast.
Last edited by DVB Cornwall on 27 October 2014 9:09pm
The cabinets aren't much bigger than the analogue ones they will eventually replace, some are smaller. A few are large yes, and locating them somewhat hit and miss, which is being addressed.
Just out of interest, I live in a rural area with no street lighting or pavements. Our local exchange is about 1 mile away. There are no cabinets between me and the exchange. There is a single underground chamber in the road about halfway between me and the exchange. How do you think BT intend to get infinity speeds to me?
I should add, there is a School opposite my house, it does has fibre optic broadband and the individual fibre cable that feeds them sits on top of the wooden pole at the end of my front garden (there is a sign on 'my' pole telling me there is an overhead fibre optic cable - it is the one feeding the School). So, that being the case BT can't push infinity down a mile of copper - not unreasonable? So how will I eventually get infinity speeds if there is no room or pavement to have a cabinet?
Sounds like the school have an FTTP connection, not an FTTC connection if they have a direct fibre feed.
It's all very confusing with BT claiming they have a "fibre" service in your area, when it fact it's just glofied DSL with a shorter cable length, and thus a faster speed (speed of DSL is reliant on many factors, one of which is how long the wire is from your exchange to your house). It irks me when they bang on about fibre broadband in their ads.
They've just moved the DSL hardware (which used to be in the exchange) closer to your house. The last mile (so to speak) is still shÃte copper wiring that has been in service for decades.
The long and short of it is that BT are unlikely to get infinity speeds to your area as it is rural. If you don't have any cabinets in your are, they are either well hidden or in pits, or perhaps you have an exchange only line, ie. where the line is wired directly back to the exchange and not to a cabinet.