Vanishing green cabinets

[#1]

Our exchange is due to be updated so yesterday I thought I'd check to see if anything is happening to the local green cabs. Not only could I not find any work but the cabinets have dissapeared to be replaced with concrete man holes. It would appear some of our estate is direct to the exchange, even though we are about 1.5 miles from the exchange, so I'm wondering if they are converting more line to direct. So far I've found at least two cabs have dissapeared.

[#2]

I'd normally ask Dave on that but he's not in, maybe they've had to put them underground because of planning permission. Bear in mind, like me, people who are connected from the exchange won't get fibre, as it has to be from a cabinet, although I imagine that far away from the exchange there will have to be something a bit closer, possibly underground. There's nothing shown on the BT Availability Checker, but always a good place to check for updates if you pop your telephone number in there.

[#3]

I doubt if planning permission would be a problem so it's a bit of a mystery why the cabs are disappearing. Dave did check for me a while ago but if it's the case this estate is connected directly to the exchange there is going to be hell of a lot of disappointed people round here. Something must have changed because I remember some years ago when we had phone problems the engineer said he swapped a pair at the cabinet which was up  the road.
.

[#4]

When some areas are being upgraded to fibre cabinets sometimes need to be replaced or in some cases relocated to my knowledge so this could be what's been happening in your area.

[#5]

After days of searching I have found only one green cabinet and that has a shiny new cab beside it and that's a long way from the exchange. I don't hold out much hope for very large estates around here.

[#6]

what's your postcode, I'll check on the December spreadsheet for you.
it'll tell you if your scheduled for FTTC and what cabinet your on.

[#7]

With broadband, speed is dictated by your distance from the exchange - I get only 2mb.  With fiber, the speed seems to be dictated by your distance from the green cabinet - so how do you find where your green cabinet is and how can best predict your likely speed?

[#8]

You are correct, the distance from the exchange is irrelevant. For maximum speeds you need to be within about 400 to 600 meters from the cabinet, but you can still get good speeds even if you are significantly further away.
There was a BT Openreach spreadsheet leaked in December which has every post code listed and the cabinets that postcode are supplied from. There are two versions of this spreadsheet, one with only the cabinets that are being upgraded, and another in two parts which lists every postcode.
Either post your postcode here (and I look it up), or on the Think Broadband forums http://forums.thinkbroadband.com/fibre.html and  someone will post your cabinet data.
Once you have your cabinet number you then need to have a look around your area for your cabinet, usually they are numbered, but not always, a lot of ours have numbers writtem in chalk or marker pens. You can even use Google streetview to look for it.
Once you've found your cabinet or cabinets, as sometime two cabinets will supply a postcode you can then see if it has a new green FTTC box next to it.
If not you can keep a check on www.roadworks.org to see if BT are doing any work in your area, not all counties are covered, some counties may have there own system.

[#9]

BD11 2JH
thanks
Mike.

[#10]

@mikec
Your on P5, 100% of lines in your postcode are supplied by P5, and you should expect and increase of 8.1 x what you get, although most people get far better.
SAU_ID Name Postcode SAU_NODE_ID Exchange Only Flag Percent Lines Uplift Phase Deployed FTTC or FTTP
MYDUD DUDLEY HILL BD112JH {MYDUD}{P5} 0 100% 8.1 6b Yes FTTC
Sam Knows (http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange/MYDUD) shows that FTTC is available in some areas, so I would suggest checking on https://www.btwholesale.com/includes/adsl/main.html
Make sure you enter your phone number without the space.
PS. Deployed means scheduled in BT talk!
PPS: Checking house number 1 at your postcode shows the FTTC is available, so just try the upgrade product from the members centre on your account.

[#11]

Further to my reply above the BT ADSL checker states that 40Mbps is available for number 1  BD112JH, so you must be pretty close.

Quote

Our test also indicates that your line currently supports a fibre technology with an estimated WBC FTTC Broadband where consumers have received downstream line speed of 40 Mbps and upstream line speed of 8 Mbps.

You can view a map of the postcode served by cabinet P5 here http://batchgeo.com/map/7c0b7424ca7a536f6a7fcf383645b9b3
And here's your cabinet
Which means your about 550 meters from the cabinet, presuming your line takes a direct route up the road.
Took me about 10 minutes 

[#12]

Can I ask if these "Green Cabinets" are also used by NTL\Virgin? I'm about 10m from one although I can only ever remember NTL going near it when they laid their cable some years ago. Do they share the cabinet?

[#13]

Virgin do also have green cabinets, but they do not share with BT.

[#14]

CM8 2SZ Thanks

Quote from: Ronski

what's your postcode, I'll check on the December spreadsheet for you. it'll tell you if your scheduled for FTTC and what cabinet your on.

[#15]

@glloyd, bad news, your either on a direct exchange line or P16, either way they are not scheduled for FTTC or FTTP
SAU_ID Name Postcode SAU_NODE_ID Exchange Only Flag Percent Lines Uplift Phase Deployed FTTC or FTTP
EAWTH WITHAM CM82SZ {EAWTH}{M_D} 1 88%
EAWTH WITHAM CM82SZ {EAWTH}{P16} 0 11%
BT may implement some form FTTP for exchange only lines, though thats only wispers at the moment.