… is almost upon Rhuthun/Ruthin.
We used to laugh at computer-driven technological change. It was a subject suitable only for nerds. In the late 1990s, as internet computing began to hit headlines, do you remember pundits & presenters on Post Cyntaf, Good Morning Wales and The Today Programme treating such news with some ridicule or jovial disdain? It was as if by laughing at developments the commentators could distance themselves. It told us that they weren't archetypal spotty pale youth "geeks" (a term you seldom hear, now that computer technology is accepted as mainstream).
If you don't remember these dismissive putdowns, the same thing happened last month. Referring to the release of the film Ex Machina, the presenters talked of artificial intelligence in the same flippant sort of way, even though we all know AI will happen for no other reason than Google's investing heavily in it. AI will have more of an impact on our lives than the PC and web ever has—and that's an understatement.
But all joking aside, the internet is currently not only a basic utility but, in order to take part in modern society, it's de rigueur. In fact, governments are investing in new infrastructure that will ensure Wales' competitiveness on the national, UK and international stages.
ADSL-replacing superfast fibre-optic broadband FTTC was expected in Rhuthun by December 2014. It's now estimated to reach us in March 2015. That's next month.
If you're reading this from Corwen, you already have it. Corwen acts as the local hub, as the A5 was an early Post Office Telephones trunk telephone cabling route. That's also why Y Bala has fibre, too. Branching off the hub will be Rhuthun's fibre-optic access.
And so we see preparations for Rhuthun's FTTC. Overhead line replacements, poly ducting between the Park Road exchange and individual wiring cabinets and shallow road & pavement trenches continue, with Openreach contractors doing the work.
We've been used to Post Office Telephones' roadside wiring cabinets for nearly 70 years and so common are they that they're now mostly invisible to us. They blend in unnoticed. But the new FTTC cabinets stand out, for three reasons. They're:
For the minor inconvenience of short-term, low-impact roadworks and pram- & pushchair-impeding wiring cabinets, we can expect broadband speeds locally of up to 80 Mbps and an average of 30 Mbps, so they say. The average broadband delivery in Wales is currently 9Mbps. From home to the nearest wiring cabinet and thence via copper wire to the exchange I currently get about 14Mpbs. Actually, I get 16 Mbps from exchange to home as the line rate connection speed and this reduces to 13.9 Mbps download speed via wired ethernet cable.
Incidentally, why are roadside wiring cabinets green? Was it to blend in with their surroundings, to distinguish them from highways street furniture (usually grey) or was it because in the 1940s, 1950s and early 1960s the GPO adopted the corporate colour for its Post Office Telephones' vans?
Yet, in time, all this will be redundant. 4G hasn’t arrived in Rhuthun yet but those with SIM-enabled tablets will soon be free of the home wireless network delivered via FTTC. I bet there'll be 5G and beyond. Will FTTC broadband go the way of dial-up, floppy disks, computers in cases, hard drive storage, desktop software, Teletext, faxes and portable phones with external aerials?
Finally, a quick whimsy on the humble telegraph pole. Areas such as Greenfield Road and Porth y Dre are adorned and festooned with wires and poles. This reflects the age of their housing, erected before anyone thought of putting cable runs beneath the surface. Built during the 1930s, Porth y Dre even predates the concept of modern wiring cabinets. Indeed, I imagine that Rhuthun Borough Council neither made plans for nor even expected residents to have access to telephones when it commissioned the Porth y Dre estate. Telephones were very much a luxury item, then, when customers were called "subscribers". But here you will see lines to individual homes fanning out from poles and thicker cable distributing telephony along the street.
Compare Porth y Dre with parallel Ty'n y Parc. At Ty'n y Parc, you hardly notice the reduced number of poles and wires. This reflects the newer age of the housing. Newer housing still such as Bro Deg, Maes Cantaba, Parc Brynhyfryd etc is both pole- and wire-less. Everything's delivered underground.
Time was when alongside every main road ran telegraphs pole arrays complete with upper crossarms supporting tons of cableage. This was the only method of transferring services over long distance. All you see these days are slim poles that serve local needs. In an era of under surface distribution, keep your eyes open for the last few remaining significant Post Office Telephones telegraph poles, albeit used these days for local rather than long distance telephony distribution.
On the B5015 between Rhuthun and Clawddnewydd you will still be able to see half a dozen of these long distance poles. They may even date back as far as the 1930s. They're complete (more or less) with their standard GPO insulator caps known as ceramic terminators. Two are by the lower Pool Park lodge, Llanfwrog Rural, opposite prospective Labour candidate Gareth Thomas's home. None now carries anything other than residential lines.
And finally, what of the exchange itself? Once filled will-to-wall with clicking and whirring analog switchgear and meters, it's been largely empty for some years, save for some computer-related equipment to run the Rhuthun exchange area.
If you don't remember these dismissive putdowns, the same thing happened last month. Referring to the release of the film Ex Machina, the presenters talked of artificial intelligence in the same flippant sort of way, even though we all know AI will happen for no other reason than Google's investing heavily in it. AI will have more of an impact on our lives than the PC and web ever has—and that's an understatement.
If you're reading this from Corwen, you already have it. Corwen acts as the local hub, as the A5 was an early Post Office Telephones trunk telephone cabling route. That's also why Y Bala has fibre, too. Branching off the hub will be Rhuthun's fibre-optic access.
Left, a "modernist" 1980s wiring cabinet while that on the right is a brand new FTTC box. Parc y Dre. The new companion cabinet houses computer-controlled fibre optics
And so we see preparations for Rhuthun's FTTC. Overhead line replacements, poly ducting between the Park Road exchange and individual wiring cabinets and shallow road & pavement trenches continue, with Openreach contractors doing the work.
- Too new to have faded (note that not all are yet in)
- Bigger than their predecessors
- Often obstructive of the footway.
Rhuthun wiring cabinet no. 3. This is a 1990s cabinet design
For the minor inconvenience of short-term, low-impact roadworks and pram- & pushchair-impeding wiring cabinets, we can expect broadband speeds locally of up to 80 Mbps and an average of 30 Mbps, so they say. The average broadband delivery in Wales is currently 9Mbps. From home to the nearest wiring cabinet and thence via copper wire to the exchange I currently get about 14Mpbs. Actually, I get 16 Mbps from exchange to home as the line rate connection speed and this reduces to 13.9 Mbps download speed via wired ethernet cable.
Incidentally, why are roadside wiring cabinets green? Was it to blend in with their surroundings, to distinguish them from highways street furniture (usually grey) or was it because in the 1940s, 1950s and early 1960s the GPO adopted the corporate colour for its Post Office Telephones' vans?
Contractor O'Connor finished this site last week. The FTTC box is to the left of the shot, round the corner
Yet, in time, all this will be redundant. 4G hasn’t arrived in Rhuthun yet but those with SIM-enabled tablets will soon be free of the home wireless network delivered via FTTC. I bet there'll be 5G and beyond. Will FTTC broadband go the way of dial-up, floppy disks, computers in cases, hard drive storage, desktop software, Teletext, faxes and portable phones with external aerials?
Porth y Dre
Finally, a quick whimsy on the humble telegraph pole. Areas such as Greenfield Road and Porth y Dre are adorned and festooned with wires and poles. This reflects the age of their housing, erected before anyone thought of putting cable runs beneath the surface. Built during the 1930s, Porth y Dre even predates the concept of modern wiring cabinets. Indeed, I imagine that Rhuthun Borough Council neither made plans for nor even expected residents to have access to telephones when it commissioned the Porth y Dre estate. Telephones were very much a luxury item, then, when customers were called "subscribers". But here you will see lines to individual homes fanning out from poles and thicker cable distributing telephony along the street.
Compare Porth y Dre with parallel Ty'n y Parc. At Ty'n y Parc, you hardly notice the reduced number of poles and wires. This reflects the newer age of the housing. Newer housing still such as Bro Deg, Maes Cantaba, Parc Brynhyfryd etc is both pole- and wire-less. Everything's delivered underground.
Near Plas Perthi on the B5105
Time was when alongside every main road ran telegraphs pole arrays complete with upper crossarms supporting tons of cableage. This was the only method of transferring services over long distance. All you see these days are slim poles that serve local needs. In an era of under surface distribution, keep your eyes open for the last few remaining significant Post Office Telephones telegraph poles, albeit used these days for local rather than long distance telephony distribution.
On the B5015 between Rhuthun and Clawddnewydd you will still be able to see half a dozen of these long distance poles. They may even date back as far as the 1930s. They're complete (more or less) with their standard GPO insulator caps known as ceramic terminators. Two are by the lower Pool Park lodge, Llanfwrog Rural, opposite prospective Labour candidate Gareth Thomas's home. None now carries anything other than residential lines.
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Telecoms