We explored a telephone exchange which still has parts of the x system running inside when the digital conversion version from 1980s This Site Is Not Abandoned But Has A lot Of Disused Areas And Equipment
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@1harryrobert5 ай бұрын
That Ericsson equipment is an AXE10 digital telephone exchange, still in use. Soon to be decommissioned in 2025, along with System X (the other exchange type BT has, originally made by Plessey). Most of the other stuff in there is broadband equipment for both BT and other broadband providers.
@dav01kar5 ай бұрын
Is the copper network being decommissioned completely, will be a big task to go fibre up to all the dps in the network, though in my area fibre is up poles in the OH network.
@1harryrobert5 ай бұрын
@@dav01kar Street cabs FTTC have fibre to the cabinet & then copper to the house. They have fibred all the poles & joint boxes round here, then they run overhead or underground fibre from the Connectorised Block Terminals (CBT's)
@ccctube57215 ай бұрын
Why is there this weird mix of old and new alongside a semi derelict building that’s still being used for live connections? Is that normal?
@1harryrobert5 ай бұрын
@@ccctube5721 You try and get as much use out of the equipment as possible. You don't keep buying something new every year as technology evolves, it costs millions. The landline equipment was installed in the early 80's and is still going. The large spaces in the exchange was for the old Strowger equipment. It took up whole floors. Technology gets smaller with time. This is the norm.
@1harryrobert5 ай бұрын
@@ccctube5721 You try and get as much use out of the equipment as possible. You don't keep buying something new every year as technology evolves, it costs millions. The landline equipment was installed in the early 80's and is still going. The large spaces in the exchange was for the old Strowger equipment. It took up whole floors. Technology gets smaller with time. This is the norm.
@marcd68975 ай бұрын
I’m shocked how badly this piece of infrastructure is locked or protected.
@BitTwisted15 ай бұрын
They're turning off the analogue in a few years, it's hard to justify spending any money. Well until they know someone has been in. The replacement digital exchanges are mostly in street side boxes now. The new digital equipment will probably already be in a nearby separate smaller building, nearby to utilise the cable ducts, separate so they can demolish the old exchange. BT is desperate to sell off the building for redevelopment.
@gw4pjq3 ай бұрын
Staggering isn't it. Businesses still rely on this badly secured equipment. It's embarrassing
@hourglasschroniclesАй бұрын
Normally the exchanges in use are classified as S4 or S5 sites which means they are secured with a coded entry system (badge card and code required). Also they are alarm secured which means that BT Security gets a notification (live alarm) about the entrance.
@josef53192 күн бұрын
I worked in an ISP for 14 years and we've shared datacenters with other providers. there's one notable building that used to be a "military" facility, advertised as super secure The guard in main entrance let a delivery guy go through 3 security doors without even writing down his name...and his happens in multiple ocassions. In another building, very important actually, i just say hi to whoever is there and I just go in. NO id no anything. Idk if they know me (probably) but i do look the part so if you ever want to get into a comms building, go in a white van with ladderes and shit, wear a nice engineer outfit and just belong Its so bad that now that i recall, i can say that from 9 out of 10 i never get asked for ID.
@iansheppard92645 ай бұрын
Many a good time had in buildings just like that. It ALL seems so familiar and yet a little sad to see no one around.. Lifeless. It was the atmosphere created by the people working there and the smell/heat from the equipment working that made these places so special.. I think when i kick off this mortal coil, it will be places like this that i will be forever wandering.. Probably trying to track down that elusive intermittent fault.....:)
@GandyGamingHD5 ай бұрын
That sent a shiver down my spine haha, the memories of the past are becoming more and more distant. It is sad to see a building like this, once bustling with life, so eerily abandoned.
@yournamehere29085 ай бұрын
LLU is local loop un bundling. The hot room was the frame where phone line pairs used to be patched to the analogue switch gear. Card readers you saw were OBAS and Proximity (operational building access system and proximity control system) developed by initial shorrocks and supported by BT Security where I used to work. BT Open Reach or OLO providers (other licenced operators like BSkB, Virgin, TalkTalk etc) would have a proximity card to automatically access areas when they were tasked with a job in that exchange, via a BT Group system called BASOL (Building Access System Online). We used to be based in a building next to the train station in Milton Keynes, Phoenix House. Back then it was all high security. The rollout of fibre and smaller street cabinets has now meant BT exchanges are more and more redundant nowadays and the copper network being decommisioned. I saw some massive exchanges working for BT, some in Central London with derelict cafes and even bars, social clubs etc. Most TE's are empty nowadays with just tiny racks in them terminating circuits. All being sold off now, even the network tunnels in London, Birmingham, Liverpool etc all underground.
@holomatrix5 ай бұрын
Correct. You could see the linecards at the frame, this switch seems to still be in use. Yah, BT will really kick your ass if they realise you're in here 😂
@petrolhead285 ай бұрын
Back in the day there was a fully functioning pub in Colombo House (80s)
@dav01kar5 ай бұрын
I used to go to the mech aids in bleak hall cst to have sll my equipment checked
@TheKingpleb5 ай бұрын
Ahhh the days of getting zapped by an isdn or private circuit while soldering on a new circuit on the frame. They used to have massive cooling issues and the frames in some exchanges had massive massive runs between terminations and impossible to fault find on. Great big solid buildings though. Some of them would make good HMO's
@craftstuff-policecorruption.4 ай бұрын
I literally live less than 100 yards from my local exchange (where my dad worked for 15 years) and I remember years ago you could hear and feel the fans kicking out the heat but now it’s very quiet but still wholly in use - all 8 floors of it
@kc0eks5 ай бұрын
This place was wild, thanks a bunch for the tour. You guys are documenting history that the govt will likely never preserve.
@johnmcquay825 ай бұрын
The compressor/receiver is for pressurising the exchange-side cables between the exchange and the street cabinets. It's one of the most effective ways of keeping water out.
@KIRBZVIDS5 ай бұрын
I did wonder if that was what it was for but was 50/50 😂
@andrewholland9905 ай бұрын
Keeping the water out was not what it was for ! You were supposed to look at the flow meters on the ECP rack, if there was a significant flow then you should go to fix the leak by looking at the pressure gradient on the cable to locate the leak. In practice, yes everyone hoped the pressure would keep the water out but it didn't, not for ever. Let's hope with a fibre network the bane of water getting in cables is less of an issue.
@KIRBZVIDS5 ай бұрын
@@andrewholland990 makes sence so thats what the gadges where for on the end of the MDF ? How far does the pressure go via the cable chamber Does it get pressure past the Cable gasket into the street or just around the exchange
@andrewholland9905 ай бұрын
@@KIRBZVIDS The air is injected into the cable usually in the cable chamber below the MDF but in large exchanges there maybe a joint to change the cable from Polyethylene to PVC due to the fire risk with Polyethylene. There will be an air block in the cable chamber, the air then goes out in the cable to the full length. In the cabinet at the far end there is an air block and there should be another pressure gauge with a contactor. If the pressure at the far end falls too much then an alarm is raised. Long before this the flow meters should have picked up small leaks. The ideal is the pressure gauge at the end of the cable should read the same as the exchange and there should be no flow. Depending of the configuration in the exchange there may or may no be a pressure gauge for the local cables but there will be a flow meter. The junction cables will normally have a pressure gauge and a flow meter. Cables from the exchange to the local area will normally be lettered. The junction cables to other exchanges will have 2 * 1141 codes and a cable number. e.g. ABC - DEF No2. In the past to determine which gauge contactor had produced the alarm there was a Wheatstone bridge on the ECP rack and the resistance to the contactor was measured and a table then told you which contactor has produced the alarm. All this was replaced so the cables could be monitored from a management centre. It is nice to see the ECP racks are still there despite all the changes to the rest of the telephone exchange ! Hope this helps.
@johnmcquay825 ай бұрын
@@andrewholland990 May not have been what it was for, but it did a pretty good job of it...until it didn't. Especially with the paper insulated cables.
@stephenc66485 ай бұрын
That manual at 17:33 was for DACS, a system that enabled two customers to share a line without overhearing each other. It was common in locations with a shortage of lines. It fell out of use when broadband became the norm as that needed everyone to have their own exclusive line.
@chinnyvision5 ай бұрын
Not just broadband. DACS played havoc with analogue modems and I recall people having to shout at BT to get them removed from their lines to get reliable and faster connections.
@stephenc66485 ай бұрын
@@chinnyvision I think the official line was it would give a slower but more stable dial-up connection.
@chinnyvision5 ай бұрын
@@stephenc6648 As usual any excuse NOT to do the proper work!
@tonyt74025 ай бұрын
Brings back memories. @ 9:55 the Tandberg terminal was used by the on site engineers to manage the Ericsson AXE10 exchange (in the blue cabinets). The Alarm panel lit up and had a bell or buzzer which might have been disconnected. The A1 alarms were ugent and were dealt with quickly; the A2 alarms less so. The APZ was for the computer control part of the exchange and the APT was for the telephony side of things. That card on the desk looks like a subscriber line card which was the interface between the copper line and the exchange, each card handled 8 lines. The mag tape was used for loading software and backing up the exchange software and data. later changed to using those Sony optical discs. Shame to see the building looking so shoddy and neglected.
@j9lorna5 ай бұрын
There is a particular smell in these exchanges that ill never forget.
@ScrotusXL5 ай бұрын
Great security for UK infrastructure. Hope Boris Badenov or Ivan Bolokov isn't making notes😮
@thingi5 ай бұрын
Wicked Kirbz! Back in the day every room would have been jam packed with stuff, the equipment has got smaller and smaller and most has gone but yeah tis still a time capsule dude. It looks just like the old floors of the big BT tower block in Leicester. You're right, BT does have a 'style' for their old places. Those empty racks would have had hundreds of rotors going clack-clack-clack to connect phones lines together :)
@craftstuff-policecorruption.4 ай бұрын
For the most part now it just consists of maybe one or two comms cabinets in the corner of a room in the exchange building itself
@eaglebeagle14085 ай бұрын
These exchanges used to be kept immaculate in the electromagnetic days. Full of buzzing and wurring noises. Those ladders were on a sliding rail, pull down and hold on to the handle and you could scoot along on them. Sad state of privatisation and the security of the live system is shocking. You shouldn’t be in there.
@funkyclauderocksya5 ай бұрын
So many memories there...bit dis-concerting how one of the yoofs keeps saying how old everything is ..seems like yesterday
@paulmuldoon22945 ай бұрын
Such a fascinating explore, this is something that not many people get to see. It's very strange and a little concerning that Openreach would leave an active exchange open like this. The telephone switching equipment in this exchange will be made redundant in 2027 when Openreach switches off the PSTN but copper ADSL equipment will remain active until 100% FTTP and FTTC coverage is achieved. This is a fibre enabled exchange so the building will remain to house the fibre equipment. You can see the Optical Distribution Frames and Optical Line Terminal racks at 21:46 and there is a large bundle of fibre cables leaving the exchange through the cable chamber (the yellow and orange ones). This is pretty much all that is needed for a modern access network and it takes up very little space compared to the older kit.
@blackcountryhammer36544 ай бұрын
This exchange is northern soho rd Birmingham…worked in there many times over the years!! I’m now retired.
@mayfurrnz5 ай бұрын
What I find fascinating is recognising all the types of cable termination blocks on the Main Distribution Frame (MDF) around 21:00 - I used to work with those during my days as a switching technician... in New Zealand. Yes, we used a lot of the *same* connector types in NZPO / Telecom NZ exchanges, not to mention the old BPO 2000 step-by-step equipment that was still running in NZ until the early 90s.
@KarlHamilton5 ай бұрын
Wow. You've got some balls posting this online.
@matomo234 ай бұрын
Literally broke into a building and posted it wtf
@bofor39485 ай бұрын
Used to work in exchange construction back in the 80's changing the old strowger systems to system-X. You remarked on the clicking noises. When it was strowger equipment the noise was constant and very loud. Especially on the Director floors (trunk switching). That area you went into at about 22 mins looked like it may have been a battery room for the strowger equipment. It would have two rows of very large lead acid cells (made from plates suspended in a bath of battery acid) connected in series to produce 50 Volts DC. They would have been float charged from a mains distibution system with a back up generator engine. Somewhere in that room large bus bars connected to the batteries would have lead out to the equipment floors. I can remember the maintenance guys fully decked out in rubber boots, aprons, massive gloves and face shields preparing the diluted acid (always acid into distilled water, never the other way) and topping up the cells and replacing the plates. The fumes could get eye watering, hence those fans.
@simonbullimore18075 ай бұрын
Reminds me of Cardinal in Leicester... what a time capsule. The memories seeing that huge MDF like Wharf Street Tandem.
@mpellatt5 ай бұрын
That manual for a DACS. Shudder. For those who don't know/remember, it was a system to "manage" a lack of pairs from the exchange to DPs. It used a carrier system for the second line. Fine for voice. But if you were on the "DACS'd" pair, you were SOL trying to get any decent speed with a v.90 modem. And had a battle to get your pair "un-DACS'd", with BT blathering on about only guaranteeing to deliver a voice service. Fortunately, the system is incompatible with DSL so fairly rapidly died out in the 2000's
@dav01kar5 ай бұрын
Basically a digital shared sevice clever tech and both subs could dial out not like the old party line, they still charge the exclusive line rental though
@NiddNetworks5 ай бұрын
It wasn't digital iirc, it was just frequency shifted. Also, they still charged the single rental as you still had initial l individual service, and usually the last mile to the pole (though I've seen some DACS wall mounted, and even multi line units... Run a 10 pair into an office, service 20 lines etc.) Whether digital or not, the fact that it used frequency outside of our hearing range is why the other person couldn't hear it, and why broadband suffered as a result of it
@chinnyvision5 ай бұрын
I remember the battles people had with BT over them being posted on some of the Usenet groups.
@MENSA.lady25 ай бұрын
The telephone exchange in Hamble Hants was closed down in the 1980 and converted into 8 flats. I bought 1 of them. They were so popular I had 2 amazing neighbours. The son of the lead singer in the band Free. Remember "All Right Now" and Formula 1 Driver Juan Pablo Montoya.
@craftstuff-policecorruption.4 ай бұрын
You mean Paul Rodgers
@luisnitro21934 ай бұрын
Building is catalogue as government protected site, if you ever get caught on these places, I’m 100% sure you’ll be deeply in trouble and there’s evidence.
@KIRBZVIDS4 ай бұрын
Nope its not classed as a government site thats SOCAP Protected Sites that only class for nuclear sites or mod
@JP_TaVeryMuch5 ай бұрын
An education. Those cables in the basement, blimey! Thank you.
@dav01kar5 ай бұрын
At 2.20 thats an ig5 gas detector used in the under ground network mahholes and footway boxes, was a cable jointer for many years then done everything in the network, hated exchange work always got them jobs in the summer and outside in the winter, still had a great carear earnt good 💰 back in the day.
@gastube225 ай бұрын
Really brilliant vid & love the commentary too - so interesting, thanks!
@GluveАй бұрын
Great video! I've worked for telecommunications for a few years and have always wondered/been interested in what an Exchange looks like. Bravo.
@petergardner50025 ай бұрын
That scope was definately after I was calibrating them, ones I started with were big valve models. Then we got hived off to Fujitsu and I moved back to BT INTERNATIONAL
@KIRBZVIDS5 ай бұрын
Thats mad mate
@peterworrall16445 ай бұрын
Must have been LTS in the 70s. I was in BTS, Fordrough Lane!
@mikeselectricstuff5 ай бұрын
Sony MO boxes are magneto-optical disks
@gm78365 ай бұрын
It looked like the drive for it was on the shelf at the bottom
@DiHandley5 ай бұрын
Makes me sad. All that equipment and all those people replaced by optical fibre. What a waste.
@Wetthewhistle5 ай бұрын
I imagine years ago these exchanges must have had teams of workers based out of them
@craftstuff-policecorruption.4 ай бұрын
They certainly did. My dad was one of those team members
@MegaTeleAddict5 ай бұрын
A couple of things I find concerning is the potential for coming into contact with asbestos which is rife in old BT buildings and going onto flat roofs where there maybe microwave radiation
@KIRBZVIDS5 ай бұрын
I agree why we went no where near them on the roof thay was all on a separate meznaene area
@Reaktanzkreis5 ай бұрын
--with few milliwatts output to the antennas. The leakage radiation of a microwave oven in the front of the door might be much more.
@ohnoitisnt5 ай бұрын
and the dust inhaled from standing on a sheet of asbestos is about as dangerous@@Reaktanzkreis
@guy.h5 ай бұрын
@@Reaktanzkreis you may want to double check your info sources. The ERP from these beam-forming arrays is certainly not in the mW range
@Reaktanzkreis5 ай бұрын
@@guy.h I meant the output from the transmitter to the antenna. The real output power. The parabolic antennas have gains up to 50 dB. For instance, a 50mW transmitter output at the antenna socket, will gain up to 5kW from the anntenna front, But this is just an antenna gain by focus all the amount of Power in one direction. The "5kW ERP" will not harm you in any way.
@MePeterNicholls5 ай бұрын
This is an 80s time capsule!
@Jimfowler825 ай бұрын
I Imagine this was a good place to work for good people. It’s a shame that so many jobs have been replaced .
@KIRBZVIDS5 ай бұрын
I guess it more than just a job more of a skill to do some of the things iv seen that thay do for customers and creating their own products then also being able to repair their own stuff on site making custom hardware is all crazy for 80s the digital conversion is amazing i think from analogue for its eariea
@Jimfowler825 ай бұрын
Definitely these were skilled workers who we replaced with computers. We will see the next round soon with ai. I find this era of technology really interesting also, maybe because it would have been cutting edge when I was a kid I don’t know. I’ve worked with some of the guys who worked in exchanges, he said like others they’re full of asbestos.
@ccctube57215 ай бұрын
It’s so strange to see this mix of old and new working side by side in a derelict and abandoned building. Is this how BT runs most of its exchanges?
@matomo234 ай бұрын
It isn’t derelict that’s why. That’s a live exchange, they broke into it.
@ccctube57214 ай бұрын
@@matomo23 🤣🤣
@paulrydzinski99955 ай бұрын
Wish I took video of when I work for Openreach back in the early 2000's. Used to work West London and dossed in the exchanges all day lol
@KIRBZVIDS5 ай бұрын
I agree there buddy you had a wicked job 👍
@samwalker75675 ай бұрын
This is simultaneously one of the most interesting and one of the most terrifying urbex videos I have ever seen. Interesting because of just how much history is actually preserved here, with older surplus spaces just frozen in time, recording eras that no longer are - I wonder, especially with some of the frames from the old Strowger system, whether the people that handwrote all of the labelling are even still alive? Just seeing all of the BT logos throughout the years still here (and so many obsolete spinouts like Fulcrum), it's incredible how much went into this system that the public never saw. Terrifying because this is seemingly a live exchange, critical infrastructure, and the security is so lax and the maintenance so haphazard. Yes, most of this is slated for retirement pretty soon but right now, it's live, has live data running through it, and seemingly anyone could come in off the street and vandalise it, or do far worse things. I refuse to believe that the documentation for this building is up to date given how many obsolete systems are just kicking around, really wouldn't be difficult for a malicious actor to slip the odd box in here or there and start compromising things at a very low level. Honestly, I'm surprised this is posted online and hasn't been pulled because there's a lot of sensitive stuff at these sites and a lot of things to see if you know what it is you're looking at here. I do hope that when this site gets retired, at least some of this equipment gets preserved and handed over to collectors or museums rather than just broken up as eWaste and scrapped. The number of perfectly good bits of kit I've seen deliberately rendered inoperable for disposal is actually quite saddening.
@MWOCQU4 ай бұрын
16:00 - AXE10 alarm panel - APZ = Computing side alarms , APT = switching side alarms . A1 = High priority , A2 Lower impact priority , O1 / O2 Observation level priority, athletic support top right is the alarm siren , white ATT light says that the panel is activated (using the IODAC: command) B3 was local alarm bell silence.
@evan0101014 ай бұрын
Incredible, what a museum of a place. Many peoples entire working lives probably spent there, through all the different technologies, some of the old analogue line stuff jerry rigged to work for a few more years until it’s all done away with and replaced with fibre. Love that old data tape drive probably installed in the early 90s, abandoned by the 2000s and just left powered on ever since.
@MWOCQU4 ай бұрын
09:58 - board on the side of the tandberg terminal (used to interact with the AXE10 switch) looks like a line interface card (part no ROF-131-4382 probably a /2) Hate to think how many of those I swapped out and wrote fault reports for in the 80s (I commissioned AXE10 around the UK) that part number is forever engraved on my brain!
@trainingtheworld50935 ай бұрын
It’s normal for these Exchanges to be filled with old equipment and old manuals. When something is rendered obsolete or a network is phased out, it’s turned off and left in place. This place you visited is a potential fire hazard, shame on building management for letting it get out of hand.
@user-xi4zn8we1q5 ай бұрын
At 2.20 thats an ig5 gas detector used in the under ground network mahholes and footway boxes, was a cable jointer for many years then done everything in the network, hated exchange work always got them jobs in the summer and outside in the winter, still had a great carear earnt good back in the day.
@KIRBZVIDS5 ай бұрын
What I don't get why would there be a gas issue with Telphone lines ?
@gilesgander1555 ай бұрын
@@KIRBZVIDS its heavier than air, so sinks into the underground tunnels and vaults
@KIRBZVIDS5 ай бұрын
@@gilesgander155 i understand radon gas is that basically all is measures? Or dose it detected co level aswell
@thingi5 ай бұрын
Also if ya can get in there tis no surprise that I stumbled across BT equipment in Orange Uganda's data centre, was all nicked and fenced via Russia lolz.
@richardlongmore93015 ай бұрын
Good job you guys are not vandals 😂
@mdg46645 ай бұрын
The 2 large reel-2-reel units look like 999 call recorders. There may have been operator services in there at some point which would have handled 999 traffic.
@KIRBZVIDS5 ай бұрын
Thats interesting buddy
@Reaktanzkreis5 ай бұрын
No, it is an old data recorder for storing programm and user data. Seems to me way back from the 70th. Multitrack recordeers looks different. Made by Ampex, Philips (plessey) and Telefunken. And they would not be placed in the phone exchange rather in the police department.
@mdg46645 ай бұрын
I worked in a BT 999 operator centre and we had the 999 recorders in the switch room. The shift supervisors had the job of changing the tapes.
@bascomnextion56395 ай бұрын
No they were used to load the programs into the Erricson AXE that is why they were the same blue cabinets as the ones outside the room and that terminal is to interrogate the blue cabinets.
@David-gr8rh5 ай бұрын
Most of that of stuff, would bring a pretty penny online the brown data entry terminal my pal had one sold it for over £2k
@MePeterNicholls5 ай бұрын
Soon to be part of a hotel complex I think
@john_smith14715 ай бұрын
@13:59 the relay clicking sound is recognisable as the landline ringing cadence, burr-burr.
@histelfranceАй бұрын
En France aussi nous avons encore des autocommutateurs AXE10 temporels Ericsson (fabriqués en France sous licence). Nous commençons à les stopper, mais les derniers mourront en 2030.
@nathanbrynmenyn9355 ай бұрын
love your videos beaut , listening to you giggle giggle is great tooooo xx love you , nathan xx
@Tomsonic412 ай бұрын
My family lived in Birmingham from 1970 to 1985. I wonder if we were connected to that exchange when it was full of all the old mechanical switches and other equipment?
@KIRBZVIDS2 ай бұрын
The older system where removed probably say 80 90 equipment and morden fiber is recent
@matomo234 ай бұрын
We that seems to be a live BT exchange. That noise on entry is the alarm system going off. Why have you broken into this building?
@KIRBZVIDS4 ай бұрын
System alarm system alarm 🤣
@JP_TaVeryMuch5 ай бұрын
Only sorry that you didn't find Busby up on the roof. Every other PO Telephones, British Telecom and BT logo covered so far. Is the night Watchman called Sid, or was that the sell off of British Gas? Don't tell me...
@john_smith14715 ай бұрын
@3:30: not sure why using the 24 hour clock system is a surprise, commonly used for train and airport departure boards/announcements, tv programme/recording guide, DAB radio, mobile phones, oven timers, kitchen appliances, car infotainment, weather forecasting, Aldi opening times, all rescue services and more.
@camperp1955 ай бұрын
Ahhh brings back memories for me,i was an engineer on southbank for twenty years,used to do work in southbank,southwark,vauxhall exchanges,they were all on my patch,we used to skive in them when our jobs were done. This is a working exchange,they used to be manned,but nowadays if any jumpering jobs need doing,they will be done by one man,at night,floating between exchanges. Im amazed you got in,but be careful as your entrance is logged. This is trespassing on a major level,surprised you didnt get pinched as if you did,you would be in serious trouble
@enigma77915 ай бұрын
Who let you in? I am pretty sure BT will take this further if you just went in and trespassed. I'd expect a call from the Police tbh.
@scott70105 ай бұрын
Bt security already know about it
@enigma77915 ай бұрын
@@scott7010 Well I hope they do as this is now being passed around on BT Facebook page and many are asking that question and these are BT managers. So I would expect this to be passed up the chain.
@movadamusic5 ай бұрын
What??? The building was wide open with LIVE working broadband networking equipment?? In any case even if all the equipment was decommissioned why would the building be left unlocked for trespassers to enter?
@matomo234 ай бұрын
@@movadamusicWe don’t know what happened but these guys broke in. Doesn’t matter how it happened it’s illegal.
@hourglasschroniclesАй бұрын
@@movadamusicit was not open, in the beginning you can hear the alarm going off… they broke into the building.
@retrofitter5 ай бұрын
The real question is what was the buildings use before the telephone exchange? There is parquetry on the floor
@KIRBZVIDS5 ай бұрын
Its always been a telephone exchange buddy
@Spraxt5 ай бұрын
That was the original exchange, probably built in the 30s. Then the rest of the building would be later extensions, probably in the 50s and 60s, as the network got bigger.
@JP_TaVeryMuch5 ай бұрын
You needed parquet flooring for the sound insulation properties when the place was full of lady operators ~ putting you through caller ~and flex wires plugging into sockets. And cos they were 'facing' all day, so it's a nice touch too.
@seamusellis14505 ай бұрын
Parquet Floors were standard in most older exchanges...
@74HC1385 ай бұрын
They always used that kind of floor in telephone exchanges.
@user-lx3th5on8l5 ай бұрын
That tv back there was probably a decca Bradford 😂
@gw4pjq3 ай бұрын
No it's in the tatung period just before Decca disappeared for ever.
@ukskywatcher95985 ай бұрын
Thats awesome the ceiling at the end looks like it was designed to possibly reflect sound Would be a great bitcoin mining operation 😂😂
@JP_TaVeryMuch5 ай бұрын
A bit like hollow terracotta 'bricks' used in buildings in hot countries ~ saving on water and materials in manufacture, these 80s concrete, now-called Waffle ceilings are quite clever. Their design also saves on materials, but because of their structural shape, they are strong. And lighter and cheaper. And do baffle sounds a bit.
@tomsanders87145 ай бұрын
Looks like Edge of Darkness 1983
@KIRBZVIDS5 ай бұрын
😂
@thiesenf5 ай бұрын
Yeah good luck trying to use a magneto optical disk in a tape based reel to reel tape drive...
@KIRBZVIDS5 ай бұрын
The tapes were hanging up on the rack in my video
@tpcdude5 ай бұрын
Please more of the same
@peterbates46964 ай бұрын
I used to work in St. Botolphs Telex Exchange. I use the word “worked” lightly bc we spent most of our time in city pubs….
@KIRBZVIDS4 ай бұрын
Is that why most bt sites have pool tables haha
@peterbates46964 ай бұрын
We had 2 pool tables.. a snooker table and a bar…. Amazing when you compare that to today’s culture…
@ericmoeller36345 ай бұрын
you found the pimp alarm lol
@GreatGizmo745 ай бұрын
Right, I really want to know where this is. Some of the old equipment I would HATE to see scrapped and I would pay a pretty penny to have in my collection of just old equipment. As someone born into a very digital world. I love to surround myself with analogue equipment and reverse-engineer them. As an Urben explorer myself, I am also quite interested in this building as it looks 1960s. Anyway, interesting video and I really hope some of this equipment is saved!
@matomo234 ай бұрын
It’s a live telephone exchange. They broke in.
@hourglasschroniclesАй бұрын
But if you are really interested in it just talk to BT / Openreach. When in the near future exchanges get decommissioned they pull out the equipment, I asked my line manager already if I could get some pieces. Maybe they sell it, I would like to keep some stuff before it goes lost forever and build a small exchange with the different eras of equipment. I’m even thinking of buying an old exchange building near my home place. Unfortunately that might not be cheap but it’s a small exchange so…
@jjdoom44204 ай бұрын
I'm getting Fallout vibes.
@davidchandler88815 ай бұрын
Looks like the Mariceleste.
@davidrobertson57005 ай бұрын
It's an IG5 gas tester
@ukskywatcher95985 ай бұрын
❤❤
@bigmastodon23994 ай бұрын
So, BT finally got rid of all the workforce - they said they would. A place where a ghost would feel at home.
@cartoonhead92225 ай бұрын
4500 of these buildings to be freed up in 2026. Should be interesting to see what they turn into.
@ukskywatcher95985 ай бұрын
Almost looks like a scam thing with the auto call dialler thing 2 minutes 30 in this looks interesting
@rampagerick5 ай бұрын
"Greetings, friend. Do you wish to look as happy as me? Well, you've got the power inside you right now. So, use it, and send one dollar to Happy Dude, 742 Evergreen Terrace, Springfield. Don't delay, eternal happiness is just a dollar away."
@penguthepenguinj5 ай бұрын
What a waste of energy powering all that obselite tape equipment, system x and other stuff I assume digital voice is completely operating without system x This is where our bills are going towards, maintaining these old inefficient exchanges
@hourglasschroniclesАй бұрын
That is not obsolete, they broke into a live exchange
@richardflint22155 ай бұрын
Does anyone does why eye protection must be worn in a "Frame Zone"?
@KIRBZVIDS5 ай бұрын
In case Boris Johnson lost WhatsApp messages jump out 🤣
@pharis05 ай бұрын
So you don't poke yourself in the eye with the wires getting terminated
@deanknight47895 ай бұрын
For the loose wire that flies off after an IDC connection as well as when soldering.
@KIRBZVIDS5 ай бұрын
@@deanknight4789 i always fort ypu was never ment to solder the wires on the mdf
@deanknight47895 ай бұрын
@@KIRBZVIDS nope - on the “bar pairs” (the black blocks in the video), the jumper wires must be soldered.
@weazeldark39835 ай бұрын
Dont touch any of the exchange Its so flimsy that one wrong move can take it down Ive herd from techs that work on them there storys
@jamescollins60855 ай бұрын
I wonder if this will all be decommissioned in 2025 when they complete the PSTN switch off if all goes to plan? Unsure if this equipment even has anything to do with it. 25:10 - Love that faint sound in the left channel when you get close to the cabling.
@KIRBZVIDS5 ай бұрын
Some of the equipment was the x system most the morneden equipment in cabinet is mordon
@jamescollins60855 ай бұрын
@@KIRBZVIDSInteresting, thanks for explaining. Do you have any platforms where you upload your photographs?
@marktucker2085 ай бұрын
Maybe BT could sell some of this stuff and lower my bill? No? Fair enough
@MichaelWallace-oq3wd2 ай бұрын
Where is this located at in the UK?
@KIRBZVIDS2 ай бұрын
Birmingham
@MichaelWallace-oq3wd2 ай бұрын
@@KIRBZVIDS nice
@curranhouse5 ай бұрын
Turn it off, teach BT a valuable lesson...
@conkerconk35 ай бұрын
I guess this isn't in use anymore since you were able to get in, but couldn't they just like pull the power plug lol? This place is probably using half the county's power
@dougle035 ай бұрын
It's still very much in use, certainly not abandoned..
@scott70105 ай бұрын
BT group use just over 1% of all the UK energy.
@gb5uq5 ай бұрын
Ignorance is bliss.
@chrisblay5 ай бұрын
BT are an absolute joke. Let anyone have access to their exchanges. Any malevolent activity must be so easy. Very interesting to see all the same.
@gw4pjq3 ай бұрын
I agree as an ex employee
@Darrenbaker169 күн бұрын
I wonder if this becomes a mosque 😅
@KIRBZVIDS9 күн бұрын
😂
@hitec008able5 ай бұрын
That site is still live. Lol.
@KIRBZVIDS5 ай бұрын
Not the whole site its part mothballed
@movadamusic5 ай бұрын
@@KIRBZVIDS??? There’s LIVE broadband servers operating, the site is still in use, LOL
@KIRBZVIDS5 ай бұрын
@@movadamusic what download speed what you like
@DangerRifai5 ай бұрын
It's really not a wise idea to take a half-hour-long video of yourself committing crimes and upload it to the internet. I'd be deleting this extremely quickly if I were you.
@KIRBZVIDS5 ай бұрын
Crimes 🤣 what crime ? Civil Tresspass 😂 mabey the open reach engineer who left the door open needs sacking 😂
@DangerRifai5 ай бұрын
There is potentially highly sensitive information there that you've shown clearly in the video, which could be used by an enemy of the state in planning an act of terrorism, so potentially more serious than trespass, but that would be for a judge and jury to decide. I'm just trying to save a load of trouble. Keep it up if you like. Just because a door is open, does not mean you should walk through it and touch everything inside.
@mlies375 ай бұрын
@@DangerRifailol that’s the most british thing i’ve ever heard and i don’t mean that in a good way. Calm the f*** down, there are no state secrets here.
@dangrimmett97625 ай бұрын
It literally says next to every entrance on BT buildings 'no unauthorised access, trespassers will be prosecuted' and this melt films himself doing it 😂