What Is a Broadband Cabinet? Street Cabinets Explained (2026)

**A broadband cabinet is the green or grey metal box on your street that connects your home to the telephone exchange. In FTTC broadband, fibre runs to the cabinet and copper carries the signal the final stretch to your property. The further you live from the cabinet, the slower your speed. Full fibre (FTTP) bypasses the cabinet entirely, delivering fibre directly to your home for speeds up to 1 Gbps.**

How Street Cabinets Work

Broadband street cabinets, often called primary cross-connection points or PCPs, are the green metal boxes you see on pavements across the UK. Openreach operates around 90,000 of these cabinets nationwide. Each one serves roughly 200 to 400 premises. Inside, copper telephone lines from nearby homes connect to fibre-optic cables running back to the local exchange. When BT launched fibre broadband in 2010, engineers fitted cabinets with DSLAM equipment to convert fibre signals into electrical signals for the copper last mile. This technology, known as FTTC, delivers average speeds of 36 Mbps on standard fibre and up to 80 Mbps on superfast packages. BT Superfast offers FTTC plans from around £28 per month with average download speeds of 36 Mbps. However, your actual speed depends heavily on how far your property sits from the nearest cabinet, with speeds dropping significantly beyond 400 metres.

Cabinet Distance and Speed Impact

The copper cable between your home and the street cabinet is the main bottleneck in FTTC broadband. At 100 metres from the cabinet, you might achieve close to 80 Mbps. At 500 metres, speeds typically fall to around 40 Mbps. Beyond 800 metres, many users see speeds below 20 Mbps. Openreach estimates that 15% of UK premises sit more than 600 metres from their serving cabinet. Sky Broadband Superfast uses the same Openreach FTTC network, delivering average speeds of 36 Mbps for around £27 per month. If you experience speeds well below your provider's estimate, checking your cabinet distance via the Openreach checker can help explain the gap. For properties more than a kilometre from the cabinet, full fibre or alternative networks often provide the only route to reliable broadband above 30 Mbps.

FTTC vs FTTP: Bypassing the Cabinet

Full fibre to the premises, known as FTTP, eliminates the cabinet entirely. Instead of relying on copper for the last stretch, a fibre-optic cable runs directly from the exchange into your home. This removes the distance penalty and delivers symmetrical speeds up to 1.8 Gbps with some providers. As of March 2026, FTTP covers 82% of UK premises, up from just 37% in early 2023. Openreach has passed over 15 million homes with full fibre. Hyperoptic offers FTTP packages starting at 50 Mbps for around £22 per month in served buildings. Community Fibre covers over 2.3 million London premises with speeds up to 3 Gbps. The Openreach FTTC network is being gradually wound down as FTTP expands, and many cabinets will eventually be decommissioned once all connected premises have migrated to full fibre or alternative networks.

Checking Your Cabinet and Upgrading

You can find your serving cabinet by entering your postcode on the Openreach fibre checker. This shows whether FTTC, FTTP, or both are available at your address. If only FTTC is listed, your speed will depend on cabinet distance. Vodafone Pro Broadband uses Openreach FTTP where available, offering average speeds of 900 Mbps for around £38 per month with a Wi-Fi 6E router included. If full fibre is not yet available, Openreach's build programme targets 25 million premises by December 2026. You can register interest on the Openreach website to help prioritise your area. Meanwhile, alternative network operators such as Toob and Trooli are building independent full fibre networks in areas where Openreach rollout is slower, particularly in suburban and semi-rural locations. Check availability from multiple providers to find the fastest option at your address.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is the green box on my street?

The green box is a broadband street cabinet operated by Openreach. It contains equipment that connects your home's copper phone line to the fibre-optic network running back to the telephone exchange. There are approximately 90,000 across the UK.

Does cabinet distance affect my broadband speed?

Yes, significantly. With FTTC broadband, speeds decrease the further you are from the cabinet. At 100 metres you may get 80 Mbps, but beyond 800 metres speeds often drop below 20 Mbps. Full fibre FTTP eliminates this issue entirely.

Can I get broadband without using a cabinet?

Yes, with FTTP full fibre broadband. Fibre runs directly to your home, bypassing the street cabinet completely. FTTP now covers 82% of UK premises as of March 2026, delivering speeds up to 1.8 Gbps.

Will street cabinets be removed?

Openreach plans to decommission cabinets once all connected premises migrate to FTTP. This is part of the wider PSTN switch-off by January 2027. However, full removal will take several years as FTTP coverage reaches remaining areas.

Related Guides

Types of Broadband UK · Full Fibre vs Part Fibre · PSTN Switch-Off Explained · How to Check Broadband Speed at Your Address

Methodology & Sources

Information in this guide is sourced from Ofcom market reports, Openreach coverage data, ISPreview.co.uk, provider websites and independent broadband research from Point Topic and Thinkbroadband. Prices and availability are checked monthly. Speed data reflects advertised average speeds from provider Key Facts documents.