Help me identify what this Telkom Exchange/box does

[Jack Shizz]

Hey guys,

So I live in a gated community in johannesburg. There is a green and blue telkom box (Exchange?) situated 200M from my house as the crow flies. I ride my bike past it often and wondered what it does.

Phone number: 011 787 XXXX

the telkom techie's visit it every week or so. they actually were here just 20 minutes ago. I have no idea what they do when they come here but they come here often.

It surely cant be an exchange, due to my router stats:

Connection Status Connected
Ds Rate (Kbps) 1024
Us Rate (Kbps) 512
DS Margin 13
US Margin 13
DS Line Attenuation 32
US Line Attenuation 19
Trained Modulation ADSL_G.dmt
LOS Errors 0
Peak Cell Rate 1207 cells per sec

it also has big black letters printed on it: RGD E13. (maybe different)

It doesn't appear to have any locks on it either. I rode my bike past there a coupe minutes ago and was really tempted to open it and look around but didn't want to break the law or accidentally break some poor soul's line. it would have been irresponsible anyway, but this stuff fascinates me.

Can you guys help me find out what it does? I'm curious to know. it may just be helpful to know considering these new telkom upgrades that are coming. after all, knowledge is power.

I will post a picture of it if you guys request.

thanks in advance for all help.

 

[savage]

It's an DP/DB (Distribution Point or Distribution Box). It's where they connect the cables from your home, to larger, feeder cables running to the exchanges

 

[Jack Shizz]

good to know.

what is its effect on latency and speed? does it increase potential speed or decrease it?

surely it should increase it as it should function as a repeater of sorts?

 

[bruce_the_loon]

These boxes are physical patch racks normally, not repeaters.

Using http://image.shutterstock.com/displ...omputer-cables-isolated-on-white-46489468.jpg and http://img1.photographersdirect.com/img/11227/wm/pd2471063.jpg as an example, the multiple lines to the houses are hardwired to one column of punchdown blocks, the trunk cables to a second column and then each house is connected to a trunk line by punched-in twisted pair wires. This allows for 200-500 pair cables to be used back to the exchange and 20 pair cables to the distribution poles instead of many 20 pair cables being backhauled to the exchange.

So they shouldn't affect latency, but it's yet another place to check if there is noise on the line.

 

[FNfal]

STC street distribution cabinet all the underground cables cross connect there .