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BT Fibre Pulls Out of Chelsea Over Ugly Equipment Cabinets

Posted by timothy on from the sounds-like-some-elvis-costello-lyrics dept.

judgecorp writes "The up-market London borough of Kensington and Chelsea has lost its chance for BT fast fibre. After residents objected to the ugly fibre cabinets, and the council repeatedly refused permission to install them in historic sites, BT has said the borough will not get its fast BT Infinity product at all. The borough says it doesn't need BT, as Richard Branson's Virgin Media has got it more or less covered."

5 of 136 comments (clear)

  1. Agreed by Grizzley9 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    TBH, those are fairly ugly. Seems there could be a market for disguising them just like they do some cell phone towers or simply having the city allow it to be put in spaces not out in the open.

    1. Re:Agreed by strength_of_10_men · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Here in Ann Arbor, the city has allowed local artists to adopt and paint these types of boxes as well as fire hydrants. It's actually pretty neat. It doesn't quite make them disappear into the background but they're not quite the eyesore anymore.

      http://julihoffman.wordpress.com/tag/ann-arbor-photos/

    2. Re:Agreed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Our street in Ontario has the same problem. Every 8-10 houses you get three service boxes in your front yard (I'm not a utility nerd, so I'm not sure what's what), one of which is the approximate width and depth of a washing machine, and perhaps two and a half feet high, and painted the same green as the boxes in the BT story. All down the street you have these ugly-ass boxes that have been graffitied by neighborhood kids. They bitch when you plant something to camouflage them, but you can't get the bastards to come out and paint the thing when it gets tagged. I really don't want to look like I live in a crackhouse. Props to Chelsea and Kensington for giving BT the whatfor, because once these things are in you're not going to get rid of them.

  2. Seems justified... by Antony+T+Curtis · · Score: 3, Interesting

    From TFA:

    ... would not use sites that already had unused BT equipment ...

    Seems reasonable to refuse on those grounds alone.

    --
    No sig. Move along - nothing to see here.
  3. Virgin Media by Vahokif · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Richard Branson's Virgin Media has got it more or less covered

    As a Virgin Media customer in Kensington, I can say that's a load of horsesh