Quote:
Originally Posted by Incomplete
BT will certainly have this info but it wouldn't do anything for them bar increase support costs.
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BT's line test system (17070 from phones) can do a ringback line test to tell you how many metres long your loop length is (local loop from exchange to your phone) but they've locked it off now so only authorised engineers can access it (too many people were using it back in the day to find their line length, then ring up bt and go "YES WE CAN GET IT" when BT were refusing to give them service based on grounds that they were too far away)... Annoying now, but that's the way it is I suppose.
The amount of cable pairs BT have in their network, I wouldn't expect them to keep hard records of line lengths - because by their own admission in the past, lines can go around the houses, take weird and bizarre routes, sometimes two houses' lines might go in opposite directions, all sorts. The network and routing is a complicated mess because most of it's been around for more than 70, 80 years now (I still think some of it's probably pre-1900). Until they rip out every single piece of copper and replace their entire local loop with fresh, new copper, sensibly routed to the nearest cab and dslam, there's almost no point in making and keeping records. Their automated line test facilities (one or more smallish grey boxes installed in every exchange) provide the information that engineers might need on-demand.
I've read things about how if you disconnect one of the two wires inside the master socket then perform the line length test from ANOTHER BT line, specifying your line as the number to check (it has to be a BT line) it may work, though I've not tried it myself as I can't be bothered with the hassle of unwiring and rewiring. Easiest way to find out your loop length is to ask your ISP as they can run the various 17070 tests from their end.
SamKnows.com is the other exchange info site - it's the one I gravitate to most of the time. They also have an exchange checker which shows crow-flies distance from you to your exchange, and seem to have a different set of data upon which they base your location (actual postcode locations as opposed to google's average information) so the distance is probably a bit more accurate.
However, samknows reports me as 1.67km from my exchange straight line, but my line only gives me 10mb on ADSL2+. Based on the Internode graph for ADSL2+ distance-versus-speed graph -
http://www.internode.on.net/adsl2/graph/ - a line length of 1.67km should give around 20mb (!) so it's evident that my line length is closer to 3km.