The physical connectivity of the Internet is of great fascination to me. From Submarine Cables and Cable Landing Stations to fibre ducts running up and down the country between Exchanges and POPs.
Submarine Cables & Landing Stations
From under the sea and beach… 
…into ducts in the sand… 
…and underground chambers… 
…under the roads… 
..to Cable Landing Stations. 
Terminating… 
…inside… 
…into racks… 
…of switches… 
…and routers.
The Secrets of Cornwall by Mark Thomas.
This video started my interest in searching further for the hidden buildings and ducts that make up the Internet Backbone of the UK.
Watched this video several hundred times pausing and following Mark’s journey mapping the sites he visited. Also used a number of sources like Secret Bases and Internet Maps to map other interesting sites. Some sites were found by endlessly and painfully zooming and scrolling Google Maps !
I have made up several KML files locating each these sites and the route of the GTN and other fibre cables.
My Mapped Points Of The Internet Backbone ( work in progress )
My Mapped Points of The National Grid ( work in progress )
Skewjack Farm – SoC 16:45 
Skewjack Farm – SoC 16:45 
Skewjack Farm – SoC 16:45 
Skewjack Farm – SoC 16:45 
Skewjack Farm – SoC 16:45 
Possible Cable Route from Skewjack to Unoccupied Building GHCQ ? 
BT Lands End – SoC 20:55 
BT Lands End – SoC 20:55 
Virgin Media Rodricks Farm – SoC 22:00 
Virgin Media Rodricks Farm – SoC 22:00 
Virgin (NTL) Interconnect SoC 22:00 
Verizon Relay Station – Soc 22:30 
Verizon Relay Station – Soc 22:30 
Verizon Relay Station – Soc 22:30 
Verizon Relay Station – Soc 22:30 
Verizon Relay Station – Soc 22:30 
Verizon Relay Station – Soc 22:30 
Verizon Relay Station MHC – Soc 22:47 
Verizon Relay Station MHC – Soc 22:47 
Verizon Relay Station MHC – Soc 22:47 
Verizon Relay Station MHC – Soc 22:47 
Whitesands Cable Landing Station – SoC 23:50 
Whitesands Cable Landing Station– SoC 23:50 
Whitesands Cable Landing Station– SoC 23:50 
Sennen Cove Cable. 
BT Sennen Cove – SoC 24:20 
Possible Cable Routes from Porthcurno to Whitesands CLS. 
Multiple MHC – SoC 26:04 
Multiple MHC – SoC 26:04 
Connect Sands UK-Spain Locked MHC 2 – SoC 33:25 
Pentewan Locked MHC TAT-14 – SoC 36:58 
Pentewan Locked MHC Close Up 2 TAT-14 – SoC 36:58 
Cable & Wireless Fraddon Map – SoC 40:06 
India Queens Virgin Media – SoC 40:40 
India Queens Level 3 – SoC 40:40 
GTN Black Cross – SoC 41:17 
GTN Black Cross – SoC 41:27 
Decommisioned TAT3 & TAT8 Cable Landing Station & Bunker Widmouth Bay 
Widmouth Bay TAT3 TAT8 CLS – SoC 42:48 
Widmouth Bay TAT3 TAT8 CLS – SoC 43:00 
Widmouth Bay TAT3 TAT8 CLS Bunker – SoC 43:02 
Apollo North CLS – SoC 44:23 
Valley Truckle MHC – SoC 42:28 
Valley Truckle MHC – SoC 42:30 
Widmouth Bay TAT3 TAT8 CLS – SoC 42:45 
Widmouth Bay TAT3 TAT8 CLS Bunker – SoC 42:49 
Widmouth Bay TAT3 TAT8 CLS – SoC 42:56 
Widmouth Bay MHC Locked – SoC 44:05 
Apollo North CLS – SoC 45:30 
Apollo North CLS – SoC 45-:39 
Verizon Bude – SoC 46:01 
Surf Telecom – SoC 47:12 
Western Power Distribution & Serf Telecom. 
Western Power Distribution & Serf Telecom. 
Western Power Distribution & Serf Telecom. 
Western Power Distribution & Serf Telecom. 
Western Power Distribution & Serf Telecom. 
Level 3 CLS Gate – SoC 47:39 
GCHQ Sign – SoC 49:34 
Hiberian Express Vacuum Cable Repeater – SoC 52:44 
Cable Landing Station at Dumpton Gap. 
Virgin Media at Southern Cemetery Manchester. 
Virgin Media in Odd Down, Bath. 
Virgin Media in Staple Hill, Bristol. 
Virgin Media in Staple Hill, Bristol 
Virgin Media Switching Centre Bradley Stoke, Bristol
A house that isn’t a house.
A house that isn’t a house ! 
Large air con units outside. 
Hard to spot driving past. 
Its a Cable Landing Station. 
In disguise. 
With a generator in the garage. 
Fibre cable ducts in the road outside. 
Fibre cable ducts in the road outside.
Cable landing stations come in various forms. Mainly industrial buildings but here is one on a housing estate hidden inside two houses. The inner walls and floors have been removed to house the fibre terminating equipment. The four large air con units outside give it away. The garage houses the backup generator.
Proposed Equipment Building Plan
Proposed Equipment Building Plan
Fibre Repeater Sites
Collected from a number of sources like Secret Bases and Internet Maps and some painfully located on Google Maps by endlessly zooming and scrolling !
Tata (Tycom) Repeater site at South Molton. 
Tata (Tycom) Repeater site at South Molton. 
Tata (Tycom) Repeater site at South Molton. 
Tata (Tycom) Repeater site at South Molton. 
Verizon (Worldcom) repeater site at South Molton. 
Repeater BT Saxton UK-Germany-5 from Winterton 
Zayo fibre optic relay near Preston, Lancashire. 
Zayo fibre optic relay Cheddleton, Staffordshire. 
Zayo fibre optic relay in Llandygai near Bangor. 
Zayo fibre optic relay at Holyhead, Anglesey. 
A fibre optic relay Chelmsford, Essex. 
Fibre optic relay in Chelmsford, Essex. 
A fibre optic relay near Ipswich, Suffolk. 
Zayo fibre optic relay near Kendal, The Lake District. 
A fibre optic relay at Barnsley, South Yorkshire. 
A fibre optic relay in Northumbria. 
A fibre optic relay near Glasgow in Scotland. 
Zayo fibre optic relay near Dalkeith, Scotland.
Local Telephone Exchanges, Fibre Cables & Data Centres
SMBT Fenny Stratford Exchange / Bletchley (MK) – bRAS
BT Wholesale has ten 20/21CN bRAS which are located at Birmingham, Bletchley (MK), Ealing, Edinburgh, Ilford, Kingston, Manchester, Reading, Sheffield, Faraday. If your ISP uses BT Wholesale for routing then you can be sure that all your traffic will have passed through one of the above bRAS locations.
There are a large number of network companies present at this site as indicated by the network chamber covers outside in the street.
My Mapped BT Exchanges ( work in progress )
My Mapped Eire Telecom Exchanges ( work in progress )
Virgin Media 
Virgin Media 
Norweb Communications Ltd 
Norweb Communications Ltd 
W-COM Internet 
W-COM Internet 
Vtesse Networks Ltd 
Vtesse Networks Ltd 
Energis Communications Limited 
Atlantic Telecom 
Atlantic Telecom 
Ipsaris Ltd now Marconi 
Ipsaris Ltd now Marconi 
Ipsaris Ltd now Marconi 
Fibrenet Global Ltd 
Fibrenet Global Ltd 
186k Ltd now Zayo 
186k Ltd now Zayo 
186k Ltd now Zayo 
Telecential Communications Ltd now Comtel 
Telecential Communications Ltd now Comtel 
KCL KCOM Group Ltd 
CATV 
Vodafone 
Vodafone 
Grass Area 1/2 mile from Fenny Exchange / Bletchley (MK) bRAS near Bletchley Tesco roundabout.
A number of fibre cables from the Exchange and bRAS start to run North from this small grass area just down the road towards the Centre MK and SMBA Bradwell Abbey Exchange.
A fibre cable running to the Bank of England runs under one of these network chamber covers using dark fibre provided by Zayo (formerly Geo). 186k was taken over by Geo Networks and further by Zayo, so it’s most likely under those 186k covers.
BT 
Fibreway Ltd 
Fibreway Ltd 
Fibreway Ltd 
Norweb Communications Ltd 
Norweb Communications Ltd 
KCL KCOM Group Ltd 
186k Ltd now Zayo 
186k Ltd now Zayo 
SMBA Bradwell Abbey Exchange – Milton Keynes
Local BT Exchanges
SMSGT Stoke Goldington Exchange. 
SMTU Turvey Exchange. 
SMTU Turvey Exchange. 
SMWV Wolverton WBC. 
SMSU Shenley Church End WBC. 
SMSNC North Crawley Non WBC. 
SMOY Olney WBC. 
SMRVN Ravensden Non WBC. 
SMAP Ampthill WBC. 
SMFK Flitwick WBC. 
SMBF Bedford WBC.
Data Centers in Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes has a number of Data Centres. The Linford Wood area seems to have a concentration of Data Processing and Data Centre companies and fibre cables and dat a connectivity providers.
My Mapped Data Centers ( work in progress )
Unisys in Sunrise Parkway. 
Safenames in Sunrise Parkway. 
Hughes in Rockingham Drive. 
Pulsant in Rockingham Drive. 
Pulsant in Rockingham Drive. 
Linford Wood Area. 
Linford Wood Area. 
Bletchley Area. 
BT Data Centre Bletchley. 
MKDC-1 HOST-IT Data Center. 
MKDC-0 HOST-IT Data Center. 
MKDC-0 HOST-IT Data Center.
Satellite Dishes at SIS Studios in Milton Keynes
Links and Stuff
KITZ – DSL Broadband Information