Traditionally premises have received their services over a copper line that runs from the local telephone exchange into green cabinets in the street and then on to a local distribution point like a telegraph pole. The copper line then enters the premises. FTTC or Fibre To The Cabinet, is a service that is already available to 95 per cent of the UK. It utilises the traditional copper telephone line from the premises to the green street cabinet. However, at the cabinet, the broadband/Internet part of the customer’s service is transferred onto fibre and allows greater speeds, whist the customer’s voice calls continue to the exchange over the existing copper line. FTTP or Fibre To The Premises, connects the customer’s premises by fibre cable all the way to the Openreach exchange, without going through the green street cabinets and provides fast broadband and VOIP. This service is being rolled out by Openreach in a programme costing billions of pounds and will continue for years to come, until it is available in the whole of the UK.

Access network consisting of optical fibre extending from the access node (exchange) to the street cabinet. The street cabinet is usually located only a few hundred metres from the subscriber's premises. The remaining part of the access network from the cabinet to the customer is usually copper wire but could use another technology, such as wireless.