Over enginneered? Yeah, right!
"He says Hull is served by about 15 exchanges, as opposed to around four found in places of comparable size."
Based on 43 years of experience in the telco industry during which time I have built and maintained manual, step x step, crossbar and digital exchanges (along with a whole heap of interesting and clever optical kit), this statement suggests to me that Hull is most likely equipped with comparatively ancient and primitive exchanges.
A city of around 260K people should be more than adequately served by 3 exchanges built any time in the last 30 years or so - most of their exchanges should have been replaced by remote line units parented off a much smaller number of exchanges long ago.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
