The wiring in the Exchanges as well as from the cabinet to the premises is different for non broadband customers to that of broadband customers.Lots of people with broadband here are still on fibre to the cabinet where the run from the local cabinet to the home is still on the old copper.
I went from old school copper phone line I had in the house for ~20 years to broadband via FTTC, there was no change to the copper.The wiring in the Exchanges as well as from the cabinet to the premises is different for non broadband customers to that of broadband customers.
The cabinet serving my house is about 3 km from the Exchange and my house was another 3 km further on so that much copper wire was taken from my line . Because of upgrades I now have FTTH . So 6 km of fiber and no copper at all in my case. I went from almost 1 mg to super fast..I went from old school copper phone line I had in the house for ~20 years to broadband via FTTC, there was no change to the copper.
Those are significantly longer distances from most, particularly the distance from the cabinet. In the days prior to FTTH, very few were getting new copper run to get broadband. If you were outside the operating range, you just didn't get it.The cabinet serving my house is about 3 km from the Exchange and my house was another 3 km further on so that much copper wire was taken from my line .