A toby box is a regional term, primarily used in the UK and New Zealand, for a small boundary box buried in the pavement or grass verge outside a property. In fiber optics, it houses the microducts and splices where the street-level distribution network hands off to the individual residential drop cable.
The civils crew blocked the duct, so we can't blow the fiber from the toby box to the customer's wall box.
Toby boxes are notorious for filling with mud, water, and insects. Always carry a good pair of gloves and a pump when opening one that has been in the ground for a while.
Also heard as
- Boundary box
- swept tee box
Related terms
Drop
The final fiber cable run from a distribution terminal on the street to a single customer building.
Blown fiber
Fiber or microcable pushed through small ducts by high-speed compressed air instead of being pulled with a line.
FTTH
Fiber to the Home: access networks that run fiber all the way into each residence.
Innerduct
Smaller plastic tubing placed inside a larger conduit to divide it into separate protected paths for fiber cables.