ISP Cable Types

[morqthana]

Cables, pinned to the mortar joints, on our house, as in the original GPO install, come adrift, and end up flapping in the breeze.

I have no mortar joints available. My existing copper drop cable is tie-wrapped to a drainpipe before entering the house at 1st floor void height. I'm looking forward to it going.

Their rule is, they will not attempt to go into a loft.

I can fully understand that.

EDIT - after seeing Bernard's post, can forget this idea..

If they don't mind splicing cables when at the top of a ladder, I could go with a small external box on the fascia or on the wall up against the soffit if the fascia was too small.

 

[bernardgreen]

the crimp tool and tester is quite a lump to carry

Two jelly crimps and pair of pliers ( or the correct tool ) to join a copper pair.
A micro workshop to splice a fibre

Much more time is needed to splice fibre than the time needed to joint a copper pair

Much more skill is needed to splice fibre than the skill needed to joint a copper pair

 

[morqthana]

They gave me an offcut, it's a flat twin from the pole, and you can literally tie it in knots, with no damage , as it had I think at least 2 layers of Kevler , some other stuff between, then finally ridiculously. thin glass fibre.

So maybe my fear of it being too stiff, or whatever, to have it running internally inside walls and under floors was unfounded. If they would supply me with a length (or sell it to me, or they spec it and I buy it) then an option which would work for me would be for me to run it to the exit point in the loft, leave a load spare, and they take it from there over to the pole, so no joints at all where it enters the house, either external or internal.

Whether that would work for them IHNI.

 

[morqthana]

If they don't mind splicing cables when at the top of a ladder, I could go with a small external box on the fascia or on the wall up against the soffit if the fascia was too small.

Don't know how strong the splice is when done, but one option might be for the guy to work at ground level to splice to my cable, then I pull mine back into the loft, coiling up the slack, until the splice reaches the entry point.

But all this speculation is pointless - all that will matter is what the installer will be willing to do when I do get it installed. All I wondered was if there was a similar Openreach document covering installs from poles.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Much more time is needed to splice fibre than the time needed to joint a copper pair

Much more skill is needed to splice fibre than the skill needed to joint a copper pair

Having watched it done twice, yes - it's certainly not something they could tackle atop a ladder. The unit is battery powered, about the size of a shoe box, in a hard case, weighing around a couple of house-bricks. The screen, shows the microscopic image, of the hair thickness fibres, to properly align them.

 

[Why Not Indeed]

They did mine [fibre] in the loft no bother. I can imagine some jobsworth could come up with a reason why not to, but my loft is boarded and has a sensible folding ladder for access.

 

[endecotp]

I've experienced the "no lofts" rule. This is in a tenement with two stairs, six flats on each stair. The old telephone wires come up one stair in a riser, across the loft, and down the other stair. They refused to go in the loft and proposed a fugly pole in the garden with wires to each flat's window. I proposed that they could dig a 15m trench in the pavement to reach the second stair but that would be "too expensive". So I ran a conduit through the loft for them with string through so they could pull the fibre through without going into the loft. And... nothing has happened for over a year now.

 

[333rocky333]

So maybe my fear of it being too stiff, or whatever, to have it running internally inside walls and under floors was unfounded. If they would supply me with a length (or sell it to me, or they spec it and I buy it) then an option which would work for me would be for me to run it to the exit point in the loft, leave a load spare, and they take it from there over to the pole, so no joints at all where it enters the house, either external or internal.

Whether that would work for them IHNI.

The possible issue with that is they appear to do the pole end crimp on the ground rather than high level , then drag the cable up to the pole top, they then tension the fibre to the house using ratchet clips, these only allow about 100mm play, so doing it your way would result in excess fibre house end, that you may need to drag back into the loft.

I think the main reason for the box near entry is for maintenance if things ever go wrong, whether there would be comeback for the installer if a repair engineer found it in an odd place , i dont know

 

[endecotp]

I think the main reason for the box near entry is for maintenance if things ever go wrong,

Isn’t there something about the different plastics in the internal vs. external cable types, the internal not being weatherproof and the external not being fireproof?

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

So maybe my fear of it being too stiff, or whatever, to have it running internally inside walls and under floors was unfounded. If they would supply me with a length (or sell it to me, or they spec it and I buy it) then an option which would work for me would be for me to run it to the exit point in the loft, leave a load spare, and they take it from there over to the pole, so no joints at all where it enters the house, either external or internal.

I doubt they would be able to do that....

In my case, they made the reel end off in the van, went up the ladder at the pole, plugged it in, then measured out the length needed to get from pole, over the road, a long diagonal, to my eaves, then into/across my loft, where the terminal would go. It was then pulled across, and tensioned. I don't know whether simply a good guess, or what, but there was only a few feet of wastage, cut off at the end.

 

[morqthana]

I'm sure that something will be resolvable in an actual conversation with the actual fibre provider at the time.

 

[abba96]

It's unlikely Cityfibre or Openreach (BT) would use your fibre. Mostly installation engineers are quite friendly and would be happy to use a draw rope through conduit you have installed.

As someone else commented the external splice box needs to be accessible and at ground level. I've seen some houses pole fed where the cable then runs down the wall, into the external splice point, the back up again.

Also worth noting that Openreach are quite strict with ladders now. They will probably want to drill a hole in your wall to attach it to!

 

[justigator]

It's unlikely Cityfibre or Openreach (BT) would use your fibre. Mostly installation engineers are quite friendly and would be happy to use a draw rope through conduit you have installed.

Almost exactly what a friendly and helpful Openreach bod did at my house yesterday, except that they used the conduit for an existing copper landline - actually my next door neighbour's, my own being blocked with crud. Beware Openreach's appalling comms though. I had a message yesterday to say they were still looking for a date to visit (third visit, the first two having only done the internal work) and literally within 15 minutes I was driving off to the supermarket when I spotted an Openreach van approaching and sure enough it was an unannounced visit for my job. Engineer told me the job had been on his list since the day before. Very lucky I caught him as the job was tricky for a couple of reasons and took three hours with me giving necessary permissions etc as we went along Still, yesterday I had 37 Mb/s and today it's 900 Mb/s and I'm happy!

 

[morqthana]

As someone else commented the external splice box needs to be accessible and at ground level.

Then it's no fibre for me.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Don't know how strong the splice is when done, but one option might be for the guy to work at ground level to splice to my cable, then I pull mine back into the loft, coiling up the slack, until the splice reaches the entry point.

The splice, the termination, is incredibly delicate. It goes into a termination box, which is designed for several loops of each side of the fibre wrap around, to ensure stability, before the actual splice.

Then it's no fibre for me.

Then will be stuck with no broadband, or fixed line phone. You will be limited to mobile services, when copper comes to an end soon.