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Full fibre installation question

thomas_e — Sun, 21 May 2023 08:48:47 GMT

Hi guys,

2 questions please:

Will OpenReach be able/willing to install the fibre cable over the roof of my house from the backyard (where the pole is) to the front where my wires for phoneline/VDSL currently are?

When you book an appointment for installation and the engineer is not willing to do the installation the way I want it to be, can you cancel the installation? Will the current VDSL line and contract continue? Or will I cut myself off the Internet whe I refuse the installation? (Meaning, will the VDSL contract be terminated on the day the installation fior Full Fibre happens or after?)

Thanks, Tom

Re: Full fibre installation question

iniltous — Sun, 21 May 2023 09:12:37 GMT

If your copper pair service comes from ( or did come from , if someone wasn’t a current customer of an Openreach based provider ) from the pole at the rear , it’s drop cable wouldn’t go over the roof , it would attach at the rear , and if the master socket etc. were at the front of the property, there would be ‘internal ‘ cable from the rear to the front of the property ( assuming a mid terrace house and not a semi detached where the cable could be ran on the exterior wall from rear to front )
If you order FTTP , the method of service would be similar , the cable route , which would be surface wired on skirting boards etc through the property , if this was going to be very time consuming or have bends in the cable that would negatively affect the optical performance , the installer may refuse to run the cable , more likely they would offer a different location for the ONT , it’s then your ‘problem’ to provide an Ethernet cable from the ONT to your preferred location of the router , they should not simply throw the cable over the roof ridge to get from back to front ( or from front to back ) to save the time of running a properly fixed cable , I’ve seen Alt Nets and satellite TV installers do this , OR shouldn’t and almost certainly won’t do it.

As far as will cancelling a FTTP order because the installer wont do as you wish , if you are moving the phone service from VDSL to FTTP it probably would cancel the VDSL service, if you are ordering a standalone FTTP broadband service , then the VDSL service may remain unaffected even if you cancel FTTP after the installation engineer has been to site , but that’s not guaranteed.

Re: Full fibre installation question

thomas_e — Sun, 21 May 2023 09:57:43 GMT

The copper pair service comes from the front. They built a new pole in the back for Full Fibre wires...
So going over the roof would be the simplest and easiest soution ...

I spoke (chated) to a BT sales guy on Friday, he said it if i refuse installation VDSL would still be working ... but he was a sales person, so not sure what to think of it.

Re: Full fibre installation question

iniltous — Sun, 21 May 2023 11:51:29 GMT

OK , so it’s the case that your copper pair is delivered by poles at the front , but they put up new poles at the rear just for FTTP ?
Although a wire over the roof may be the simplest way to get the fibre cable to where your current copper service exists , as already stated it’s not an acceptable OR method , and if an OR engineer or contractor was audited on this job ( even if it were at your request ) it would be ‘failed’ and that wouldn’t be a positive outcome for the person, hence the 99% chance they would refuse to do this .

If your BT phone service is going to transfer to FTTP , the order to cease the phone line over copper , in effect also cancels the FTTC , although that is a separate order , it is linked to the FTTP order , if you refuse the FTTP install , it’s possible that the ‘cease’ order still progresses, leaving you without FTTC for a period.

There are instances of both , some don’t lose their existing service in these circumstances, and some that do there is no real way to know for sure , if the phone service isn’t being transferred to BT FTTP the chances of losing FTTC are less , but still not an absolute guarantee.

TBH , if you absolutely don’t want even the possibility of losing FTTC , you should ensure that the FTTP order has no ‘connection’ to the existing service , it would be as if you were ordering an additional service , you would then have to cease the old service manually ( yourself ) once FTTP is in , so would be paying for 2 services FTTP and FTTC for this overlapping period.

If throwing the cable over the roof is the only way you would accept FTTP provision , personally I wouldn’t order it ,as the chances are the installation wouldn’t happen , what is the reason the router at the rear of the property is unacceptable, do you have Ethernet cables running from the current router position ?

Re: Full fibre installation question

thomas_e — Sun, 21 May 2023 14:58:07 GMT

Yep, new poles just for FTTP.

The only other possibility I can see is to have the ONT in the kitchen which is in the back and then use PLC/HomeplugAV to connect the ONT to the router upstairs ... not sure if the ONT and router will be happy to be connected like that?
It should work, shouldn't it? (Getting about 200Mbit netto through PLC from the router into the kitchen).

Not "upgrading" but ordering an additional service might be a good option, never thougt about that, thanks!