This topic

Is the External Cable always Black with FULL fibre installation ?

EAST24x — Tue, 19 Mar 2024 15:47:04 GMT

I would like the cable and ONT box to be on the first floor of a townhouse entering through the rear of the building. But I don’t want a black cable running round three sides of the house. The house has white render.

Nor do I want the box and router on the ground floor inside front as I don’t have power near the access point and anyway my tv works best when wired to router and I definitely don’t want old fashion cabling running around the house.

Re: Is the External Cable always Black with FULL fibre installation ?

imjolly — Tue, 19 Mar 2024 16:08:12 GMT

How does the existing phone line enter the property as fibre normally follows that route

Re: Is the External Cable always Black with FULL fibre installation ?

EAST24x — Tue, 19 Mar 2024 16:19:28 GMT

It was built in during construction and comes in the front and has hidden wiring to sockets on all floors. I currently don’t use the master socket but another socket in the lounge to connect the router. Works ok so not desperate to change to the limited benefit of FF if I end up with ugly wiring inside or out.

Could they connect to the existing network?

Re: Is the External Cable always Black with FULL fibre installation ?

licquorice — Tue, 19 Mar 2024 17:07:15 GMT

@EAST24x wrote:

Could they connect to the existing network?

Re: Is the External Cable always Black with FULL fibre installation ?

ptrduffy — Wed, 20 Mar 2024 08:00:50 GMT

Does the existing wiring only terminate in phone connections, or are there ethernet connections as well? If the latter, then that wiring could be used to connect the Hub to the new ONT - the two can be separated by up to 100m of Cat5E cable.

Also, is your property served overhead from a pole, or underground (it sounds like the latter)? As @imjolly said, the fibre will typically follow the same route - however, it will need to connect to a new box called a CSP on the outside wall of your house at ground floor - inside this box the external grade fibre from the pole/duct is spliced to the internal grade fibre that will run to your ONT.

Re: Is the External Cable always Black with FULL fibre installation ?

iniltous — Wed, 20 Mar 2024 08:11:21 GMT

TBH , your ‘demands’ are such thats is unlikely that you would ever be able to come to a workable solution with the installation engineer, if the current service enters at the front of the building, but you want the cable to entry to be at the rear and won’t accept cable on the wall to get to the rear of the property from the front , then that’s really a insurmountable issue , it’s not really worth ordering FTTP in these circumstances, it simply wastes Openreach time as well as your own.

Re: Is the External Cable always Black with FULL fibre installation ?

Anonymous — Wed, 20 Mar 2024 08:51:06 GMT

JOOI, does the external fibre that Openreach use take being painted - or does it flake off quickly?

Any recommendations for best type of paint to use?

Re: Is the External Cable always Black with FULL fibre installation ?

EAST24x — Wed, 20 Mar 2024 10:59:05 GMT

I agree. Not worth the hassle to switch.

Re: Is the External Cable always Black with FULL fibre installation ?

36ULW — Sun, 24 Mar 2024 17:58:29 GMT

The newer Dex Bond Inside - Out Cable comes in 3 shades of Black.

black, Dark Black and Really Dark Black.

EZ Bend Cable, what they originally used for BFT comes in Black, White and Brown.

It’s still available and is used in MDU’s, although during Build Phase from the UFS Box to the Break Out Box. They wouldn’t use it for the Customer Installation

It would be hit and miss if the Installer actually carried EZ Bend Cable, chances are they wouldn’t.

Re: Is the External Cable always Black with FULL fibre installation ?

chrisjp — Sun, 24 Mar 2024 20:50:31 GMT

"does the external fibre that Openreach use take being painted - or does it flake off quickly?"
I've no experience of painting fibre optic cable, but I've painted (oil based paint) black "shotgun" satellite cable that runs around my house and this hasn't flaked off in 10 years. I can't imagine the plastic covering of fibre optic cable will be any different.
Please let us know if you ultimately persuade Openreach to route the fibre optic cable around to the back of your house - even if its just the standard black cable.
I'm in a similar situation that will need such a routing if/when I finally go to FTTP!

Re: Is the External Cable always Black with FULL fibre installation ?

EAST24x — Mon, 25 Mar 2024 08:54:31 GMT

I decided to stick with my existing broadband arrangement and put off the Full Fibre decision for 24 months.
A ridiculous situation where I am now paying more for a lesser product to avoid having to potentially ‘argue’ with an OpenReach engineer about where the box and cables go. If only BT & OpenReach had a detailed installation Q&A that set out the limits of what they are prepared to do. Or at least have a detailed conversation prior to installation.
Fortunately I don’t need the extra speed or digital voice afforded by FF but 20% more with the loss of landline seems daylight robbery.

Re: Is the External Cable always Black with FULL fibre installation ?

iniltous — Mon, 25 Mar 2024 10:25:45 GMT

As a counter point , I would argue that given the direction the ‘feed’ into your home would be from the front of the property and your requirement for any cable to enter to the rear ( where presumably no alternative Openreach infrastructure exists ) and your refusal to have any cable on the wall , it’s yourself that’s imposing self disqualifying restrictions.
Should an alternative network become available, it’s almost certain that they will have the same method , and presumably you will have the same inflexibility, so unless you have a change of heart and either consider the cable entry to the front ( and not the rear ) or cable on wall ….you may as well reconcile yourself to staying on what you currently have , until such a point that copper pair service is withdrawn completely ( should be quite a few years though )

I’m not sure if you think the majority of members of this forum reading this would think that your requirements are reasonable, and you have a justifiable ‘complaint’ , personally I would wager the majority will be thinking it’s you being unreasonable

Re: Is the External Cable always Black with FULL fibre installation ?

gg30340 — Mon, 25 Mar 2024 10:34:13 GMT

Dig a duct, at your expense, from front to rear so the installer can run the cable through the duct to your chosen location.

Re: Is the External Cable always Black with FULL fibre installation ?

EAST24x — Mon, 25 Mar 2024 12:14:35 GMT

Um. 😳
My issue is the lack of clarity. When I was sold the deal and an OpenReach engineer said they could take the cable round the back if I was ‘lucky’ with the actual engineer sent on the day. They carry enough cable but maybe wouldn’t want to run it to access the first floor where the router master socket needs to be. They also said they could probably technically even connect and use the existing wiring for a slightly slower service. But again it depends on the engineer sent on the day.
Do you really think hoping for clarity from a service provider costing hundreds of pounds is unreasonable in 21st century?
I accept I am possibly putting off the inevitable but technology advances may deliver smarter solutions by 2026 or I might be dead.
But in the meantime the identical broadband, removal of free call and landline and a 20% price hike and 10% more than full fibre doesn’t feel fair.

But we can beg to differ.

All I was asking was black the only cable option? It’s wasn’t an invitation to invite judgement!
I thought this group was about sharing friendly wisdom and expertise for the benefit of newbies. I am pretty sure that’s what the majority of the folk are hoping for.

Re: Is the External Cable always Black with FULL fibre installation ?

gg30340 — Mon, 25 Mar 2024 12:18:24 GMT

Everything is just speculation until such times as an installer calls at your house and can see first hand if what you want to do is viable.

Contact BT and request a survey, which will be chargeable, to look at what you want and after a full survey has been carried out you will not be dealing with speculation and you will have the clarity that you seek.

Re: Is the External Cable always Black with FULL fibre installation ?

iniltous — Mon, 25 Mar 2024 13:14:35 GMT

If the house is relatively modern , then it probably has grey plastic capping on the exterior wall where the duct appears from underground, this duct location is ( obviously) a fixed point , the CSP is designed to connect with this and so is normally provided on top of the existing capping , this point is where the external grade black optical cable is changed to an internal grade optical cable ( usually white ) this internal cable is not designed to be ran externally on walls , so either the internal optical cable is taken immediately inside the property and within 10 metres the ONT is fitted , or the external cable ran on the wall to the rear and the CSP fitted closer to where you want the cable to enter the building.

What you are expecting , isn’t offered , and that is for the ISP ( even though the ISP won’t be fitting the service ) to give you the exact method that will be used , the ultimate arbiter is the installation technician , not the ISP , the installer will , in consultation with you either come to a mutually acceptable method , or the installation doesn’t happen, I suspect any regular suggestion they make would be refused .

As I stated in my first reply , wether your requirements are justified or not , it’s unlikely that what you want can be done OR are not going to provide extra infrastructure , the fixed point is where the existing duct appears at the front of your property, running a cable internally from the ground floor front , to the rear on the first floor , even if you were prepared to accommodate that , would be outside the time restraints of a standard ‘free’ installation, what you pay per month is irrelevant, some ISP offer a extended installation that increases the amount of internal cabling, this is at an extra cost to the ISP , and therefore you .

How would you suggest service to be provided to the rear when the duct is at the front , without cabling on the wall on excessive internal wiring ?, what possible alternative would you suggest ?

If you have some sort of Ethernet network provided by the developer, that’s copper cable , and although it may be possible to have the ONT and router connected by using this Ethernet cabling , the ONT is connected with a fibre cable to the optical network.

FWIW , if the cable on wall is the most objectionable thing , have the ONT fitted immediately opposite the existing grey capping on the internal wall, so little of no Openreach cable visible externally , and a tiny amount if internal cable visible ( assuming access to the internal wall is available and there is a close by power outlet ) then you provide your own internal Ethernet network cable to where you want the router sited on the first floor rear …