This topic

Burying cable from pole to house

Matthew15 — Mon, 19 Jan 2026 11:47:42 GMT

The BT pole is on the boundary corner of my property and I want Openreach to install the cable underground if possible, can this be done instead of running the cable from top of pole across to my roof?

Re: Burying cable from pole to house

Kimberlin — Mon, 19 Jan 2026 12:27:31 GMT

@Matthew15

One would suspect that Openreach would choose the cheapest installation method possible. You might have no say whatsoever in the decision of how the cable is routed.

Re: Burying cable from pole to house

iniltous — Mon, 19 Jan 2026 12:55:00 GMT

Short answer is practically ‘No’ , this can’t be done , a longer answer is that there was ( and maybe still is ) an overhead to underground ‘shift’ type order that was available when BT was an integrated business , running all aspects of the telecom business, before Ofcom required the creation of a network arm called Openreach and it to be and run at arms length from BT customer facing departments , but even if the order is still current and you can get an ISP to actually raise that order type with Openreach , you first need to get an overhead wire installed to actually shift underground, you can’t ask from the outset for underground in an overhead service area.

The shift underground order is in two parts , a survey (which you pay for , with no refund should you decide the whole scheme is too expensive ) the survey alone is around £300 (I believe ) and then depending on what’s required ( the amount of work needed ) to put the cable underground, is assessed and you also pay for that work , obviously without knowing the exact nature of what’s required it’s impossible to predict accurately , but several hundred ££’s isn’t fanciful so with the survey £500-£800 seems a reasonable minimum ballpark figure to work on , if you happen to live 60 metres from the pole and the ground to excavate was all carriageway then 5 or 10 times that figure ….so practically the answer is No , as once presented with the total costs no doubt you’re not likely to proceed and spending £300 just to find out the exact costs for most people would be too much like throwing money away.

Re: Burying cable from pole to house

36ULW — Sat, 24 Jan 2026 19:08:02 GMT

If the Poles on your land just buy some Openreach Approved Duct 56 and Connector Bends, a Google Search for BT Duct 56 throws up plenty of results.

Use a spade and just bury it between 150mm - 250mm underground between Pole and your house and insure you put a draw rope through.

Zero surveys and zero fees.

Or you can pay Openreach hundreds of pounds to do that for you.

Re: Burying cable from pole to house

Matthew15 — Thu, 29 Jan 2026 13:40:43 GMT

Thanks for the reply. Do you know if its possible to speak to them when booking the job so all this goes on record for the engineer to be forewarned? I'm running Starlink currently, and they have just put full fibre on our estate I want to upgrade. 2 years ago we had the property rendered and didn't want the cable running vertically right in the middle of a white wall...
thanks

Re: Burying cable from pole to house

36ULW — Sat, 07 Feb 2026 17:40:26 GMT

Speak to who?

Re: Burying cable from pole to house

chrisjp — Sat, 07 Feb 2026 19:27:03 GMT

"2 years ago we had the property rendered and didn't want the cable running vertically right in the middle of a white wall..."

Have you considered just painting the cable to match the wall? It would virtually disappear...