FTTP Install underground v overhead

[brianilland]

Question about the install process.

I have an existing copper line with BT FTTC with a small grey box outside my house and the drive has been recently tarmaced.

Our street recently was dug up to fit fibre for Virgin and as such the termination point at the end of my driveway has a Virgin logo on it.

I have just  booked an upgrade to FTTP with BT and it is to be installed at the end of the month.

When I run the broadband availability checker for my line I get the below :

Our records show the following FTTP network service information for these premises:-Single Dwelling Unit Residential OH Feed with no anticipated issues. FTTP is available and a new ONT may be ordered.

My question is :

Does "Residential OH Feed with no anticipated issues" mean that my new fibre line will be installed from overhead cables and I can choose where it enters the house and it doesn't use the copper line? Can I assume the Virgin termination point is not shared with BT and there is no need to dig up the driveway?

[pippincp]

Correct.

[iniltous]

Is there already overhead service in your area , even though your property is fed underground ?
There is ( presumably ) an Openreach engineer who posts on a similar forum to this one, stating he is aware of an area that is ( from a copper pair perspective) served underground, by DIG cables ( direct in ground rather than cable in ducts ) so obviously a new fibre cable would be expensive if excavation of the public roads/paths as well as the customers ‘land’ were required, so an overhead solution ( a new pole where none existed before ) has been provided and any FTTP ordered in that location would be overhead irrespective of the existing underground service...so if your area has a mix of O/H and UG , and your property can be served OH then that’s how it would be delivered, if there is no O/H it could be a database error.
VM network is totally separate , and although Openreach have to offer PIA ( passive infrastructure access ) to others , VM are under no obligation to share their ducts etc, so they don’t.

[brianilland]

So I had a look outside and it looks like some properties down the street from me are served by overhead cable - picture below. But I live at the end of a cul-de-sac so there are no houses directly beside me that are served by overhead cables. It looks like they stopped at a certain point - closest house to mine served by cable is 5 doors down or across the road.

Will it come down to how far the cable can be run from distribution pole to my house if I can get FTTP or not? From reading other forum posts there was a 68 metre limit for dropwire, is that the same for Fibre? https://community.bt.com/t5/Archive-Staging/What-is-maximum-length-of-drop-wire/td-p/399881

What are the chances of a new distribution pole being put in place?

[iniltous]

There is a span length maximum ( it could be 68m , but others may know for sure ) ,and there has to be a minimum height over the road.
The pole looks like a hollow pole , so the usual attachments to connect the fibre drop wire to a wooden pole wouldn’t be usable, this could cause issues.
There is a contributor Starwire who installs this type of thing, they may be along sometime and give an opinion on if your install will proceed without delay or if it needs to be reassessed.

[Starwire]

O/H FTTP Drop Wires can now span to a maximum of 75m as they recently changed the rules.

If it’s not possible to provide it O/H from the Hollow Pole to your house it would need to be sent for Planning and they’d come up with a solution, usually the cheapest. Could be they put another Carrier Pole in or they may have to do some maintenance dig work. Couldn’t really say without seeing Map for the street.

[brianilland]

Thanks Starwire. I did a crude google maps measurement as the crow flies and it measures as 70.31m  - see below.

In between there are electrical wires which I have marked manually. Does that have any bearing. Would a fibre line be ok to go under the electrical wire which is quite high anyhow.

Do you know where I would find anything official about the 75m rule and the rules changing?

If they deem it needs to go for planning, digging etc, are they typically obliged to sort out a solution or could they just say it's not worth their while?

[iniltous]

It’s possible the reason your property is served underground could be the overhead power , there has to be a minimum separation between the power and ‘phone line’ , the phone line being below the power ( so if it dropped it wouldn’t sit onto of the power ) it’s possible that the height over the road and the separation under the power cannot both be achieved, and that’s why your existing service isn’t overhead, unfortunately when your address was surveyed, it was probably a desk survey and an assumption made that overhead would be OK....it may still be OK, but better to be prepared for delay rather than it coming as a surprise.

Chances are any extra expense OR would foot the bill, not you.

[Starwire]

Is the Power High or Low Voltage?

[brianilland]

look like low voltage lines, they're not connected to any local pylons anyhow. Does it make a difference?