FTTP Install underground v overhead

[brianilland]

Here's the overhead line. Could overhead fibre lines be run under these power lines?

[licquorice]

That is high voltage, I suspect @Starwire  will be along at some point to confirm if it is possible, but I suspect not.

[Starwire]

Yeah, that’s HV. It will either be 11k or 33k

11k you can put drop wires under them but with a minimum clearance of 1.8m. Bear in mind the drop wire needs to be at least 5.9m above the road.

If it’s 33k then you can’t put drop wires under it all. 

Given your end of the road has the phone lines UG I’d hazard a guess it is 33k anyway.

[brianilland]

ok thanks Starwire. Sounds to me like it's going to have to go underground then?

If you were the engineer who rocked up at the end of the month, what is the most likely option if it's high voltage? Would a new fibre cable have to be run underground and then my driveway dug up – which would take months?

There are about 20 houses not served by cables at the end of the street if that makes any difference.

[ch]

If you have a phone line to your house today then I assume it goes underground in a duct.

Surely they'll just push the fibre through that, same as they do for any property that doesn't have telegraph poles?

[Starwire]

Depends when it was built and by who. A lot of cabling was buried Direct in Ground during the 60’s/70’s to reduce costs.

Even Ducting being place doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll be a easy as pushing it in, which they don’t do anyway, it’s Rod, Roped and pulled through. The Duct could be congested, blocked or if there’s Swept T’s involved you have to pray the put them on the right way round when it was built.

[ch]

Ah, see what you mean.

[brianilland]

My neighbour three doors up is showing as Single Dwelling Unit Residential UG Duct rodded and roped, presumably this is a database error for my house.

I can't see how fibre could be brought to replace below wiring without digging. Are there some special tools to replace the copper with fibre?

[AnMadraRua]

The maximum dropwire length is still 68 metres. The new 75 metre and 85 metre rules apply to spans between poles. If the measured distance is greater than 68 then they will have to look at a UG solution for your feed or possibly drop a carrier pole somewhere. The equipment used to connect to your house is called a CBT and is mounted at the top of a wooden pole or inside a hollow pole utilising a CBT specifically for hollow poles called a "squid". 

[pippincp]

@AnMadraRua68 mtr dropwire refers to copper connections. This thread refers to FTTP.