Hi all,
Please accept my apologies for what may see like a lot of stupid rambling questions...
Having lived in Milton Keynes for many years I've previously had the joy of FTTP before its first release as part of a BT trial about 10 years ago. I've since moved to the grim frozen wastes of the North West between Manchester and Liverpool and had to suffer the ignominy of my 60Mbps FTTC service, albeit with the benefit of the newly launched Digital Voice service.
Recently I was surprised to have an Openreach engineer in my garden, who announced that he was installing duct pull ropes (in an attractive shade of blue), to allow fibre to be pulled through from the nearby manhole. There has subsequently be a huge amount of activity installing CBTs and fibre back to the local exchange (about 600 metres away). There is no sign of anything changing on the BT DSL checker, or even any indication that 'Full Fibre' is coming to the village. Nevertheless this is great news, but being a techie I have questions that I hope someone on this forum can help with?
- Being FTTC, the line checker reports that I'm served by cabinet 7, which is true
- With FTTP, the cabling (I believe, goes to the exchange, not a cabinet), additionally I believe as a new FTTP install I would be compelled to have Digital Voice (now that Fibre Voice Access is being retired)
- Without the need for a copper circuit for voice and FTTC, I can't see that I would be served by my original cabinet for anything, as all my services would be provided from the exchange (WNKEL), so what should I expect to see on the checker (I currently see FTTPOD as available but FTTP as not available)
I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, but it appears that this FTTP install is restricted to my estate which was a Taylor Wimpey new build about 3 years ago, as I said, no sign of it on any Opeanreach planning databases, possibly just a quick win to boost the FTTP install base for 90 new homes all with new ducts and services?
I also have a few other techie questions that others may be able to answer?
- Being simplistic I understand that the services has an Optical Line Termination unit (OLT) in an exchange and a Optical Network Terminator on each clients site- everything in between over or underground is passive and unpowered unlike FTTC- is this correct?
- From memory the service is essentially multiplexed, so 1 fibre serves multiple customers split/spliced underground/overground multiple times, and the serial number of your ONT was the link to your BT account ( I tested this many years ago by taking my ONT to a friend several streets away and plugging it in there- The BT network recognised the ONT without a problem against my home address)
- Question, typically, how many ONTs are served by a single fibre MAX/MIN (I think the min is 32 from some distant memory, but not sure what the max is?) obviously I'm asking because depending on the build our estate could become oversubscribed quite quickly, and more so if installs are extended to the rest of the village.
- Our village has about 1600 residents and our exchange does serve other villages, but it is still quite rural, so I'm not sure if we would have our own OLT or if the OLT would likely be in an upstream exchange and I know the distance limit has improved greatly since my last experience of FTTP.
- Presumably, with the presence of the blue pull rope, the FTTP install type would likely be 1 Stage?
I would be really grateful for any insite from the forum?
Thanks and regards
Dale
