FTTP cable in house can't be replaced?

[KatieFisher]

Hey all,

After our internet went down completely we have had an Openreach engineer come out to have a go at fixing it. He has said there's a broken / damaged cable in the walls. And because the damaged cable is in the walls of the house, he's going to have to come back out and drill a hole in the front of the house and move the equipment from under the stairs to on the inside of the outer wall next to the radiator.

I can't say I'm happy with this solution. I'd much prefer to keep the router tucked away under the stairs. It's right next to the telly / games console so they can be on the wired connection. And our fish tank is right where he wants to put the new router so I'd have to find a new home for them! But also just not very happy with the idea of a big clunky box with lights on the wall of the living room, effectively making that corner unusable furniture wise.

I don't understand why they can't thread out the damaged cable and replace it like they would if it was faulty wiring?

Does this sound right? Is there really no way just to keep the router/ONT where it is and replace the dodgy cable? Preferably without tearing the walls open! 🙈

[iniltous]

Are BT your provider ? , BT and Openreach are not the same entity , often posters who  don’t  mention the ISP in their post are not BT customers , yet still post here .

Even if BT are not your provider , the existing optical cable was provided at first fix by builder/ developer , if it’s now faulty , either by them damaging it while installing it  ( but taking a while to become service affected ) or something you have done ,like driving a wall fixing through the cable ,  the only solution , is a new surface wired ‘internal’ cable from the CSP to the ONT , and if the ONT current  position ( which was chosen by the developer and obviously far easier to cable internally without any wall or ceilings in place ) is now an unreasonable proposition ( potentially lots of cabling around walls and doors and in a room with no outside wall etc ) then although the new ONT position may not be ideal ( from your point of view ) , you ultimately will have a choice of accepting a different position for the ONT  ( one you and the engineer can agree on ) or you cancel your service , and not use an Openreach based provider…

FWIW , should an alternative network become available, their installation will be the same as what’s being offered to restore your service,  TBH  your have unrealistic expectations , do you think they will chase a cable into the walls and then re plaster your affected walls if surface wiring is unacceptable.

[KatieFisher]

Yes, BT are my provider and they sent the Openreach engineer out. 

Why can't they tape the new cable to the old cable and pull it through? They know where it starts and ends. 

[rbz5416]

The ONT doesn't have to go where the new cable enters, it can be a reasonable distance away. Others will know the exact limits.

Then the router doesn't need to go where the ONT is either, it can be up to 100m away with a single ethernet connection back to the ONT. So maybe  have a think about where the ONT could reasonably go & see about getting an ethernet cable run from there to under the stairs.

New installations often have a patch panel next to the original ONT. Check for one of those & if present, an ethernet connection may already be in place that you can utilise.

Final thought, are you the first occupiers? If so it might be worth checking your guarantee in case it's covered. That's assuming it hasn't been accidentally damaged. Even if it isn't covered, they might be able to put you in touch with someone who can run a new cable internally.

[36ULW]

The cable is most likely fixed to the wall studs by cleats or tacs.

I’d actually bet you £1,000 they wouldn’t be able to pull another cable through by taping it onto the faulty one.

In the 20(ish) years I worked as a CST I never once, in the thousands of faults I did on both Copper and Fibre was able to cut and draw a cable that had been installed behind the wall cavity during build process.

[iniltous]

As stated , it’s not going to be possible to connect a new optical cable to the old one and pull it through wall cavities etc , even if the old cable wasn’t fixed in place , pulling the new cable in this fashion would probably damage it ( optical cable is relatively fragile and chances are wouldn’t survive being dragged through walls like this ) but as already stated the old cable won’t just be ‘loose’ behind the finished wall surface but fixed in place, and unless you or someone doing work in your house has inadvertently damaged it , you have been very unlucky that the existing cable has failed