Possibility of getting OpenReach duct

[jelockwood]

I currently have a copper landline with VDSL broadband. This runs from a BT telephone pole located on the public footpath in front of my house. (Actually between my house and the neighbours house.)

Immediately next to the bottom of the telephone pole is a BT/Openreach manhole. I would be confident this manhole not only contains copper cable bundles but also fibre optic cables.

My house/street is already enabled for fibre to the premise.

I have checked the OpenReach checker and my house is listed as being suitable for OH which stands for overhead. To be fair as my existing copper cable runs from that pole already I can see why this is so. (Some properties on my street do have duct run connections but are not unlike my house served by telephone poles.)

However the manhole is clearly also very close to my house and in fact whereas currently the copper cable goes from the pole, to the corner of my house, down the entire side of my house and round to the back of the house, it would actually be a shorter route if they ran underground from the manhole to the other side of my house, past the front door and entering through the wall just past the front door.

Based on other comments in these forums, I unfortunately suspect I will have no chance getting them to run a duct but opinions and advice would be welcome.

One question is, once fibre is installed will they remove the existing no-longer needed or working copper cable from the telephone pole to my house?

For the benefit of others however, in my research I came across a website which seems to sell BT/Openreach compatible, ducting, drawcord, bends, etc.

Related to suggestions etc., if I did get a builder to use ducting like that from the above website and ran it to the edge of my property would OpenReach be willing to run a duct to join to it from their side? (I would not be able to run my duct beyond my property under the public footpath to their manhole.)

Note: Other utilities, i.e. Water, Gas, Electricity, already run under my properties footpath past my front door which is the route I would like Openreach to use.

Finally, whilst the telephone pole option will work and will not cost me extra, apart from running underground now being a way of then removing the current copper cable and making my house look tidier, there is also the fact that I would expect an underground installation in a duct to be a more robust option and indeed I have previously had my copper line fail due to long term swaying in the wind and needing a repair. As a fibre installation is likely to last for decades and be future proof this would presumably be a one-time opportunity to make such an improvement.

[Colin_London]

I'm certain that they will, by default, use the same route that your copper line currently uses - i.e. from the pole.

Although there may be fibre cables in the pavement cable pit, there will be no straightforward way to connect into them. The fibre joint where the connection is generally made will be at the top of the pole.

You can pay for a 'FTTP On Demand' bespoke installation, but you are going to have to pay out many hundreds, even thousands of pounds, maybe a bit less if you got a builder to put the duct in for you. This is because Openreach would have to run a fibre especially for you underground to the nearest existing joint (which may be some way up the road), and connect it in for you.

Although an underground connection may be more reliable in the longer term, what matters to telecoms providers is capital cost. It is better for them to minimise costs up front, and then send someone around in the future if there is a problem. Your old copper line may be 40 years old and end of life - doesn't mean the new fibre cable will have similar problems, at least whilst you are still around.

PS. Lack of an overhead cable may make you a bit happier about your house appearance, but don't expect any future buyer to put much of a premium on it.

[licquorice · Accepted solution]

It is a simple matter if where the CBT is located that determines how your fibre is delivered.

If the CBT is at the top of the pole, that is where your fibre will come from.

Just because there is a joint box in the pavement, it doesn't mean that the fibre can be accessed there.

[Jane2018]

By the way which is the most robust underground or not? We have our pole about a yard from a large tree (not on my land)  and various openreach men over the years have either said the tree is no problem and another said it could be who then loosened the cable so it could move around more presumably when the various branches and leaves touched it.

[iniltous]

What would  you be prepared to pay for this work ?
A request like this starts with a non refundable survey fee of around £300 to get a visit from an Openreach survey officer, so you need to be prepared to ‘risk’ £300 , if once you get a quote you decide not to proceed any further , even the cheapest scheme will be in the hundreds of ££’s , generally the survey fee is subtracted from the scheme costs if you proceed, but you are still likely looking at a minimum of £300-£500 cost after the survey deduction, if that’s too much , there isn’t any point paying for a survey simply to know the exact cost .
If you were thinking because you could do the majority of the work yourself,  the costs would be negligible ( for arguments sake,  you would be prepared to pay up-to £130 )  , but even if OR only provided the hookup between the existing jointbox to duct you have laid yourself, that’s still a 3 person civils team for half a day , and an OR tech for half a day , once the duct is provided, to take down the overhead and provide cable in the new duct , along with the ‘office costs’ of coordinating this work , potentially revisiting to check the work you have done etc.  it’s clear where the costs are from , you may consider £300-£500 too much , but it  isn’t excessive, and if that’s too much , there is no point exploring this any further.

Someone may ask how a brand new line can be had for £130 , but obviously a ‘new’ line generates line rental to offset the installation costs , you are already paying line rental , asking for this work brings in no extra revenue over what you already pay , hence the need for you to pay for all additional works , as your request doesn’t benefit OR , it’s entirely for your benefit,and even then it’s purely aesthetic 

[Colin_London]

By the way which is the most robust underground or not? We have our pole about a yard from a large tree (not on my land)  and various openreach men over the years have either said the tree is no problem and another said it could be who then loosened the cable so it could move around more presumably when the various branches and leaves touched it.

Obviously any abrasion on a cable isn’t going to do it any good, and a moving branch is going to cause abrasion over time, less so if the cable is slack.

I have a similar problem - when they swapped our pole out recently they routed the replacement cable badly through the branches and the cable deviates around a branch when it could have been run the other side and hung loose. I now need to try and convince the Openreach engineer who comes to fit fibre to run it the other way, but not sure they have the tools to thread cables through branches precisely!

An underground route is going to be more reliable than one that goes through a tree, but is still at risk from other workers digging up pavements etc.