Power lines and phone lines

[Tafia]

Hi, can fibre to the premises installation use existing electricity poles to carry the fibre cable if it is installed  on the poles at least 30 inches below the low voltage electricity cables?

Otherwise it seems we may need to have an underground duct dug into the roadside to get the fibre cable to the house which would be much more expensive.

Thanks

[iniltous]

OR cannot treat DNO poles like their own , but  with the appropriate licence arrangements can and do use DNO power poles , a fairly reasonable assumption is if there is already copper dropwires on a power pole and the FTTP supply is simply going to replace the copper wire , (unless the copper service never was or now isn’t compliant with safety rules ) then  the DNO licence will cover this , any new attachments ( so if the power pole has more than just copper dropwires , like a copper Distribution Point ) then the existing license may not cover any new attachments, so adding a CBT ( effectively a fibre DP ) cannot be done without examining the existing license or possibly applying for a new license to cover additional equipment.

If there is no OR equipment of any kind existing on the DNO pole , OR cannot just use them, even if it seems logical to the consumer to do so, especially if they suspect that not using them will result in excessive costs.

In general,  if power poles currently carry the OR dropwire , the FTTP service will mirror that , if someone has ( for example ) power poles for the mains power supply and the ‘phone line’ is buried underground ( not ducted ) then these DNO  poles almost certainly won’t be considered and either a new OR pole route ( if that’s even possible given the separation requirements between these services ) or a new ducted feed would be needed for FTTP , this possibly requiring a contribution from the consumer for it ( overhead or underground) to be provided 

[Crimliar]

It's a common arrangement in some of the pit villages around here that everything hangs off the same CAST IRON poles (always situated as close to the road as kerbs allow) - as has been said, just so long as the agreements are in place.

[Tafia]

Many thanks for this very full response. Our phone line does sit on the power pole three poles away from me but then in 1967 was mole ploughed under our field to the house as the next pole towards us carried an 11Kv air break switch and overhead lines

They have been removed so the pole now just carries our 240 V supply to the house. A Scottish power linesman said they may consider allowing the use of the power poles but there must be a 30 inch separation below the 240 V cables and the fibre.

From your reply, it sounds as if a duct will have to be used. I am happy to contribute to the cost; as I understand things, when the big switch-off of the copper lines happens, we could be left with no phone and no broadband. Is that likely?

Thanks again,

T.

[pippincp]

It is only the phone service being switched off and moved to digital. Broadband via copper (SOADSL, FTTC) will continue for quite a few more years.

[Tafia]

Many thanks, I wasn't aware of that.

T

[36ULW]

Openreach are obligated to follow the same Cable route as the Copper Cable.

If that means digging a new trench to put on Duct then so be it.

As it’s classed as an, ‘Upgrade’ then there would be no cost to yourself.

[Tafia]

That's interesting and good news. Neither of the two OpenReach folks who have been here have mentioned that. They were both sucking their teeth and pointing out how far away the pole mounted Connector Block was.

Interesting times.

Thanks for your response.

[iniltous]

There is a post on this forum , the ‘gist’ of it , is that the posters relative has ADS/FTTC , and FTTP is available, the relative lives approximately 400m along a private driveway from the main road ( farmhouse type situation ) , the current copper pair service is a mixture of overhead ( not power poles but Openreach ones ) and underground DIG , the relatives ISP is John Lewis who are leaving the broadband business, the poster on their relatives behalf, had seen  FTTP availability and decided to not renew with JL , or use the migration process to Plusnet that JL were offering their customers, and ordered FTTP  ( not with BT )  , the JL service continued on an ‘out of contract’ basis .

Eventually, after a mess around with a ‘mainstream’ ISP ( again not BT ) the poster raised an FTTP order,  if I recall correctly, with Zen , Zen chosen as a niche ISP with experience of ‘out of the ordinary’ provisions, and a reputation of sticking with orders that some mainstream/budget ISP simply don’t want to get involved with  this  ‘provide’ order ( quite appropriately) was surveyed by Openreach ‘service delivery ‘ ( not the ‘ fibre network delivery’ department ) who deemed excess construction costs of £1500 were applicable, lucky the copper pair service wasn’t ceased but they are now on a uncompetitive out of contract deal with John Lewis, and pretty much committed to remaining with them as switching to another FTTC / ADSL isn’t available due to the copper stop sell on OR ‘copper pair’ products.

So , it’s not the case that OR provide service at any cost and always use the same delivery method for FTTP as the existing copper pair services, after all if at some point in the past a ‘farmer’ ( for example ) had ‘dug in’ 1500m of armoured copper cable to serve a remote dwelling, it’s nonsense to think OR will now foot the bill for 1500m of ‘underground ‘fibre’ , should FTTP become available in the area.

There  has always been excess construction costs for those that live remotely from the network, Openreach make a significant contribution towards providing service, but it has a limit .

[Tafia]

I am with Zen and have been told by them that OR will fund costs up to £1000. I guess mine will be higher than that. 

Thanks to all for responses.