Self-installation of cable to CSP - what type?

[pharossian]

FTTP finally available where I live, and having placed an order, I've had a particularly disappointing discussion with an 'engineer', explaining that they cannot replace existing cables to my house (since they 'can't use ladders' and 'can't work in a loft as there's no ventilation or a fire escape')...

Their only solution is to drill a hole in the front of my house and run a cable along the wall to where the ONT is to be installed.

I'm not happy with this as it will look dreadful, so am considering getting a competent electrician to install a fibre cable from the appropriate point internally to outside, such that all Openreach have to do is connect it to the CSP on the outside wall.

My query is what kind of cable do I need to fit to allow them to do this? I see the connector to the ONT is SC/APC; would an SC/APC termination at the external end be ok for them to connect? 

I don't want to pay someone to do all the work and then find out Openreach won't use it.

Thanks for help!

[iniltous]

The internal fibre cable OR use between the CSP and ONT does indeed have an SC/APC plug at one end ( the ONT end ) the CSP end is spliced , not a plug and socket , but supplying and fitting a suitable cable yourself may still ‘fail’ in that OR would then be responsible for something they didn’t supply, and if it failed a day , a week , or a month after the service were provided, they are on the hook for that, plus unless the private installer checked the optical performance once it’s in , it could be damaged or bend radiuses not observed, but that damage or high losses would only be known when OR try to use this cable , resulting in another wasted visit 

What do you ( or OR  ) mean , they cannot use ladders ?, that’s not really  true , but they need to be able to fix the ladder using ‘Tetra’ fixings ( I think that’s what they use ) , and  won’t cable through a loft for safety reasons ,a loft space could be considered a confined space and  unless trained in confined spaces , which have certain criteria , it wouldn’t be considered.

In many cases , if the customer supplies  the containment , trunking , duct , and a draw string/rope  , OR will pull the internal cable through whatever is provided, or alternatively simply allow the ONT to be fitted somewhere accessible for the OR tech , and then run an Ethernet cable yourself to the location of the router .

[pharossian]

OK thanks - the ladder comment and then the mutterings about the loft sounded to me like someone who didn't want to do things for anyone's benefit but his own ie to make the job as easy as possible. The current phone line entry point is just below the roof soffit, so how they planned to disconnect it I have no idea.

So best bet sounds like asking an appropriately skilled person to install a cable duct with pull-through string to an exterior wall - will investigate this.

Thanks again

[iniltous]

Final thought , was it a contractor or Openreach that visited ? , it’s not unheard of for contractors to look for reasons not to do a job if it’s going to take some time ( they get paid per install , so prefer to ( for example) to do 4 x 1.5 hour jobs in a day ( plus travel between jobs ) and get paid for 4 installs, rather than taking longer jobs and potentially only getting 2 completions , therefore only earning half as much, direct labour ( Openreach ) don’t have this financial disincentive, so should take the view a job takes as long as it takes….obviously if it were OR and not a contractor that visited, it cannot simply be this financial consideration

AFAIK , if a contractor kicks a job back , the next visit should be by OR not another contractor 

[Frogmodem]

OR used a ladder at my house. They drilled a hole for a fixing to secure it and filled it when they had finished.

[pharossian]

I only spoke to them by phone as they had turned up unexpectedly when I was at work; I didn't check if they were 'official' or not.

Will try to speak directly to the installer to clarify exactly what they want/will work with before going ahead..!