Question about BT installing new Fibre cable in my area.

Hi all,

For the last few days BT have been installing fibre optic cable in my area. I confirmed this by asking the guys doing the install. Also the cable they were installing was black with a yellow mark on it which I know is fibre.

However, the last few days they have switched to a black cable with a white mark on it. I asked the installers what it was for. He said it's still a fibre cable just a different (older) type. Once installed it will be marked up with the yellow mark.

Does anyone know if this cable with the white marking is of a lesser quality than the one with the yellow mark on it? Are the speeds attainable the same with both types of cable?

Thanks

MP

The contractors are just installing a carrier tube, the coloured markings are just an identifier. The fibre itself gets "blown" in at a later date.

The beauty of fibre, (over simplifying things) is you don't need to worry about the "quality".
Copper cable is much more a concern, as to grade of cable etc.
However, I think BT have probably learnt lessons of old in most cases, so all new cable in use will be of reasonable quality.
The question your most interested in is, where is your telephone lines nearest connection point going to be (nearest fibre enabled cabinet) and how far is your line from this cabinet.
That is what mainly dictates your maximum speed.

In reply to a post by flipdee:

The beauty of fibre, (over simplifying things) is you don't need to worry about the "quality".
Copper cable is much more a concern, as to grade of cable etc.
However, I think BT have probably learnt lessons of old in most cases, so all new cable in use will be of reasonable quality.
The question your most interested in is, where is your telephone lines nearest connection point going to be (nearest fibre enabled cabinet) and how far is your line from this cabinet.
That is what mainly dictates your maximum speed.

Thanks for the replies.

It's a relief to know it's just the tubing they are installing at the moment. I thought we were getting some sub standard install for a moment.

My phone line connects to a green cabinet about 100 meters down the road. Is that close enough to get a good speed.?

At the moment I am connected via the 21CN cabling and am getting about 16 to 18MB download.

Thanks

When you see a little compressor and a small drum of very thin stuff that will be the fibre being blown through the tubing.

Pulling or pushing the fibre would break it, also when they splice it to join the pieces together they use a fusion splicer that melts the two bits of glass together

If that really is your cab, and your line doesn't take some weird route you should be good for 80/20.

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

Pulling or pushing the fibre would break it, also when they splice it to join the pieces together they use a fusion splicer that melts the two bits of glass together

Fibre was pulled before jetting / blowing was invented, and continues to be in some situations where jetting isn't practical, such as some FTTP installs.

Fibre comes in a range of options.
Loose tube and tight buffered for non blown options, so once it's in it's in, "pulling" in additional or replacements relies entirely on the cable route/space in duct available.
So as you can imagine having a prebuilt array of mini ducts all within one "cable" is pretty handy.
The Emtelle blown fibre system bt use to give them flexibility, repairability and future proof as best you can.
It's like a load of underground tunnels between two locations but only laying track down as you need it.